Word just came around the bend that PokerStars is trying out some bigger six-max tables. Taking a look under the hold'em section in the game lobby, I find new six-max games at $15/$30, $30/$60, and $100/$200.
So, if short-handed action is more your style and your bankroll is feeling healthy, that might be something to try out.
Don't miss the news at the bottom of this post
You just don't see this kind of thing every day--an online prize pool worth more than $1 million dollars. It appeared out of nowhere on Sunday afternoon when more than 2100 players showed up for the monthly $700,000 Guaranteed tournament.
Consider that for a moment. Just a regular Sunday afternoon at the end of Janaury. More than a million bucks at stake. Simply, amazing.
As you might expect, talk of a deal started early. With only four players eliminated from the final table, the remaining five started talking about a deal. It took just a few minutes to work out the details. The top four chip counts made out with more than $100,000 a piece and the man in fifth position, who went on to finish in second place, wasn't too far from $100,000 himself.
Here are the final table results.
PokerStars $700,000 Guaranteed Results
(based on five-way chip percentage deal that left $10,000 on the table for first place)
1. CoachMarshal (Beaver, UT) $122,479
2. wee artFRUIT (Donaghmore, United Kingdom) $88,812
3. Nxwill (Stavanger, Norway) $105,579
4. CrazyKatala (Riga, Latvia) $118,396
5. dostar (Lisle, IL) $118,340
6. Duff McGuire (Clarkston MI) $39,090.50
7. Highroller35 (Holland, PA) $29,582.00
8. AndersFriden (Austin, TX) $21,130.00
9. -db- (Moline, IL) $13,734.50
Now, for some exciting news. If you haven't already seen, the weekly $200+$15 has grown so much that PokerStars has upped the weekly guarantee. Now, every Sunday $200+$15 will have a guarantee of $750,000. For the past few weeks, the tournament has been drawing huge numbers. Just last week, more than 4000 people showed up to compete. Satellites for the weekly tournament are running every day.
See you on Sunday!
Since PokerStars started its VIP Club a few weeks ago, the talk of the online poker world has been the insane speed at which ElkY hit VIP Supernova status. Players watched ElkY as he barnstormed the tables and racked up an unlikely 100,000 VIP Player Points in just a couple of weeks.
Within another week, another name had emerged. Tibirin crushed the tables, crossed the Supernova threshold, and subsequently passed ElkY in VIP Player Points.
Now, lurking in the shadows is an online stalwart who many players will recognize from the $10/$20 NL tables. H@££INGGOL seems to be the next man on pace to hit Supernova. Straight out of Sweden, the young twenty-something is sports guy, with some prowess in hockey and soccer. A cash game specialist, H@££INGGOL could hit Supernova any time, given his current pace.
Last week, we had the pleasure of seeing ElkY and H@££INGGOL in the same place. Both players showed up in Copenhagen for the EPT Scandinavian Open.
1. Mads Anderson (Denmark) - 2,548,070 Kr
2. Edgar Skjervold (Norway) - 1,401,722 Kr
3. Philip Hilm (Denmark) - 716,636 Kr
4. Marc Naalden (Holland) - 557,384 Kr
5. Markus Gonsalves (USA) - 477,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
6. Anina Gundesen (Denmark) - 398,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
7. Shek Chi Hung (Denmark) - 318,000 Kr
8. Johan Bergquist (Sweden) - 239,000 Kr
Copenhagen: playground of the rich
Children should not play poker. But it would help if the casinos didn't turn their poker rooms into playgrounds. There were more see-saws, yo-yos, slides, swings and roundabouts on the final table of EPT Copenhagen than in all the Toys R Us warehouses around the world. I, like the eight players, the eight hundred spectators, and the millions who will watch this television broadcast, am dizzy.
Let's begin at the beginning, back when this classroom of eight went on an excursion to Casino Copenhagen to read, work and study their way to the top; before, in short, this high-stakes poker tournament became a ten-hour long recess.
Johan Bergquist, from Sweden, was carrying the lightest backpack, just 47,500 in chips weighing him down. He would have to take a stand against the bullies if he wanted to keep it and, wow, first round of the table he picks up aces, gets the chips in, gets the call he wants and doubles up. Can the poor boy make good?
EPT Copenhagen final result:
1. Mads Anderson (Denmark) - 2,548,070 Kr
2. Edgar Skjervold (Norway) - 1,401,722 Kr
3. Philip Hilm (Denmark) - 716,636 Kr
4. Marc Naalden (Holland) - 557,384 Kr
5. Markus Gonsalves (USA) - 477,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
6. Anina Gundesen (Denmark) - 398,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
7. Shek Chi Hung (Denmark) - 318,000 Kr
8. Johan Bergquist (Sweden) - 239,000 Kr
Report to follow.
3.10am --- It's all over. We have a winner. After a gruelling heads-up battle it all came down to big hand versus big hand, as it often does. Edgar had ace-ten, Mads ace-queen. Neither gave an inch in the pre-flop raising and while the flop came all hearts, Edgar holding the ten of hearts, the off-suit queen on the turn removed a couple of his outs, before a blank on the river ended it. Mads Andersen is the champion of EPT Copenhagen. Final table report to follow.
2.55am --- Straight away, Edgar is back on the ropes. Edgar moves in on a flop of 10-4-4. Mads calls and shows ten-queen, Edgar has king-jack. Mads has two pair, the queen on the turn improving it a notch. Now Mads is back in the lead.
2.50am --- Thomas Kremser announces that Mads has 1.8 million, Edgar 1 million shortly before it's all in the middle. Edgar has ace-five, Mads ace-queen. The flop is all diamonds and Edgar has the ace, then the five pops up on the turn to put him ahead and the Norwegian contingent erupts. He's in the dominant position now.
2.40am --- They're now posting blinds of 40,000 and 80,000, which has put Mads into overdrive. He's re-raising if he gets any chance, but is content just to raise if that's all on offer. He's the definite chip leader, but I fancy an "all-in" "call" is imminent.
2.35am --- It's going back and forth until a decent pot goes Mads's direction. He's made two pairs, jacks and sevens, beating Edgar's top pair queens. There are a lot of orange 10,000 chips in the pot. Mads leads.
2.25am --- Big pot for Edgar, who makes up the big blind, then bets the ace-high flop. Mads raises 250,000 and Edgar moves in. Mads folds - Edgar flashes an ace.
2.10am --- Edgar and Mads are heads up, with any pre-flop raise taking it down for the opening exchanges. But they're seeing a lot of flops - both are flat calling more frequently than you'd expect, then pushing one another around post-flop.
1.40am --- Down to two. Two huge pots and Mark Naalden is out. He moves in pre-flop and Mads Andersen, the short-stack calls all in. Mads has queens, Marc king jack and none improve. Then Mads makes another move, Mark calls with ace-queen and is ahead when Mads shows ten-nine. But he hits a ten on the turn and fills a flush on the river. Down to two.
1.25am --- The madness continues. Edgar is now dominant chip leader, having just got all his chips in with ace-jack and Marc calling with ace-two. The flop showed two jacks to end that one. (Although a furious Mads Andersen raked through the mucked cards to find his ten-seven. The ten-seven that would have made a straight.
Official chip count:
Edgar 1,372,000
Marc 831,000
Mads 624,000
1.20am --- Mads now doubles through Marc, when his five-six makes a straight against Marc Naalden's queen-jack. Mads is back to 820,000.
1.10am --- Huge double up for Edgar Skjervold, who finds all his chips in the middle with nine-seven. Mads Andersen calls with pocket jacks, but they're not good enough when a seven flops and a nine swims down the river.
12.55am --- Official chip counts with three players remaining:
Mads Andersen 1,155,000
Edgar Skjervold 870,000
Marc Naalden 800,000
12.50am --- Philip Hilm is out and Marc has his revenge. Marc first doubles through against Mads and then calls Philip's all-in button raise. The man from Holland has ace-seven, the button raiser nothing more than nine-four. The board improves neither hand and Philip joins his huge Danish following at the bar.
