The first Sunday of 2011 was a rather large one in the world of online poker with massive fields and guarantee-smashing prize pools aplenty.

After an 87th place finish, Jason Mercier could only watch as Brianm15 made his second Sunday Million final table in a row.

The PokerStars Sunday Million carries a $1.5M Guarantee, but that was laid to waste when 9,466 players dropped the $215 buy-in for a chance at online poker glory.

With a $1,893,200 prize pool up for grabs, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier made a deep run that ended in 87th, but it was Brianm15 who stole the headlines this week.

After making seventh last week, he finished ninth in his second Sunday Million final table in a row, proving his 2009 Sunday Warm-Up win was no fluke.

He earned $13,252.40, but the big cash was reserved for winner He77_Razor, who grabbed $270,353.82 beating stevemruk ($198,786) heads-up. touchmynuts1 had to settle for third, but still managed to collect a healthy $140,948.74.

The Sunday Warm-Up had a million dollar prize pool of its own thanks to the 5,046 players who got in on the action.
A chip-chop three handed left $10k for first and three six-figure scores for the top three players.

7de9 took the title and $138,294.81 beating Anita seku ($114,190.71) heads-up, while pawnUz ($106,216.74) took third.
Meanwhile, KJulius10 just missed a six figure score, collecting $86,995 in the $530 Sunday 500.

He got past a field of 1,122, including a final table that featured EPT Berlin winner Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee (5th).
The hotly contested $109 Rebuy almost handed out six-figures for the winner as well, thanks to 1,268 entires, 2,245 rebuys and 1,088 add-ons.

In the end, lissi stinkt took first and $83,968.25 beating a final table that included Team PokerStars Pro and back-to-back LAPT champ Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero (3rd).

The guarantees were rendered moot on Full Tilt as well, with 4,556 creating a $911,200 prize pool that paid 648 players in the site’s $750k Guarantee.

mcc3991 beat Hungarian pro Andras Nemeth heads up to take the title and $157,601.15.

The $95,676 second-place prize wasn’t enough for Nemeth, however, as he went on to finish 12th in the Sunday Mulligan for another 2,279.70.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Brawl drew 3,044, creating a $608,800 prize pool that left $121,760 for first. neker2013 gladly grabbed that and his first Sunday Major win.

Finally, 1,011 players ensured there would be no overlay for the $200k GTD on UB.

NO1TK took 45,151.26 out of a $202,200 prize pool with a win against a final table that also included Shannon “BLUFFFORRENT” Shorr (7th).

Article Source: Pokerlistings.com

It was another big year for the game of poker in 2010 and the PokerListings news team was there to document it all.

From highs like Jonathan Duhamel’s 2010 WSOP Main Event win to lows like Amir Vehadi’s untimely passing, the year was filled with stories big and small.

As has become tradition, PokerListings has spent the final week of 2010 counting down the top five stories of the year the way only we can – With the thoughts, words and opinions of the protagonists.

We conclude today with Michael Mizrachi’s World Series at Number 1:

Jonathan Duhamel may have won the Main Event and Frank Kassela took Player of the Year honors, but you’d have a tough time proving anyone had a better 2010 World Series of Poker than Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

“To win the $50,000 Player’s Championship and have my brother make the final table, make two other final tables then have all my brother’s cash in the Main Event and me make the November Nine,” Mizrachi said. “Sure, I would have liked to have won it, but no one could really ask for a better World Series than I had. It was incredible.”

The South Florida based medical-student-turned-poker-pro was one of the original stars of the Chris Moneymaker induced poker boom, winning two World Poker Tour titles in 2005 and 2006, tying what was then the record with seven in-the-money finishes at the 2005 World Series of Poker and collecting more than $5 million in tournament earnings in just his first three years as a pro.

He even came close to winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2008 with two final tables and another five cashes.

But even though he earned more than $300k, including a runner-up finish to Justin Bonomo on the Las Vegas leg of the WSOP Circuit, 2009 marked his worst year as a pro and pundits began predicting Mizrachi’s best years were behind him.

The first half of 2010 seemed to confirm that, with Mizrachi recording just one single $7,465 cash in a prelim at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure before things went from bad to worse.

In May, just before the start of the 2010 WSOP, the Sun Sentinel newspaper in South Florida reported Mizrachi owed some $339,000 in back taxes and was facing foreclosure on a rental property he owned and his Miramar, Florida home.

Mizrachi has since set the record straight, saying that money he earned playing cash-games helped him avoid the kind of financial ruin many were predicting.

But the stage was still set for this year’s World Series to either make or break The Grinder.

The 2010 WSOP schedule kicked off with the new $50k Poker Player’s Championship and Mizrachi wasted little time proving it was his year, winning the $1,559,046 first-place prize at a final table that included his brother Robert.

With his first WSOP bracelet win now under his belt, Mizrachi went hunting for more, making the final table of both the $10k Stud and Limit Hold’em Championships.

A deep run in the $2,500 8-Game World Championship ended in 26th, but then came the Main Event.

With the ESPN cameras watching their every move, brothers Michael, Robert, Eric and Donny Mizrachi became the biggest story of the 2010 Main Event with all four making the money.

And although he was short stacked in the final days, Michael miraculously held on to make the November Nine.

The storybook ending looked like a possibility when The Grinder took the lead seven-handed at the final table, but his run ended with a fifth-place finish.

However, by winning his first bracelet in the game’s elite event, earning over $4 million and making a real run at poker’s biggest prize, Mizrachi had a most memorable World Series, certainly worthy of the top spot on PokerListings’ Top Five Stories of 2010.

“I hope I can, but I’m not sure anybody will ever have that kind of year again,” Mizrachi said. “I couldn’t have dreamed up a better scenario.”

PokerStars is headed back down under for a third season of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour.

The second season wrapped up last week following Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis’ victory at the Grand Final in Sydney, Australia, when he got the best of a star-studded final table that included Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu (9th), WSOP, WPT and EPT Triple Crown winner Roland de Wolfe (8th), and 2008 APPT Macau Champ Eddy Sabat (6th).

Now organizers have confirmed the third season of the PokerStars.net ANZPT will kick off in Adelaide, Australia Feb. 2-6.

Season 2 saw eight events across Australia and New Zealand with a combined prize pool of $4,318,979.

But Season 3 promises to be even bigger with return trips to Adelaide, Perth, Sydney (twice), Canberra, Queenstown, Gold Coast, Melbourne and whispers that more locations will be announced as the tour rolls on.

Once again, there will be a Player of the Year competition rewarding the highest points-scoring player over the entire ANZPT with a sponsorship package to four Asia Pacific Poker Tour events, and either the Aussie Millions Main Event or the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

Team PokerStars Pro Tony Hachem has won the title two years running.

As always, PokerStars is planning a series of online poker satellites into the events.

More information can be found on the ANZPT website.

Poker Brat to take part in televised ballroom dancing show?

If Hellmuth’s Twitter feed is anything to go by, the Poker Brat is set to join the cast of Dancing With the Stars – America’s version of Strictly Come Dancing – when it airs next March.

Writing on his Twitter last weekend (18 Dec), Hellmuth said: “OMG! Phil Hellmuth (me!) on “Dancing with the Stars!” Outrageous! Might make a fool out of myself on Worldwide Television one more time…”

If the rumours are true, Hellmuth could make a monumental fool of himself, as for those unfamiliar with the show, it features celebrities prancing around on screen in skimpy sequined outfits. Contestants are paired with professional ballroom dancers as they shimmy across the floor performing a host of dance routines, including the foxtrot and the rumba, in a bid for the Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) crown.

And if Phil’s Jitterbug is as good as his gambling he may just find himself rubbing shoulders with past DWTS champions Donny Osmond and Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey. 6ft6 portly Phil should be warned, though, the public doesn’t take kindly to contestants carrying a couple extra pounds.

In the last series, which finished in November, Sarah Palin’s recently-pregnant daughter Bristol graced the dance floor, only to receive a barrage of criticism from the media. One comedian branded her “the white Precious” and said she was “the only contestant to gain weight”.

In response to the comments Bristol said winning SWTS “would be like a big middle finger to all the people out there that hate my mom and hate me.” Sadly she finished third so she never got to swear. But let’s hope Hellmuth – who seems equally inept at handling criticism – fares better if he does take part in 12th series. Perhaps the thought of all the sequins and lycra will motivate him to shed the pounds and have the last word on Huck Seed’s $100k weight loss bet.

Only time will tell if these promises come good, but one thing is certain though, if the Poker Brat does get his jive on on national television, PokerPlayer will definitely be tuning in…  

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Welsh Full Tilt sponsored pro Roberto Romanello won the PokerStars EPT Prague main event in the Czech Republic this weekend.

The €640,000 first prize marked his first major title in what was his second EPT final table and Romanello was overcome with emotion.

“I’ve been trying to do this for a very long time,” he said. “This means everything to me.

“I feel ecstatic.”

A sixth place finish at last season’s EPT Copenhagen for DKR570,000 was his previous career best score. He now has just under $1 million in career live tournament earnings and sits third on the Wales all-time money winner’s list.

A total of 563 players from 47 countries entered the €5,300 EPT Prague main event at the Hilton Prague Hotel, creating a €2,730,550 prize pool.

More than 100 qualified for the event through online poker satellites on PokerStars.

Next up for the EPT is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. The event runs Jan. 8-14, 2011 at the Atlantis Resort & Casino before the €5,300 EPT Deauville event in France Jan. 25-31.

Here’s how the Prague final table finished up:

1 Roberto Romanello €640,000

2 Emiliano Bono €435,000

3 Marcin Horecki €247,000

4 Peter Skripka €163,000

5 Marco Leonzio €130,000

6 Jan Bendik €100,000

7 Manuel Bevand €71,000

8 Roberto Nulli €54,550

The World Poker Tour is enjoying a renaissance in popularity after the sweeping changes that have come with season nine. They now have a show piece star-studded final at one of their bigger events that they can feature and promote. That final table occurred yesterday at the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. After 438 players had registered for the tournament and five days of action had played through just Vanessa Rousso, John Racener, Andrew Robl, Kirk Morrison, Antonio Esfandiari and Ted Lawson were left to contest the final table. Everyone of the players at the final table was a recognisable face in the poker world, each with their own list of achievements. In the end though it would be Antonio Esfandiari who would give them all the slip to take his second WPT title, $870,124 for first, and a $25,000 WPT Championship seat on top. Esfandiari could consider it a late birthday present after turning 32 during the week.

The chip counts and seats at the start of the Final Table:

Seat 1: Antonio Esfandiari – 2,105,000 Seat 2: Vanessa Rousso – 5,830,000 Seat 3: Ted Lawson – 635,000 Seat 4: John Racener – 3,235,000 Seat 5: Kirk Morrison – 2,650,000 Seat 6: Andrew Robl – 3,210,000  

The first elimination would come on the second hand of the evening, so television is likely to show the first two hands in full. Vanessa Rousso raised to 125,000 from under the gun and the short-stack Ted Lawson moved all in for 615,000. Rousso’s would endure a roller-coaster ride against Lawson’s . After Lawson spiked a set on the flop, Rousso returned the favour on the turn to take the hand down and send Lawson to the rail.

Vanessa Rousso then gave some of those chips to Andrew Robl after he doubled through her, before he eliminated Kirk Morrison. Robl, Morrison and Racener went three handed to a flop and Morrison raised before calling a check-raise from Robl. Racener found the action a little hot and got out of the way. Robl set Morrison all in on the turn and the shorter stack called with . That proved to be an ill-fated move as Robl showed down a set of fives, good for the pot and the chiplead.

2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Runner Up John Racener then disappeared at the hands of some Antonio Esfandiari magic. Racener tried to make a move from the short stack but Esfandiari made a dominating call from the small blind with . Racener whiffed every street to go home fourth.

It would take a grinding three hours to reach a heads up battle, with Vanessa Rousso eventually falling behind Robl and Esfandiari. She finally moved in with and Esfandiari was lucky enough to find himself in the right position, at the right time again with . Rousso never got close, leaving Robl and Esfandiari to battle for the title.

Robl took a 9.5 million to 8.155 million advantage into the final phase of the tournament. The two players also shared the same sponsor – Victory Poker, who will be ecstatic about the valuable TV time they will get for their money.

Esfandiari fought his way out to a 2-1 chip lead heads up before the final hand took care of the rest. Esfandiari opened with a raise and Robl responded by moving all in over the top. Esfandiari’s reply was to call and table against Robl’s . The hand became very tight on the with Esfandiari pairing up, but probably not liking the flush and straight draws that Robl now had. The turn and river were not the cards that Robl wanted to see though and it would be enough to crown Esfandiari the champion of the WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic at the Bellagio.

Viewers can look forward to seeing this final table when coverage of the WPT Season airs early in the New Year.

The final table payouts were as follows: 1. Antonio Esfandiari – $870,124 2. Andrew Robl – $549,003 3. Vanessa Rousso – $358,964 4. John Racener – $232,271 5. Kirk Morrison – $168,924 6. Ted Lawson – $126,693

Luke Fields took down the GUKPT Champion of Champions Trophy and the £44,250 at the G Casino in Coventry, UK this weekend.

Fields pushed past a field of 153 in the invite-only freeroll event for those who had won GUKPT or Summer Series main or side events, online 10% Series tournaments, Club Championships or National Poker League leaderboards.

In total, 15 places shared a £150,000 prize pool.

The GUKPT restarts in Manchester this January. The full schedule of events will be available soon.

Here’s how the GUKPT Champion of Champions freeroll finished:

1st Luke Fields £44,250

2nd Stephen Holden £31,125

3rd James Miller £19,500

4th Alli Mallu £12,000

5th Deborah Masson £9,375

6th Patryk Slusarek £7,125

7th Michael Fisher £5,625

8th Stephen Thomson £4,125

9th Andrew Booth £3,000

10th Ramazanali Abbassi £2,625

11th Jeff Kimber £2,250

12th Adam White £2,250

13th Gregory Hunt £2,250

14th Guy Johnson £2,250

15th James Reid £2,250

It was a rather big day for 2009 WSOP Bracelet winner Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen on another busy Sunday in the online poker world.

The Celina, Ohio based pro made two major final tables, just missing out on a couple of massive scores.

Full Tilt Poker‘s $750k Guaranteed drew 4,213 creating an $842,600 prize pool that paid 585. ravagee booked the win and $148,794.73 first place prize defeating a final table that included a sixth place finish by Stammen (25,783.56).

In the meantime, Stammen was also busy finishing fourth in the PokerStars $215 Sunday 2nd Chance for $21,555.

The PokerStars Sunday Million was still the biggest event on the day, with 8,514 entrants creating a total prize pool of $1,702,800 that paid 1,260.

After chopping heads up, ettiezzi went on to book the win and collect $229,030.02. artohme recieved $204,507.27 finishing runner-up.

The PokerStars Sunday Warm-up drew 4,718 with 26071985 grabbing $148,034.11 for the win after beating P1ngPoNgPr0 ($109,929.40) heads up.

But the real story on PokerStars may have been the play of a few of its Team pros.

Team Online’s Anders “Donald” Berg won two smaller events and final tabled two others. Canadian Team Pro Greg DeBora booked a small win, teammate Pat Pezzin made a final table, Barry Greenstein made the $215 HORSE final and Nacho Barbero went deep in the $109 rebuy.

As a part of Full Tilt Poker’s Rush week promotion, the Sunday Brawl was converted to a Rush Poker Tournament this week.

It drew 2,616 and DaMurdera3 outlasted them all to collect a $106,209.60 first prize.

Finally, ERIK WRIGHT won a UB $200k Guaranteed event that drew 948, forcing the site to kick in a slight overlay.

Team UB Pro “Hollywood” Dave Stann had yet another good run in this one finishing 20th.

While extreme winter weather conditions have made UK travel a nightmare and delayed the start the PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour’s second season, it didn’t prevent hundreds from hitting the Galway felt Friday.

Season Two of the UKIPT was set to kick off in Galway, Ireland as part of the Irish Poker Championship Dec. 2-5 with a four-day €1,000+100 buy-in €250k Guaranteed event.

However, PokerStars announced Tuesday that due to adverse weather conditions in the UK, the UKIPT Galway main event would be postponed until Friday Dec. 3 at 12 p.m. local time.

Friday, the UKIPT Galway main event filled the Radisson hotel with an impressive 246 players.

At press time, registration was still open, but those already in the event included last year’s champion and local hero Padraig Parkinson, Team PokerStars Pros Liv Boeree, Jude Ainsworth and Julian Thew.

The original plan for two starting days has been dropped and a winner will be crowned in Galway Saturday Dec. 5.

Despite a big turnout from the pros, it was an amateur who took down the Lyon leg of the PokerStars France Poker Series this weekend.

A total of 324 players entered the €1,100+€100 event, including names like Arnaud Mattern, Thomas Bichon, EPT London winner David Vamplew and 2009 EPT San Remo champ Constant Rijkenberg.

However, it was amateur Christophe Monnin who booked the win, collecting €88,444 and a ticket to the FPS finals in Paris from the €342,144 prize pool.

Monnin’s only other career result was a €300 side event win on the France Poker Series’ Divonne les Bains stop earlier this year.

Next up for the PokerStars France Poker Series is a stop in Forges-les-Eaux Dec. 18-19.

Here’s how the Lyon final table finished:

1 Christophe Monnin €88,444

2 Jeremy Sarda €56,450

3 Djamel Yousfi €34,200

4 Christopher Dartagnan €25,650

5 Ali Rahman €17,100

6 Stéphane Fajg €13,700

7 Cyprien Herrgott €10,250

8 Yoni Elbaz €6,850

9 Francis Bannelier €5,150