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Archive for August, 2011
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
After seeing almost his entire yearly profits disappear in the space of a single week, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom kept plugging away at the PokerStars tables, and this past weekend he went on one of the biggest heaters of the year for any online poker player, winning over $1 million in a 24 hour period.
Last week it was Isildur1 who was bleeding chips to fellow high-stakes pros Ilari “Ilari_FIN” Sahamies and Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, but this past weekend Isildur1 would claim revenge on at least one of those players as $1.4 million came out of the PokerStars account of Ilari Sahamies and found its way into the account of Blom according to highstakesdb.com.
Sahamies and Blom are two of the swingiest players in online poker, so it shouldn’t be too big of a surprise that the pots get very big when the two clash, but $1.4 million is a very scarce number to be able to report on!
Of course, Blom isn’t one to take some time off after a big win and nearly $300k of his winnings has already found a home in other players’ accounts at PokerStars. Sahamies on the other hand decided it best to stop playing and write a blog about his struggles this weekend:
“Just finished the games against Isildur. Came down from $1.3 million in two days and felt really bad already when I was down $200k… Don’t know why I continued after $500k down. Really don’t know. I played weak and it was fair I lost my money,”
You can read Sahamies entire blog post at coinflip.com.
Tags: 1 Million, 24 Hour, Big Win, Blog, Blom, Chips, Clash, Games, High Stakes, Money, online poker, Poker Player, PokerStars, Pots, Profits, Revenge, Surprise
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2011
With the World Series of Poker effectively in the books –the WSOP Main Event is still undecided of course—a number of players have positioned themselves for the Player of the Year titles handed out by both Card Player Magazine and BLUFF Magazine.
This is usually the point on the poker year where a handful of players put some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack, in what I refer to as the “London Leg” of the poker schedule –although with the WSOP Europe moving to Cannes this year I’ll have to spend some time coming up with a new name for this part of the tournament schedule!
Here is a look at the Top on both the BLUFF and Card Player leader-board, through August 24th, 2011:
BLUFF Magazine Player of the Year Race leader-board:
- Eugene Katchalov — 924.38
- Bertrand Grospellier — 892.00
- Marvin Rettenmaier — 823.82
- Maxim Lykov — 820.56
- Samuel Stein — 775.25
- Galen Hall — 762.45
- Erik Seidel — 761.51
- Ali (Shahryar) Eslami — 758.39
- Jason Mercier — 757.43
- Phil Hellmuth — 681.25
Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Race leader-board:
- Sam Stein — 4,334
- Galen Hall — 4,284
- Maxim Lykov — 3,876
- Chris Moorman — 3,875
- Jason Mercier — 3,749
- Ben Lamb — 3,636
- Erik Seidel — 3,567
- Taylor von Kriegenbergh — 3,560
- Marvin Rettenmaier — 3,520
- Anton Ionel — 3,500
Tags: Bertrand Grospellier, Bluff Magazine, Card Player Magazine, Chris Moorman, Erik Seidel, Eslami, Galen Hall, Home Stretch, Ionel, Leader Board, Marvin, Maxim, Mercier, Phil Hellmuth, Race Leader, Rettenmaier, Shahryar, World Series, World Series Of Poker, Wsop Main Event
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Poker pro Mclean Karr is no stranger when it comes to live poker tournaments happening across the globe, but the young American poker pro has put together a fabulous 2011 tournament campaign, including two major wins this month alone.
Earlier this month Karr was in Macau to watch his good friend Michael Phelps compete on the world stage; Phelps later returned the favor by railing Karr during a high-roller tournament at the Poker King Club StarWorld Macau Casino that featured a $100k HKD buy-in. Karr bested a field of 20 participants to walk away with the over $800k HKD for first-place.
And now yesterday it was reported that Karr had won the Parx Open Poker Classic, netting Karr an impressive $74,725, and diamond bracelet from Golden Nugget Jewelers from Philadelphia. Karr won the title holding pocket Aces against Dan Smith’s dominated A/J. Other well-known members of the final table included Will Failla, Ronald Lee, and Michael Sica.
To round out Mclean Karr’s International Man of Mystery resume: In March Karr captured the WPT Vienna High-Roller tournament, pocketing over $260k in prize-money, which he followed up with by securing a five-figure cash at the EPT Grand Final Main Event in Madrid, Spain. Other locales where Karr has pocketed a little bit of coin this year include San Remo, Italy and at the WSOP in Las Vegas this summer. All-in-all it sounds like Mclean Karr leads a fairly interesting life; travelling around the globe to play in poker tournaments, occasionally accompanied by a high-profile celebrity!
Tags: American Poker, Diamond Bracelet, Friend Michael, Golden Nugget, High Roller, International Man, Karr, Macau Casino, Madrid Spain, Man Of Mystery, Michael Phelps, Poker Pro, Poker Tournament, Poker Tournaments, Prize Money, San Remo Italy, Starworld Macau, World Stage, WPT, WSOP
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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
The news regarding Full Tilt poker in recent weeks has occasionally been met with quiet optimism –as news of Full Tilt paying their £250k licensing fee to the AGCC and subsequent rumors of a possible sale circulated around the London Stock Exchange last week– but for the most part it has still been doom and gloom for the poker community.
As news of the troubled online poker site’s decision to lay-off their entire US workforce, followed by a second Class Action Lawsuit –this time filed by Canadian poker players—and the most recent news that Chief Marketing Officer Lothar Rentschler has resigned from the company according to QuadJacks.com, and later confirmed by PokerNews.com.
Here is a look at the E-Mail that was sent to several sources in the poker industry by Rentschler:
“This was, after almost 3 years with the company, not an easy step… It was 3 years with many challenges and also many successes… However, given the current circumstances, I do believe it is a long overdue step towards the right direction.”
“I do apologize for the inconvenience the current circumstances at PKL have caused for you personally as well as for your respective companies. Our hands in Marketing were bound and at the end even every communication was stopped. Again, I can only apologize for this situation. The future will hopefully see a better, well organized structure and a return to business as usual. To see the brand FTP going down that way, hurts a lot.”
As QuadJacks points out, not much was known about Rentschler’s role within Full Tilt Poker.
Tags: 3 Years, Agcc, Canadian Poker, Chief Marketing Officer, Class Action Lawsuit, Doom And Gloom, E Mail, Full Tilt Poker, Inconvenience, Licensing Fee, London Stock Exchange, Marketing Operator, online poker, Optimism, Overdue Step, Pkl, Poker Players, Recent News, Rentschler, Right Direction
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
If you’re not familiar with the work of Thomas “SrslySirius” Keeling from QuadJacks you can check out his category of Weird Al Yankovic type music videos on YouTube, dealing with just a single subject: Poker. The videos are pretty hit or miss, with some of the more popular ones being a remake of Rebecca Black’s Friday, which focuses on Joe Sebok, a remake of Party in the USA titled Party at the DOJ obviously dealing with Black Friday, and his collaboration with the Micros to make the Erik Seidel inspired Seiborg.
Of course there have been a few flops (in my opinion of course), including an ode to Prahlad Friedman signing with UB Poker, Black and Yellow; a recent entry titled F**K You featuring Howard Lederer; as well as the older Message-board Grinder and Poker Conspiracy videos.
However, Srslysirius may have outdone himself with his latest entry dealing with the ongoing Jose “girah” Macedo, Haseeb “DogisHead” Qureshi, and Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, scandal playing out on 2+2 — with a little help from the DMX song What’s my Name.
The video had me laughing from start to finish (especially when the first DOG – IS – HEAD! Fires off). Keeling threw in a lot of 2+2 specifics just for the forum nerds, like a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tyler Smith, and even a mention of the lurid rumor that Qureshi just might be gay.
Here is a link to the video on the QuadJacks YouTube page
One thing to realize is that these videos are not meant for little ones, so if the kids are around “Ear Muffs”.
Tags: Black Friday, Doj, Ear Muffs, Erik Seidel, F Scott Fitzgerald, Featuring Howard Lederer, Haseeb, Joe Sebok, Little Ones, Macedo, Micros, Music Video, Music Videos, Prahlad Friedman, Qureshi, Rebecca Black, Tyler Smith, Type Music, Weird Al Yankovic, Youtube
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Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
According to a number of unspecified sources it looks as though one potential purchaser of Full Tilt Poker is a conglomerate of online poker companies that includes Playtech, Bwin and 888 Poker. These rumors go against the earlier reports that were coming out of Full Tilt Poker headquarters stating that the likely investors were not associated with the online poker industry. So it’s unclear whether the rumors are mere speculation, if Full Tilt Poker was not completely forthcoming with who the investors were, or if the initial investors have dropped out allowing the online poker companies to make a late push at purchasing the site.
