Seidel Leads, Ivey Lurks at WPT London

Playing in his record 101st World Poker Tour event, Erik Seidel took the lead on Day 1a of the inaugural WPT London Poker Classic Monday.

Seidel sits atop 31 survivors from a starting field of 72 at The Palm Beach Casino in London, although the list of names in the hunt is a rather daunting one.

2009 November Niner Phil Ivey worked his way up to fourth in chips by the time play wrapped, while names like Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz, Praz Bansi and Huck Seed sit within striking distance.

Seidel has $10,350,014 in career tournament earnings, including eight WSOP bracelets and a WPT title.

He and Kathy Liebert are the only players to have entered 100 WPT main events.

Day 1b at the London Poker Classic is expected to draw an even larger field Tuesday, with British pros Chris Moorman and Neil Channing registered to play.

The final table will play out this Saturday.

European Poker Tour — Vilamoura Main Event Begins Saturday

The PokerStars European Poker Tour pulls into the shores of Portugal beginning tomorrow at noon. The €5,000 EPT Vilamoura no-limit hold’em main event will run from August 28 until a champion is crowned at the final table on Wednesday, September 2. Last year Antonio Matias topped a field of 321 opponents to win the inaugural EPT event in Portugal and he took home €404,793.

Players will begin with 30,000 in chips and blinds begin at 50-100. Levels will be 60 minutes long on day 1 and then they will increase to 75 minutes in length thereafter. You can follow along with all of the action from EPT Vilamoura on the PokerStars blog feed daily, and you can watch everything from the final two days of the event on the EPT Live video feed. Check back at the end of play each night for a full recap of the day’s events starting with the conclusion of Day 1B.

Here is a look at the full schedule for the EPT Vilamoura main event:

Saturday, Aug. 28: Day 1A
Sunday, Aug. 29: Day 1B
Monday, Aug. 30: Day 2
Tuesday, Aug. 31: Day 3
Wednesday, Sept. 1: Day 4 (play down to 8 players)
Thursday, Sept. 2: Final Table

2009 EPT Vilamoura:

Buy-in: €5,300
Number of Entries: 322
Total Prize Pool: €1,561,700
First-Place Prize: €404,793
Places Paid: 48

Final-Table Results:

1: Antonio Matias — €404,793
2: Pierre Neuville — €257,681
3: Jeff Sarwer — €156,170
4: Jan Skampa — €117,128
5: Joao Silva — €78,085
6: Michael Abecassis — €62,468
7: Ryan Franklin — €46,851
8: Andrei Vlasenko — €31,234

Ivey Clashes with Dwan

Perhaps bored of the competition, Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan took aim at each other last night.

The pair played for over two hours, recording 132 hands in $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha, 108 hands of $500/$1,000 Cap No-Limit Hold’em and 66 hands of $500/$1,000 Cap PLO.

Ivey was unstoppable in each game as he won a total of $210,160 from Dwan over all three variants. He did most of his damage in the $500/$1,000 Cap PLO game where he won $79,974 alone.

Dwan, who didn’t seem to be running particularly well in the matches, decided to eventually quit after receiving two consecutive bad beats.

In the final hand of the match Ivey rivered a flush against Dwan and that was enough to finally send the pride of Edison, New Jersey, packing.

Ivey, who seems to be hell-bent on draining every account on Full Tilt, was not finished and went on to play a three-handed match of $300/$600 PLO against CardRunners instructor Cole South and Finnish cash game wizard Jani Vilmunen, where he picked up $196,761.

Add in another $28,977 from Limit Hold’em against IHateJuice and deprimiert and Ivey finished the day with $435,899 in profit. That takes him up to $2.8 million for 2010.

Of course there is one player still ahead of him on the earnings leaderboard. Despite losing 69,961 last night, Dwan is still up $4.5 million for the year.

Dan “Jungleman12″ Cates, who didn’t play yesterday, is still third with $2.4 million.

