October 2005 Archives

I've seen people on go on rushes before. I've even seen a couple of people ride the same rush. Sunday night, however, it seemed like the entire city of Houston had been visited by the Rush Fairy. Three of the final table players hailed from the city. At one point,...more

As every sweet-toothed child around the world knows, today is Halloween. But as every poker player knows, if it's tricks and treats you're seeking, look no further than the EPT.Someone who knows all about the sweetness of high-stakes poker is Mats Gavatin, from Sweden. Late last night, the 26-year-old tasted...more

He's a former baker. He studied information technology and maths. He's 26-years-old and he's from Sweden.As unlikely as it might sound, that's the recipe for success for Mats Gavatin, the newly-crowned EPT Dublin winner. Mats overcame the vast chip-lead of Henric Olander, his countryman, to claim the €317,000 first prize...more

1.35am-- That's it. We have a winner and his name is Mats Gavatin. The final hand was ace-king in Mats's hand against king-nine for Henric. End of story - although there'll be photos and a report here in a moment.1.30am-- Wow. Huge swing to Mats. He's now the dominating chip...more

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The first fantastic fourFrom left to right: David Pomroy, Jim Reid, Michael Greco, Michael O'SullivanThe final fantastic fourFrom left to right: Joe Rafferty, Henric Olander, Pete Haslam, Mats Gavatin...more

The final table of the EPT Dublin is coming from the Royal Dubin Society (RDS) in the Ballsbridge district of this wonderful city.The television set has been created in the centre of a wooden-floored concert hall, with books lining the walls and elegant statues posing flamboyantly to welcome us in....more

For the second time - out of two - the bubble burst in the face of a PokerStars qualifier. This time the unfortunate man was Jonas Molander, the man from Stockholm, who won't be featuring on television, but will take home €19,900 for his ninth place.That leaves us with eight....more

When it's the EPT.We're down to nine and just one table. But there's only space for eight in the television stages and so we still need to lose one more before we head up the road to the RDS.This is the TV bubble and although €19,900 softens the blow, it...more

It's as good as impossible to check up on the players at the moment. With such a good showing from the local Irish players, as well as some exceptionally well supported British, the basement resembles a queue for free candy at an elementary school. They're a rabble.Nonetheless, here are the...more

The Merrion is a little less colourful than it has been. Ray Coburn, the green-haired, Skittles-munching PokerStars qualifier from New Jersey has just departed in in 14th place. He was in the big blind with an ace-nine and David Pomroy, on the button, made approximately the ninth pre-flop raise of...more

Update: Baunach is knocked out by David Pomroy. He takes €7,900 for 17th placeJust two tables now remain, crammed into the far corner of an increasingly stuffy, and not a little aromatic, basement of the Merrion. It's difficult to get an accurate chip count, but it seems as though Henric...more

The final 27 are as follows. I'll update eliminations as they happen.Table 1Magnus Eklund - 22nd (€ 6,000)Birgitta Johansson - 23rd (€ 6,000)Michael O'SullivanJim ReidJonas Molander Jon Kalmar Jared Davis - 21st (€ 6,000)Michael Slevin Joe RaffertyTable 2Henric Olander Stuart Forsythe - 19th (€ 6,000)Patrick McFadden - 27th (€ 6,000)...more

...and it's Ahmet. He had ace-jack, his opponent had pocket fives. The man who was looking at turning an entrance fee of precisely nothing into a great pay-day has been busted at the most critical moment.Words defeat me. It's a cruel game....more

We're down to 28 players in the basement of the Merrion - the time when all these tournaments grind to a halt. It's bubble time. The next player out walks away with nothing to show for their long day's toil. With action spread across four tables, Thomas Kremser, the tournament...more

Luca Pagano is about the steadiest player on the European Poker Tour. He has cashed four times in the year-and-a-half since the series of tournaments began, including two final tables. He and Noah Boeken, each with more than 65,000 in chips overnight here, were both vying to become the first...more

Welcome back to the PokerStars European Poker Tour. It's day two of the €4,000 no-limit hold 'em event from the Merrion Casino, Dublin. Thirty-eight players made it to the second day and with only 27 being paid, these opening exchanges are going to be tense.When we reach the final eight...more

...well, for today at least.There are 39 players remaining, with Messrs Pomroy, Olander, Gavatin, Molander and Rafferty leading the way from an Eastenders actor named Greco.Play re-commences tomorrow at 1pm local time. We'll have full updates, then a blow-by-blow report on the final table.Goodnight for now.Overnight chip countsDavid Pomroy -...more

With just one level remaining tonight and 50 players still battling, it seems likely that there'll be 30 or more making it to the second day - with 27 of them earning a pay-day.There's been a seismic power shift at the summit of the leaderboard, with Andy Black now scratching...more

