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Archive for March, 2011
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
After losing $150,000 to Viktor “Isildur1” Blom in their first Superstar Showdown confrontation on March 20th, Daniel Negreanu decided to ante-up another $150,000 for Round 2 of the match this past Sunday, and although things started off very rocky for Negreanu he managed to turn it around and exact a little revenge from Isildur1.
The second match started out basically the same as the first as Negreanu found himself in a $120,000 hole after 1,200 hands. With only $30,000 left to mount a comeback Negreanu was probably not too thrilled about his chances, which he expressed in the chatbox after the match: “I was stuck like $120K at one point I think. I broke lots of stuff in my room btw lol, smashed everything.”
However, comeback he did, and when the dust settled after the 2,500th hand of the match Negreanu found himself looking at a $26,500 profit! While still down $123,500 to Isildur1 over the two-session challenge, things could have been much, much, worse for Negreanu.
It’s unclear how PokerStars will score this challenge –did the two players split the match 1-1, or did Isildur1 win the Superstar Showdown against Negreanu 1-0, the latter of which is my take on the subject. But we do know that the next challenge match will use the same format as Isildur1 takes on Scott “urnotindangr2” Palmer this coming Sunday April 3rd.
Here is a look at Isildur1’s record in the Superstar Showdown matches:
· L to Isaac Haxton
· W over Tony G
· W over Daniel Cates
· W over Eugene Katchalov
· W over Online Qualifier DodgyFish72
· W over Daniel Negreanu
Tags: April 3rd, Blom, Chatbox, Confrontation, Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton, March 20th, Match, Revenge, Rocky, Second Act
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Fresh off toppling Annette Obrestad in heads-up play at the Wynn Classic, Tim West has weaved his way through another pro-heavy field at the World Series of Poker Circuit Series Regional Championship taking place at the Harrah’s Rincon.
West is leading the nine player final table by a wide margin, sitting behind 843,000 chips, while his nearest competitor, David Peters, has 437,000 chips. However, if West plans on adding to his $318k score at the Wynn Classic he’ll have to deal with WSOP Circuit Series legend Dwyte Pilgrim –who has three wins on the tour including two from Rincon—as well as longtime poker pro Steve Brecher.
Here are the seating assignments and chip counts for the nine remaining players:
· Seat 1: Dwyte Pilgrim — 408,000
· Seat 2: Miller Dao — 99,000
· Seat 3: David Peters — 437,000
· Seat 4: Ali Eslami — 395,000
· Seat 5: D.J. Blanchard — 271,000
· Seat 6: Tim West — 843,000
· Seat 7: Dylan Wilkerson — 89,000
· Seat 8: Steve Brecher — 246,000
· Seat 9: Dana Kellstrom — 147,000
While each player is guaranteed $24,235 in prize-money, this number is a far cry from the $282,242 the winner of the tournament will receive! Here is the payout structure for the final table of the WSOPC Regional Championship in Rincon:
1. $282,242
2. $174,443
3. $124,204
4. $90,223
5. $66,834
6. $50,455
7. $38,808
8. $30,397
9. $24,235
Tags: Ali Eslami, Competitor, Dao, Far Cry, Harrah, J Blanchard, Kellstrom, Payout Structure, Pilgrim, Prize Money, Regional Championship, Rincon, Seat 6, Seating Assignments, Steve Brecher, Tim West, Wide Margin, Wilkerson, World Series Of Poker, Wynn
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
If the rumor initiated by raketherake.com on Friday is true then the online poker world could see a balance shift near the top of charts, and not surprisingly Cake Poker has something to do with it! The difference this time is that it won’t be Cake Poker moving up and down the online poker traffic reports –even though they will be losing a major skin—if Victory Poker jumps ship and heads to the Cereus Poker Network as has been reported.
Considering RaketheRake.com’s standing in the poker world, and their penchant for not posting gossip and rumor anywhere on the site, the source was quite surprising, and is likely the reason the rumor has gained such traction in the poker media.