Article Source: Pokerlistings.com

A Winning Combination—Football and Bodog Poker’s Sunday $100K Guaranteed

Summer is winding down, new seasons of our favorite TV shows will soon premiere, and professional football is gearing back up. Of course it is only preseason, but the real thing will be here before you know it. And what better way to spend Sunday afternoons than watching your favorite teams battle it out on the turf and winning your share of $100K at Bodog Poker?

Bodog Poker’s weekly $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament pays out the full juicy amount regardless of how many people register and play. On Sunday, August 22, 624 players competed for their share of the $100K Guaranteed. Bodog Poker added $6,400 to the prize pool with redman7027 taking down a $23,600 first place prize. PocketAids earned a $13,600 second place prize and mickeyh06 pocketed $9,100 for a third place finish.

There are multiple ways of getting into the $150+$12 buy-in tournament. You can work your way up to the Sunday $100K Final from the Cheap Seat Qualifiers starting at just $1, enter a qualifier with your Bodog Poker Points, or simply buy in. Cheap Seat tournaments run daily at 1:40AM ET and at 8:00AM  ET each day except Wednesday. One player for every $34 in the prize pool wins a seat to the $100K Semifinal Sit n Go.

The $100K Semifinal Sit n Go runs all day every day. First place finishers win 162 tournament points and second place receives 27 points. Every day at 11:30AM ET and Sunday through Thursday at 11:45PM ET, a buy-in of $7 + 0.70 gets you into a $100K Semifinal with rebuys. One player for every $162 in the prize pool will win enough Tournament Credits to buy into the $100K Guaranteed. Or join the $7 + 0.70 Semifinal with rebuys on Friday and Saturday at 11:45PM ET and Saturday at 3:05 PM ET, when the top 10 finishers are guaranteed a seat in the $100K.

The $16 + $1 Semifinal runs every day at 6:30AM ET and 8:05 PM ET and on weekends at 10:30 PM ET. One player for every $162 in the prize pool will win enough Tournament Credits to enter the Sunday $100K Guaranteed. Or for $16 + $1, you can buy into a Semifinal tournament on Sundays at 12:15 PM ET, when the first 10 seats in the Sunday $100K are guaranteed.

You can also use 750 of your Bodog Poker Points to enter a qualifying tournament on Sundays at 12:20PM ET and 14:20PM ET. One player for every 20 entered will win 162 Tournament Credits. Or you can buy-in to a qualifier tournament for just $20 + $2 daily at 10:15PM ET. One player for every $162 in the prize pool will win enough Tournament Credits for a seat in $100K Guaranteed. And if all else fails, you can buy into the Sunday $100K Guaranteed for $150 + $12.

Whatever your skill set as a poker player, Bodog’s $100K Guaranteed Tournament is the perfect chance for a big cash payday. Just pick your level of qualifying tournament to compete in during the week and work your way up to the $100K Guaranteed, held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET.

In addition to the $100K Sunday Tournament, Bodog Poker offers guaranteed tournaments daily with nearly $4 million guaranteed per month. Win big in one today!

Makhija Digs Legends Vibe

Although he didn’t win a bracelet, Amit Makhija is coming off about as good a World Series of Poker as one could hope for.

Now he can’t help but feel good to be home.

One final table this summer, a deep run in the $10k PLO and a cash in the Main Event that added a total of $225k to his $1.5 million-plus in career tournament earnings certainly put a smile on his face.

“I didn’t even play that many tournaments, so I was happy with it,” he said.

And while a lot of players take a break from the live game after the grind of the series, Makhija was able to keep the ball rolling.

“I feel like I am at the top of my game right now,” he said. “And I actually did not take a break from live poker. I’ve been playing a lot of live cash games, home games and what not.

“I just played in the PokerStars Big Game the other day. I’ve been active and I feel like I’m playing really good lately.”

The summer was great, but the truth is the entire calendar year has been a good one for Makhija, with solid live and online results piling up.

It’s a great contrast from what he felt was a down year in 2009.

“I feel like in ’09 I didn’t play my best poker, I had a little bit of that too much money syndrome,” he explained.

“I think I had too good a 2008 and didn’t really play my best. This year I really feel like I’m on my A-game.”

