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Posts Tagged ‘Prize Pool’
Friday, October 21st, 2011
With the two Day 1 flights now in the books, the World Series of Poker’s decision to move the WSOP Europe from its four-year home in London to Cannes can no longer be argued, and has to be considered one of the most successful decisions in tournament poker history.
In all, 593 players registered over the two starting days, easily surpassing the old attendance record of 362 entrants, set back in 2007 and matched in 2008 –although it should be noted that even though the buy-in remained at 10,000, the buy-in this year is considerably lower due to the Euro being valued far less than the British Pound.
Even though the field size nearly doubled, the big names are still performing well, in what has historically been a tournament where few but the very top players enter: Amongst the chip leaders entering Day 2 on Monday are Chris Moorman, Darren Elias, Leo Boxell, Emil Patel, Johnny Chan, Ben Lamb, Carlos Mortensen, Will Failla, Chad Brown, Tommy Vedes, Alexander Kostritsyn, Robert Mizrachi, McLean Karr, Victor Ramdin and Tony G.
Even with the French government taking a further 4% off the top of the prize-pool, the players are still battling for nearly €5.7 million, with the winner looking at a €1.4 million payday and a WSOP bracelet to boot. A total of 64 players will make the money in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event, with the top eight players all receiving six-figure paydays, and the 64th place finisher walking away with €20k.
Tags: Attendance Record, Carlos Mortensen, Chad Brown, Chris Moorman, Elias, Emil, French Government, Johnny Chan, Karr, Main Event, Paydays, Place Finisher, Prize Pool, Robert Mizrachi, Th Place, Tournament Poker, Vedes, Victor Ramdin, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
The Heartland Poker Tour was originally created as an alternative to the high-priced major tournaments taking place on the World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker Circuit Series, the now defunct North American Poker Tour, and other big tournament stops around the country that featured $5k and $10k buy-ins.
With buy-ins of around $1,500 for their Main Events, as well as lesser priced preliminary tournaments at each stop, the Heartland poker Tour has managed to continue to grow even during the tough economic times now engrossing the country.
In addition to the reasonably priced buy-ins and central locations away from the gaming Mecca’s of Las Vegas, Connecticut, and Atlantic City, a major factor in the Heartland Poker Tour’s growth has been the TV deal they signed that gives the “average poker player” a chance to live out their poker dreams on a major cable network.
How much has the Heartland Poker Tour grown in its six-year existence? The most recent Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at the Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado managed to surpass the $1 million mark for the first time in the tour’s history –not too bad for a tournament with a $1,650 entry-fee!
Heartland Poker Tour co-founder was quick to Tweet the news, stating: “Our first event in 2005 prize pool was 100,000. Tonite it is 1,000,000. Lots of dedicated folks to thank along the way. HPT family rules!”
The HPT has also been busy in recent years picking up one notable poker player as a spokesman, but maintaining their “everyman” quality by selecting the likes of 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon. The HPT is also now under the Federated Sports + Gaming umbrella, as the owners of the Epic Poker League acquired the HPT earlier this summer.
Tags: American Poker, Black Hawk Colorado, Cable Network, Co Founder, Economic Times, Everyman, Federated, Golden Gates Casino, Heartland, Ins, Mecca, Milestone, Poker Player, Prize Pool, Sports Gaming, Tour Co, Tv Deal, World Poker Tour, World Series Of Poker, Wsop Main Event
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Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
In a very bold statement/prediction during one of his stints in the commentator’s booth for the World Series of Poker Main Event live stream on ESPN 3, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth stated that he thinks online poker will be legalized in the United States this year, and went on to claim that once it is you can expect to see upwards of 15,000 entrants in the WSOP Main Event!
I’m not sure what Hellmuth is basing this on –especially the “this year” part considering how slow Congress moves on crucial issues, let alone something as innocuous as online poker—but I rarely see or hear Hellmuth making outlandish predictions: Name dropping yes, predictions no!
Hellmuth did bring up a good point in saying that once online poker was legalized in Italy, PokerStars.it immediately became the fourth largest online poker site in the world, and was bumped to #5 when France legalized online poker and PokerStars.fr claimed the #4 spot. So, Hellmuth’s claims of a second, even larger, Poker Boom are probably not that far off considering the US market is vastly larger than either France or Italy, and the US has a much deeper tradition when it comes to poker.
We’ll have to wait and see when it comes to the legislation, but if that day ever does come to light… Watch out! Can you even imagine 15,000 players in the WSOP Main Event? The total prize-pool would be $150,000,000, putting the top-prize in the $15 million – $20 million range!