Norman Pace is a comedian. You notice it when he tells his poker stories."What happened, Norman?" I asked, catching a glimpse of the funnyman by the bar, manifestly out of his debut EPT tournament."Well, I had a pocket pair and I stuck them in," he mused ruefully. "He's got two...more

It's well past midnight and we're down to 72. Top of the tree are the following, all of whom have around 80,000.Richard Redmond Joe RaffertyAndy Black...more

The following are still in:Baard Dahl: 19,000 when the photo was taken, 39,000 now. Baard raised from the cut-off with ace-ten, the big blind called and on a flop of Q-5-3, all the chips go in. They're that kind of player in Dublin. The big blind shows 4-6 for the...more

Question: Who's actually leading this thing? Answer: Richard Redmond, currently sitting with about 62,000 in chips.Photos to follow, but here are some more (approximate) numbers in the meantime.Ken Lennard 32,000; Iwan Jones 20,000; Ray "Candyman" Coburn 35,000; Surindar Sunar 15,000; Luca Pagano 24,000; Donnacha O'Dea 35,000; Ben Grundy 18,000; Ahmet...more

Too many words so far, so here are some numbers as we enter level eight of competition.There are 126 players remaining on 13 tables, six of which are in the basement and seven on the third floor. That's four flights of stairs required to keep in touch.We've lost Ram Vaswani,...more

So, what of the PokerStars qualifiers? Simple answer: pretty good.As usual, the site is exceptionally well represented here in Dublin with 45 satellite winners, cash qualifiers and FPP heroes proving once again - does this still need proving? - that those who cut their teeth in cyberspace can be pretty...more

There's more than just the same old bloggers here this week and, representing PokerStars London, is a certain Joanne Haslam, who has taken to this job like a duck to Guinness water. Here's her rundown on some of the more distinctive competitors on display.I'm Joanne and my usual job is...more

Some more approximate chip counts:Ben Grundy 15,000; Surindar Sunar 5,500; Baard Dahl 10,000; Kevin O'Connell 5,000; Steve Vladar 6,500; Simon Young (Team PokerStars) 14,000; Ram Vaswani 18,000; Noah Boeken 21,000; Joe Beevers 9,000; Cecelia Nordenstam 5,000; Simon Trumper 7,000; Andy Black (fifth in World Series) 25,000; Patrik Antonius (EPT winner...more

Here's what they're playing for:€992,000 prize pool1 €317,0002 €174,5003 €89,3004 €69,5005 €59,5006 €49,6007 €39,8008 €29,8009 €19,90010-12 €11,90013-15 €9,90016-18 €7,90019-27 €6,000And here are some of those doing the playing (with approximate chip counts):Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham - 15,000Barny Boatman - 30,000Christer JohanssonDonnacha O'Dea - 7,500Joe Beevers - 9,000Luca Pagano - 8,000Padraig...more

There's never quite as much to report during the early stages of these tournaments as the frenzied activity among the press pack might suggest. The players begin with 10,000 points in chips, with the blinds taking just 25 and 50 of them. You're either unlucky, foolish or a little bit...more

Hello and welcome to a drizzly Dublin, where 250 of Europe's finest - and a fair representation from the other side of the Atlantic - have put down their €4,000 for a shot at the latest EPT title. And the small matter of a million euro prize-pool.Dubin has delivered. There's...more

With the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship in the books, it's time we move on to other events. But before we do, I thought you should get to know the man who won the big event last night.Easy_wind, a 29 year-old consultant with a big IT services company, had trouble sleeping...more

How easy do the winds blow at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas? Well, very easy. Now, they're about to blow even easier for the winner of the first PokerStars Blogger Championship.After battling through nearly 1500 of his fellow bloggers, easy_wind took first place and won a $12,000 prize...more

It was another big night for the Sunday PokerStars $500,000 Guaranteed event. More than 3500 people turned out to create a massive $702,200 prize pool. Here are your final table results.PokerStars $500,000 Guaranteed Final Table(based on three-way chip-count deal that left $10,000 for first place)1. RawDeal55 (Panorama City, CA) $97,3822....more

Looking to play deep-stacked? Looking for more action in six-handed events? Check out PokerStars new Deep Stack and Six-Handed events.DeepStackDeepStack tourneys run just like regular tournaments except the players start with 5,000 chips and the blinds last 30 minutes.Mon 18:15 No Limit Hold'em $30+$3Tue 18:15 Pot Limit Omaha $20+$2Wed 18:15...more