12.40am --- Still they refuse to fall. This one is a massive pre-flop raising battle between Marc Naalden and Philip Hilm. When the two shortest stacks showdown, Marc has ace-six, Philip has queen-five. The flop is six-six-seven and it's surely all over for Hilm. But the eight on the turn gives him an open ended straight draw and the magic nine falls on the river. Marc is now scratching the felt.
12.30am --- Huge pot, maybe the biggest of the night. Phil makes up the small blind and Mads checks. They see a flop of 3c-3h-8c. Phil checks and Mads bets 40,000. Phil raises to 120,000 but Mads is having none of that minimum re-raise and sticks in 200,000. The pot is now about 650 when Phil calls and checks the turn, a six of hearts. Mads moves in a Phil, who everyone seems to think had a three, folds. Mads consolidates chip lead.
12.00am --- We're going to be here all night. The stacks have evened right out after Mads goes on the rampage, re-raising Edgar, then Phil and hauling himself into the lead. Official chip counts as the players take a break:
Mads Andersen 821,000
Philip Hilm 812,000
Marc Naalden 100,000
Edgar Skjervold 462,000
11.45pm --- The double ups continue around the table as now Philip Hilm, who was down to his final 300,000 after a terrible run, gets them all in having flopped two-pair with his 9-4. There's no help for Marc's K-Q and the Dane returns to the fray. It now looks as though Mads might be back in the lead, with Marc, Edgar and Philip close behind.
11.40pm --- The stacks level out again as Edgar Skjervold doubles up through Marc Naalden. Marc raises on the button, making it 100,000 to play. Edgar moves in - 267,000 total, 167,000 more for Marc. He thinks, then calls and, after showing queen-nine, must see the only re-raising hand he wanted, a small pair. They're eights, but the snowmen look as though they're melting when a queen flops. However, Edgar picks up a flush draw on the turn and can hit any heart or any eight on the river to win. Out pops the eight and Skjervold is back.
11.30pm --- Big hit for the chip lead of Philip Hilm as Marc Naalden doubles up. Philip raises pre-flop, making it 90,000 to play. Marc moves in - another 348,000. Philip calls and shows a pocket pair: fours. Marc has a pocket pair too: aces. Although the flop and turn brings a straight draw for Philip's fours, the ace on the end finishes it off in the Dutchman's favour.
11.15pm --- Final four chip count:
Philip Hilm 1,177,000
Mads Andersen 902,000
Edgar Skjervold 468,000
Marc Naalden 271,000Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) fifth (477,000 Kr)Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) sixth (398,000 Kr)Shek Chi Hung seventh (318,000 Kr) Johan Bergquist - eighth (239,000 Kr)
11pm --- We're down to four after Markus hits the rail. He re-raised Phil's pre-flop raise of 60,000, all his chips - about another 120,000. Phil called with little choice and showed pocket sixes. Markus had ace-nine of diamonds. The flop was all spades and no ace nor nine in sight, and neither did they appear on the turn or the river. The final PokerStars qualifier goes out in fifth place, 477,757 Kr richer. That's just under $80,000 to take back to San Diego.
10.50pm --- Markus raises all-in, out of turn. Marc Naalden hasn't acted before all the PokerStars qualifier's chips are in the centre. Marc asks for a ruling and is told he can raise if he wants, but that the all-in will go. Markus's hands are still cupped round the chips and ready to shove them in if necessary, but Marc folds. Markus shows 9-7.
10.35pm --- Two notable hands. First, there's the rarest of occurances: the family pot. Everyone calls, then checks the ace high flop. The turn brings a third diamond and Philip bets. Everyone folds. Then, Markus, who is the short-stack by quite some distance now, survives another all-in, but only splits it. His ace-eight ties with Marc's ace-four. Still five.
10.15pm --- After a period of raising, then folding to a re-raise, Edgar Skjervold dishes out some of that punishment on Philip Hilm. Edgar makes up the big blind, Philip raises 40,000 and Edgar calls. The flop of K-8-4 is checked by Edgar, but then re-raised another 210 after Philip bets 70. Philip dwells, counts, folds.
10pm --- Back from the dinner break and, with the leaders' chip stacks having levelled out, so has the game. A pre-flop raise is usually enough to pick up the blinds, a re-raise draws audible gasps. Then everyone folds. There's been one flop: it came 5-2-2 after a pre-flop raise by Philip. Marc Naalden called that, then checked the low board, allowing Philip to bet. Fold.
8.45pm --- The five remaining players are on a dinner break. Their chips counts are as follows:
Philip Hilm 849,000
Mads Andersen 662,500
Edgar Skjervold 633,500
Marc Naalden 424,000
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 243,000
The players out have so far won the following:
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 398,131 Kr (€53,000)
Shek Chi Hung 318,505 Kr (€43,000)
Johan Bergquist 238, 879 Kr (€32,000)
and the players remaining are up for:
1st 2,548,070 Kr (€341,000)
2nd 1,401,722 Kr (€228,000)
3rd 716,636 Kr (€96,000)
4th 557,384 Kr (€75,000)
5th 477,757 Kr (€64,000)
8.30pm --- Anina Gundesen is out. Philip Hilm raises from under-the-gun, Anina re-raises from the button and Philip calls. The flop shows Kc-Jh-9h and Philip checks. Anina bets 100,000 and Philip moves in. Anina calls and shows jack-queen, for a pair of jacks, but Philip's king-queen has her dominated and she needs either a jack to win or a ten to split. It doesn't happen and Anina is out in sixth place.
8.15pm --- Edgar Skjervold doubles up through Philip Hilm. Philip raises pre-flop, Edgar calls from the big blind. The flop is king-high, rainbow, and after Edgar checks, Philip bets 65. Edgar calls, to see a seven on the turn. Edgar now moves in and Philip, who is sitting with king-jack for top pair, calls. Edgar shows king-seven, making his two pair on the turn, and he's up to around 600,000.
8.10pm --- Mads exacts some revenge on Anina, when her check on an ace-high flop allows him to bet and take it down.
8pm --- Markus Gonsalves survives a real scare. He's all-in with ace-seven, called by Philip Hilm's ace-queen. The seven on the turn saves the man from San Diego.
7.55pm --- Mads raises to 42,000 pre-flop, Anina calls from small blind. Flop comes ace-high and Anina bets 50,000 into a 100,000 pot. Mads looks skyward as he's forced to fold again.
7.45pm --- A tournament break, so here is the up-to-date chip count. We have a new chip leader.
Philip Hilm 1,475,000
Mads Andersen 787,000
Edgar Skjervold 294,000
Marc Naalden 264,000
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 262,000
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 161,000
They will return and post blinds of 7,500 and 15,000, with a 1,500 ante.
7.30pm --- Edgar Skjervold doubles up with pocket sixes, all in pre-flop, against Mads's ace-five.
7.20pm --- Mads Andersen just took the first sizeable hit to his sizeable stack when Philip Hilm made up the blind then checked the ace-high flop, two clubs showing. Mads also checked, then a third club - and another ace - turned. Philip bet, Mads raised and Philip called. The river was an off-suit deuce, checked by Philip, giving Mads the opportunity to try to take him off the hand. Mads declined and checked, leaving Philip to show ace-four, a full house (the four on the flop seeming innocuous). Philip made 400,000, but Mads got away.
Before the prize fighters step into the ring later this afternoon, there was a pretty tasty bout on the EPT undercard where Ken Lenaard, Sweden's best-known poker star, took on poker's best-known bracelet in a heads-up match. This time, the World Series of Poker winner's jewelry was the model from 2003, earned as Chris Moneymaker elevated poker into the stratosphere with his $2.5 million cash, all parlayed from a $40 online tournament.
Don't tell this to anyone in Las Vegas, but no matter how many dollars you spend trying to disguise this fact, the inside of casinos all have a tendency to look the same. That's why it is sometimes worth exploring that peculiar place known by only a select few, commonly referred to as the "outside world".
As the final preparations take place for the finale of EPT Copenhagen (of which, more later) I decided to forsake the sight of cards, chips and spinning wheels for an hour or so and learn more about where life is led if life involves more than poker.