Since Black Friday, Full Tilt Poker has been struggling to stay afloat, as the veil has been lifted from the shiny exterior to reveal what amounts to a company using a lot of smoke and mirrors to give off the semblance of a well-oiled machine. Among the secrets revealed were that player funds were used for marketing and operational expenditures, rogue employees were selling 100% rakeback accounts on the side, and that the site had allowed players to deposit via eCheck despite not having a payment processor capable of making the transaction –something that caused a $160 million shortfall when Full Tilt tried to collect these deposits months after the fact.
Should the rumors be true, and Full Tilt Poker is purchased by a menagerie of current online poker sites, it’s likely the first order of business would be to repay the players who have been waiting since mid-April to retrieve their funds from the site. Any other course of action by the new owners would make the Full Tilt Poker brand a toxic asset in the poker world.
Tags: Black Friday, Bwin, Conglomerate, Echeck, Full Tilt Poker, Initial Investors, Marketing, Menagerie, Online Poker Sites, Operational Expenditures, Order Of Business, Payment Processor, Poker World, Purchaser, Semblance, Shortfall, Speculation, True Poker, Veil, Well Oiled Machine
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
The coaching roster at Bluefire Poker has been growing since the beginning of the year, and despite Black Friday the number of poker coaches at the site has once again increased. Bluefire Poker recently ran a contest to determine their next poker coach, and after tons of feedback from their members, one of the industry’s top poker training sites has decided on adding not one but two new coaches!
Here is a look at the new coaches at the site:
JP Zdancewicz
A Heads-Up and 6-Max No Limit Holdem and PLO specialist who began playing in 2007, JP knows a thing or two about coaching as he drew upon some of the best minds in the industry when he first started out himself. Now JP finds himself on the other end of the player/coach relationship, having already helped 20 students himself.
Coleman Whitsitt
Another Heads-Up and 6-Max specialist, Coleman focuses exclusively on No Limit Holdem and can be found playing anywhere from $2/$4 to $25/$50 when the conditions are right. Coleman received his own poker education from top players like Jay Rosenkrantz and Daniel Cates, and take credit for some of fellow Bluefire Poker coach JP Zdancewicz’s success, having coached his good friend early in his career.
The duo will join an already stacked roster of poker coaches which includes Bluefire Poker owner and founder Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, 2010 WSOP November Niner Jason Senti, Niman “Samoleus” Kenkre, and Martin Fournier Giguere.
For more information on Bluefire Poker or to take advantage of their free 7-day trial you can visit their website at www.bluefirepoker.com
Tags: Black Friday, Coaching, Coleman, Education, Giguere, Good Friend, Jp, Martin Fournier, Niman, Niner, Omgclayaiken, Player Coach, Plo, Poker Sites, Relationship, Rosenkrantz, WSOP
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Monday, August 15th, 2011
After a few days of silence the poker world finally got what they have been waiting for, as both Daniel “jungleman12” Cates and Haseeb “DogisHead” Qureshi talked to BLUFF Magazine, explaining their roles and knowledge of Jose “Girah” Macedo, who was recently caught scamming other high-stakes poker players.
The first interview to hit the Internet was with Daniel “jungleman12” Cates’. While the Cates interview failed to reveal any pertinent information, and was –as the 2+2 poker forum noted—a bit of a softball interview, Cates did reveal that he was aware of Qureshi playing on Girah’s Lock Poker account during the Bluff Pro Challenge; an admission that became far more relevant after the Qureshi interview was posted a few hours later.
Qureshi’s interview was the real eye-opener, as the high-stakes online pro admitted to chip-dumping to Girah, which allowed the young phenom to secure the BLUFF Pro Challenge title –which was later stripped when the site discovered Haseeb Qureshi had also played on the account during the challenge.
While Qureshi didn’t admit too much else, his interview was almost instantaneously picked apart by 2+2 forum members, and many inconsistencies were discovered. As with his previous answers in the thread on 2+2, Qureshi only revealed as much information as was asked, once again answering important questions on a “need to know” basis.
You can read both interviews on BLUFF Magazine:
Daniel Cates interview
Haseeb Qureshi interview
Tags: Admission, Bluff Magazine, Days Of Silence, Eye Opener, Few Days, Forum Members, Haseeb, High Stakes Poker, Inconsistencies, Knowledge, Macedo, Need To Know Basis, Phenom, Playing Poker, Poker Forum, Poker Players, Poker World, Pro Challenge, Qureshi, Softball
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Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
There were 260 reserved spots for the first-ever Epic Poker League Main Event, and of the 252 players that have received EPL tour cards and eight qualifiers from the Pro/Am tournament –Andy Bloch was the ninth qualifier but already has an EPL tour card—137 of them registered for the event.
With industry insiders saying that anything over 120 players would be a good showing for the inaugural EPL Main Event the 137 entrants has to be seen as a rousing success, and once qualified players realize that with the added $400,000 in prize-money that first-place is worth nearly $1 million I think even more players will be looking to enter the next EPL tournament.
Of course the EPL field is stacked from top to bottom, with nary a weak spot to be found. If you need proof of just how tough the field just take a look at the Top 10 chip counts at the end of the day 1; it reads more like a Player of the Year leader-board!
- Eugene Katchalov — 356,300
- Ben Lamb — 287,200
- Brian Rast — 260,500
- Antonio Esfandiari — 244,100
- Noah Schwartz — 220,200
- Vanessa Selbst — 205,000
- Sorel Mizzi — 192,000
- McLean Karr — 190,000
- Gavin Smith — 178,000
- Erik Seidel — 178,000
Since every player in the field is basically a recognizable name, some other REALLY big names still in the hunt include Justin Bonomo, Sam Stein, Jason Mercier, Tom Marchese, Sam Trickett, John Racener, Matt Hawrilenko, Carlos Mortensen, Andy Frankenberger, Mike Sexton, Faraz Jaka, Joe Hachem, Daniel Alaei, Huck Seed, Mike McDonald, Olivier Busquet, Peter Jetten, Allen Cunningham, Scott Seiver, Phil Laak, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Greg Raymer.
You can follow the Day 2 action and get updated chip counts throughout the day at www.epicpoker.com
Tags: Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Antonio Esfandiari, Carlos Mortensen, Daniel Alaei, Erik Seidel, Gavin Smith, Huck Seed, Industry Insiders, Joe Hachem, John Racener, Justin Bonomo, League Debut, Matt Hawrilenko, Mike Mcdonald, Mike Sexton, Phil Laak, Recognizable Name, Sorel Mizzi, Vanessa Selbst
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
Beginning on September 29th, The PokerStars European Poker Tour is planning one of the most ambitious undertakings in EPT history, with a proposed EPT London schedule that will see 30 tournaments take place in just seven days culminating with the £5,000 Main Event.
The EPT London has been one of the most prestigious titles since the inception of the European Poker Tour, and last year a record-setting field of 848 players entered the Main Event –which was eventually won by Scotland’s David Vamplew, while the LAPT legend Jose “Nacho” Barbero managed to walk away with the EPT London high-roller crown.
The tournament will once again play double duty, as it once again will be part of the UKIPT European Poker Championships as the tour’s grand final event.
One of the most interesting tournaments on the schedule will take place on September 29th when the EPT hosts its first ever 5-Card PLO 8 or better tournament, which will be a £550 affair, and should see some wild and crazy play!
The Main Event will feature two Day 1 starting flights on September 30th and October 1st, and will last until the final table on October 6th, the last day of the tournament series. Form Day 3 onwards you can watch a live stream of the Main Event on PokerStars.tv.
For a look at the complete schedule or for more information on the PoekrStars.net EPT tour you can go to www.europeanpokertour.com.
Tags: Ambitious Undertakings, Barbero, Double Duty, EPT, Flights, High Roller, Inception, Live Stream, London Schedule, Main Event, Nacho, October 6, Plo, poker, Prestigious Titles, S David, Scotland, September 29, Seven Days
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