It’s also happens to be the perfect time for Makhija to be playing his best, returning this week to the scene of his biggest score.

Makhija made runner-up to John Phan in the 2008 WPT Legends of Poker for $563,320 and returning to the Bike, and his new home in Hollywood, brings nothing but good energy.

“I seem to run good in this building,” he said. “Great vibes. I’m just really in my comfort level here. I’m just going to try to make another deep run in this thing, make a final table and see what happens.”

To that end, he ran his stack up from 35k at the start of the day to 205,000 in the late stages and appears primed for that deep run.

To follow his progress and the entire WPT Legends main event, click through to PokerListings’ WPT Live Updates.

World Poker Tour — Legends of Poker Day 1A

Day 1A at the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event began at 1 p.m on Friday, August 20. A total of 186 players joined the action on the first day offered and at the end of the night 90 remained.

Notable professionals that hit the rail during the day included David Pham, David Baker, Dwyte Pilgrim, Billy Baxter, Bruce Buffer, Faraz Jaka, Justin Smith, Lauren Kling, Soheil Shamseddin, Greg Mueller, Jimmy Tran, Hasan Habib (pictured right), and Jerry Yang. Habib hung on for most the day, but he fell in a big hand during the last level of the day.

Seat 9 limped in early position and Franco Brunetti and Steve Brecher also limped before Habib raised all in for his final 6,000 preflop. Seat 9 reraised to 15,000 and Brunetti made the call. Brecher mucked and then both live players checked the flop of Q 10 5. The turn brought the 5 and seat 9 checked. Brunetti bet and his opponent made the call. The river fell 8 and Seat 9 checked. Brunetti moved all in for 16,000 and his opponent made the call after some thought. Their cards:

Habib: 10 10
Brunetti: Q Q
Seat 9: A A

Habib was eliminated on the hand while Brunetti grew his stack above 100,000. He increased his stack to 124,575 by the end of play, good for fifth chip-position.

Many professionals have survived to day 2 which will take place on Sunday. They include Maria Ho, Chris Moore, Ali Eslami, Dan O’Brien, Phil Collins, Jason Mercier, Steve Brecher, Kristy Gazes, Zach Clark, Ray Henson, Tom West, Allen Bari, Allen Kessler, Chad Brown, Mark Newhouse, and Marco Johnson. Some of the familiar faces that advanced did so with big chip stacks. Raymond Dolan (165,500), Tim Phan (110,700), McLean Karr (107,200), and Barry Greenstein (100,675) all ended the night with six-figure chip stacks. They will all be chasing the overnight chip leader Manuel Reyes, who ended play with 205,350.

Dolan (pictured left) made the biggest gain during the final level of play this evening. He won a huge hand that has him well on his way to making another final table in Los Angeles. He was the runner up at the 2009 WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event.

His fortuitous hand began when Steve Brecher raised to 1,100 in early position and Dolan made the call. The big blind then made it 2,200 to go and both Brecher and Dolan made the call. The flop fell A-Q-10 and the big blind checked. Brecher bet 3,500 and Dolan raised to 8,100 total. The big blind then moved all in for 50,000 and Brecher mucked. Dolan made the call and he flipped over K-J for a Broadway straight. His opponent turned over pocket aces and neither the turn nor river was able to reverse his fate.

You can check out some of the other big hands from the day on the live reporting page for the WPT Legends tournament on CardPlayer.com.

Here is a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of play:

1. Manuel Reyes — 205,350
2. Raymond Dolan — 165,500
3. Max Casal — 138,500
4. Ken Michelman — 125,200
5. Franco Brunetti — 124,575
6. Mike Baxter — 117,700
7. Tim Phan — 110,700
8. McLean Karr — 107,200
9. Barry Greenstein — 100,675
10. Craig Bergeron — 95,400

Day 1B will begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow and a larger field is expected at the Bicycle Casino when cards get into the air. Stay tuned to Card Player for live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos from this WPT championship event.