It was as though I had climbed through a wardrobe to do so.
Anina Gundesen qualified for this EPT tournament, her first major live event, via a $13 re-buy event on PokerStars. Now she has just knocked out a former WPT winner.
Christer Johansson was the man who took the fall, unable to beat Anina's ace-queen. Hot on the heels of this, Hans Eskildsen perished to leave us with nine. These few all get to sit around one table but it is one of the cruelties of the EPT that this is not the final table.
Tomorrow, we will reconvene for the full television treatment but there are only eight spaces on the cast list of the stars. One of these will not be among them.
Mads Andersen 937,000
Philip Hilm 601,000
Shek Hung Chi 308,000
Marc Naalden 279,000
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 224,000
Edgar Skervolt 187,000
Marcus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 157,000
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham 67,500
Johan Bergquist 58,500
Thirteen players left, three thousand spectators.
Here are the chip counts...
Mads Andersen 540K
Philip Hilm 520K
Marc Naalden 260K
Shek Hung Chi 250K
Edgar Skervolt 230K
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham 190K
Johan Bergquist 120KAdam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier) 105K
Anina Gundersen (PokerStars qualifiers) 140K
Lennart Nystrom 100K
Hans Eskildson 100K
Christer Johansson 79K
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 75K
... and here are the spectators
Mads Andersen is running away with this. Here are his chips. Understand now why they're difficult to count?
If you have ever read PokerStars blog before, perhaps from a previous tournament in any country around the world, you will have heard us talk about "commentator's curse" - a strange phenomenon that seems to ensure a player will be eliminated from a tournament the minute the report on how great they are playing is filed.
In Copenhagen, it has just been taken to a new level. Karin Lundgren has just hit the rail before I even managed to put pen to paper, or finger to key. But her story was in the pipeline - and here's the picture taken to illustrate it.
Twenty-two players now remain as we head into level 15. Three of those are PokerStars qualifiers: Markus Gonsalves, Anina Staunbo Gundesen and Adam Nilson.
The chip leader is still Marc Naalden, who has hardly relinquished that position all day, despite close attention from Christer Johansson earlier. Christer has dropped back slightly, while Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham continues to prosper. After knocking out Luca Pagano, she is sitting with about 180,000.
Mads Andersen is also surely worth a mention at this point. He started well, before beginning to haemorrhage chips late yesterday until it looked as though he was heading back to Sweden. But he's climbed back near the summit and is probably second at the moment, with 222,000.
The continued use of "probably" is not, by the way, a reference to Carlsberg, the Danish beer (although some of it has been in evidence, I confess). It's more to do with the fact that the players are currently sitting with several vast towers of chips, making accurate counts all but impossible.
But, good to the last, we'll be here bringing you our trademark approximate estimations until the very last card is dealt.
Anders Berg goes out on the bubble.
Anina Gundesen, Thomas Grundy, Adam Nilson, Marcus Gonsalves, all PokerStars qualifiers, make the money.
Luca Pagano, final Team PokerStars member, is out in 26th place when he flops top two pair against Xuyen Pham's top straight.
Payout structure (in Danish Kroner, rough euro equivalent in brackets)
Final table:
1 - 2,548,070 (€341,000)
2 - 1,701,722 (€228,000)
3 - 716,636 (€96,000)
4 - 557,384 (€75,000)
5 - 477,757 (€64,000)
6 - 398,131 (€53,000)
7 - 318,505 (€43,000)
8 - 238, 879 (€32,000)
9 - 159,252 (€21,000)
10-12 - 95,551 (€12,000)
13-15 - 79,626 (€11,000)
16-26 - 63,701 (€9,000)
19-27 - 47,776 (€6403)
It's bubble time: 28 players remain, 27 get paid. The next one out has worked for two days for no reward. It's not all fun on the European Poker Tour, although don't tell that to the railbirds who have flocked like vultures to pick the remaining flesh from the imminent sacrifice to the Gods of poker.
It's late in a long, long day and there's a difficult decision to make. Your tired mind is not necessarily to be trusted; it's been making tough decisions for ten hours or more and it's spent. "Sleep on it," are the only words of advice that are usually proffered. But that's good advice. Sleep on it. Make up your mind tomorrow.
Hauling this whimsy back into a poker context, the short-stacks at the end of the two day ones have a difficult decision to make. They know they are going to have to stick all their chips in soon, looking for the double up that will either put them back into the chase or on to the snow-caked streets of Copenhagen. But what is a good enough hand to make the move? Ace-face? Any pair? Usually either of these things will do.
For this reason, anyone who has ever seen tournaments like this know what is coming very soon. Today, we're going to have to play down to eight from 97 and it we will surely still be here well into the early hours of Sunday. But playing down from 97 to about 85 will not take too long. All of those fresh minds will make the right decision very soon.
The chorus of all-ins has already begun to ring around Casino Copenhagen. We'll tell you who doubled up and who is out just as soon as it's calmed down a bit.
A picture being worth a thousand words, and all that, here are 12,000 words in pictoral form of some of the PokerStars qualifiers who are playing today.
I'm sure there are more, but here are four PokerStars qualifiers still battling as we near the end of the day:
We, or, more correctly, the 56 remaining players, have just entered the final level of the day. Within the hour we'll know exactly who will join yesterday's 50 to make the real Day Two line up.
Then, and only then, will we really know who is in with a shout here. Despite the fact that it's pushing 2am for the second night running here in Copenhagen, these still really are the early stages of this competition.
Until the moment all the counts are made official, here are four players it seems likely will be seen again tomorrow.
Stay with us for more details of stacks as and when we know.
It's another one of those days when patterns are emerging. Something about poker tournaments of this size seems to ensure we see the same things over and over again.
In this instance, it's to do with the chip flow. As players are eliminated, it is common practice for the poster of the big blind seat to be moved from a a crowded table to balance those with fewer players. This ensures as fair a distribution of the chips as possible; it's entirely random and pleases everyone. The player moving ducks the big blind obligation, which moves on to the player that would have had it next hand anyway.
Only sometimes, the chips all seem to be fitted with magnets and follow each other around the room. That's the case today, where the table that included the sizeable stacks of Ken Lennard (34,000), Luca Pagano (32,000) and David Berggren (47,500) was split, and they all found spaces on tables already full of chips.
One in particular is vicious. Ken Lennard, arguably the best-known of the Swedish contingent, largely because his participation in high-stakes poker pre-dates the internet boom, is now sitting beside Juha Helppi and Shek Chi Hung. Juha is the short stack of the three (he has 13,000). Ken still has more than 30,000 and Shek, well, Shek only has one gear and it's forward, at full throttle.
World Champions draw the crowds and Joe Hachem, who flew in from the Aussie Millions to take his place on the Team PokerStars teamsheet on the EPT, is a World Champion. For the past two days, he's been performing his tricks amid the media circus; the Scandinavian press is all over the World Series winner and, as is the amiable Australian's forte, he's been only too happy to tell them over and over again what he plans to do with $7.5 million, how it has changed his life, what it means to be sponsored by PokerStars, etc.
When a poker player is seen leaving the gaming room, clutching their mobile phone and dialling a number with their fingers in a blur, there is usually someone somewhere on the other side of the world who is about to hear a bad beat story. Especially if that player had more than 20,000 chips last time you checked.
Sorry to say that Sharon Goldman just made one of those calls. "I'm toast," she said, this particular tale going from Copenhagen to the Isle of Man, where it connects with husband Dan. "Pockets kings versus six-four."
Ouch.
Ten miutes before the dinner break and PokerStars corner on table four has lost its first player. It was one of those where the reporter arrives just in time to see the axe fall - there was a flop of Js-Kh-As-Jh-6d and a bet in front of Brent Wheeler, our qualifier from Chicago.
Shek Chi Hung, who is only actually sitting in just one seat but who seems to be involved in every notable pot, then stuck in the kind of sized raise that only the chip leaders can make. He slid forward a pile of brown 500 chips, but had enough of those to cover all of Brent's gold 1000s.