After a month of waiting, the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship is today. After reading a lot of the blogs on the block for the past several months, I know the poker blogging community has been pretty happy with the event's set-up. Sadly, not everybody will turn out to be a...more

There's little doubt at this stage that the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship is going to be a big hit. As of this moment, 1340 bloggers have registered. All of them will be competing for $25,000 worth of prizes, including the first prize: a package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (a...more

One thing about gamers: they don't mess around when it comes to competition. Normally, they are locked in andrenaline-juiced virtual firefights. No doubt, a lot of that will be taking place this weekened at IGN Live.It will be a gamers paradise in Anaheim, CA on October 22-23. IGN live promises...more

It's the freeroll the bloggers of the world have been waiting for. It's the freeroll the dedicated bloggers deserve. It's PokerStars first-ever Blogger Championship. If you haven't heard about this yet, it's almost too late. In short, PokerStars recognized a long time ago how important blogs are to the...more

It was another big Sunday on PokerStars with more than 3000 people forking out $200 to compete for the week's biggest prize pool. Here are your final table results.Sunday $500,000 Guarantee Final Table Results(Results based on five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place)1. $30K (Port Richey, FL) $103,653 2....more

If the bright lights, honking cars, and hordes of people weren't enough clues, the giant sign gave it away. I was standing in Times Square. Still jet-lagged from my return from Austria, I thought I might be a bit confused, or at the very least, seeing things. I admitted to...more

The PokerStars Blog is in transit today. Hence, we'll miss the final table report this week. Nonetheless, here are your results.PokerStars Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed Results(Results based on five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place. Results are listed in order of finish)1. Vegasking (Halmstad, Sweden) $62,654.54 2. Ryokan (Dublin, Ireland)...more

This news just in from PokerStars:Player Appreciation Bonus: PokerStars values its players and wants to make sure they know it. How does $150 sound? From now until October 16th, when you make your next deposit, we'll give you 25% more -- up to $150! Click here for full bonus details...more

All roads may have led to Rome, but all street signs in Baden, Austria point a weary traveler to Casino Baden. It sits on a small hill backed by several larger rises. The grass is green, the flowers are somehow remain in bloom, and fountains shoot water in the air...more

EPT Baden Champion6:46pm--It's all over. Patrik Antonius flopped two pair on an 84x flop. Gunnar picked the wrong time to make a move with overcards and exited in second place. A full report will be out shortly.6:41pm--Blinds are now 8000/160006:32pm-- Patrik has opened up his chip lead some more and...more

Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300Seat 2: Patrik Antonius (FIN) 308,400Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400 Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700 Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500 Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180K Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,100...more

5:19pm--The final TV table has been set.Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300Seat 2: Patrick Antonius (FIN) 308,400Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180,000Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,1005:18pm--Morten Jensen eliminated in...more

See the links on the right for all the coverage from day one. Click here for end of day one chip counts.Word spreads quickly in a poker tournament room. Like wildfire on a dry mountain, word circulated that Roland Dewolfe, recent WPT champion, had busted out. I'd seen it happen....more

1 MUHLBECK Peter (Austria) 165,6002 OSTERBROD Gunnar (NOR) 152,7753 ANTONIUS Patrik (SWE) 113,0754 LARSSON Daniel (SWE) 97,075 PokerStars qualifier5 POLLAK Martin (Austria) 89,2006 GRUNDTVIG Christian (DK) 88,3507 JOERN Henrik (Austria) 84,9508 SKJEVOLD Edgar (NOR) 82,9759 MEIJBERG Abel (NL) 81,25010 IVERSEN Torstein (NOR) 78,87511 PERSSON Tobias (SWE) 55,80012 HANSEN Caspar (DK)...more

Well, as it turns out, we're either playing until 11pm local time or until we get down to 36 players. With only 40 players remaining, the end could come soon. A few notes:Roland Dewolfe has been crippled with AK vs. AA.Noah Boeken's naked aces can't lose.Daniel Larsson, Christian Grundtvig, and...more

If you read this post before, I've now received an explanation for why Young got some chips back. Apparently, the 700 900 in chips he got back was the amount of his raise over Testud's original raise. Thus, the chips he lost constituted a call of Testud's bet. All in...more

Below you'll find the crack reporting of journalist-turned-marketing man, Conrad Brunner, who has the story on the guy in the picture below. If you've missed any of the earlier reports, look for links in the "Baden Briefs" section on the right.Stefan RappStefan Rapp, our favourite Austria semi-professional table tennis player,...more

Supernova explosions are among the most energetic events in the universe. It happens when massive Stars, eight time the size of the Earth's sun, collapse due to loss of their life-giving fuel. The biggest of these stars actually leave behind black holes upon their demise.Suffice it to say, Casino Baden...more

Just logging on? Check out The Pre-Game Ritz.Just a few notes to start off. As we begin, the field has 175 players. Registration will remain open for the first three levels. Chip counts mean little at this point, but we'll have them as the hours go on in the...more

A stand-up comedian in America once spoke at naughty length about how a man reacts when he gets out of prison. Not to be too dirty about it, but a man has needs and when he can finally meet them, the most mundane of luxuries (be it women, food,...more

The weather in London, despite a few hours of drizzle, had been quite nice. The skies had been clear, the temperatures warmer than one might expect. Edgware Road teemed with exotic, international sights and smells. Rich tombacco smoke slipped from the Indian coffee houses. Arabic women looked from beneath veils...more

12:44pm--Well, I am a damned idiot. It's over. Mark turned a set of jacks and moved his chips into the middle. Jonas called all-in on king-high diamond flush draw. He missed. Mark won it all. More later.12:24am--I might have failed to mention. We took a ten-minute break. We're about to...more

We're still 45 minutes out from the beginning of the final table. Here are your seating assignments and approximate chip counts. Below you'll find a few pictures from the day. The post immediately below this one will show you how we reached the final table.1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K2. Jonas...more

6:25pm--Here are your final eight by seat number. We're on a dinner break.1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K2. Jonas Helness (Norway) 700K3. Paul King (England) 160K4. Mark Teltsher (England)5. Graham Clarkson (Scotland)175K6. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 58K7. Istvan Novak (Hungary) 100K8. Dale Greenleaf (England) 160K6:06pm--It appears Frank Callaghan has departed in ninth...more

We've reached the final 24 players in the EPT London Poker Masters. The remaining runners will begin play at 2:30pm Sunday afternoon. Here's how they stack up as they fight for the eight seats at the final table.Mark Teltsher (London) 232,200J. Helness (Norway) 190,200Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 175,100Paul King 174,400V. Kanwar...more

FLASH: Now down to 16 players at two tables. Tony Bloom, Paul King, John Caldwell, Stewart Brown, and 12 others remain.The hour again grows a bit late. With the not-quite-dawning of a new day comes this nitty and gritty part of the tournament in which narrative commentary on the day's...more

Just logging on? Check out this previous coverage.Cricket and Poker meetPayouts, stats, and suchFlight #1 coverageStewart Brown, from homegame to the big gameStewart "stoogster: Brown looks right pensive, doesn't he? Almost as if he were sitting right at home, or at the very least, a homegame.It stands to reason. Brown...more

Just logging on? Check out this previous coverage.Cricket and Poker meetFlight #1 coverageWell, the official numbers have come in. So, rather than startle myself with my own verbosity, here's some raw numbers and slightly less raw photos.Total entrants: 236 (two flights of 118)Places paid: 24First place: 280,000 poundsPlayers remaining from...more

The American lady seemed perplexed by my camera's firing shutter. She followed the direction of the lens and asked her tablemates what made my subject so special."He's famous," the man in the ten-seat answered."Famous for what?"The Brits at the table were incredulous."He's famous for cricket."I was hoping I wouldn't hear...more

Miss yesterday? Click here for Flight #1 coverageFlight #2 of this event here in London is underway. The tables are again full and the game is again fresh. I guarantee, that freshness won't last.I'll be headed out to the floor here in a moment and bring back the first sightings...more

Just logging on? Check out...Shuffle Up and DealAfter Dinner SprintLate night pokerHomicides, etc.It took another brutal beat to end the night. With only 13 players remaining, on the virtual money bubble, El Blondie himself limped in from the small blind with A6. Kirill Gerasimov checked his option with J7 suited...more

FLASH #2: Anders Berg eliminated by a sad, sad hand. All-in pre-flop with A8 of clubs, he's up against El Blondie's A8 of hearts. First three cards off the deck are hearts and Berg is gone. We're down to two tables in the first flight.FLASH: Greg Raymer has been eliminated....more

Just logging on? Check out...Shuffle Up and DealAfter Dinner Sprint Card protector given to the event's participantsIn the land of televised poker, there is the oft-referenced Feature Table. Many folks speak of it with a hushed reverence, as though an appearance there somehow bestows upon the seated some sort of...more

Just logging on? Click here to see what you've missedDownstairs at The VicThe smoked salmon was on the buffet table in the bar. The chicken and lamb were in the dining area. A healthy supply of flatbread and pastries were ready for a healthy repast. And yet, Ben "Milkybar Kid"...more

"Sir, are you coming into the casino today?"The young man stood in line, his youth not telling the the real tale of his poker experience. I knew him, having first run into him in Vienna during Season 1 of the EPT. I knew he came from Duke University and...more