Thus far there has been no confirmation of the rumor –which sprang virtually out of nowhere—although Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman left his answer somewhat open-ended when asked for a comment on the situation, telling PokerNewsDaily.com that while no written agreement is in place at this time: “I would be excited to join a network that hosts the third largest site in the U.S. and has very few partners to focus on. It would be great for everyone involved.”
The loss of Victory Poker could be the final nail in the Cake Poker coffin, which has been shedding players and skins for over a year now. Although the network has just entered a first of its kind “Strategic Partnership” with PokerListings.com, whereby PokerListings has committed to driving 2,000 new real-money players to the site each month –we’ll have to see if this is an achievable feat, and what the future holds for the Cake Poker Network.
Tags: Ceo, Coffin, Confirmation, Focus, Gossip, Money Players, Moving, online poker, Online Traffic, Penchant, Poker Network, Poker World, Real Money, Reason, Skins, Strategic Partnership, Traction, Traffic Reports, True Poker, Victory Ship
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Last week’s news that Cake Poker and PokerListings.com were forming a “Strategic Partnership” with the hopes of creating a mutually beneficial relationship to benefit each other’s bottom line –at this time it’s still unclear if PokerListings.com purchased the Cake Poker Network or purchased a percentage of the company.
In a press release the two companies discussed the partnership with Cake Network Marketing Director Andrew Turner stating:
“We are extremely excited to become a major component of PokerListings.com’s massive online presence… The value of being integrated into one of the premiere leaders in new player acquisition and poker-related search can not be overstated and will have a significant impact on the Cake Network ecosystem and overall liquidity. This partnership positions the Cake Network for future growth in terms of new depositing players as well as for the addition of several strategic network partners.”
On their end PokerListings.com has made the commitment of driving over 2,000 new, depositing, players to the Cake Poker tables each month –a lofty goal to say the least. PokerLisitings.com spokesman Martin Carlesund stated in the press release that:
“We have been looking for this kind of partnership for some time now and we are very happy to have closed this deal with Cake Network. Not only does the partnership bring great commercial value to our respective companies, but we are very proud to secure the best possible deals for PokerListings.com’ visitors”
It will be interesting to see if PokerListings begins offering exclusive deals not available through other poker affiliates, and how the “Strategic Partnership” affects PokerListings.com current relationships with other online poker rooms.
Tags: Andrew Turner, Beneficial Relationship, Bottom Line, Ecosystem, Kind Partnership, Liquidity, Lofty Goal, Major Component, Network Marketing, Network Partners, Online Poker Rooms, Poker Affiliates, Poker Network, Poker Tables, Pokerlistings, Premiere Leaders, Respective Companies, Significant Impact, Strategic Network, Strategic Partnership
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Monday, March 28th, 2011
While the title of this article is a bit of misnomer, since the training being offered is most likely a one-time offering, it’s technically true, as Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius will be offering one-on-one poker training via Brandon Adams new website expertinsight.com. Adam’s site is designed to offer expert training across a number of different fields –not just poker—and the first such lessons will be given by Adams fellow Team Full Tilt Poker pros Dwan and Antonius.
Adams is a Harvard professor, poker player, and author, is extremely excited about the new undertaking, and extremely excuited about his first two ‘experts’:
“Having Patrik and Tom available to the poker community is clearly a great resource, and I’m very curious to see what their initial hours of coaching will go for… Tom is simply the most innovative mind in poker, and many of the best poker players of his (or any) generation have publicly credited him as being the leading influence in their poker development. Tom is exceptionally quick, and I think he’ll pack a lot of insight into a typical one hour session.”
“Patrik is probably the second biggest winner in poker over the last decade… At one point, he was the biggest winner in every major game type on Full Tilt. By results, Patrik and Phil Ivey are the best internet poker players on the planet. Patrik has never given a poker lesson before, and he has not firmly committed to give lessons after April 18, so I’d have to suppose that his April 18 lesson goes for a staggeringly high rate.”
The training session is not free, and bidding for the one-on-one sessions with two of poker’s top talents is taking place on Adam’s Twitter account –with bidding starting at $3,000, and likely to go much, much higher. Antonius’ lesson will take place on April 18; Dwan’s training lesson will take place on April 19.
Tags: Brandon Adams, Expert Training, Expertinsight, Fellow Team, Full Tilt Poker, Game Type, Harvard Professor, Initial Hours, Internet Poker, Last Decade, Misnomer, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Poker Player, Poker Players, Poker Pros, Tom Dwan, Training Session, Twitter, Undertaking
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Wynn Resorts and PokerStars announced this past week that they would be forming a partnership to fight for online poker legislation at the federal level. The two titans –one in the land-based casino industry, the other the world’s largest online poker site—will be pushing for passage of an Internet poker bill that would allow the two to form WynnPokerStars.com, a US-based online poker company.
This is the first time an online poker site has openly thrown their hat into the ring when it comes to legalizing online poker in the United States, but the timing seems right as more and more states look to pass their own Internet gaming legislation, which could segregate huge portions of the global online community, limiting them to state-wide markets.
PokerStars Founder and Chairman, Mark Scheinberg, was quoted by the Las Vegas Sun as saying: “(PokerStars) has been endorsing the adoption of the same approach in the United States for years, with this alliance representing a critical step in that direction… We are excited about the opportunities that partnering with Wynn, a pioneering leader and innovator in gaming, will present for PokerStars in the United States.”
The new partnership between Wynn Resorts and PokerStars will likely thro their combined muscle behind the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act that was recently introduced into Congress by John Campbell (R-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA). A lot of lobbying will likely have to take place to allow for WynnPokerStars.com to be licensed if and when legislation is passed –last year’s bill that failed to move forward in the Senate would have precluded current operators from partnering or applying for a license for years.
Tags: Barney Frank, Casino Industry, Consumer Protection, Critical Step, Enforcement Act, Forming A Partnership, Global Online Community, Innovator, Internet Gambling, Internet Gaming Legislation, Internet Poker, John Campbell, Land Based Casino, online poker, Poker Legislation, PokerStars, Scheinberg, Titans, Vegas Sun, Wynn Resorts
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Although Full Tilt Poker is not advertising it as such, like they did with their successful (for a few hours anyway) attempt to supplant PokerStars in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most entrants in an online poker tournament, it seems they have their eyes set on the largest prize-pool in online poker history with their $7.5 million Guaranteed FTOPS XX Main Event tournament.
When PokerStars caught wind of Full Tilt’s plans to top their ‘most entries’ record they immediately created their own Guinness World Record tournament which bested Full Tilt Poker on the very same day, so it looks like Full Tilt Poker is trying to keep this attempt on the down-low –although it should be obvious to anyone that they think they have a shot of surpassing the $12,215,000 record set by last year’s WCOOP Main Event on PokerStars.
The Main Event of the FTOPS XIX boasted a $3 million guarantee and managed to almost triple that number when all was said and done thanks to their newest innovation ‘Multi-Entry Tournaments’, coming in at just under $9 million. If Full Tilt can exceed their $7.5 million guarantee by 75% –which seems easily manageable when you consider the FTOPS XIX tournament exceeded its guaranteed prize-pool by nearly 300%– it will indeed be the largest prize-pool in online poker history… That is, until the 2011 WCOOP gets underway on PokerStars!
For a complete schedule of the 45 tournament FTOPS XX tournament series you can visit FullTiltPoker.com
Tags: 5 Million, Advertising, Attempt, Book Of World Records, Full Tilt Poker, Guarantee, Guinness Book Of World, Guinness Book Of World Records, Guinness World Record, Innovation, Main Event, Online Poker Tournament, Poker History, PokerStars, Pool Online, Prize Pool, Wcoop
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
It seems like Eugene Katchalov has been around the poker forever, but the reality is that Katchalov has only been playing poker since 2003, and didn’t become a recognizable poker pro until 2007. However, since 2004 Katchalov has pocketed over $6.1 million just from live poker tournaments, not to mention being the owner of a WCOOP bracelet and being one of the most respected high-stakes mixed-games players in poker.
Katchalov has joined the main group of PokerStars sponsored players as a Team Pro member, where he will represent the site at major tournaments around the world along with the likes of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Vannessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Jason Mercier and a slew of former Main Event champions like Jonathan Duhamel, Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, and Chris Moneymaker.
When asked what joining Team PokerStars Pro meant to him, Katchalov told the PokerStars blog: “It means being a part of what I believe to be a great team of players and a very professional and serious poker site that opens up many opportunities to its players and Pros. I also have a sense of achievement since I am given the opportunity to represent the largest and most successful poker site around.”
Without a doubt PokerStars will be featuring Eugene Katchalov prominently in upcoming promotions and events.
Tags: Barry Greenstein, Blom, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Eastgate, Games Players, High Stakes, Joe Hachem, Jonathan, Main Event, Mercier, Playing Poker, Poker Tournaments, Pokerstars Blog, Pro Member, Serious Poker, Slew, Upcoming Promotions, Vanessa Rousso, Vannessa
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
With both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars throwing their hats into the live poker tournament ring, UB Poker has just taken its first major step in that direction with the announcement that they will now be the official sponsor of the Heartland Poker Tour.
The smaller-scale Heartland Poker Tour (commonly referred to as the HPT) may not be on par with the Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup Series or the PokerStars led NAPT, EPT and so on, but the HPT is far from a local tournament league, considering the tournaments are broadcast into over 100 million homes each week on FOXSports.
According to press release announcing the agreement: “UB.net will have a prominent presence in all HPT Season 7 episodes, and at hptpoker.com as well as on-site at HPT live events. The leading free-play poker site will also host a series of online tourneys that give players the opportunity to win attractive prize packages, including HPT tournament entries, event hospitality, UB swag, plus cash towards travel and accommodation. The ultimate freeroll challenge will award a Season 8 HPT VIP Tour Pass to the winner, with full details to come shortly.”
UB Poker will also be sending a contingent of their Team UB Poker pros to HTP events including Tiffany Michelle, Maria Ho, 2009 POY Eric Baldwin, Joe Sebok, Prahlad Friedman, Adam Levy and Brandon Cantu.
The HPT also recently inked a deal with 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon who joined the tour as a spokesman and ambassador.
Tags: 100 Million, Adam Levy, Brandon Cantu, Contingent, EPT, Eric Baldwin, Foxsports, Freeroll, Full Tilt Poker, Heartland, Hpt, Joe Sebok, Poker Pros, Poker Tournament, PokerStars, Poy, Prahlad Friedman, Season 8, Tournament Entries, Wsop Main Event
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
After leaving PokerStars in 2007, where he served as the site’s Cardroom Manager for four years, Lee Jones has taken several other high-profile jobs in the poker industry, but now he finds himself back at PokerStars, albeit in an entirely new role; heading up the site’s Home Games section.
Jones’ first job after leaving PokerStars was working for the PokerStars sponsored European Poker Tour –so in effect he was still working for PokerStars—but from there the longtime icon in the poker industry landed at the up-and-coming Cake Poker site in 2009. Jones helped the Cake Poker brand grow by leaps and bounds, and under his leadership the network was able to crack the Top 10 in terms of poker traffic, before plummeting in early 2010 after the loss of several significant skins on the network –Lock Poker, Sportsbook Poker, and Players Only Poker. At this point Jones and Cake Poker parted ways with Jones telling PokerNewsDaily, “I’m just not comfortable with some of the decisions that the Cake management was making.”
Subsequent to Jones departure from Cake Poker, Doyles Room Poker also left the Cake Poker Network in 2011. With Cake Poker struggling –amidst rumors that the site is being sold to PokerListings.com– Jones has landed squarely on his feet, back at PokerStars. Jones’ new role with PokerStars is as the Head of Home Games, which seems to imply that PokerStars is not only happy with the success of the Home Games feature, but is looking to expand it with the help of one of the online poker industry’s most respected figures in Lee Jones.
Tags: Cardroom, Decisions, Feet, First Job, Games Section, Home Games, Jobs, Leadership, Leaps And Bounds, online poker, Poker Network, PokerStars, Skins, Traffic
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
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