Brent looked as though he knew his game was up; he maybe had an ace, a straight, perhaps even a jack. Shek flipped pocket kings for a huge full house and Brent is on his way back to the Windy City.
Just to bring you up to speed, we've just entered level 5, where the blinds are 150-300. There are 112 players left from the 144 who began this afternoon.
Latest chip counts are scrolling across the top of the page.
Two of the tournament chip leaders, if not the tournament chip leaders, are sitting two seats away from each other on table 14. One of them you have already heard about - he goes by the name Pagano - but two to his left is Shek Chi Hung, slightly more of an enigma than Luca.
Warning to readers in the United States: shameless European soccer content below
You might not think it these days, but there was once a time when football wasn't on television. People tucked their rattles under their arms, put their bobble hats on their heads and spent Saturday afternoon watching 22 blokes kick a two-stone pigs bladder around a muddy field. Some people consider those to be the golden days. Some people are wrong.
The equivalent is also true of poker. Back before some wise-guy thought of putting a television camera beneath a table to peek behind the poker face, the game was scarcely noticed through the cigar smoke. If you had tried to put a poker game on television in the 1970s, the viewers most likely would have thought the cable for the aerial had fallen out the back of their set.
How things change. Footballers still turn up once a week to boot a bladder about a bit, but they're paid millions of pounds to do so. Poker isn't far behind. In fact, if you can't turn on the television and watch either poker or football or both, then you're living on a different planet to me. Footballers are the new poker players and poker players are the new footballers, something that has never been more true than here in Copenhagen, where Jan Molby, Stig Tofting and today Thomas Brolin have joined the EPT.
Molby and Tofting are Danish legends of the game. The former was a linchpin of the dominant Liverpool team of the late eighties, before going on to manage Swansea City. Tofting, also a Dane, played for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premiership, renowned as one of the hardest hard-men. Thomas Brolin was a Swedish centre-forward, one of the stars of the side that finished third in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Today he made his debut on the EPT.
He might wish he hadn't bothered. This afternoon he met Luca Pagano, currently playing for Team PokerStars, but still dreaming of a call up for Juventus. The Italian had only been moved to table 14 for about half an hour when he picked up ace-king, raised, and found a willing caller in the former Parma, Leeds United and Crystal Palace forward. The flop had a king, jack and an eight and both players checked. The turn was an ace and now Luca bets, Thomas raises and Luca calls. The ace on the end wasn't bad for the PokerStars centre-forward, making him the full house, and when Brolin sticks all his chips in, he can't say call quick enough.
The qualifiers gallery continues:
There are another 144 players in Flight 1B today, 29 of them who booked their place on PokerStars. Those seeking EPT immortality today include:
Take an ancient European capital, add a dusting of overnight snow and - hey presto - we're all living in a Christmas greetings card. Hallmark just might be interested in some of these images from this morning's stroll around the city.
Before we begin Day 1B, here's a recap of how yesterday's first flight ended:
Xuyen Pham 89,625
Roy Von Der Locht 63,750
Thomas Grundy (PokerStars qualifier) 62,025
Dario Alioto 61,825
Christian Grundtvig (PokerStars qualifier) 58,350
David Davidsen 50,400
Jim Hagan (PokerStars qualifier) 44,850
Philip Hilm 43,650
Kim Frederiksen 42,925
Karin Lundgren 42,750
Johan Bergquist 40,850
Edgar Skjervold 39,925
Jens Lauritzen 39,550
Johnny Haard 38,700
Josef Shechter (PokerStars qualifier) 36,950
Olivier Vanneli (PokerStars qualifier) 36,750
Daniel Steine 35,725
Stian Haugerud 35,000
Daniel Elkeslassy 34,250 (PokerStars qualifier)
Henning Bolstad 32,750
Simon Young (Team PokerStars) 30,750
Bjorn-Erik Glenne 28,600
David Layani (PokerStars qualifier) 27,125
Julian Thew 24,300
Henrik Fruergaard 24,100
Jan-Erik Madsen 22,525
Dan Pedersen 21,975
Per Arne Dahl 21,225
Hans Eskilsson 20,925
Adam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier) 20,725
Niclas Adolfsson 20,650
Mads Andersen 19,975
Travis Biziorek (PokerStars qualifier) 19,825
Ben Sprengers (PokerStars qualifier) 18,425
Chris Hancock (PokerStars qualifier) 17,175
Mikkel Haga 16,500
Don Protz (PokerStars qualifier) 16,250
Andreas Hurtig 13,450
Jason Young (PokerStars qualifier) 13,000
Justin Drechsler (PokerStars qualifier) 12,825
Peter Eichhardt 11,600
Ba Kildalen 10,950
Erik Franssohn 10,875
Jan Busch 9,550
Runar Runarsson 8,725
Ingemar Backman 7,825
Runar Pedersen 7,525
Christer Lovas 5,150
Birgitta Johansson 4,725
Josef Kollarits 4,075
Only in the modern poker world does the following sentence make perfect sense. Day one is over; see you tomorrow for day one.
That, you see, is a wrap for Thursday, the opening exchanges of the EPT Copenhagen. We started with 144 runners, we are down to 50, but tomorrow another 144 fresh faces enter the fray, each armed with 10,000 in chips for their 30,000 Danish Kroner.
As is expected when a bunch of poker players are given a bunch of chips and told to play, there's been some fireworks here today. Most of them exploded in the face of Team PokerStars - and the squeamish are advised to turn away now.
Chris Moneymaker thought his kings were good pre-flop. They didn't look under much threat when the first three cards were a seven, a two and a six. There's was no way that the former World Series champ could have known a set of sixes was being slow-played, and neither did it matter. The turn brought a king, the money went in, and Moneymaker was miles ahead. Cut to the chase: the case six on the river was a big, big card for someone. It wasn't Chris Moneymaker.
Isabelle Mercier had never got going. Not until she found an up-and-down straight draw, bet it, liked the call from Julian Thew, especially when her jack fell on the river. Not so fast, Miss Mercier. Julian was sitting with nought but king-high, until that jack filled his gutshot straight and sent No Mercy to the rail.
Hooray then for the Suffolk Punch. Simon Young, of The Sun newspaper, has been on the rough end of some peculiar decisions since he hitched a ride on the EPT charabang. The airline sold his tickets to someone else when he was flying to Dublin, the dealer stole his cards when he was all in in Baden. Just the usual bad beats and outdraws cost him his place in London. But, having flirted with the chip lead in Copenhagen when his aces stood up against kings, he's still there at the end of the day with 30,750 in chips.
The news is even better for the PokerStars qualifiers. Fourteen still remain, three of whom are among the top ten. When tomorrow starts on Saturday (not a joke), we'll be keeping a keen eye on Thomas Grundy, Christain Grundtvig, Jim Hagan, Josef Shechter, Olivier Vanneli, Daniel Elkeslassy, David Layani, Adam Nilsson, Travis Biziorek, Ben Sprengers, Chris Hancock, Don Protz, Jason Young and Justin Drechsler. They will all live to fight another day, with some in with solid claims to fight another day after that as well.
As for the rest, it's been a bad-girl day. Xuyen Pham is the tournament leader at the end of the first flight. She was uncharacteristically quiet for the first few hours, dribbling down to about 5,000 without any major stories. But you can't keep a bad girl down, and once she got some of those chirping chips, she was back to her former self, in every pot and winning every pot. Except the ones that she lost, but who remembers those?
Thomas Kremser, tournament director extraordinaire, has just finished putting together the official chip count. The full list is below the picture.
Poker reporting is not rocket science. Visit a few casinos, count a few chips, throw a few words on the page and that's about it. Keep the readers up to date on the movers and the shakers, the leaders and the short-stacks, the stories and the non-events. Easy.
Or not. The other special assignment here on the EPT is to keep tabs on the PokerStars qualifiers, those who have either battled through mammoth satellite fields, double shoot-out sharp-shooters and those who have cashed in their FPPs for a stab at the big time. Every now and again, you find a player who fits in both camps, an online qualifier making all the right moves, challenging the chip lead. These players are surely top of the PokerStars blogger's hit-list. Watch their every move and report their every bet. They are the nut-flush, the triple word score, a reporter's check mate. You can't miss them. Surely not.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Thomas Grundy, from London, England. Thomas qualified to the event on PokerStars and now, as we approach the end of Day 1A, he has more than 60,000 chips. Surely I must have mentioned him before?
It's 1am in Copenhagen, there are 12 minutes left of level eight. The fifty-nine remaining players are posting blinds of 300-600 with a 75 running ante. It was nothing more than a leisurely stroll around the tables, but these were the sights:
Julian Thew's aces holding up against a shorter-stacked kings. Julian, who earlier showed no mercy to No Mercy, has a little more than 30,000.
Dario Alioto taking a huge chunk out of Mads Anderson's stack. As my notebook will testify, when I arrived at the table, Mads had 60,000+. But there's a thick, black cross through that number because when I left he was down to 28,000. Dario made two-pair on the turn, a lot of money went in, and Mads must have missed a draw. He mucked when Dario showed. Alioto, final tablist in Barcelona, has about 68,000.
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham taking a relatively small knock to her chip-leader sized stack when Jim "hawk22" Hagan made two-pair with A-8 to beat her A-K. Jim has 53.
An amazing pass by Jonas Hellness, PokerStars qualifier, who lays down A-K on a king-high flop. His opponent shows him the straight with his Q-9.
A WCOOP final table rematch. Edgar Skjevold is sitting next to Christian Grondtvig. Edgar has 55,000, Christian has 11,000.
A good number of PokerStars qualifiers remaining:
James Hagan, Adam Nilsson, JW Davis, Olivier Vannelli, Jason Young, Don Protz, Chris Hancock, Christian Grundtvig.
Anyone in any doubt that poker is now big news* should take a peek into the Oslo Room of the Casino Copenhagen. For the duration of the EPT, this is doubling as the press centre and there are more chip-counters in there than there are chips to count.
Photographers, reporters, writers and hangers-on are populating the pages and websites of hundreds of news organisations, all battling to be the first with the news of the eliminations, sparring for the best metaphor for a bad beat. What sets the EPT aside from all other tournaments is the range of languages being spoken. At least it sounds like a lot; I, shamefully, being one of those people for whom there are only two languages in the world: English and not English.
You ever hear about Chris from Tennessee? You know, the kid who qualifies on PokerStars and takes the "live" fields to the cleaners. Sure you have. This is the guy, right, hiding beneath that cap?
The players are taking their dinner break, which gives us the chance to catch up on a few newsworthy tid-bits that have otherwise gone unreported.
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham is now challenging for the chip lead. She has about 35,000, much of it thanks to what can only be described as an intruiging pre-flop call with the 8-6 of clubs. The flop of 8-8-6 makes that more telepathic than intriguing.
Don Protz, who is a PokerStars qualifier from Canada, is also right up there, sitting with approximately 36,000. His brother Doug also qualified and plays tomorrow. I was saving up their story for later, but now Don is making waves it has forced my hand. Photos and some more information to follow.
Gus Hansen, known as the Great Dane, is not going to win his home tournament. He had been scratching the felt for the best part of three hours and is now all in and all out - a rivered straight from his opponent accounting for the local boy.
Barny Boatman, on a rich vein of form after his fourth place finish in Dublin last week, is sitting pretty with 22,000+
Meanwhile, Julian Thew has been moved to Simon Young's table. "That's livened it up a bit," confessed the Suffolk Punch.
We're now entering level six, with the blinds shifting to 150-300 with a 25 running ante. We're playing another five levels, taking us to 3am local time. Ninety-four players remain of the 144 that started today.
Stay with us.
If you have ever had the fortune to look at a recent picture of "Team PokerStars", you will notice some very familiar faces. The last three world champions for instance - Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker, for those who have spent the past five years in the jungle - as well as the likes of Isabelle Mercier and Luca Pagano.
Since the London EPT event, however, there has also been what at first glance looks to be a definite imposter. There he is - a proud grin atop a PokerStars shirt - but who on earth is he? More to the point, what's he doing in such exalted company? Can he even play poker?
Step forward Simon "Suffolk Punch" Young. For it is he. Simon is another one of those characters that inhabit the hive of scum and villany that used to be known as Fleet Street. It's nearer Wapping these days, in East London, but much else remains the same.
A certain day in a certain month in the year of 2003. A certain online player from a certain poker site is sitting in a certain casino in a certain city in Nevada. He is changing the course of poker history. Certainly.
Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million when he took first place in the main event of the World Series at Binion's that year, but the real amount of money made for players around the world will never be known. It's too much to even comprehend. You see, Moneymaker's success was the spur to countless poker careers, both online and off, and tournament poker as we know it today - including the EPT - owes an awful lot to that young man from Tennessee.
Not that you'd know it from the hand that just happened over on table 14. Moneymaker is sitting three seats to the left of David Layani, a young player cast from the same mould as the man who wears the platinum bracelet. Layani is a PokerStars qualifier from France who won his trip here on the site. He also just won a pot worth 22,000 chips when he rivered quad sixes, useful if you're all in and the former World Champion has a set of kings.
Who are the good guys in poker? It all depends who you ask.
Take Julian Thew, for instance. Ordinarily, you could ask just about anyone in any casino or card room in any country around the world and they wouldn't have a single bad word to say about the softly-spoken Nottingham-based player. Good guy? Look it up in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Julian Thew.
But that particular page might just be ripped out of Isabelle Mercier's copy. No Mercy is out of this tournament - and the man responsible is none other than Mr Thew.
Yesterday evening, as is customary, the EPT kicked off with a media tournament where all the visiting press takes a couple of hours from their hectic schedule of heavy drinking to play some poker. In truth - and I say this as a member of the press pack myself - journalists are far better drinkers than they are poker players. The standard in these media tournaments is (how can I put it?) not the best.
Until we reached Scandinavia, that is. Last night was something different. Blind stealing, check raising, rub downs, bad beats. Not only did everyone actually know the rules of the game but they knew how to exploit them. It was actually like a real poker tournament - surely an exclusive scoop worthy of any front page.
And there's more. The winner of last night's event earned themselves a seat in today's main event. That man was Peter Holst, who won through from a final table that featured three players from Sweden, four from Denmark and two representing Team PokerStars: Isabelle Mercier and Chris Moneymaker.
Holst has taken his place on table one this afternoon, two seats along from The Sun's Simon Young and sandwiched between Gunnar Osterbrod, the Scandinavian poker superstar, and Stig Tofting, the Scandinavian soccer star. Plenty for the gossip pages there.
It took more than an hour - an almost unprecedented amount of time - but we have now lost a player. Not just any player, either. It's Rob Hollink, the reigning EPT Grand Final champion, who has just shuffled out of the Casino Copenhagen, dispatched by Dario Alioto, another player with some EPT pedigree.
Dario raised in mid position, Rob called on the button. The big blind came along for the ride. The flop - ouch - 10-J-A all clubs, how many pre-flop raising hands like that one?
Two, it seems. Dario bets 450 (blinds, by the way, are 25-50), Rob makes it 1,150, big blind drops out of the running. Alioto now moves in and Hollink calls, all in a flash.
Dario probably thinks his Qh Kh - Broadway straight - might be behind, Rob probably knows his Jd is no good, but he's drawing to the royal flush with his Kc.
At breakfast this morning, the discussion was about chip stacks.
"How many do we start with?" asked one anxious player, through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
"Ten thousand," chimed the rest, variously flavoured by yoghurt, croissant and Danish salami.
"There'll still be someone out on the first hand," offered Barny Boatman. "How difficult is it to go like that with 10,000 in chips?" With this, the pepper pot was shoved aggressively in my direction.
Barny didn't have this all his own way. In fact, another of the breakfast club wanted him to put his money where his pancake-filled mouth was. He amended it to "the first ten minutes", then took the bet. Someone out within ten minutes of level one and the Hendon Mobster is one pint of beer richer.
Well, in fact, he isn't. We've now been playing for about forty minutes and - unless someone has perished as I type - everyone is still present and correct.
All of which is a rather long-winded way of saying that there's no great movers and shakers to report on just yet. Instead, here are a few photographs of some of those we'll be following.
It's that time again: the calm before what promises to be a category Scandinavia poker storm. The players have arrived and the draw has been made. That means the lobby to Casino Copenhagen is full of the anxious and their friends, fidgeting from foot to foot, smoking strong coffee and drinking cigarettes.
Meanwhile upstairs in the casino ballroom, men in suits stand guard beside tables empty but for a scattering of coloured discs. Chips we call them. (Or is that fries?)
Here we are then: Copenhagen. Welcome to the capital of Denmark for the Scandinavian Open, the latest leg of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT).
In tourists' terms, this is a wonderful city. Canals, statues, parks, fountains and fairytales, all glimpsed through the amber glow of a pint of Carlsberg. By midnight - and with several glasses drained - the little mermaids are known to come alive. Probably.
Want to see how PokerStars players win the big money? Tuesday and Wednesday, PokerStars will replay the final table of the January 8th $500,000 Guaranteed final table with most of the hole cards face-up! Now you can watch the big money PokerStars tournament just like it's on TV. The January 8 event will replay January 17-18 from 12pm-8pm ET. Click on Tourney/Special to watch today.
by Sarne Lightman
It doesn't matter if you are the world champion or a new player on the scene, you can't win a tournament if luck deserts you.
Joe Hachem has fought a battle that any poker pro would be proud to claim. Against bad beats and lost races he always kept a cool head, regrouped and started work again.
After winning his first coin flip of the tournament with JJ against AQ and building his stack up to almost 160k it looked like Joe was a sure thing for at least the money. But as any player will tell you, you can't count your chickens in this game.
In one hand, Joe raises under the gun to around 10k, the short stack at the table moves all in for another 40k.
Joe thinks for a few minutes and decides to call. The all in player shows A J, Joe flips 5 5.
Joe's bad luck continues as the first card off the pack is a Jack. No 5 comes and Joe is now down to around 100k.
Joe steps up a gear winning a few pots with raises preflop and seems to be still in control. His nemesis Mark Vos raises from under the gun to 7k. Lee Nelson to Joe's right flat calls.
Joe, obviously sensing weakness, raises to 37k. Mark Vos moves all in (51k total) and Lee folds. Joe, with only 14k to call has no choice but to call.
Mark, who has been playing erratically, actually has a hand this time and flips QQ, Joe reluctantly shows his 10h2h.
The board brings no help and Joe is now down to around 60k.
Not even a round has gone by when Joe finds his big blind raised to 12k, he looks down to see AcKs and pushes all in for 56k. The other player thinks for around 5 mins and decides to call.
Joe says "AQ or KQ yes?" and the player nods flipping KhQd.
Joe is a massive favourite and looks to be doubling back into the game.
The flop comes -- 5d 2d 6c
The turn 3d.
The all in player asks the dealer if she could please find him a diamond. The river...8d!!!!!!
The player has sucked out a backdoor flush busting Joe and leaving him devastated.
The room erupts in applause for their world champion. Everyone knows he has played an almost perfect game but even he needs luck to win.
Joe finishes in 57th place 11 spots from the money.
by Sarne Lightman
Day 3 starts much like day 2 with the words "all in" reverberating around the poker room. You need danger money to be walking the floor at the moment. The camera crews are charging from end to end, the cameras trailing cables to garrotte you, or booms to knock you clean out.
Our champ is one of those who has stuck it all in already. Within 5 minutes of the start, he finds JJ in late position. Blinds are 1k-2k. Joe raises to around 8k and it is folded around to the big blind. The big blind says "all in" (he covered Joe) and Joe calls pushing his remaining 48k in.
The big blind flips AK.
The room goes quite while the dealer reals off the flop:
Q 9 5
The turn is slid off ... 7
The river ... 8!!!
Joe wins his first coin flip show down of the Aussie Millions and he could not have chosen a better point to get lucky. He risked it all but now has over 110,000 which is around the chip average.
With only 21 more players to go until the money it looks like Joe could be a strong contender to win his home tournament.
Fitt Gerry 331,600
Shorr Shannon 311,100
Fischman Scott 280,600
James Kenna 280,100
Davies Russell 248,500
Baca Cruz 240,800
Neary Robert 228,300
Derei Asher 219,800
Nelson Lee 201,400
Ivey Phil 194,700
McGregor Andrew 193,900
Italiano Dom 184,700
Bugiera Wes 184,100
Esfandiari Antonio 171,200
Matthews Phil 164,300
Medic Nenad 148,400
Gracz Michael 140,500
Horowitz Jethro 129,600
Bloom Tony 129,600
Malki Mourad 123,800
Fair Nicholas 119,200
Cook Greg 117,400
Tann Willie 116,200
Hohn Steve 113,800
Slambough Cody 113,200
Argyros Billy 110,000
Thorn Charlton 104,400
Sealey Jeff 104,100
Stanton Mick 103,300
Diciacoa Mario 102,600
Jones Benjamin 98,700
McCowan Randall 98,100
Donjerkovic Anthony 97,100
Colman Julius 96,000
Dia Jamil 91,800
Youseff Sam 90,300
Demetriou Harry 86,600
Gazes Kristy 84,200
O'Donnell Kevin 82,100
Reina Joe 82,100
Lababio Sam 81,800
Liebert Kathy 81,700
Tahtouh Emad 81,400
Hayes Anthony 77,600
Schuele Dave 75,600
Marcos Michael 75,400
Beh Bernard 74,800
Smithies Mark 74,600
Grolemund Dan 72,300
Galanis Nick 71,900
Gilpin Joh 71,300
Mellross Jason 71,100
Thomas Brett 69,800
Jennis Ian 65,100
Hoey Gillian 64,400
Beshara Sukkar 62,000
Benson Gary 59,900
Mouazzafi Babak 59,600
O'Leary Kevin 59,100
Hachem Joe 56,000
Chanduloy David 53,200
Keating Jim 52,100
Sundin Olle 51,700
Trimarchi Tony 51,100
Martenelli Bernard 49,600
Cuschieri Charles 48,700
Silk Danny 47,000
Kilcullen Scott 42,400
Barker Alex 42,100
Georgoulas Nick 41,400
Vos Mark 40,800
Natoli David 38,200
Plumb Myron 37,800
Marino Dario 37,600
Davis Aaron 33,000
Cairns Daniel 30,800
Ashby Richard 30,100
Lee Alan 28,300
Zarb Michael 26,400
Szeremeta Kate 23,500
Comer Mike 15,000
Simon Patrick 13,100
Putt Graeme 8,300
Editor's note: The birth of an idea is a funny thing. Unlike traditional births, a paternity test for an an infant idea is hard to come by. Among the PokerStars staff at the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, one of the longest-running jokes was about the birth of the wildly successful World Championship of Battleship Poker. My boss, Dan Goldman, Vice President of Marketing, offered to tell the story and let you folks in on the inside joke.
The World Championship of Battleship Poker
or, How I stole a great idea and turned it into an event
by Dan Goldman
There is a great song from the 60s, "Lobachevsky," by a guy named Tom Lehrer, that includes the following line:Plagiarize! Let no one's work evade your eyes.
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
just plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize!
I'm a marketing guy, and I think Tom Lehrer was one at heart, as well. He knows the fundamental rules of marketing -- find the best ideas, take credit for them and make them your own.
On October 13, while we were in the midst of Phase 2 of PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Panic, Brad "Otis" Willis came up with a brilliant idea -- conduct a Battleship event at PCA, in which PokerStars players play heads up matches, live on their computers, sitting face to face. My initial reaction was:
"I love this idea, but we can't do it. If the Bahamas Gaming Board realized that people were playing poker for money, on the Atlantis network, in THEIR lobby, they would have a collective stroke. Let's leave it informal."
I promptly forgot the idea and moved on.
Then, on December 21, I woke up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea. What if we conducted a massive, online/live heads-up tournament at Atlantis, where players could play online against opponents that are sitting right across the table from them? I suggested this stroke of genius in one of our regular PCA idea email exchanges, and practically everyone was all over it.
And then, Brad spoiled the party. He reminded me that he had suggested almost the exact idea in an email to me several months before.
Now excuse me for a minute. Great ideas don't come around that often. It was a great idea, and why should I be punished because I happened to come up with the very same idea, two months later?
I could write it off to Getting Older, and say I just forgot. After all, at last year's PCA, I celebrated the birthday that officially represents Getting Old. But I shouldn't have to. The fact is, I'm Brad's boss, and the right thing for him to do was to just suck it up and tell me what a great idea I had. One of these days, we will hire him a junior blogger, and he can steal great ideas from him. In the meantime, he should continue to come up with great ideas that I can steal; when he manages to steal his own, we will know he has a future in management.
For the record, we applied to the Bahamas Gaming Board for approval for the first annual World Championship of Battleship Poker, and it was a huge success. Sixty-four players entered for $1,000 each, all had a great time and the crowd loved it.
(Please note that *I* was the one that pulled all of the cables, set up the routers and switches and made the whole thing work. Well, along with Lee Jones, Nolan Dalla, Steve Wood, a bunch of Atlantis staff -- hell, Brad may even have been there. If so, he's probably trying to take credit for that, too.)
So, it all turned out for the best. Brad's My idea turned into a huge success that has been reported widely in the media and gave our players a great time and a great show. Perhaps this can serve as a lesson for Brad. Go find some good ideas, make them your own, and, in Tom Lehrer's words:Plagiarize! Only be sure always to call it please, "research."
Day 1 Coverage
Day 2 Begins
by Sarne Lightman
Another few hours have passed and the atmosphere in the room is starting to change. Although you still here the regular call of "All in," the frenzy of an hour ago has calmed down as many of the short stacks are either out or have doubled up.
Joe is recovering again nicely, with well-timed pre-flop re-raises, he is often taking down good size pots without having to run the gauntlet of the flop.
One player who gets my vote for the unluckiest player at the Aussie Millions is PokerStars qualifier Mathew Gloier. Mathew did a great job of getting his stack up to over 40k until he looked down and to find pocket kings.
He raised to around 2.5k and was called in one spot. The board come J 10 8 rainbow.
Mathew bet out but the caller moved all in for just over 20k. Mathew thought for awhile but decided he was in front and made the call. The caller flipped Q J offsuit.
The Q on the turn was a low blow and Mathew's face, jubilant from the good call five seconds earlier, turned quickly to a grimace. The river was a blank and over half Mathew's stack was gone.
Aussie Millions Day 1 Coverage
by Sarne Lightman
The action has started again here in sunny Melbourne, and for any player who thought they could ease there way in, they were sorely mistaken.
Within two hours another 55 players have been eliminated and the words "All in" reverberate around the playing floor. The camera crews are running from table to table, hardly able to keep up with pace of the action.
It has been a mixed start for Team PokerStars. Joe Hachem started very well, his aggressive style and great reads allowing him to build his stack to nearly 60k.
After bluffing the player to his left and showing him the cards, Joe was sure he had the player steaming. When the player pushed all 30k of his chips in on a board of K K 8, Joe called in a flash with his K 9. Joe was truly shocked to see KQ when his opponent flipped his cards. The 10 on the turn and Ace saw Joe loose a monster 60k pot.
Joe still has 23k in chips, however, and is ready to earn back the rest.
Rob Galluzzo is among other PokerStars players who have had a better run today.
Rob had a very quiet day yesterday, but a good run of cards early on today has boosted his confidence, allowing him to bluff more and intimidate his table. Rob now has over 40k in chips and is right in the thick of the action.
Mike Comer is also having a great day. After being short-stacked all day yesterday, he has come out firing this morning. With some nice pots and well timed double-up he is now on around 50k.
Aussie Millions Begins
Aussie Millions mid-day report
by Sarne Lightman
The sun has long set when the gong sounds telling the players the final hand of the day has been played. It has been almost 10 hours and 156 players can no longer dream of the $1million first prize.
Two hundred sixty-two players still remain with Barry Greenstein leading the field with 126k.
World Champion Joe Hachem has made a full recovery, grinding his way back against horrible flops and horrible beats he finally found a hand to gamble most of his chips:
With blinds at 250/500, under the gun Joe finds QQ and raises to 1500. He is called in two spots and then the button goes all in for another 11k.
Joe goes into the tank for quite a few minutes but finally decides he has the best of it and calls. The other players fold and Joe is heads up.
The all in player flips 88 and Joe with an exclamation of glee flips his queens. However, Joe has been having such a rough time with the flops he decides to walk out of the room while the board is dealt.
He need not have worried. No eights are dealt and Joe suddenly has more than the chip average for the first time all day.
He carries on taking down small pots and even after losing 4k in the last hand of the day ends with a very respectable 36,150.
Click here to read "Aussie Millions begins"
by Sarne Lightman
The dinner break has just been called and 101 of the original entrants are already gone including players such as Australian great Jeff Lissandro and American Mike Sexton.
World Champion Joe Hachem has had another tough couple of hours. "Its been like walking barefoot on broken glass," he tells me.
The flops have been cruel but his reads impeccable and no one is in doubt about how he became the world champ.
Joe raises from middle position with 5 5, the big blind calls...
The flop comes down 4c 5c 9c. The big blind checks and Joe leads out for 2/3 the pot. The big blind reraises and after a few minutes thought Joe lays down his trips. The big blind shows Ac2c.
Again Joe raises, this time from middle postion. He has AKoff. He again gets a flat call from the big blind. The flop comes A Q 4 rainbow. This time the big blind leads out with a pot sized bet. Joe, with a read that stuns the audience and the rest of the table, folds his AK face up. The big blind is stunned and shows everyone else his pocket queens.
Joe doesn't need flops, however, to build his chip stack:
With blinds of 150 - 300Antonio Esfandiari raises to 1k from middle position with Qc10c. He is called by the player to his left and it is folded around to Joe in the small blind.
Joe raises to 5k and Antonio and the caller both have to fold. Joe, who managed to talk the original caller out of the pot by a promise of showing his hand flips 9 5 offsuit.
As the break is called Joe has brought his stack back to 23k.
Many of the PokerStars online qualifiers are having an easier run. Doris Huminicki still has 36k and seems to be having a great time.
Bernie Martinelli from the states is also having a good run. His chips stack is a very healthy 35k and he is felling very confident.
by Sarne Lightman
The Aussie Millions is underway at Crown Casino in the heart of beautiful
Melbourne Australia. Four hundred eighteen players have anted up the 10,500aud making a prize pool of over $4 Million.
The stars of the poker world have come out in large numbers, everyone vying for a chance to play World Champion Joe Hachem in his home town.
With a 20,000 start stack, the players have a lot of time and room to manoeuvre, but that hasn't stopped the fireworks from flying right from the start. The tournament has been running for around 4.5 hours and already 50 players have been eliminated including Poker legend Daniel Negreanu. The bad beat stories reverberate around the room.
Joe Hachem isn't having an easy run so far, with many players wanting to take on the Champ, the deck has been running cold and he is down to only 8.5k.
That bright light in the sky is the first PokerStars player to reach the Supernova level of the PokerStars VIP Club. In less than two weeks, one dedicated PokerStars player accumulated 100,000 VIP Player Points and became to the first to achieve the elite status.
Who is that player? You may already know him. He's Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, a professional online gamer who has dedicated his recent life to poker.
2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Winner's List
2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Final Table Results
2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Final Table Report
Final Table Hand-by-Hand
Pre-Tourney Coverage
Pre-game coverage round-up
How Chris Moneymaker played the button(s)
Day 1
Day 1, Flight 1 begins
Flight A Photo Gallery
After Sundown--Flight A
Flight B Dinner Break Mambo
End of Day 1 Chip Counts
Day 2
Adjusting to Day 2
How the bubble broke
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
Day 3
All-day coverage
Photo gallery
World Championship of Battleship Poker
The Genesis of the World Championship of Battleship Poker
Flight 1
Flight 2
The winner
Other Information
2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Payout Structure
PCA Photo Gallery
It was ten in the morning, earlier than most real poker players like to see the sun and earlier than they like to hold cards in their hand--unless they've been awake all night and are still in the middle of a great session. TV production crew members bounced back and forth from camera to monitor. Putting together a piece of television and making sure the integrity of a multi-million dollar poker game is not without its stress.
Somehow, the most relaxed people on the Atlantis Dragon Deck were the six players who stood to gain the most from the event. Millions of dollars were at stake at the final table of the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Only a few minutes stood between the six players and the action.
Seat One: Steve Paul-Ambrose ($1,780,000)
Seat Two: David Singer ($2,535,000)
Seat Three: Brook Lyter ($875,000)
Seat Four: Michael Higgins ($794,000)
Seat Five: Anders Henrikkson ($1,033,000)
Seat Six: Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh ($231,000)
(Click here for biographies on each player)
Congratulations to Steve Paul-Ambrose for winning the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Steve won a $1,363,100.00 plus $25,000 WPT Championship seat for his Herculean effort. Here are the final table results:
1. Steve Paul-Ambrose $1,363,100.00 + $25,000 WPT Championship seat PokerStars satellite qualifier
2. Brook Lyter $681,500.00 PokerStars $33 rebuy qualifier
3. David Singer$436,200.00
4. Michael Higgins $327,100.00
5. Anders Henrikkson $239,900.00 PokerStars double shootout qualifier
6. Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh $177,200.00
Steve's family celebrates with him after he wins
Steve's family poses with him after the tournament
Steve Paul-Ambrose and Brook Lyter with the WPT crew
A hand-by-hand recap of the action is here. Thank you for a great 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Special thanks to Eric Harkins for some of the photos in this recap. You'll find Harkins poker photos at The Eye on Poker
We have crowned two champions at the Atlantis Resort and Casino today at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Click here to read about 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Champion Steve Paul-Ambrose.
Click here to read about the PokerStars World Championship of Battleship Poker champion, Michael "LuckyLady519" Banducci.
We'll have reports on both events in the coming days. For now, thanks for reading all the PCA coverage.
Congratulations to Michael "LuckyLady519" Banducci for winning the first ever PokerStars World Championship of Battleship Poker. Banducci climbed through the field of 64 to get heads up with poker pro Gavin "birdguts" Smith. Banducci won more than $22,000 for his win. In the coming days, we'll have more on the tournament and how it changed the face of heads-up poker. For now, here are your first and second place finishers.
Congratulations to Steve Paul-Ambrose for winning the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Steve won a $1,363,100.00 plus $25,000 WPT Championship seat for his Herculean effort. A full final table report is forthcoming after we re-charge some batteries. Here are the final table results:
1. Steve Paul-Ambrose $1,363,100.00 + $25,000 WPT Championship seat PokerStars satellite qualifier
2. Brook Lyter $681,500.00 PokerStars $33 rebuy qualifier
3. David Singer$436,200.00
4. Michael Higgins $327,100.00
5. Anders Henrikkson $239,900.00 PokerStars double shootout qualifier
6. Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh $177,200.00
Steve's family celebrates with him after he wins
Steve's family poses with him after the tournament
Steve Paul-Ambrose and Brook Lyter with the WPT crew
A recap of the action is in the post below. We'll bring you a final table report soon. Until then, thank you for a great 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Click here for a payout structure. If you're only looking for the big hands, look for BIG HAND ALERT on this page. If you're looking for chip counts, look for text in BLUE.
BLINDS are $40,000/$80,000/$10,000
WE HAVE A WINNER-------!!!!!!!!!!
5:29-- The players see a flop of J92 with two spades. Brook bets $300 into it. Steve makes it $1.2 million to make the bet $1.5 million total. Brook declares all-in. Steve calls. Brook shows KJo. Steve has QTo for open-ended and a backdoor flush draw. This is it folks... Turn is a QUEEN! RIVER is a KING to give brook two pair, but Steve the straight. STEVE PAUL-AMBROSE WINS THE 2006 POKERSTARS CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE, EARNING $1,363,100.00 and a $25,000 WPT Championship seat!
5:28-- Incidentally, both of these heads-up players qualified for the event on PokerStars.com. Combined, they have less than $800 invested and stand to win a combined $2 million.
5:27 Brook calls $40,000 on the button and Steve checks. The flop is QQ6. Steve bets $95K and wins the pot.
5:26-The players see a flop of AQ2. Steve bets $250 and Brook folds.
5:25-- Brook raises, Steve folds
5:22- Steve makes it $200 from the button and brook calls. The flop comes K97 with two spades. Brook checks. Steve bets $250K. Brook calls. Turn comes as five of hearts. Both players check. River is the three of clubs. Brook checks. Steve bets $350K and Brook folds. Steve wins a $950K pot. Players are basically even in chips.
5:16-- Brook calls from the button. Steve checks. Flop comes:
.
Steve checks. Brook checks. Turn is the king of clubs, putting two clubs on board. Check both times. River is five of diamonds. Steve checks, Brook bets at it and Steve insta-folds.
5:08--Players are pretty close to even in chips. Brook has Steve out-chipped by about 700K
5:04-- Who says live poker isn't rigged, eh? We're about to do the money presentation.
HUGE HAND ALERT
4:59--Steve comes in for a raise to $250K. David calls. Flop comes out QJ4 with two hearts. David checks. Steve bets $350 at it. David thinks and moves all in. Steve calls with AQ. David show him KK. TURN COMES AN ACE. RIVER COMES A QUEEN. David Singer is eliminated in third place and earns $436,200.00
4:27
Steve: 1.9 million
David: 1.4 million
Brook: 4 million
HUGE HAND ALERT
4:50--Brook makes it $300K from the small blind. Steve calls the raise. The flop comes out 862 rainbow. Steve bets $400K into the flop. Brook lets out a giant sigh then calls. Turn comes the queen of clubs. Brook checks. Steve bets $500K . Brook immediately announces all-in. The re-raise is $775K. Steve finally calls, showing QJ and then scowls when Brook turns up two eights for flopped top set.
4:49--Brook wins the blinds and antes.
4:46--Brook comes in for a raise in the small blind. Steve announced re-raise from the big blind and makes it $400K more. Brook lays down his hand.
4:44--Brook gets a walk in the big blind.
4:43--Okay...I missed a few hands there, but nothing monumental happened.
HUGE HAND ALERT
4:34--Steve comes in for a raise to $200K from the button. David callls. Brook folds. Flop comes A87 with two diamonds. David checks. Steve bets $500K. David raises it and makes it $1.5 million. Steve announced all in after some thought. David calls. Steve has K2 of diamonds vs. A9 Turn is is a non-diamond ace and kills one of Steve's diamond outs. He needs one of seven diamonds on the river. And it hits. FOUR OF DIAMONDS on the river. Steve doubles through.
4:32--Brook raises the mininum from the button and wins the blinds and antes.
4:31--Steve gets a walk in the big blind.
4:30--
Steve 1.8
David 3.5
Brook 1.9
4:19--David raises from the small blid to $200K. Brook calls. The flop is 977 with two diamonds. David bets $325. Brook moves all in. David folds. That was a nice pot for Brook.
4:18--David gets a walk in the big blind.
4:17--From the button, David raises to $225K to win the blinds and antes.
4:15-- Steve limps, David calls in SB, Brook checks. Flop is K85 rainbow. Everybody checks. Turn is a jack, putting two clubs on board. The blins check, Steve bets $125,000 and take down the pot.
4:13--Steve raises to $250K and David folds the big blind.
4:12--Steve gets a walk in the big blind.
4:10--Steve raises to $250K and wins the blinds and antes.
BIG HAND ALERT
4:06--From the button, Brook raises to $160K. Steve announces re-raise and makes it $500 to go. Brook moves all in. Steve calls. Brook shows pocket kings. Steve shows pocket sevens. The board is K64/9/3. