Poker News

The number of entrants for the 50K HORSE was at an all time low this year, with just 95 players entering.   Perhaps this is reflective of the economic climate rubbing off a little on the poker world.   Even 11 time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth is not in the field, although he does have an excuse as he is in the final 30 or so players of the $1500 PLO event.

 The 95 entrants are:

1. Martin Vallo  
2. David Bach  
3. Steve ‘MrSmokey1′ Billirakis   
4. Bill Chen  
5. James Van Alstyne   
6. Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu  (PokerStars Pro) 
7. David Benyamine (High stakes cash player)  
8. Andy Black  
9. Chad Brown    
10. Jeff Lisandro   (3 bracelets this series)
11. Phil Ivey   (2 bracelets this time around
12. Scotty Nguyen (Last years winner) 
13. Jani Sointula   
14. Johnny Chan  (10 time WSOP bracelet winner)
15. John Hennigan  
16. Vitaly Lunkin (Winner of the 40K NLHE event)
17. Eli Elezra    (High Stakes cash player)
18. Patrik Antonius  (High stakes cash player) 
19. Nikolay Evdakov  
20. Erick Lindgren  (Full Tilt Pro)
21. Erik Sagstrom   
22. Cory Zeidman   
23. Todd Brunson 
24. Pat Bueno  
25. Michael Saltzburg   
26. David Oppenheim  
27. Freddy Deeb (2007 50K HORSE Winner)  
28. Rob Hollink   
29. Zac Fellows   
30. Howard “The Professor” Lederer    
31. Doyle Brunson  (10 time WSOP Bracelet winner)
32. Hasan Habib   
33. Jon ‘PearlJammer’ Turner  
34. Ralph Perry   
35. John Hanson   
36. Pat Pezzin   
37. Alexander Kravchenko  (WSOP ME Final tablist)
38. Abe Mosseri  
39. Allan Kessler  
40. Bryan Colin  
41. Gabe Kaplan  (Poker Commentator)
42. Barry Greenstein  (PokerStars Pro)
43. Scott Clements   (Full Tilt Pro)
44. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow   (Full Tilt Pro)
45. Justin ‘Boosted J’ Smith  (High stakes cash pro)
46. Annie Duke  (UB Pro)
47. John Monnette  
48  Nick Schulman  
49. Daniel Alaei  
50. Steve Sung   
51. David Grey  
52. Fabrice Souiler   
53. Chau Giang   
54. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson  (Former WSOP ME Winner) 
55. Dustin Sitar  
56. Joe Cassidy  
57. David Chiu   
58. Jerry Buss   
59. Erik Seidel  (Full Tilt Pro)
60. John Juanda   (Full Tilt Pro) 
61. Greg Mascio  
62. Brett Richey  
63. Kirill Rabtsov   
64. Thor Hansen   
65. Farzad Bonyadi  
66. Justin Bonomo  
67. Matt Hawrilenko   
68. Dan Shak   
69. Gus Hansen (Full Tilt Pro)
70. Jennifer Harman  (Full Tilt Pro)
71. Matt Glantz  
72. Max Pescatori  (Full Tilt Pro)
73. Ville Wahlbeck  
74. Mikhail Tulchinskiy    
75. Greg Raymer  (Former WSOP ME winner)
76. Jim Bechtel    
77. Mike Wattel   
78. Bruno Fitoussi  
79. Jason Gray   
80. Frank Kassela  
81. Alexander Kostritsyn   
82. Yuval Bronshtein  
83. Yoshio Nakano  
84. Huck Seed  (Formers WSOP ME winner)
85. Alexander Jung  
86. John Kabbaj  (Bracelet winner this year)
87. Steve Zolotow   
88. Andy Bloch   
89. Tony G 
90. Frank Cremen   
91. Ali Eslami  
92. David Singer   
93. Matthew Grapenthien   
94. Ray Dehkharghani  
95. Yan Chen

Amazingly Jeff Lisandro has now won 3 (yes, three!) WSOP Bracelets at the current series.   First he won event 16, the $1500 7-Card Stud event. Then he won event 37, the $10,000 Stud hi-lo.  And then after that he won event 44, the $2500 Razz event.  These 3 bracelets definately highlight him to the world as one of the best Stud players on the planet. 

Event 16 - Bracelet No.1 - Winning $124,959
Event 37 - Bracelet No.2 - Winning $431,656
Event 44 - Bracelet No.3 - Winning $188,370

There was just a big cock-up in the WSOP Event 40.  The players were on a break, and staff went around the tables to do some chipping up.   However they managed to chip up the yellow and blue chips the wrong way around, doh, and completely messed up the stacks at the tables.

About an hours play was lost whilst they corrected the mistakes, and some frustration grew amongst the players, who just had to sit around waiting.

Full Tilt Poker are doing a series which tracks the events in the World Series of Poker (WSOP).  It is called the Mini Series of Poker (MSOP).  There are 57 events in total.

Every winner, on top of obviously all the cash, also wins a limited edition Champions watch.

1 May 27th 15:20 $5+$0.50 No Limit Holdem
2 May 28th 15:20 $400+$28 No Limit Holdem
3 May 29th 15:20 $15+$1.50 Omaha Hi/Lo
4 May 30th 15:20 $10+$1 No Limit Holdem
5 June 1st 15:20 $15+$1.50 Pot Limit Omaha
6 June 1st 20:20 $100+$9 7-Stud Hi
7 June 2nd 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Holdem
8 June 2nd 20:20 $25+$2.50 Razz
9 June 3rd 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Holdem 6-max
10 June 3rd 20:20 $25+$2.50 PL HA
11 June 4th 15:20 $20+$2 No Limit Holdem
12 June 4th 20:20 $100+$9 Mixed Holdem
13 June 5th 15:20 $25+$2.50 No Limit Hold’em
14 June 5th 20:20 $25+$2.50 Limit Holdem 6-max
15 June 6th 15:30 $50+$5 No Limit Holdem
16 June 6th 20:20 $15+$1.50 7-Stud Hi
17 June 7th 15:20 $10+$1 No Limit Holdem
18 June 7th 20:20 $100+$9 Omaha Hi/Lo
19 June 8th 15:20 $25+$2.50 No Limit Hold’em 6-max
20 June 9th 15:20 $15+$1.50 Pot Limit Holdem
21 June 9th 20:20 $30+$3 HORSE
22 June 10th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
23 June 10th 20:20 $100+$9 Razz
24 June 11th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em
25 June 11th 20:20 $25+$2.50 OE
26 June 12th 15:20 $15+$1.50 Limit Holdem
27 June 12th 20:20 $50+$5 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
28 June 13th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em
29 June 13th 20:20 $100+$9 NL Hold’em Heads Up
30 June 14th 15:20 $25+$2.50 Pot Limit Omaha
31 June 14th 20:20 $15+$1.50 HORSE
32 June 15th 15:20 $20+$2 No Limit Hold’em
33 June 15th 20:20 $100+$9 Limit Hold’em 
34 June 16th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em 
35 June 17th 15:20 $50+$5 Pot Limit Omaha
36 June 18th 15:20 $20+$2 No Limit Hold’em
37 June 18th 20:20 $100+$9 7-Stud Hi/Lo 
38 June 19th 15:20 $20+$2 Limit Hold’em 
39 June 20th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em
40 June 20th 20:20 $100+$9 Pot Limit Omaha
41 June 21st 15:30 $50+$5 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
42 June 21st 20:20 $25+$2.50 HEROS
43 June 22nd 15:20 $10+$1 No Limit Hold’em
44 June 22nd 20:20 $25+$2.50 Razz
45 June 23rd 15:20 $100+$9 Pot Limit Hold’em
46 June 23rd 20:20 $25+$2.50 Omaha Hi/Lo
47 June 24th 15:20 $25+$2.50 Mixed Hold’em
48 June 25th 15:20 $15+$1.50 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
50 June 26th 20:20 $15+$1.50 Limit Hold’em Shootout
51 June 27th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em
52 June 28th 15:20 $30+$3 No Limit Hold’em (Triple Chance)
53 June 28th 20:20 $15+$1.50 Stud Hi/Lo $
49 June 28th 21:30 $500+$35 HORSE 
54 June 29th 15:20 $15+$1.50 No Limit Hold’em 
55 June 30th 20:20 $25+$2.50 Razz
56 June 30th 15:30 $50+$5 No Limit Hold’em 6-max
57 (Main Event) July 5th 15:00 $100+$9 No Limit Hold’em

Phil Ivey, widely regarded as quite possibly the best poker player on the planet, has won his 6th and 7th WSOP Bracelets.  Yes, a second player to get 2 bracelets this year!  Phil Ivey is a Full Tilt pro, and he cements what is looking to be a great year for the Full Tilt pros, with Vitaly Lunkin, Nick Schulman, and Roland de Wolfe all also picking up bracelets

Event 8 - $2500 NL 2-7 Draw

1 $ 96,361 Phil Ivey  
2 $ 59,587 John Monnette  
3 $ 38,892 Yan Chen  
4 $ 26,757 Eric Kesselman  
5 $ 19,346 Rodeen Talebi  
6 $ 14,663 Raphael Zimmerman  
7 $ 11,627 Elia Ahmadian  
8 $ 8,453 Layne Flack

Event 25 - $2500 Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo

1 $ 220,538 Phil Ivey  
2 $ 136,292 Ming Lee  
3 $ 89,342 Carlos Mortensen  
4 $ 61,919 Dutch Boyd  
5 $ 45,237 Jon Turner  
6 $ 34,747 Eric Buchman  
7 $ 27,993 Tom Koral  
8 $ 23,600 Peter Gelencser

Brock “t soprano” Parker has managed to win two WSOP bracelets in a matter of days.  He first won Event 14, and then literally entered Event 19 as soon as his heads-up battle was complete, and then went on to win that one as well.   In a place where bracelets are like literally rare-gems which many poker players would be lucky to get 1 of in their lifetime, Brock managed to get two of them within under a week.

Brock Parker is a well known and respected online player, who plays under the alias ID of “t soprano” on PokerStars.   He has got around $1.5 million in winnings from the site, from 4731 tournaments, converting $364,738 of that to profit at an ROI of 33%.   Some of his poker friends have won bracelets before, but not to be outdone, Brock now has two of them.

Event 14 - $2500 Limit Holdem 6-max

1 $ 223,688 Brock Parker  
2 $ 138,280 Daniel Negreanu  
3 $ 89,660 Tommi Horkko  
4 $ 60,885 Kevin Hong  
5 $ 43,201 Barry Shluman  
6 $ 31,966 Kyle Ray  
7 $ 23,179 Jim Buckley  
8 $ 23,179 Shawn Buchanan  
9 $ 16,814 Nikolay Losev  
10 $ 16,814 Robert Como  
11 $ 12,197 Jimmy Tran  
12 $ 12,197 Franklin Kline Jr.

Event 19 - $2500 NL Holdem 6-max

1 $ 552,745 Brock Parker  
2 $ 341,783 Joseph Serock  
3 $ 220,633 Russell Crane  
4 $ 148,661 Jesse Rios  
5 $ 104,323 Alexander Wilson  
6 $ 76,123 Clayton Newman  
7 $ 54,777 James Sudworth  
8 $ 54,777 Brian Meinders  
9 $ 39,376 Jay Kinkade  
10 $ 39,376 Alex Ivarsson
11 $ 28,297 Brian Friesen  
12 $ 28,297 Yariv Levi

Brock’s previous best live result before this time was a 6th place in the $10,000 Limit Event in the 2008 WSOP, where he won $102,460

Thang Luu amazingly retained his $1500 Omaha hi-lo WSOP title.   In 2008 it was Event 6, and there were 833 entrants, and he won $243,356.  In 2009 the event was slightly earlier in the schedule being Event 3.  This time there were 918 entrants, and Thang Luu won it again, netting $263,135.  A fantastic acheivement.

1 $ 263,135 Thang Luu  
2 $ 162,110 Ed Smith  
3 $ 106,373 Ming Reslock  
4 $ 73,405 Robert Price  
5 $ 53,293 Pascal Leyo  
6 $ 40,612 Jordan Rich  
7 $ 32,404 Jim Geary  
8 $ 27,029 Freddy Deeb  
9 $ 23,520 Senovio Ramirez III  
10 $ 16,829 Sebastian Ruthenberg  
11 $ 16,829 Lee Mougous  
12 $ 16,829 Richard Toth  
13 $ 12,669 Micah Brooks  
14 $ 12,669 Dan Spear  
15 $ 12,669 Adam Quiggle  
16 $ 9,899 Edgar Cheng  
17 $ 9,899 William Seale  
18 $ 9,899 Henry Hull

The 2009 WSOP starts this evening in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.   The premium tournemant series of the poker calendar.

 Tonight we start off with the highest buy-in NL Holdem event in the series 40 years history.  It’s a massive $40,000 buy-in and likely to attract a very premium field of players.

Barry Greenstein, the robin hood of poker, has made a prediction of just over 220 players.  I am sure he wont be far wrong.  

The starting chips for this event are a very nice 120,000 with the blinds starting at 200/400.  Blind intervals run at 60 mins per level.  There is plenty of room for a lot of skill, and I wouldnt be surprised to see a final table of at least 5 or 6 very big names.   Great for entertainment purposes, so look out for it.

We’ll do some round ups later into the series but for now, good luck at the tables.

KipsterDK won the PokerStars Sunday Million for the second time in just over a year this weekend just gone.  An amazing achievement only done by a couple of players, Legato being one other.

He first won the event back in 27th April 2008 where there was a 5-way chop and he went on to win.  The prize money he won that time was $149,861

Then fast forward 1 year and there were 7177 players entered into the PokerStars Sunday Million this week with KipsterDK from Copenhagen in Denmark eventually emerging as the winner, again!

1st: KipsterDK ($206,834.57)
2nd: philipoo ($174,580.93)
3rd: praetoriancz ($129,139.50)
4th: bbs99 ($79,500.00)
5th: Pokermon1960 ($61,500.00)
6th: guideguy ($46,500.00)
7th: TUGA_ACE ($32,250.00)
8th: Poker Man ($18,000.00)
9th: aakkari ($11,625.00)

There was a 3-way chop this time, with KipsterDK and philipoo getting near even amounts and praetoriancz getting 9K more than the official 3rd place amount.   KipsterDK then went on to take down the event and the extra 30K left on the table.

Winning this event twice is a truely remarkable feat.  Congrats to Kipster for some epic pwnage.

A notable finish also for PokerStars Pro aakkari as well, who final tabled, finishing in 9th

The high stakes cash tables on Full Tilt contain some of the best poker players in the world.  But who are the big winners and losers, and who are the most consistant players?

Winners (Total Profit on Full Tilt for 2008)

Phil Ivey $7.328.672,04  (96203 hands)
OMGClayAiken $7.080.790,21  (154760 hands)
durrrr $5.413.470,30  (223259  hands)
Urindanger $3.673.050,78  (168811 hands)
trex313 $3.492.242,32  (144,748 hands)
David Benyamine $2.939.865,49  (241499 hands)
howisitfeellike $2.668.631,60  (46387 hands) 
CHUFTY $2.368.891,85  (138715 hands)
La Key U $2.098.427,69  (77221 hands)
David Oppenheim $1.695.769,85  (21990 hands)
Ziigmund $1.608.285,92  (136920 hands)
sunra18 $1.333.077,40 (36610 hands)
-NoName- $1.225.677,94  (67317 hands)
Patrik Antonius $1.224.799,42  (105082 hands)
ICallSoWhat $1.215.640,70  (145112 hands)
Nuts78 $1.160.515,30  (17404 hands)
LarsLuzak $1.031.101,89  (40661 hands)
Eli Elezra $874.133,30  (46902 hands)
ByTheBy $795.518,50  (29098 hands)
ActionJeff $763.247,50  (1222 hands)
EazyPeazy $760.659,60  (28081 hands) 
The_Houdini $718.529,45  (74517 hands)
Eila $681.957,10  (65297 hands)
slaktarn $681.625,80  (24431 hands)
dingepling $618.844,80  (13419 hands)
DIN_FRU $604.413,40  (23868 hands)
LIMPA_DIRR $573.807,50  (69785 hands)
Nebuchad $567.812,69  (35162 hands)
mastrblastr $564.560,75  (29428 hands)
PrtectYaNeck $551.914,15  (20766 hands)

Losers (Total Profit on Full Tilt in 2008)

lady marmelade $-6.632.177,45 (36712 hands) 
patatino $-4.328.466,38  (36496 hands)
elmariachimacho $-4.161.883,92  (18862 hands)
Bleachbum $-1.097.457,00  (8562 hands)
luvtheWNBA $-1.041.669,15  (38970 hands)
John Juanda $-1.023.810,50  (37548 hands)
SteveSung $-1.010.158,75  (61497 hands) 
PostflopAction $-999.256,10  (29973 hands)
noataima $-990.652,40  (9279 hands) 
MSampoerna $-945.242,15  (23453 hands)
Gus Hansen $-931.681,64  (219932  hands)
Cole South $-891.619,45  (33126 hands)
Ugadabugada $-876.097,20  (30522 hands)
tsarrast $-795.047,00  (64375 hands)
whitelime $-778.657,30  (14130  hands)
Idontgiveashi $-741.906,50  (7201 hands)
halfdozen999 $-740.696,25  (34939 hands)
KObyTAPOUT $-720.660,60  (22493 hands)
MR B 2 U SON $-709.715,70  (34835 hands)
mrcall912 $-703.911,35  (6164 hands)
theASHMAN103 $-688.203,85  (46323 hands)
FakeSky $-677.636,30  (13128 hands)
Mike Matusow $-673.633,75  (34954 hands)
Eric Liu $-647.409,20  (32444 hands)
ahtata $-643.490,50  (5762  hands)
PixKim $-640.664,25  (85078 hands)
PAKD650 $-621.948,00  (10559  hands)
thecranium $-566.652,40  (5175 hands)
Niki Jedlicka $-565.555,60  (19356 hands)
DaEvils $-561.487,90  (24413 hands)

2009 Winners to Date
 
Patrik Antonius $5.135.292,22  (68850 hands)
trex313 $3.009.023,32  (65292  hands)
Phil Ivey $1.938.949,38  (45382 hands)
Gus Hansen $1.922.973,07  (117264 hands) 
Mark Vos $1.877.845,95  (8677 hands)
Ziigmund $1.761.102,29  (46607 hands)
__FullFlush1__ $1.014.530,00  (25632 hands)
PostflopAction $675.211,85  (9234 hands)
SirWatts $499.684,30  (6753 hands)
luckexpress10 $491.977,91  (41434 hands)

2009 Losers to Date

durrrr $-2.346.302,44  (105503 hands) 
MR B 2 U SON $-1.669.033,56  (16651 hands)
LarsLuzak $-1.597.169,11  (70768 hands)
papa ninja $-1.245.031,65  (4766 hands)
ahtata $-971.744,05  (7115  hands)
Urindanger $-771.297,80  (44185 hands)
HarrisMP $-734.921,30  (10857 hands)
Brian Hastings $-722.910,26  (3663 hands)
world1969 $-674.313,10  (5067  hands)
Chau Giang $-652.723,55  (7726 hands)