Full Tilt Fever: TyboVegas Wins FTOPS XVII Main Event to End Series

The latest and greatest running of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series is in the books, and FTOPS XVII certainly did make history by becoming the biggest of its 17 series since its launch in 2006. And though opportunities to get in on this one are long gone, there will likely be another FTOPS planned for the later months of 2010.

FTOPS XVII produced some stellar results. Out of 34 events that began on August 4, there was only an overlay in four of them. With a guaranteed cumulative prize pool of $19 million, the actual numbers catapulted that figure up to $20,598,444. There were a total of 61,150 players who participated in the 34 tournaments, and thousands of them walked away with payouts for their play.

Some of the highlighted winners in the tournaments included Brent “BRoberts85” Roberts in Event 1, Full Tilt Pro Brandon Adams in Event 14, and Mickey “Mement_mori” Petersen in Event 27. And Mike “chapmoney” Chapp was able to claim two FTOPS titles over the 12 days of the most recent series, and that feat helped him rise to the top of the FTOPS leaderboard. For winning the leaderboard challenge, he won a prize package worth nearly $10,000 that includes entries to all but one of the tournaments in the next FTOPS. As far as Full Tilt Pros were concerned, Adams did win the aforementioned title, Chris Ferguson took home a significant cash for placing fifth in Event 13 for almost $70K, and Dave Colclough cashed in five of the tournaments he played.

The $600 + $40 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event on August 15 was watched by poker fans all over the world, as it boasted of a $3 million prize pool and several six-figure payouts to the top performers. Out of 4,805 players, there were only two left when a deal was made for the remainder of the prize money, and that left DQnk with $446,942, while the ultimate winner – TyboVegas – took home a bit less with a prize of $423,057.

While it is certainly too late to take part in the latest FTOPS, there is something waiting for poker players just around the corner. MiniFTOPS is scheduled for a September 8 start, and all of the tournaments are identical to the recent FTOPS schedule with the one exception that the buy-ins are only 1/10th of the price. The challenges, contests, and event options are the same, but the cheaper entries will allow many more players to play within their bankrolls. And there will be more than $6 million in guarantees for the 34 events!

For those whose bankrolls still lack the ability to allow play in $20 and $30 buy-in events, there are satellites running around the clock. A few dollars – sometimes just Full Tilt points alone – will afford opportunities to win seats and play with Full Tilt pros, other well-known players, and amateurs alike, all of whom will turn out for the MiniFTOPS. The festivities begin on September 8, and everything will wrap with the MiniFTOPS Main Event on Sunday, September 19 with a $70 + $5 NLHE tournament boasting of a $1 million guarantee.

You’ve read about FTOPS, and it’s time to get in on the action of MiniFTOPS! It kicks off in just a few weeks, so now is the time to download Full Tilt Poker. Use the bonus code “POKERWORKS” when signing up for your first account, as that will allow you to work toward a 100% bonus through regular site play, whether it be in cash games, tournaments, or satellites.

durrrr Takes $568k Beating

Tom “durrrr” Dwan had a disastrous weekend losing $568k in the high stakes games on Full Tilt Poker.

The majority of Dwan’s losses came against unidentified online grinder URnotINdanger2.

Dwan hit the online tables in the late afternoon yesterday and didn’t leave until it was well past midnight.

In approximately seven hours of play Dwan recorded over 3,000 hands in $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha, $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em, $50/$100 NLHE and $200/$400 Cap PLO.

The biggest session came in $200/$400 PLO where Dwan played 762 hands against URnotINdanger2, racking up $316,131 in losses.

Dwan would also lose $36,219 in $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em bringing his total losses against URnotINdanger2 up to $352,350.

URnotINdanger2, whose nickname is an obvious riff on Di Dang’s online name Urindanger, first appeared last fall and has since put together one of the swingiest graphs in poker.

URnotINdanger2 has gone on $1 million upswings only to lose it all back in short periods of time.

Later in the evening Dwan also lost even more playing $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em against THENUTHUNTER and then a Six-Max $200/$400 Cap PLO game against Gus Hansen, David Benefield and Ingenious89.

When the dust had settled Dwan had lost a total of $568k. Dwan can rest easy, however, knowing he’s still the biggest winner in 2010 with $4.3 million.

Dwan’s closest competitors, Phil Ivey ($3.2 million) and Dan “Jungleman12″ Cates ($2.5 million) were not active this weekend.

Below are some of the biggest pots on Full Tilt over the weekend. For more hand replays head to our online poker stats page.

 

 

 

UB is Sending German Players to the King’s Casino Every Week

UB Poker has something special just for German players – online satellites that will reward them with a weekly shot at a share of €50,000! If you are lucky enough to be one of UB’s German players, you could win a seat in a Guaranteed No Limit Hold ‘em Deepstack live poker tournament, hosted at King’s Casino across the German border in the Czech Republic!

UB is running an ongoing series of multi-table online poker satellites that qualify players for a weekly €50,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold ‘em Deepstack poker tournament, hosted at King’s Casino. There are three €365 seats given away every Sunday at 14:00 ET, that will send qualifying players to a super land-based NLH Deepstack event at the prestigious King’s Casino.. This recent expansion into Germany is an exciting move for UB Poker because in the past they have been primarily focused on players in the US. But now with this recent move, UB is giving northern European players the chance meet each other at the real, live poker tables, instead of just on the virtual felt.

The beautiful King’s Casino is located in the vicinity of the Czech-German frontier near the highway Prague – Paris (A6), also known as “Via Carolina”. And Rozvadov is located only two kilometers from the German border in the Czech Republic, making it a favorite destination for German poker players looking for a live gaming venue to indulge in their favorite poker game of Texas Holdem. And now, those same players can get there to play in the big weekly €50,000 event starting at only $3.30 thanks to UB!

The $20+2 buy-in (with rebuys) King’s Casino Super Satellites run every Sunday afternoon at 14:00 ET, with satellite feeders running from as low as $3.30. UB will award the top three finishers in the weekly Super Satellite with a €330+35 seat for the €50,000 GTD NLH Deepstack tournament that takes place every Saturday at 16:00 local time at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov.

And if you happen to be a German player who plays at Absolute Poker, you can get in on the excitement too! Because Absolute Poker is part of the CEREUS Poker Network right alongside UB, Absolute Poker players can get in on the online satellites along with their UB friends.  At Absolute Poker, German players can get the same deal to win a King’s Casino tournament entry! Playing at Absolute Poker will give them the same chance to win their piece of the €50,000 prize pool that’s waiting to be won each week in the live event at the Rozvadov Poker Room!

“Our German players are an increasingly important part of the UB community. This online satellite series is designed to reward them for their loyalty and give them a chance to experience the thrill of competing for thousands of Euros in prize money in a live environment,” said Stephan Reschke, UB’s Marketing Manager for Germany.

Find all of the scheduled satellites by going to the UB and/or Absolute Poker Lobby, look in the Tournament section then click on the ‘Satellites Tab’ to find the ‘King’s Casino’ Super Satellites and qualifiers. Then sign-in and sign-up to play your way to the €50,000 GTD NLH Deepstack live event at the King’s Casino!

ANZPT Gold Coast a Record Breaker

The second day one starting flight at the ANZPT Gold Coast main event was a sellout, ensuring the event has set a new attendance record.

All 140 seats and 10 alternate seats were sold early bringing the total field to 287 – Up from last year’s 249.

That means a $717,250 prize pool that will pay 32 places with $182,965 reserved for the winner.

2010 Aussie Millions Champion Tyron Krost joined the field Thursday, as did PokerStars Team Australia Pro Tony Hachem, ANZPT Canberra champ and high-stakes cash game pro Jason Gray and 2009 Aussie Millions $100k winner David Steicke.

PokerStars Qualifier Darko Balaban finished at the top of the list of 63 survivors from the day.

They will join the 69 Day 1a survivors for Day 2 Friday at the The Jupiters Hotel and Casino poker room beginning at 11:30 a.m. Australia Eastern Standard with plans to make it into the money or play a full seven levels.

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