Some would say that heads-up is the purest form of poker. Mano-a-mano in a true test of poker skill, aggression and the ultimate in psychology. There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Heads-up poker is also fascinating as anything can, and probably will, happen. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. It could be a drawn out marathon where the blinds eventually take hold, or it can all be over on the first hand of the match.

Today we saw just about all of that, and a little more, with an exciting and dramatic end to the SCOOP Event #7-H $700 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem event.

It started out with 793 players coming together to compete for a massive $531,310 prize pool which smashed the guarantee four times over.

Team PokerStars was well represented with pros Lex Veldhuis, Victor “Isildur1″ Blom, Daniel Negreanu, Anders Berg, Bertrand Grospellier, Angel Guillen, George Danzer, Shane Schleger, Randy Lew and Eugene Katchalov amongst the starters.

The top 128 would finish in the money with the likes of Jonathan Duhamel (120th – $1,381.40), Paul Hockin (93rd – $1,381.40), Bryn Kenney (65th $1,381.40), James Obst (50th – $2,433.39) and Matt Wakeman (38th – $2,433.39) just a few of the notable players to reach the money.

The highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro was Victor Ramdin. He ran into Justin Bonomo in a tough Round of 16 match that had the attention of most of the railbirds. Ramdin got off to a slow start after being disconnected, but Bonomo waited patiently and gave Ramdin every opportunity to return without much damage. That good karma paid off when Bonomo grabbed the win when the two went to war on a flop of [2s][9c][7c]. Bonomo held [7h][5s] for just middle pair but it was in front of Ramdin’s [6h][8s] straight draw. The [3d] turn and [kc] completed the board to see Bonomo progress and Ramdin out in 14th place for $7,661.49 in prize money.

Victor Ramdin representing the red spade with a deep SCOOP run

Chris Moorman was another popular pro to be bundled out in the Round of 16. His last stand came with [9c][9d] after Pappe_Ruk shoved with [ac][9h]. An ace found its way onto the flop to eliminate Moorman in 10th place for $7,661.49.

Justin Bonomo would make it no further than the quarter finals in an interesting elimination hand:

RSS readers click through to see replay

It was an interesting line by shurgar, and was enough to confuse Bonomo who went deep into the tank on the river before calling for his tournament life, but trips for shurgar sent Bonomo packing in 8th place for $14,239.10 in prize money.

Shurgar went on to face JRADF79 in one semi final as Scott ‘gunning4you’ Seiver took on TRiggA_miK3 in the other.

Seiver was first to progress through to the final, and it was a bit of a cooler that ended the match. The chips were in preflop with Seiver showing [as][qd] as TRiggA_miK3 held a monster [ks][kh]. An ace fell on the flop and TRiggA_miK3 was outed in 4th place for $25,561.32.

The other semi-final was also over rather quickly. The blinds were only 40/80 when shurgar had already gained the ascendency to leave JRADF79 with around fifteen big blinds. JRADF79 moved all in preflop with [ks][6c] but shurgar made the call with [6h][6s]. The board ran out [2c][qc][5h][qh][qd] to see JRADF79 eliminated in 3rd place for $25,561.32 as our final match was set.

Final: gunning4you vs shurgar

The final saw Seiver race out of the blocks, before shurgar took the lead with a rivered flush holding [2d][4d] that Seiver paid off with a river call.

It was only moments later that the tournament was thrown into a spin when Seiver disconnected. His entire timebank of around six or seven minutes drained before the moderator added an extra four minutes on top. Again there was no movement from Seiver as his time bank expired. Was this really how the SCOOP title was going to be decided?

Thankfully, no…

gunning4you is connected
gunning4you said, “what happened”
gunning4you said, “internet seems to have gone down in places throughout city”
shurgar said, “u didn’t lose Any chips”

With Seiver back it would be game on, but incredibly the tournament would last exactly one more hand:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Seiver turned the flush and got his chips in good, but shurgar spiked a queen on the river to improve to a full house for the win. What a way to end it!

Seiver pockets $51,127.96 for his runner-up finish while shurgar wins the SCOOP title and $80,350.76.

Final Four Results
1st shurgar (United Kingdom) – $80,350.76
2nd Scott “gunning4you” Seiver (Canada) – $51,127.96
3rd JRADF79 (Belgium) – $25,561.32
4th TRiggA_miK3 (Canada) – $25,561.32

The 2012 SCOOP is just getting started with an amazing schedule of events still to come. For more details head to the official SCOOP website for the schedule, satellites, leaderboard, statistics and more.

Tags: 2011 | angel | Baltic Poker Festival | daniel-negreanu | festival | france | gambling | lapt | napt | SCOOP | season 8 | twitter

Most people regret making a $1,170 mistake, but then again, most people aren’t Daniel Negreanu.

At around 11:00am ET Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu Tweeted: “Playing my first #SCOOP2012 2-7 Single Draw NL playing all three, the $11 $109 and $1050″

If that seemed a bit odd to you, it’s because it should. There weren’t any scheduled 2-7 Single Draw events today. In fact, there aren’t going to be any 2-7 Single Draw events all SCOOP.

Negreanu realized his mistake and, a few minutes later, followed up with this Tweet: “Haha OMG I have been playing the wrong game this whole time! It’s 5 card draw HIGH oops! Too funny”

Negreanu busted out of the Low and Medium events without a cash, but he managed to make it to the heads-up match here in Event #6-H.

Oops.

But KidPoker wasn’t the only Team PokerStars Pro in the field today (although he might’ve been the only one there accidentally).

A total of six Team PokerStars Pros and two Team PokerStars Online players registered for Event #6-H. This meant almost 10 percent of today’s 84 players had a red spade decorating their name. But the fancy red spade would end up representing 1/3 of the final table.

Victor Ramdin, George Danzer, Eugene Katchalov and Johnny Lodden all signed up for some 5-Card Draw action today, but none of them would make it to the money. Lodden was the closest, he managed to make it to the final three tables and was eliminated in 18th place.

Anders “Donald” Hoyers Berg and George “jorj95″ Lind were representing Team PokerStars Online, but they weren’t able to see a return on their $1,050 investment.

But our remaining Team PokerStars Pros would do more than cash; they’d go on to final table and finish second and third.

Daniel Negreanu grabbed the chip lead with 25 players left and he kept on winning pots:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Negreanu’s lead would increase as we made our way down to the final two tables, but then another Team PokerStars Pro would burst into the lead.

ELKY’S RUN

ElkY might not be human. At times I suspect he’s a replicant, a genetically-engineered robot that’s superior to human beings in every way. He has an ability to master whatever game he sits down to play, whether it be StarCraft or poker.

Just last year, ElkY won his first WSOP bracelet in the 10K stud event. Yes, winning a bracelet is impressive, but several humans win bracelets. ElkY won his bracelet in an event he’d never played live before.

After winning the bracelet, ElkY admitted that that had been his first ever live Stud event.

Again, replicant.

Oh, he also already cashed for more than $1 million this year.

When we were down to our final six players, ElkY held the lead with 90,062.

The rest of the final table looked like this:

Seat 1 – Metalguru84 — 77,846
Seat 2 – Gagarin007 — 44,243
Seat 3 – KidPoker — 57,942
Seat 4- Iftarii — 58,213
Seat 5 – Maestro Shao — 82,394
Seat 6 – ElkY — 96,062

ElkY continued his ruthless run, even taking pots off of his fellow Team Pro. Negreanu raised to 2,400 and ElkY called. Both players drew one card and Negreanu led out for 4,800.

ElkY called and showed two pairs, sevens and deuces. Negreanu also had two pair, but his fives and threes weren’t enough to win the pot.

This hand made ElkY the first player to make it past the 100,000 mark. The rest of the players stared at his stack with awe and hunger.

SORRY IFTARII

Metalguru84 raised to 2,400 and our table short stack, Gagarin007, made it 6,000 from the button. Iftarii 4-bet to 24,002 and Metalguru84 folded. Gagarin007 upped the ante and moved all in for 41,243.

Iftarii folded and was left with 34,211.

After that, Iftarii was chipped down to 21,000; he didn’t see a single showdown in the process. With 700/1,400 blinds and a 350 ante, he was going to need to need to make a move.

And he did.

ElkY raised to 2,800 from UTG and Metalguru84 re-raised to 6,300. Action was folded around to Iftarii in the small blind, who moved all in for 21,861.

ElkY laid down his hand, but Metalguru84 made the call.

Iftarii drew two while Metalguru84 stood pat. Iftarii showed an [ah][ad][as][4c][6h] for three aces, but Metalguru84 showed a dealt straight, [7h][8h][9s][10h][Jh].

Iftarii became our first final table elimination and won $4,410 for his 6th place finish.

MT. ELKY

ElkY continued to amass chips.

Maestro Shao raised to 3,080 from the small blind and ElkY raised to 8,400. Both players drew three cards and Maestro Shao led out for 9,800. ElkY raised to 26,600 and Maestro Shao decided to fold.

This put ElkY at 133,000 and then the following hand happened:

RSS readers click through to see replay

ElkY managed to get up to 170,000 before other players started chipping away at him.

POKER MAESTRO PLEASE

Maestro Shao joined ElkY in the 100K club after the following hand.

ElkY raised to 3,200 from UTG and Maestro Shao called from the big blind. Maestro Shao drew three cards while ElkY took one.

Maestro Shao checked and ElkY led out for 6,400. Maestro Shao called and showed [kc][kd][2d][2h][3d], beating ElkY’s [10c][10s][7s][7h][6d].

Maestro Shao then took the chip lead away from ElkY for the first time at the final table:

RSS readers click through to see replay

FIVE TO FOUR

After losing the majority of his chips to Negreanu, Metalguru84 was left with only 13,000. This was a dangerously low stack with 800/1600 blinds and a 400 ante.

He managed to double back up to 24,000 when his two pair held up against ElkY’s busted straight draw, but his two pairs couldn’t hold up forever.

Maestro Shao raised to 4,400 from UTG and ElkY called. Metalguru84 moved all in for 20,000 and got one caller, Gagarin007.

Both players drew one card and both players showed two pair.

Metalguru84 showed [ad][ks][kc][10d][10c], but his two pair was slightly behind Gagarin007′s [as][ac][10h][10s][6c].

Metalguru84 was eliminated in 5th place and took home $5,880 for his finish.

KIDPOKER PLAYS POKER

Daniel Negreanu was dangerously short-stacked for a portion of the final table, but he managed to play his way up to second in chips and knock out the fourth place finisher.

In one of his Tweets, Negreanu mentioned that were “lots of “moves” to be made” in 5-Card Draw. We have no idea when these moves were being made, but they’re in there somewhere.

Negreanu raised to 4,000 from UTG and Gagarin007 moved all in for 24,948. Negreanu called and both players drew three cards.

Gagarin007 managed to hit ace-high while Negreanu got a pair of queens. Gagarin007 was eliminated in 4th place, earning $7,980.

THE THREE TO BEAT

Our three-way match ended up like this:

KidPoker — 126,692
Maestro Shao –187,697
ElkY –105,611

Maestro Shao then took and early lead:

RSS readers click through to see replay

He then won another pot against ElkY. Maestro Shao raised to 4,400 and ElkY called. Maestro Shao drew one card while ElkY drew three.

Maestro Shao led out for 8,000 and ElkY made the call. Maestro Shao showed a pair of aces and sixes while ElkY mucked.

This brought Maestro Shao’s stack up to 240,000, while ElkY was down to 77,000.

All three players seemed to maintain their stacks for a while until Negreanu won a big hand off of Maestro Shao.

Negreanu raised to 4,000 from the small blind and Maestro Shao re-raised to 8,000. Negreanu made it 22,000 and Maestro Shao called.

Negreanu drew two while Maestro Shao took three. Negreanu led out for a final 22,000 bet and Maestro Shao called.

Negreanu showed [7c][7h][7d][10c][ks] and Maestro Shao mucked. This brought Negreanu up to 143,000.

ElkY also managed to gain some ground, but he was soon shut down by Maestro Shao.

With 1,250/2,500 blinds and a 625 ante, Maestro Shao raised to 5,500. ElkY moved all-in for 110,561 and Maestro show made the call.

Maestro Shao drew two cards while ElkY drew one. At the showdown, ElkY showed [4c][4h][qd][8h][8d] for two pair, but Maestro Shao showed [5d][5h][5c][ah][10c] for the victory.

ElkY was eliminated in 3rd place and took home $11,760 for his finish.

He had this to say after his exit:

“Sick fished out to finish 3rd… oh well good luck to @realkidpoker . was lots of fun anyways. #SCOOP2012″

THE GRUESOME TWOSOME

Maestro Shao came into the heads-up match with the lead, 282,058, against Negreanu’s 137,942. But that lead would change.

Several times.

A swingy, 90-minute heads-up battle followed ElkY’s elimination.

Negreanu first closed in on Maestro Shao’s lead after hitting three kings against Maestro Shao’s busted flush draw:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Negreanu continued to win small pots and he built his stack up to 223,000 against Maestro Shao’s 182,000.

Then Maestro Shao raised to 6,000 from the small blind and Negreanu called and drew three cards. Maestro Shao also drew three and led out for 9,000 when Negreanu checked.

Negreanu raised to 30,000 and Maestro Shao re-raised to 84,210. Negreanu made the call and mucked when Maestro Shao showed [qc][qs][qh][6h][3d].

This hand put Maestro Shao back up to 286,000.

Negreanu wouldn’t see the lead again until about 20 minutes later when he raised to 8,000 from the small blind.

Maestro Shao called and drew three while Negreanu drew two. Action was checked to Negreanu who made it 12,000, Maestro Shao then raised to 51,450 and Negreanu moved all in for 163,532.

Maestro Shao folded and Negreanu was back on top with 232,000. Maestro Shao found himself down to 187,000, but not for long.

THE DOUBLE DOUBLE

With 2,000/4,000 blinds and a 1,000 ante, Maestro Shao raised to 8,000 from the small blind. Negreanu then re-raised to 20,000 and Maestro Shao moved all in.

Negreanu thought for a while before making the call, then both players drew three cards. Negreanu showed a pair of kings, but it wasn’t good enough to beat Maestro Shao’s two pair.

Negreanu was now in need of a double up, and he got it:

RSS readers click through to see replay

The two players started passing the chip lead back and forth, then Negreanu hogged it.

Maestro Shao raised to 8,000 and Negreanu called and drew two. Maestro Shao took three cards and bet 12,000 when Negreanu checked.

Negreanu made the call and showed a pair of sevens. It wasn’t the best hand in 5-Card Draw, but it was better than a pair of fives, and that’s what Maestro Shao had.

Maestro Shao was down to 180,000 and Negreanu was up to 240,000. Negreanu went on to win a few more pots before Maestro Shao got himself another double up.

Negreanu raised to 8,000 and then a raising war broke out. Maestro Shao made it 16,000 and Negreanu moved things up to 36,000.

Maestro Shao stopped fooling around and moved all in for 169,022.

Maestro Shao drew two cards and Negreanu took one after he made the call.

Negreanu showed [ad][as][10d][10c][3c], but it wasn’t enough to beat Maestro Shao’s [4h][4d][4s][8h][3h].

After all the ups and downs, the draw-twos and stand-pats, things eventually came to an end.

Negreanu teetered up and down a bit after doubling Maestro Shao up, and when he had about 100,000 left, he made his final move.

Maestro Shao raised to 10,000 and Negreanu moved all in for 102,706. Maestro Shao made the call and Negreanu drew three while Maestro Shao drew two.

When they showed their cards, they revealed the last two hands of the tournament:

Negreanu: [9d][9c][jd][7d][3h]

Maestro Shao: [5h][5s][5d][ac][10c]

Negreanu became the 2nd place finisher, earning $15,530. This last hand gave Maestro Shao all 420,000 chips in play and the $22,890 first-place prize.

Aside from winning this event, Maestro Shao final tabled the Medium as well. His 6th place finish there added $1,900.21 to his total winnings today.

2012 SCOOP Event 6-H, $1,050 Five-Card Draw results:
1st: Maestro Shao ($22,890)
2nd: KidPoker ($15,330)
3rd: ElkY ($11,760)
4th: Gagarin007 ($7,980)
5th: Metalguru84 ($5,880)
6th: Iftarii ($4,410)

Congratulations to Maestro Shao and all the other Event #6-H cashers, it was a tough one. But as one tournament comes to a close, another is being scooped right up. Go check out the SCOOP homepage to see the schedule, leaderboard and everything about the 2012 SCOOP.

Tags: 2011 | daniel-negreanu | ept | festival | maestro-shao | napt | pca | planets | russian | SCOOP | victor-ramdin | videos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suddenly I felt more comfortable about my upcoming Badugi lesson.

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

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

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

RSS readers click through
to see replay

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

Chad Brown adds another SCOOP final table to his resume

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: delicious | entertainment | eureka poker tour | france | micromillions | portugal | rio | TOC | tournaments | twitter | UKIPT | wcoop

Evanski knows what it’s like to come thisclose to a SCOOP title, only to fall just short. In 2010, he won two days worth of heads-up matches in the $2,600 Heads-Up NLHE event, but lost to Jord4n in the final round. It took weaving through a 12,545-player field to do it but evanski at last got the monkey off his back, winning his first SCOOP title and over $61,000 in Event #5-L ($11+R Turbo NLHE).

The 12,545 aforementioned players made 24,302 rebuys and 7,889 add-ons, creating a $447,360 prize pool. 1,620 places were paid with first place set to earn $61,071.66. More than two dozen members of Team Pro and Team Online were in the field and five cashed including Martin Staszko (1,356th), Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (1,354th), Victor Ramdin (1251st), Marcin Horecki (1,188th), and George Danzer (158th).

With ten players remaining, Ntamosauskas got his chips in with the best of it, his [Ac][Ks] up against xihui’s [Ad][8h] in a 25 million-chip pot. Xihui caught a lucky flop, an eight falling to pair his kicker. Ntamosauskas got no help on the turn or river and went out on the final table bubble.

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: ocin98 (8,276,997 in chips)
Seat 2: Jandrulo (2,405,936 in chips)
Seat 3: Jenndo (16,945,153 in chips)
Seat 4: DrFuManju (8,821,699 in chips)
Seat 5: MHCD (14,017,384 in chips)
Seat 6: evanski (31,715,740 in chips)
Seat 7: xihui (39,050,456 in chips)
Seat 8: the_duces (8,703,937 in chips)
Seat 9: Armanpoker (20,048,698 in chips)

Jandrulo out in ninth, ocin98 exits in eighth

The last of Jandrulo’s chips went in the middle on the sixth hand. DrFuManjo opened for a min-raise to 2.4 million, ocin98 called from the small blind, and Jandrulo tossed in his last 305,936 with 1.2 million already committed in the big blind. Ocin98 check-folded the [Qs][Th][8d] flop to DrFuManju’s 4.8 million bet and the cards went on their backs, DrFuManju’s [Kc][Qd] crushing Jandrulo’s [3s][8c]. Jandrulo found neither an eight nor a three on the turn and river and was eliminated in ninth place, collecting $2,796.

The next deal of the cards saw ocin98 open-shove for 3.62 million on the button. Jenndo reshoved for 13.2 million holding [Ac][5h], ocin98′s [Kh][3s] needing some help on the board. Jack-high and dry, it offered no assistance and ocin98 hit the rail in eighth place, earning $4,473.60.

Evanski eliminates the_duces, DrFuManju wants a deal

Four hands later, evanski opened for a min-raise and the_duces found [Ac][2h] in the small blind. He shoved for 5.22 million and was practically beat into the pot by evanski, who turned over pocket aces. A deuce on the flop kept the _duces hopes alive for a moment longer, but he didn’t improve any further. For his seventh-place finish, the_duces earned $8,947.20.

With six players remaining and about $180,000 of the prize pool left to divide up, DrFuManju began pressing his opponents to make a deal. Although xihui and evanski were amenable to looking at numbers, the remaining players couldn’t come to a consensus. As debate continued, Armanpoker three-bet shoved with [Ac][Ts] and xihui called with [8c][8s]. Armanpoker whiffed the [9c][4s][9s] flop and was drawing dead on the turn when the [8h] fell to make xihui eights full of nines. Armanpoker was out in sixth place, $13,420.80 awaiting him in his PokerStars account.

Only a few hands passed before DrFuManju got his money in before the flop, his [Ad][4c] up against xihui’s [Kc][7c]. It was all over when the [2s][3d][5s] flop made DrFuManju a wheel, doubling him up to 15.5 million. He asked again about a deal but before he could get an answer, his [Ac][Kd] was racing against MHCD’s [Qd][Qc] in a 27.3 million pot. Although MHCD’s queens held up on the jack-high flop, an ace hit the turn to give the pot to DrFuManju.

Despite the double-up, DrFuManju was still looking for a deal. He broached the subject again, but before anyone could respond, he was out in fifth place after running into kicker trouble against Jenndo:

MHCD’s double-double

The field down to four, Jenndo was way out in front with 70.5 million. Evanski and xihui held about 34 million apiece while MHCD was on seven big blinds with 11 million. With the action folded to him in the small blind, Jenndo made a pretty standard shove with [Ks][3d], but MHCD woke up with [As][Td] in the big. MHCD flopped a ten and rivered an ace, doubling up to 22.4 million. One orbit later, the same scenario played out, Jenndo moving in from the small blind and MHCD calling from the big. MHCD’s [Ac][6h] held on against Jenndo’s [8s][Td] and he moved up to 42.4 million, good for second in chips.

No flop, no drop

The next 30 hands passed without a single flop, the final four trading blinds and antes until xihui open-shoved for 35.8 million with [Kc][Jh]. Jenndo called with [As][Jd]. An ace hit the flop and onetime chip leader xihui was out in fourth, earning $22,368. With three players remaining, Jenndo held 76.3 million, MHCD had 37.9 million and evanski was the short stack with 35.8 million.

Another 24 hands went by without a flop. The blinds climbed to 1.5M/3M. And on the 25th hand MHCD decided to go with [Th][7h] and open-shoved for 23.4 million from the small blind. Evanski called with [Kd][8c] in the big bind. MHCD hit an open-ended straight draw on the [6s][5h][4d] flop but could not find a three, an eight, a seven, or a ten on the turn or river, the [2s] and the [2c] falling to eliminate MHCD in third place.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 3: Jenndo (86,267,867 in chips)
Seat 6: evanski (63,718,133 in chips)

Evanski kicked it into high gear during heads-up, winning nine of the twelve hands played. In the end it came down to a coinflip, Jenndo’s [Kd][Qs] vs. evanski’s [9s][9c] for all the marbles. The nines survived the flop, the turn, and rivered a set for good measure to lock up evanski’s long-awaited SCOOP title:

Congratulations to evanski on his SCOOP watch and $61,071.66 score. For his runner-up finish, Jenndo earned $43,170.24.

2012 SCOOP Event #5-L ($11+R NLHE Turbo) results:

1. evanski (Canada) $61,071.66
2. Jenndo (Thailand) $43,170.24
3. MHCD (Netherlands) $31,315.20
4. xihui (Germany) $22,368.00
5. DrFuManjo (Germany) $17,894.40
6. Armanpoker (Spain) $13,420.80
7. the_duces (Norway) $8,947.20
8. ocin98 (Germany) $4,473.60
9. Jandrulo (Spain) $2,796.00

Can’t get enough SCOOP? Head over to the SCOOP page for stats, schedules, and satellite information.

Tags: Baltic Poker Festival | Battle of the Planets | belgian poker series | estrellas poker tour | harrah's | pokerstars | SCOOP | turn | twitter | videos

It is an action-packed weekend at PokerStars. In addition to a final table getting underway at APPT Cebu, the EPT Grand Final Main Event is ready to find its 2012 champion on Monday in Monte Carlo. And the online poker geniuses are preparing for the upcoming SCOOP series to start on May 5, so things are a little busy around here.

Even so, nothing stops the Sunday majors from making big news every weekend. Today was no different, as the Sunday Million kicked off at its usual time with its $1 million guarantee. No matter where players may be in the world, they do what they can to find an Internet connection so as not to miss out on the biggest games in online poker. And the rest of us watch in awe as players compete for life-changing money in tournaments like these.

Speaking of this one, let’s get to the facts and figures:

Players: 7,376
Guarantee: $1,000,000.00
Prize pool: $1,475,200.00
Paid players: 1,080

After a few hours of play, the money bubble burst, and Gord0nGeck0 was the first player to cash, taking home $309.79 for 1080th place. As for the Team PokerStars Pros in action, there were only three who made it into the money. The first to exit was Richard Toth in 778th place, followed by Martin Staszko in 638th. Victor Ramdin moved forward in strong fashion but finally exited in 318th place.

As the 10-hour mark came and went, two tables remained. After puicachamp was eliminated in 11th place, hand-for-hand play led to a relatively quick solution to that situation. Mitchizzil moved all-in, and Mikael 666 moved all-in over the top. Iacoga4 called both players from the big blind, and their hands were:

iacog4: [9h][6s]
Mikael 666: [Ks][Qs]
mitchizzil: [Kc][Qc]

The board came [7d][Jh][4s][5d][6h] to give iacog4 the pair of sixes, and the double elimination was complete. Mitchizzil took $8,113.60 for tenth place, and Mikael 666 received $11,432.80 for ninth.

CC2332 and iacog4 dominate from the start

The final table started with only eight players, and their initial chip stacks were as follows:

Seat 1: AW 500 (2,992,018 in chips)
Seat 2: ugulala55 (4,515,767 in chips)
Seat 4: MaryPop_SP (5,431,632 in chips)
Seat 5: Obafemi 9 (4,924,555 in chips)
Seat 6: iacog4 (20,510,916 in chips)
Seat 7: CC2332 (21,179,016 in chips)
Seat 8: oldrich88 (2,803,846 in chips)
Seat 9: triathlon4 (11,402,250 in chips)

Play began slowly for the final eight, but the initial short stack at the table finally made a move. Oldrich88 pushed all-in with [Ac][Ks], and original raiser iacog4 called with [Ah][8h]. What looked like a double-up took an immediate turn in the other direction when the flop brought [8c][2h][As]. The [6c] and [3s] cards finished the hand and sent oldrich88 out in eighth place with $17,702.40.

AW 500 also decided to get involved, and the short stack tangled with CC2332 and MaryPop_SP, the latter of whom just doubled up through iacog4. They saw a raised flop of [5h][8h][Kc], and CC2332 bet. AW 500 raised all-in, which prompted a fold from MaryPop_SP. CC2332 called with [8d][7d] for middle pair, but AW 500 looked poised for a double-up with [Jh][8s]. The [6h] on the turn changed nothing, but the [7c] on the river gave CC2332 two pair. AW 500 had to leave in seventh place with $31,716.80 and a bad beat story.

Obafemi 9 was the next player at risk, choosing to move all-in from the button with [8s][7h]. Iacog4 called from the small blind with [Ks][Js], and that hand only improved on the [2c][9h][3d][Jc][Ad] board. Obafemi 9 was eliminated in sixth place with $45,731.20.

Rise and fall for MaryPop_SP

MaryPop_SP then found another double-up opportunity, this time through chip leader CC2332:

RSS readers click through to see replay

When triathlon4 finally pushed a little over 2.1 million all-in with [Td][8s], MaryPop_SP was the caller from the small blind with [Ad][5s]. The board came [Ts][6s][Qc][As][5d], and that left triathlon4 out in fifth place with $60,483.20.

The very next hand saw MaryPop_SP in action again, this time to see a raised flop with iacog4. After that flop came [6c][5c][Kc], MaryPop_SP bet, and iacog4 check-called to bring on the [4s] turn card. Another bet and check-call led to the [Kd] on the turn, at which point MaryPop_SP moved all-in with [8h][7h] for the straight. But iacog4 called and showed [Ac][3c] for the flopped flush, and MaryPop_SP left in fourth place with $78,185.60.

Three agree to a deal

The last three players paused the tournament to discuss a chip-chop deal, and they all immediately agreed to the numbers. With $20,000 reserved for the eventual winner, the payouts were set as follows:

Seat 2: ugulala55 (18,195,733 in chips) = $149,609.38
Seat 6: iacog4 (33,141,115 in chips) = $175,559.15
Seat 7: CC2332 (22,423,152 in chips) = $156,949.47

It didn’t take long for ugulala55 to move all-in after the deal. The hand started with a raise from iacog4 and reraise from ugulala55 holding [9d][9h]. Iacog4 then pushed all-in with [Ah][Kc], and ugulala55 called all-in. But the flop came [3s][Qd][Kh] to give iacog4 top pair, and that held up to the [8h] turn and [7c] river. Ugulala55 finished in third place with $149,609.38.

Top two from start to finish

The same players that led the pack on the way in to the action at this final table were the last two standing. Their initial heads-up stacks were:

Seat 6: iacog4 (53,136,848 in chips)
Seat 7: CC2332 (20,623,152 in chips)

CC2332 was determined to come back and started with this double-up:

RSS readers click through to see replay

CC2332 was on a roll, though iacog4 did keep the stacks roughly even until the end. The two then got involved to see a raised flop of [6d][4s][6s]. Iacog4 bet 3,060,000, and CC2332 called. The [AS] on the turn prompted a bet of 5,195,000 from CC2332 and check-call from iacog4. The [4h] river card brought another check from iacog4. CC2332 bet, and iacog4 called all-in with [Td][Th] for two pair. But CC2332 showed [Qh][6h] for the full house, and iacog4 had to accept second place and $175,559.15.

CC2332 of Slovenia won the Sunday Million and took home $176,949.47 for the victory. Congrats!

Sunday Million Results for 04/29/12 (reflects deal):

1st place: CC2332 ($176,949.47)*
2nd place: iacog4 ($175,559.15)*
3rd place: ugulala55 ($149,609.38)*
4th place: MaryPop_SP ($78,185.60)
5th place: triathlon4 ($60,483.20)
6th place: Obafemi 9 ($45,731.20)
7th place: AW 500 ($31,716.80)
8th place: oldrich88 ($17,702.40)
9th place: Mikael 666 ($11,432.80)

*Numbers based on a three-way deal with $20K reserved for first place

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Tags: european | festival | france poker series | napt | news | online-poker | pokerstars macau | Super Tuesday | tournaments | World Series of Poker

The Day 2 seat draw below shows that we have 394 players remaining from the 665 that started. Chip leader Nick Yunis, yes he of joint fourth place in the EPT Player of the Year race, sits on table 1 with the likes of Tony Gregg (double PCA final table finisher), Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin and EPT regular Manuel Bevand.

We’re slated to play six 75-minute levels today with a dinner break after the fourth level of the day. We suspect a seventh level may be played if we’re close to popping the money bubble. Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Daniel Negreanu will be grinding his 22,400 stack

(Table, seat, name, chips)
1 1 Hafiz Khan 71,500
1 2 Thomas Wahlroos 24,300
1 3 Nicola Bordignon 41,400
1 4 Tony Gregg 34,700
1 5 Nick Yunis  191,700
1 6 Michel Carvin 59,800
1 7 Manuel Bevand 16,300
1 8 Victor Ramdin 7,000
1 9 Vadzim Markushevski 49,500

2 1 Andrew Badecker 83,800
2 2 Beatrice Sitbon 17,100
2 3 Aneris Adomkevicius 46,100
2 4 Aage Ravn 57,200
2 5 Barry Greenstein 71,100
2 6 Christophe Benzimra 25,000
2 7 Claus Bek Nielsen 37,700
2 8 Lawrie Inman 100,800
2 9 Casey Kastle 10,600

3 1 Martin Wendt 53,600
3 2 Suat Uyanik 33,200
3 3 Craig McCorkell 8,500
3 4 Ole Schemion 64,400
3 5 Patrick Renkers 23,700
3 6 Thibaud Genegou 16,900
3 7 Nils Svensson 76,800
3 8 Levon Bouchikian 45,400
3 9 Andrew Pantling  91,500

4 1 Jose Manuel Nadal 69,800
4 2 Andrey Gulyy 59,100
4 3 Philippe Narboni 16,200
4 4 Ricky Tang 23,200
4 5 Andrey Bondar 29,900
4 6 Mats Gavatin 48,100
4 7 Santiago Nadal Sordo 85,600
4 8 Alessio Isaia 139,600
4 9 Stephane Albertini 38,000

5 1 Ermo Kosk 10,600
5 2 Ivan Kudriavtcev 186,200
5 3 Daniel Studer 50,100
5 4 Vito Lonigro 31,900
5 5 Phillippe Rouas 17,800
5 6 Jeffrey Gross 26,800
5 7 Nathan Schoo 65,100
5 8 Emin Aghayev 82,500
5 9 Mick Graydon 40,500

6 1 Daniel Di Pasquale 65,400
6 2 Stephen Reynolds 78,200
6 3 Fioroni Aroldo 11,500
6 4 Vojtech Ruzicka 43,400
6 5 Marc Colomé 34,800
6 6 Andrea Benelli 53,200
6 7 Xavier Detournel 25,800
6 8 Lothar Meier 19,100
6 9 Vladimir Geshkenbein 103,900

7 1 Bryn Kenney 30,600
7 2 Bruno Launais 77,500
7 3 Edward Teems 59,700
7 4 Tom Marchese 112,000
7 5 Sergiy Baranov 23,700
7 6 Clayton Mozdzen 40,700
7 7 Marat Begenov 10,500
7 8 Olivier Douce 48,600
7 9 Kevin MacPhee 16,800

8 1 Mikhail Korotkikh 61,300
8 2 Marc-Andre Ladouceur 101,300
8 3 Adrian Veghinas 84,600
8 4 Dieter Albrecht 42,100
8 5 Cristea Ionut 52,100
8 6 Alain Daien 24,200
8 7 Andrei Stoenescu 17,700
8 8 Evgeny Taranyuk 11,200
8 9 George Danzer 31,200

9 1 Ignat Liviu 36,700
9 2 Rade Jovanovski 16,000
9 3 Sandor Demjan 43,000
9 4 Sorel Mizzi 61,600
9 5 Oleh Okhotskyi 74,000
9 6 Steve O’Dwyer 101,600
9 7 Alexey Sudarikov 22,800
9 8 Ziv Caspi 27,600
9 9 Mikalai Pobal 51,800

10 1 Zoltan Szabo 35,400
10 2 Fowzi Baroukh 28,600
10 3 Lucien Cohen 21,900
10 4 Mickael Tribert 45,600
10 5 Alain Goldberg 74,700
10 6 Vanessa Selbst 54,900
10 7 Yulius Sepman 16,000
10 8 Aubin Cazals 93,500
10 9 Ville Wahlbeck 61,700

11 1 Kenny Hicks 40,000
11 2 Giuseppe Pantaleo 19,600
11 3 Marco Leonzio 58,800
11 4 Mesbah Guerfi 24,300
11 5 David Peters 67,400
11 6 Toby Lewis 12,500
11 7 Scott Seiver 99,800
11 8 Clyde Tjauw Foe 82,600
11 9 Javier Garcia 48,000

12 1 Idris Ambraisse 125,000
12 2 Ariel Mantel 48,200
12 3 John Eames 157,200
12 4 Geert-Jan Potijk 116,000
12 5 Martin Schleich 59,300
12 6 John O’Shea 39,900
12 7 Yury Kerzhapkin 23,600
12 8 Johnny Lodden 12,600
12 9 Tudor Grangure 30,400

13 1 Benoit Albiges 43,400
13 2 Rumen Nanev 51,300
13 3 Jeffrey Hakim 25,900
13 4 George Lind 35,900
13 5 Vanessa Rousso 17,000
13 6 Sam Trickett 65,800
13 7 Nacho Barbero 105,400
13 8 Juan Gonzalez Venzano 85,500
13 9 Griffin Benger 10,600

14 1 Daniele Guidetti 42,300
14 2 Gaelle Baumann 35,400
14 3 Francis-Nicolas Bouchard 26,200
14 4 Mike Carter 12,400
14 5 Basil Yaiche 54,300
14 6 Ramon Romero Lanz 63,300
14 7 Jesse Martin 93,500
14 8 Seamus Cahill 78,900
14 9 Samuel Chartier  18,400

15 1 Bruno Fitoussi  14,000
15 2 Jonathan Villeneuve 58,500
15 3 Jean-Noel Thorel 100,400
15 4 Yannick Del Curto 30,400
15 5 Ognjen Sekularac 47,900
15 6 Igor Malyshkov 20,200
15 7 JP Kelly 83,700
15 8 Sinel Anton 69,100
15 9 Nicolas Chouity 38,700

16 1 Jason Somerville 13,200
16 2 Dimitar Danchev 67,000
16 3 Roman Romanovsky 58,300
16 4 Andrey Zaichenko  42,000
16 5 Mikhail Petrov 19,550
16 6 Dragan Kostic 34,400
16 7 Michael Kolkowicz 93,600
16 8 Justin Bonomo 79,000
16 9 Vincenzo Andrea 26,400

17 1 Matthias De Meulder 23,900
17 2 Leon Viellevoije 30,900
17 3 Kyle Julius 16,600
17 4 Phil Ivey 72,000
17 5 Anton Ionel 7,200
17 6 Sebastian Veghinas 48,600
17 7 Martial Blangenwitsch 60,000
17 8 Andrey Demidov 104,400
17 9 Maksim Kolosov 40,700

18 1 Marc Zaicik 35,800
18 2 Timofey Kuznetsov 99,700
18 3 Humberto Brenes 77,700
18 4 Carlos Sanchez Vegas 53,600
18 5 Kut Fu Chow 27,600
18 6 Daniel Negreanu 22,400
18 7 Marcel Luske 63,200
18 8 Maxim Panyak 6,700
18 9 Elliot Smith 45,700

19 1 Vladislav Varlashin 20,700
19 2 Maria Ho 55,500
19 3 Adham Beainy 47,000
19 5 Maroun Jazzar 25,300
19 6 Walid Bou-Habib 85,700
19 7 Ben Warrington 104,800
19 8 Dermot Blain 66,000
19 9 Marco Falanga 34,300

20 1 Keven Stammen 46,800
20 2 Dmitry Grishin 81,300
20 3 Jose Carlos Garcia 12,100
20 4 Paul Testud 28,900
20 5 Spencer Hudson 57,900
20 6 Bolivar Palacios 65,600
20 7 Giacomo Maisto 23,200
20 8 Kunimaro Kojo 36,900
20 9 Dario Minieri 94,700

21 1 Yann Brosolo 18,200
21 2 Chanracy Khun 43,700
21 3 Andrey Kuznetsov 33,900
21 4 Zachary Clark 24,100
21 5 Michael Telker 60,900
21 6 Ole Nergard 80,500
21 7 Patrick Sacrispeyre 8,500
21 8 Jason Mercier 52,200
21 9 Mickey Petersen 98,800

22 1 Joackim Fissenko 24,000
22 2 Flavius Puica 54,400
22 3 Pavel Gonchakov 67,200
22 4 Christopher Hunichen 32,200
22 5 Annette Obrestad 82,400
22 6 Anatoly Gurtovoy 118,100
22 7 Joe Cada 17,000
22 8 Vincent Verdickt 4,700
22 9 Liv Boeree 44,900

23 1 Amit Makhija 32,000
23 2 Yury Gulyy 26,500
23 3 Joao Nunes 14,000
23 4 Sergey Baburin 21,400
23 5 Fabrice Soulier 73,300
23 6 Jonathan Karamalikis 89,600
23 7 Andrey Danilyuk 60,000
23 8 Terje Augdal 49,500
23 9 Jude Ainsworth 41,000

24 1 Malte Moennig 136,900
24 2 Rasmus Vogt 25,000
24 3 Marcus Hellner 17,800
24 4 William Thorson 31,000
24 5 Marius Pospiech 12,500
24 6 Cengiz Ulusu 114,300
24 7 Alexander Venovski 48,500
24 8 Isaac Baron 40,100
24 9 Pratyush Buddiga 69,900

25 1 Javier Gil Candelas 10,800
25 2 Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli 36,800
25 3 Martin Kabrhel 167,800
25 4 Richard Toth 52,900
25 5 Samir Moukawem 24,000
25 6 Bryan Piccioli 60,900
25 7 Oleksandr Vaserfirer  43,200
25 8 Robert Sova 17,400
25 9 Martin Finger 85,900

26 1 Ilan Boujenah 117,000
26 2 Noah Boeken  83,900
26 3 Erik Cajelais 45,300
26 4 Raphael Kroll 27,100
26 5 Chris Oliver 58,900
26 6 Darko Stojanovic 13,300
26 7 Tibor Nagygyorgy 19,900
26 8 Konstantin Tolokno 39,600
26 9 Andrey Pateychuk 67,800

27 1 Thomas Muhlocker 40,200
27 2 Mathew Frankland 81,500
27 3 Frank Koopmann 113,900
27 4 Andrea Dato 30,700
27 6 Ben Vinson 65,500
27 7 Pierre Neuville 51,100
27 8 Janos Molnar 16,700
27 9 Chris Moneymaker 24,000

28 1 Klimashin Nikolaevich 80,400
28 2 Habib Esses 12,600
28 3 Matt Perrins 95,100
28 4 Chao Fei Wang 44,700
28 5 Adria Balaguer 18,700
28 6 Fady Kamar 62,300
28 7 Martins Adeniya 24,900
28 8 Vadzim Kursevich 53,300
28 9 Anders Berg 31,800

29 1 Jason Wheeler 112,900
29 2 Erich Kollmann 12,300
29 3 Martin Staszko 26,600
29 4 Juha Lauttamus 35,700
29 5 Vladimir Troyanovski 86,700
29 6 Michael Watson 45,800
29 7 Mikhail Semin 59,000
29 8 Roberto Menache 68,200
29 9 Emile Petit 21,000

30 1 Andres Artinano 125,200
30 2 Jamie Rosen 9,100
30 3 Damien Rony 49,900
30 4 Paul Vas Nunes 21,700
30 5 Imad Derwiche 27,400
30 6 Vasili Firsau 87,300
30 7 Jonathan Azoulay 33,700
30 8 Adam Levy 66,800
30 9 Oleg Larichev 41,300

31 1 Thomas Dolezal 54,700
31 2 Kristian Lunardi 20,200
31 3 Lucille Cailly 63,500
31 4 Jonathan Ben Soussan 99,000
31 5 Paul Berende 82,100
31 6 Rupert Elder 36,100
31 7 Andrew Dean 14,300
31 8 Simeon Naydenov 28,200
31 9 Tony Viklund 46,000

32 1 Christopher Brammer 67,500
32 2 Igor Sharaskin 47,300
32 3 Ghosn Fadi 30,400
32 4 Mikhail Ustinov 58,000
32 5 David Vamplew 15,500
32 6 Franck Blanc 160,800
32 7 Dorde Jovanovic 40,000
32 8 Pedro Pellicer 21,400
32 9 Ana Marquez 85,200

33 1 Nikolay Losev 59,500
33 2 Michele D’Aniello 71,500
33 3 Michael Dietrich 88,600
33 4 Vadim Vadimovich Belov 22,100
33 5 Dan Shak 33,200
33 6 Jean-Philippe Piquette 15,110
33 7 Mikael Azoulay 41,200
33 8 Omar Jadaa 27,200
33 9 Stephen Chidwick 49,000

34 1 Tobias Reinkemeier 35,625
34 2 Eric Qu 51,600
34 3 Riu Cao 90,600
34 4 Jan Petersen 61,200
34 5 Daniel Gomez 41,800
34 6 Chady Merhej 75,300
34 7 Yngve Andersen 20,200
34 8 Giulio Mascolo 10,210
34 9 Tauras Narmontas 27,600

35 1 Salman Behbehani 41,400
35 2 Shane Sigsbee 52,300
35 3 Carlos Mironiuk 75,700
35 4 Philip Gurian 19,300
35 5 Samantha Cohen 93,500
35 6 Jorge Galino Lopez 5,100
35 7 Torsten Brinkmann 24,200
35 8 Emanoil Savin 60,700
35 9 Robert Shields 32,900

36 1 Oleksii Kovalchuk 65,600
36 2 Adrian Schaap 76,400
36 3 Erik Seidel 56,500
36 4 Hamad Almannai 91,400
36 5 Joao Ribeiro 29,600
36 6 Alexander Uskov 36,000
36 7 Talal Shakerchi 45,100
36 8 Viktor Ivanov 13,800
36 9 Amichai Tzvi Barer 22,900

37 1 Anton Thorarinsson 22,100
37 2 Bruno Lopes 57,600
37 3 William Reynolds 29,900
37 4 Jeffrey Rossiter 39,600
37 5 Pius Heinz 87,100
37 6 Thomas Gabriel 68,500
37 7 Tristan Clemencon 121,100
37 8 Marvin Rettenmaier 45,400
37 9 David Sonelin 12,200

38 1 Faraz Jaka 42,900
38 2 Salvatore Bianco 71,600
38 3 Martin Vallo 88,600
38 4 Kevin Vandersmissen 29,700
38 5 Michael Winkels 16,100
38 6 Angel Guillen 60,200
38 7 Viacheslav Goryachev 51,100
38 8 Ilkin Amirov 36,000
38 9 Toni Judet 22,500

39 1 John Andress 41,900
39 2 Marco Della Tommasina 60,200
39 3 Chris Moorman 19,100
39 4 Jorge Carlos Delgado 73,800
39 5 Joris Springael 11,600
39 6 Guillaume Darcourt 49,500
39 7 David Sands 160,300
39 8 Thomas Mjeldheim 34,600
39 9 Liutauras Armanavicius 25,500

40 1 Freddy Deeb 114,600
40 2 Ibrahim Ghassan 20,900
40 3 Daniel Reijmer 32,100
40 4 Antonino Venneri 15,000
40 5 Joel Bez 45,000
40 6 Georges Ghossan 53,500
40 7 Ondrej Vinklarek 83,200
40 8 Fatima Moreira de Melo 61,500
40 9 Philipp Gruissem 24,600

41 1 Isabelle Mercier 23,900
41 2 Jonathan Turner 40,200
41 3 Noshrevan Gadelia 1,000
41 4 Cristiano Guerra 31,400
41 5 Kenny Hallaert 61,300
41 6 Dan Abouaf 89,100
41 7 Alessandro De Michele 49,800
41 8 Jesus Esteve 75,200
41 9 Alain Roy 16,400

42 1 Anatoly Chen 26,200
42 2 Eduardo Borio Carlini 21,300
42 3 Philip Parsons 67,300
42 4 Georges Dib 96,300
42 5 Dori Yacoub 14,100
42 6 Oleg Bychkov 82,600
42 7 Sandra Naujoks 37,100
42 8 Leo Margets 55,100
42 9 Borge Dypvik 46,200

43 1 Dominykas Karmazinas 81,600
43 2 Bernard Guigon 57,300
43 3 Joep van den Bijgaart 13,400
43 4 Mohsin Charania 68,300
43 5 Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei 110,900
43 6 Mathieu Clavet 30,100
43 7 Jose Angel Latorre 46,800
43 8 Jesus Cortes 23,500
43 9 Freddy Darakjian 39,900

44 1 Robert-Andrei Pescaru 27,600
44 2 Andoni Larrabe Sánchez 181,300
44 3 Max Martinez 63,400
44 4 Jason Gray 34,600
44 5 Melanie Weisner 15,900
44 6 Sergio Castelluccio 83,100
44 7 Sergey Kishnev 50,600
44 8 JC Alvarado 43,000
44 9 Antoine Saout 22,300

Tournament snapshot
Level 9: blinds 400-800, ante 100
Players: 394 of 665
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Tags: australia | Baltic Poker Festival | barry-greenstein | european | france | news | pius heinz | pokerstars macau | portugal | Tony G | victor-ramdin | videos

In celebration of national stalking awareness day we’re going to give you the Twitter addresses of a whole bunch of Team PokerStars Pros. Go figure. As we mentioned yesterday, Twitter is a great way to keep a close eye on your favourite players when they’re on tour and at home (but in a safe sanctioned manner).

Some may be more prolific than others but you’ll certainly get some insight into the lives of the sponsored grinders, their tournament lives if not their day to day grind.

Theo Jorgensen: ‘What do you mean you don’t follow me?’

Just copy and paste the addresses of the pros that you’d like to follow into your Twitter search box to get started.

Alexander Kravchenko @kravchenko71
Ana Marquez @AnaMarquez86
André Akkari @aakkari
Angel Guillen @Boloban1
Arnaud Mattern @ArnaudMattern
Barry Greenstein @barrygreenstein
Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier @elkypoker
Bryan Huang @BryanHuang_
Celina Lin @Celina_Lin
Chad Brown @downtownchad
Charlotte Van Brabander @sjlot
Chris Moneymaker @CMONEYMAKER
Christian de Leon @Grillo24
Christophe de Meulder @crispokers
Dag Palovic @dagpalovic
Daniel Negreanu @realkidpoker + @Dnchips (for tournament updates)
Dario Minieri @DarioMinieri
David Williams @dwpoker
Eugene Katchalov @EugeneKatchalov
Fatima Moreiro de Melo @FatimaMdM
George Danzer @trickyscarfy
Henrique Pinho @Henrique_Policy
Humberto Brenes @humbertoshark
Ivan Demidov @IvanDemidovPs
Jan Heitmann @JanHeitmann
Jason Mercier @JasonMercier
Joao Nunes @jomanepokerpt
Joe Cada @Cada99
Johnny Lodden @johnnylodden
Jonathan Duhamel @JonathanDuhamel
Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero @nacho_barbero
Juan Manuel Pastor @pastorpoker
Jude Ainsworth @jainsworthpoker
Lex Veldhuis @RaSZi
Liv Boeree @liv_boeree
Luca Pagano @LucaPagano
Marcel Luske @MarcelLuske
Marcin Horecki @MarcinHorecki
Martin Hruby @AABenjaminAA
Martin Staszko @MStaszko
Matthias de Meulder @mattionfire
Maxim Lykov @superdecay
Michael Keiner @DocPoker
Nuno Coelho @zumytime
Pier Paolo Fabretti @P_Fabretti
Pius Heinz @MastaP89
Raymond Wu @RaymondSWu
Richard Toth @TothRichard
Rino Mathis @RinoMathis
Sandra Najouks @SandraNaujoks
Theo Jorgensen @Theo_Jorgensen
Toni Judet @toni_judet
Vanessa Rousso @VanessaRousso
Vanessa Selbst @vanessaselbst
Vicky Coren @VictoriaCoren
Victor Ramdin @victorramdin
Viktor Blom @realisildur1

Tournament snapshot
Level 15: blinds 1,500-3,000
Players: 132 of 745
Average stack: 169,500
Click here for live coverage and more features.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | christian | liv boeree | pca | planets | pokerstars | russian poker series | victor-ramdin

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

As mentioned already we have a lot of big names playing today. Here’s the seat draw that has been released to us but with late registration continuing for another hour yet we can expect some more names to be added.

There are some incredibly tough tables out there. Take a look for yourself.

Will Jonathan Duhamel’s 2012 heater continue?

1 1 The Duc Ngo
1 2 Stephan Rach
1 3 John Gale
1 4 Koray Aledmir
1 5 Jeff Hakim 
1 6 Andreas Lutz
1 7 Mihai Manole
1 8 Andreas Piesik
1 9 Russell Carson
1 10 Dmitry Stelmak

2 1 Samantha Cohen
2 2 Boris Becker
2 3 JP Kelly
2 4 Mazen Rishani
2 5 Eduard Bhaggoe
2 6 Steven Thomsen 
2 7 Erik Sturkenboom
2 8 Maksim Semisoshenko
2 9 Thorsten Bäuerle
2 10 Marcin Horecki

3 1 Antoine Nahas
3 2 Frank Sypplie
3 3 Igor Pihela
3 4 Mario Puccini
3 5 Frank Lemmer
3 6 Olaf Kadler
3 7 Mike Mcdonald
3 8 Ilias Dimitru
3 9 Andreas Puhl
3 10 Kenny Shih

4 1 Pierre Huter
4 2 David Kolmberger
4 3 Ismael Bojang
4 4 Marcel Schreiner
4 5 Alexander Eser
4 6 Nicolas Chouity 
4 7 Jörg Bartel
4 8 Selim Citak
4 9 Christopher McClung
4 10 Gerd Wandel

5 1 Kristian Verlaan
5 2 Vojtech Ruzicka
5 3 John Andress
5 4 Konstantinos Nanos
5 5 Amir Sonsino
5 6 Peter Jepsen
5 7 Sören Vöhrs
5 8 Agentur Teichmann
5 9 Christian Buse
5 10 Toni Judet

6 1 Khalil Youssafi
6 2 Ali Azabdaftar
6 3 Oleksandr Bichuch
6 4 Sascha Brombacher
6 5 Marc Radgen
6 6 Stefan Rapp
6 7 Daniel John Neilson
6 8 Heinz-Georg Geissler
6 9 Juha Helppi
6 10 Pius Heinz

7 1 Johannes Strassmann
7 2 Schahin Shad-Manfaat
7 3 Paul Knebel
7 4 Papacek Roman
7 5 Keven Stammen
7 6 Seppo Parkkinen
7 7 Florens Feenstra
7 8 Parker Talbot
7 9 Kakwan Lau
7 10 Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes

8 1 Jacques Quaiss
8 2 Nedzib Suman
8 3 William Thorson
8 4 Albert Bernardo
8 5 Mickey Petersen
8 6 Robert Rohr
8 7 Peter Akery
8 8 Erik Scheidt
8 9 Walter Beckmann

9 1 Matt Kay
9 2 Thomas Brauner
9 3 Stefan Modde
9 4 Gerasimos Deres
9 5 Jan Bendik
9 6 Jorge Ríos Ríos
9 7 Mikhail Korotkikh
9 8 Benjamin Kang 
9 9 Norman Balla
9 10 Roland Bachmann

10 1 Alexander Meidinger
10 2 Paul Würdig
10 3 Frederic Schwarzer
10 4 Tobias Reinkemeier
10 5 Shalom Turgeman
10 6 Ori Miller
10 7 Max Leonhard
10 8 Bernd Vogelhuber
10 9 Samer Hanna
10 10 Mikhail Semin

11 1 Alessandro Laubinger
11 2 Hendrik Dürschlag
11 3 Cengiz Ulusu
11 4 Karim Abillama
11 5 Fabrice Soulier
11 6 Jonathan Duhamel
11 7 Gaetano Dell Area
11 8 Jakob Karlsson
11 9 André Mayer
11 10 Fredrik Andersson

12 1 Jason Gray
12 2 Massimiliano Bellon Bellucci
12 3 Ramil Boyazitov
12 4 Dmitry Bayramov
12 5 Tim Bettingen
12 6 Jordan Addison Lewis
12 7 Jeff Sarwer
12 8 George Danzer
12 9 Timo Pfützenreuter
12 10 Thang Duc Nguyen

13 1 Stefan Höing
13 2 Jozef Hancin Hentz
13 3 Timothy Mitchell
13 4 Sebastian Winkler
13 5 Andreas Blumenthal
13 6 Arpad Sarkezi
13 7 Dominik Nitsche
13 8 Denis Noykin
13 9 Boris Caleta

14 1 Grayson Ramage
14 2 Zahlan Nabil
14 3 Carlos Gutierrez Gonzalez
14 4 Jordi Riba Corrons
14 5 Mustafa Navruz
14 6 Jan Djerberg
14 7 Kilian Kramer
14 8 Ben Thavisin
14 9 Marc Wright
14 10 Sandra Naujoks

15 1 Jan Kasten
15 2 Andreas Vlachos
15 3 Peter Zakrent
15 4 Kim Ofverstrom
15 5 Leroy Aussems
15 6 Franz Ditz
15 7 Dan Murariu
15 8 Matas Dilpsas
15 9 Peter Andersen
15 10 Bohdan Kozhokar

16 1 Walid Bou-Habib
16 2 Reinhard Dersch
16 3 Michael Wasserman
16 4 Jimmy Simard
16 5 Siyu Sha
16 6 Martin Finger
16 7 Jonathan Dennis Karamalikis
16 8 Michael Keiner 
16 9 Rolf Eibel
16 10 Matthew Jarvis

17 1 Richard Lyndaker
17 2 Paul Vas Nunes
17 3 Stefan Wrenger
17 4 Tony Stockhecke
17 5 Salman Behbehani
17 6 Grzegorz Derkowski
17 7 Per Emil Mattsson
17 8 Michael Zammar
17 9 Enrico Etienne Rudelitz
17 10 Paul Berende 

18 1 Andreas Setz
18 2 Jan Veit
18 3 Chaya Nabil
18 4 Alexander Isenberg
18 5 Cesar Garcia Domínguez
18 6 Andrew Badecker
18 7 Kim Lindqvist
18 8 Adolfo Vaeza
18 9 Uwe Sieben
18 10 Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier

19 1 Andre Vieira Andrade
19 2 Ihar Koshal
19 3 Yevgeniyy Timoshenko
19 4 Alex Kravchenko
19 5 Herbert Otto
19 6 Daniel Rodriguez
19 7 Athanasios Polychronopoulos
19 8 Tim Gerdes
19 9 Rino Mathis
19 10 Roman Romanovskyi

20 1 Jörg Krupp
20 2 Dr. Daniel Wichmann
20 3 Adam Szabo
20 4 Martin Herb
20 5 Victor Ilyukhin
20 6 Kimmo Kurko
20 7 David Jacob Licht
20 8 Vadzim Kursevich
20 9 Johannes Hoffmann
20 10 Raik Bernhardt

21 1 Guy Bachar
21 2 Liutauras Armanavicius 
21 3 Robert Merklinger
21 4 Peter Bosen
21 5 Roberto Romanello
21 6 Sharkota Siarhei
21 7 Halil Karaca
21 8 Wilfried Härig
21 9 Oleh Okhotskyi
21 10 Rhys Jones

22 1 Arvi Vainionkulma
22 2 Spencer Hudson
22 3 Filippo Bianchini
22 4 Erich Kollmann
22 5 Janne Juutilainen
22 6 Friedrich-Carl Alexander Franz
22 7 Konstantinos Tsirakidis
22 8 Andras Tokaji
22 9 Christian Krupp
22 10 Victor Ramdin

23 1 Lewis Hunter
23 2 Stefano Locorotondo
23 3 Stefan Huppa
23 4 Michael Winzen
23 5 Maik Schrader
23 6 Joni Jouhkimainen
23 7 Tomasz Krzesiñski
23 8 Dieter Christmann
23 9 Anton Ionel
23 10 Armin Daniel Zoike

24 1 Mikael Viuff Hansen
24 2 Frederik Jensen 
24 3 Rüdiger Seidel
24 4 Haritos Kalfopulos
24 5 Ruben Visser 
24 6 Stephan Klam
24 7 Markus Wetzel
24 8 Kim Lars Theibach
24 9 Constantin Meyer
24 10 Dmitry Vitkind 

25 1 Mario Walkner
25 2 Mathias Kasek
25 3 Michael Watson
25 4 Pietro Sibione
25 5 Marc Gork
25 6 Tim Finne 
25 7 Mohsen Jalal Tayfeh Shokor
25 8 Olaf Knebel
25 9 Jimmy Pan
25 10 Phillip Huxley

26 1 Richard Bruning
26 2 Pierre Fehner
26 3 Patrick Sacrispeyre
26 4 Daniel Smith
26 5 Govert Metaal
26 6 Zoltan Szabo
26 7 Giuseppe Pantaleo
26 8 Thomas Graupner
26 9 Weidong Wu
26 10 Ronny Purschwitz

27 1 Robertas Vaitkevicius
27 2 Joshua Prager
27 3 Andras Stumpf
27 4 Arnaud Mattern
27 5 Wim Eduard J Neys
27 6 Christoph Weigel
27 7 Garlef Konstantin Rinne 
27 8 Xuan Liu
27 9 Artem Litvinov
27 10 Paul Michaelis

28 1 Martin Mulsow
28 2 Mike Hoffmann
28 3 Jean-Philippe Rohr
28 4 Christian Jambor
28 5 Joe Ebanks
28 6 Andras Nemeth
28 7 Stephen Chidwick
28 8 Segey Baburin
28 9 Patrick Schlegel

29 1 Mariusz Klosinski
29 2 Jan Peter Jachtmann
29 3 Jari-Pekka Juhola
29 4 Teresio Ciancanelli
29 5 Jasper Wetemans
29 6 Martin Jacobson
29 7 Alex Kell
29 8 Steffen Schulz
29 9 Andrey Pateychuk

30 1 Kathrin Elena Schwierz
30 2 Simon Ravnsbaek
30 3 Константин Сергеевич Русских
30 4 Daniele Nestola
30 5 R.H.G. Van Bergen
30 6 Georgios Karakousis
30 7 Anton Kraus
30 8 Hannu Peltola
30 9 Leon Tsoukernik
30 10 Martin Stausholm

31 1 Moritz Kranich 
31 2 Yazbeck Georges
31 3 Sean Farshid Jazayeri
31 4 Davidi Kitai
31 5 Melvyn Van Der Sleen
31 6 Thijmen Stocker
31 7 Fabian Deimann
31 8 Tuncay Tutus
31 9 Daniel Yeheskel-Hai

32 1 Tobias Wagner
32 2 Steve O’Dwyer
32 3 Nguyen Minh
32 4 Simon Boss
32 5 Tyler Reiman
32 6 Urs Kohler
32 7 Charles Serry
32 8 David Boyaciyan
32 9 Ankush Mandavia

33 1 Javier Etayo
33 2 Alexander Just
33 3 Lex Veldhuis
33 4 Martin Tonnesen
33 5 Ilya Gorodetskiy 
33 6 Stefano Puccilli
33 7 Agris Klaise
33 8 Koen De Visscher
33 9 Matthew O’Brien

34 1 Juan Manuel Pastor
34 2 Filippo Marcolini
34 3 Zachary Korik
34 4 André Morath
34 5 Deniz Artuc
34 6 Peter Turmezey
34 7 Mikalai Pobal
34 8 André Fiedler 
34 9 Gregory Gokey

35 1 Ludovic Riehl
35 2 Jan Horni
35 3 Nima Saken Shaft
35 4 Rick Streefland
35 5 Andreas Wiese 
35 6 Manig Loeser
35 7 Christopher Lovett
35 8 Norbert Hölting
35 9 Jan-Eike Wilken

36 1 David Van Der Vorst
36 2 Vincent Van Der Fluit
36 3 Gianluca Marcucci
36 4 Thomas Dolezal
36 5 Bernd Werner
36 6 Adam Hui
36 7 Denys Drobyna
36 8 Robert Werner Zipf
36 9 Ghattas Kortas

37 1 Patrick Börnicke
37 2 Mikica Mitrovic
37 3 Marco Rederer
37 4 Raoul Refos
37 5 Michael Eichhorst
37 6 Guido Kempkes
37 7 Sorel Mizzi
37 8 Martin Vallo
37 9 Bahadir Kilickeser

38 1 Laurent David
38 2 Ben Wilinofsky
38 3 Adam Levy
38 4 Guy Boscart
38 5 Andrey Zaichenko
38 6 Baris Ergün
38 7 Viktor Blom
38 8 Friedrich Räz
38 9 Chris Moorman

39 1 Taylor Paur
39 2 Guy Goossens
39 3 Dominic Hofmann
39 4 Aschkan Fayaz
39 5 Menny Ben Haim
39 6 Mircea Puica
39 7 Mick Graydon
39 8 Bahram Zohri
39 9 Fernando Cimaglia
39 10 Youssef Mallat

40 1 Danny Neess
40 2 Thomas Cibak
40 3 Ivan Todorovic
40 4 Fatima Moreira de Melo
40 5 Michiel Brummelhuis
40 6 Dieter Albrecht
40 7 Kevin Iacofano
40 8 David Vamplew
40 9 Frederic Hebette

51 1 Griffin Benger
51 2 Charlotte Van Brabander
51 3 Marcin Jerzy Grzybowksi
51 4 Isaac Schachtel
51 5 Per Mattsson
51 6 Vladislav Varlashin
51 7 Markus Ristola
51 8 Daniel-Gai Pidun
51 9 Paulo Sarmento

52 1 Jason Wheeler
52 2 Rasmus Vogt
52 3 Michael Tureniec
52 4 Anthony Picault
52 5 Ivo Pester
52 6 Jimmy Östensson
52 7 Alfonso Amendola
52 8 Liv Boeree
52 9 Michael Landmann

53 1 Joao Nunes
53 2 Johan Van Til
53 3 Joris Fontaine
53 4 Mohamed Razab
53 5 Nicolas Gottner
53 6 Ion Pavel
53 7 Jan Collado
53 8 Nicolas Amaya Sanachez-Puga
53 9 Pierre Mothes

54 1 Simon Persson
54 2 Diogo Borges
54 3 Tobias Künzli
54 4 Per Linde 
54 5 Steven Van Zadelhoff
54 6 Alex Casals
54 7 Christian Togsverd 
54 8 Jamie Rosen
54 9 Nicolas Elias Bou Sader

55 1 Ilhan Sönmez
55 2 Saar Wilf
55 3 Ismail Yetis
55 4 Ramon Demon Cserei
55 5 Erik Van Den Berg
55 6 Andre Akkari
55 7 Aleh Plauski
55 8 Nuno Coelho
55 9 Nils Mallon

56 2 Farid Chatt
56 3 Calvin Anderson
56 4 Matthias De Meulder
56 5 Stephen David Leonard
56 6 Joao Ribeiro
56 8 Kevin MacPhee

57 2 Rupert Elder
57 3 Marvin Rettenmaier
57 4 Ville Wahlbeck
57 5 Jean Marie Vandeborne
57 6 Elio Fox
57 7 Senal Egziabher
57 9 Narendra Banwari

58 1 Nikolaus Teichert 
58 2 Kristian Lunardi
58 3 Yury Kerzhapkin 
58 5 Jason Tompkins
58 6 Christophe De Meulder
58 9 Julian Herold

Tags: elky | estrellas poker tour | eureka poker tour | european | harrah's | italian | micromillions | pca | world-series

No two hands of poker play out exactly the same. And it follows that no two tournament days are identical. However days 1A and 1B of UKIPT Nottingham, the latter of which has just finished at Dusk Till Dawn, certainly felt very similar indeed.

There was the crush at the start, the race for the alternates line, the queues at the player buffet and then the gradual but consistent drip, drip of eliminations. By the end of the 11th level – the 11th hour no less – there were only 123 players remaining from a starting field of 558.

The chip leader – as there will always be – is Ken Stean Isaksen from Norway. He bagged 227,600. Change the name, tinker only slightly with the numbers and yep, that’s what we had yesterday too.

Ken Isaksen, chip leader at end of day 1B

Other notable stacks at this stage include those in front of Jack McDermott (196,200), Ben Dobson (170,900) and Scott van der Vliet (163,100). And at various times today, we have also been diverted by the surge into contention of the likes of Mani Elmarsson (140,100) and, in particular, Tereza Brouckova from the Czech Republic, who was a relentless force for much of the evening. She fell late on but not before putting on a brief display of dominance that evoked memories of some of the major stars – the Obrestads, Minieris of this world.

Tereza Brouckova

Team Online’s Mickey Petersen has seen it all before and he ground and ground and ground today. And then two hands before the resumption, his day was done. Victor Ramdin, of Team PokerStars Pro, also swung by but lasted significantly less time. He bust within about three levels.

Mickey Petersen: ground it out, then bust

Victor Ramdin: Loving the touring life

Take a look back on how the day played out in our level-by-level updates, links to which are below. And then prepare to return at noon tomorrow for more of the same. I’m guessing once again there’ll be the crush at the start, the race for the alternates line, etc., etc., etc.

Levels 1-4 updates
Levels 5-7 updates
Levels 8-11 updates

All photos from Nottingham for PokerStars Blog are &copy Mickey May.

Tags: belgian poker series | eureka poker tour | lapt | nottingham | tcoop | victor-ramdin | wbcoop | wcoop