Tags: Bold Statement, Boom, Commentator, Congress Moves, Espn, Fr, legislation, Live Stream, online poker, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Live, Poker Main Event, Prize Pool, Series Of Poker, Stints, United States, World Series, World Series Of Poker, World Series Of Poker Main Event, Wsop Main Event
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
One thing I have learned in the poker world over the years is that regardless of the question you ask you will often receive multiple different answers, and this is precisely what happened when PokerNews.com asked some poker pros for their thoughts on the new $1 million buy-in tournament –a charity event that will see 11.11% of the prize-pool donated to Guy Laliberte’s charity ONE DROP—set to take place at the 2012 WSOP.
While many of the responses were positive, or at least tempered in their criticism, one poker pro decided to take the poker world to task over the new atmosphere of ultra-high-stakes buy-in tournaments, Vanessa Selbst.
Selbst told PokerNews.com, “I think it is ridiculous it completely destroys the sanctity of the bracelets. It completely ruins the idea of poker stats… I think $100k and $250k buy-in tournaments are stupid enough. High-roller tournaments are $25k, that’s enough…”
The Yale law student went on to make a political analogy, saying, “it is kind of what America is doing. It completely eliminates the middle class. It is the richer people who are able to play bigger buy-in tournaments and it artificially inflates their stats and they are recognized as the best players. It makes it that much more difficult for the lower buy-in players to break through.”
Selbst makes a terrific point in that these high-profile, exclusionary, tournaments only serve to keep the current crop of top players in the spotlight, but in the end it is all about what the players, fans, and promoters want to accomplish, and for the time being that seems to be to push the envelope in terms of stakes.
Tags: 1 Million, Analogy, Bracelets, Charity Event, Guy Laliberte, High Roller, High Stakes, Middle Class, Players Fans, Poker Pro, Poker Pros, Poker World, Prize Pool, Promoters, Sanctity, Spotlight, Time Being, Vanessa Selbst, WSOP, Yale Law
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Hedge Fund Manager and poker enthusiast David Einhorn is now a minority owner of the Major League Baseball team the New York Mets according to ESPN. Einhorn, best known in the poker world for his 18th place finish in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he garnered a lot of TV time in what is still the largest poker tournament of all time –both in terms of entrants and prize-pool—put up a reported $200 million for his share in the New York Mets.
Einhorn’s money was not won at a poker table however, considering he is a well-known name on Wall Street and is the President of Greenlight Capital, which Wikipedia terms as a “long-short value-oriented hedge fund”. Einhorn is also a well known philanthropist who donates his time and money to numerous charities in the New York area in addition to sitting on the board of The Michael J. Fox Foundation as well as the board for Robin Hood.
In addition to his deep run at the 2006 WOP, where he cashed for $659,730 –all of which went to charity by the way, Einhorn has been a somewhat regular participant at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in Connecticut and has cashed twice; once in 2004 for $6,075, and again in 2008 where he won the $2,800 No limit Holdem tournament, collecting $89,475. A special thanks to thehendonmob.com for Einhorn’s career statistics.
Tags: Career Statistics, David Einhorn, Espn, Hedge Fund Manager, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Team, Michael J Fox, Michael J Fox Foundation, Minority Owner, New York Mets, Poker Main Event, Poker Table, Poker Tournament, Poker World, Prize Pool, Tv Time, Wikipedia, World Poker Finals, World Series Of Poker, World Series Of Poker Main Event
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
With 380 entrants the $10,000 buy-in PokerStars SCOOP Main Event shattered its $2.5 million guaranteed prize-pool, with the final tally hitting $3.8 million, and battling for the title on Day 2 of the tournament were some of the biggest names in poker including EPT winner Toby Lewis, online pro Sami “LarsLuzak/lrslzk” Kelopuro, EPT Berlin champ Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky, online star Matt “ADZ124″ Marafioti, and Team PokerStars Pro and 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem.
In the end two of those players would wind up at the final table with one of them walking home with the SCOOP Main Event title –despite not winning the most prize-money thanks to a 5-way deal at the end of the tournament.
Sami “lrslzk” Kelopuro and Toby “810ofclubs” Lewis were both amongst the final nine players in the tournament, but it was Kelopuro who would go on to win the title, with Lewis finishing in 6th place and missing out on an equity chop made between the final five players.
Here is a look at the payouts for the final table of the 2011 SCOOP Main Event at PokerStars:
1. Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro (Finland) $504,691.09*
2. Tagult (Germany) $540,125,82*
3. StigR (Norway) $390,000.00*
4. altiFC (Germany) $369,581.05*
5. danskemann (Norway) $430,002.05*
6. Toby “810ofclubs” Lewis (United Kingdom) $167,200.00
7. GotURead (Netherlands) $129,200.00
8. el_klonkador (Sweden) $91,200.00
9. Hernan “HN Kakaroto” Novick (Uruguay) $66,500.00
*5-way deal
For more information on the SCOOP Main Event you can visit the PokerStars.com Blog
Tags: 2005 Wsop Main Event Champion, 5 Million, 8243, Adz124, Champ, EPT, Finland, Hn, Joe Hachem, Kakaroto, Larsluzak, Main Event, Norway, poker, Prize Money, Prize Pool, Scoop, Tally, Walking Home, Wsop Main Event Champion
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Monday, May 16th, 2011
Despite the absence of about a dozen familiar names like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Tom Dwan, and Chris Ferguson the $25,000 buy-in 2011 World Poker Tour Championship taking place at the Bellagio saw a total of 220 players register for the tournament. Over the course of Day 1, 188 players registered, followed by a further 32 players taking advantage of the late registration period on Day 2.
The 220 entrants didn’t simply beat last year’s mark, it blew it out of the water by 25 players –which is a huge amount when you are dealing with a $25,000 tournament—bringing the total prize-pool to over $5.3 million. A total of 27 players will make the money in the tournament, with first place worth over $1.6 million –David Williams earned $1.5 million for his win last year—and a min-cash worth $37,167.
Here is a look at the complete payout structure for the tournament from the WPT website:
· 1st: $1,618,344
· 2nd: $1,061,900
· 3rd: $589,355
· 4th: $361,665
· 5th: $278,749
· 6th: $225,654
· 7th: $172,559
· 8th: $119,464
· 9th: $84,952
· 10th – 12: $63,714
· 13th – 15th: $53,095
· 16th – 18th: $42,476
· 19th – 27th: $37,167
As far as the action at the tables goes; at the end of Day 2 there were 118 players remaining in the hunt for the title with cash-game pro Abe Mosseri leading the way with. Here are the Top 10 chip counts heading into Day 3’s action:
1. Abe Mosseri — 685,200
2. Alan Sternberg — 606,400
3. Steven Kelly — 566,500
4. Roger Teska — 534,900
5. Scott Seiver — 461,300
6. Josh Bergman — 415,600
7. Justin Young — 414,100
8. Roberto Mercer — 408,600
9. David Peters — 401,400
10. Darren Elias — 342,900
Tags: Abe Mosseri, Bellagio, Bergman, Cash Game, Chris Ferguson, Game Pro, Howard Lederer, Late Registration, Leading The Way, Payout Structure, Phil Ivey, Prize Pool, Registration Period, Sternberg, Steven Kelly, Teska, Tom Dwan, World Poker Tour, World Poker Tour Championship, WPT
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2011
The poker world may have to face the new reality that attendance numbers will be dropping across the board at major live tournaments after the US crackdown on online poker dubiously referred to as Black Friday, with even European tournaments feeling the sting.
Last year the PokerStars EPT Grand Finale Main Event drew an impressive 848 entrants to the poker tables in Monaco, but the 2011 that is currently taking place in Madrid, Spain saw a dramatic decrease in attendance, as only 686 players showed up to partake in one of the most prestigious tournaments in poker.
302 players entered the EPT Grand Finale on Saturday –a drop from the 351 players that entered in 2010—and when only 384 players came out for Day 1b, the overall attendance dropped nearly 20%.
That said, the tournament is still one of the largest $10,000+ buy-in tournaments in the poker world, and the €6,860,000 prize-pool and €1,500,000 that will go to the winner will be amongst the richest of the year.
As far as the play went on Days 1a and 1b; a total of 299 survived to play in Day 2 of the EPT Grand Finale including the top 10 chip-leaders listed below:
1. David Sonelin — 260,000
2. Ben Wilinofsky — 235,000
3. Alex Gomes — 200,000
4. Ole Kristian Nergard — 198,200
5. Ivan Demidov — 197,800
6. Mattias Bergstrom –188,000
7. Jean Noel Thorel — 180,300
8. Surinder Sunar — 179,200
9. Gerardo Godinez — 158,400
10. Andras Koroknai — 146,700
Tags: Attendance Numbers, Bergstrom, Black Friday, Dramatic Decrease, Gerardo, Godinez, Gomes, Grand Finale, Ivan Demidov, Jean Noel, Madrid Spain, Main Event, New Reality, Poker Tables, Poker World, PokerStars, Prestigious Tournaments, Prize Pool, Sunar, Us Crackdown
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Day 1b of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event is now in the books and a couple of recent champions find themselves near the top of the chip counts heading into Day 2: Vladimir Geshkenbein who won the EPT Snowfest last month, and Roberto Romanello who wrapped up the WPT Bratislava tournament earlier this month; both men ended Day 1 with over 150,000 in chips.
A total of 773 players registered for the EPT Berlin Main Event this time around –well off last year’s 915 entrants—creating a total prize-pool of €3,865,000, with €825,000 sitting by, waiting to be awarded to the winner of the tournament.
Last year’s EPT Berlin was marred by the brazen daylight robbery that took place on the final day of the event, but this time around the players should feel much suffer inside Berlin’s Spielbank Casino instead of a nearby Hotel Ballroom.
353 players will return to the Spielbank Berlin on Thursday for Day 2 of the tournament, but they are still quite a way from the money as only the top 120 players will cash in the tournament.
Here is a look at the chip-leaders from Day 1a and 1b heading into Day 2 of the EPT Berlin:
1. Sander Berndsen — 242,900
2. Oleg Elkin — 210,000
3. Cristian Dragomir — 205,500
4. Jochanan Robert Flink — 203,400
5. Alek Samardzic — 200,200
6. Mayu Roca Uribe — 190,000
7. Max Heinzelmann — 186,400
8. Aurelien Guiglini — 182,600
9. Vladimir Geshkenbein — 181,500
10. Ben Wilinofsky — 180,500
Tags: 1a, Berlin 1, Bratislava, Chips, Cristian, Daylight Robbery, Elkin, EPT, Hotel Ballroom, Leader Board, Main Event, Nearby Hotel, Oleg, poker, Prize Pool, Romanello, Samardzic, Spielbank Berlin, Vladimir, WPT
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Friday, April 1st, 2011
Full Tilt Poker’s latest breakthrough, Multi-Entry Tournaments, has been responsible for huge tournament prize-pools, record-setting fields, and has been causing quite a buzz in online poker, now the format will also be associated with an online poker trivia question as Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers was the first player to bring two of his entries in a multi-entry tournament all the way to the final table!
Full Tilt Poker definitely foresaw this happening when they first announced the Multi-Entry format, so when Sowers’ two entries reached the final table the two chip-stacks were combined, and Sowers received 9th place prize-money for the lost entry.
Sowers accomplished the feat in the Monday $2 million guaranteed –normally the Monday Million, but the prize-pool was doubled due to the Doubles Guarantee Week promotion currently running at Full Tilt poker—and with the combined chip-stacks he took over the final table chip lead, and would go on to win the tournament.
On his way to victory Sowers, an online poker legend himself, would have to deal with two of online poker’s best tournament players in Mickey ‘Memnet_Mori” Petersen and Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman. For his 9th place finish Sowers received $28,848, and for the win he pocketed a further $490,295, for a one-tournament haul in excess of $500,000.
So, when you are perusing the Full Tilt poker page on Wikipedia 10 years from now make sure you find the byline about Mike Sowers being the first player to reach the final table with two of his entries!
Tags: 10 Years, Breakthrough, Buzz, Byline, Full Tilt Poker, Guarantee, Lead, Lost, Memnet, Mickey, Moorman, online poker, Pools, Prize Money, Prize Pool, Sowers, Stacks, Trivia Question, victory, Wikipedia
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
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Phil Hellmuth says online poker will be legalized THIS YEAR
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011In a very bold statement/prediction during one of his stints in the commentator’s booth for the World Series of Poker Main Event live stream on ESPN 3, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth stated that he thinks online poker will be legalized in the United States this year, and went on to claim that once it is you can expect to see upwards of 15,000 entrants in the WSOP Main Event!
I’m not sure what Hellmuth is basing this on –especially the “this year” part considering how slow Congress moves on crucial issues, let alone something as innocuous as online poker—but I rarely see or hear Hellmuth making outlandish predictions: Name dropping yes, predictions no!
Hellmuth did bring up a good point in saying that once online poker was legalized in Italy, PokerStars.it immediately became the fourth largest online poker site in the world, and was bumped to #5 when France legalized online poker and PokerStars.fr claimed the #4 spot. So, Hellmuth’s claims of a second, even larger, Poker Boom are probably not that far off considering the US market is vastly larger than either France or Italy, and the US has a much deeper tradition when it comes to poker.
We’ll have to wait and see when it comes to the legislation, but if that day ever does come to light… Watch out! Can you even imagine 15,000 players in the WSOP Main Event? The total prize-pool would be $150,000,000, putting the top-prize in the $15 million – $20 million range!
Tags: Bold Statement, Boom, Commentator, Congress Moves, Espn, Fr, legislation, Live Stream, online poker, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Live, Poker Main Event, Prize Pool, Series Of Poker, Stints, United States, World Series, World Series Of Poker, World Series Of Poker Main Event, Wsop Main Event
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »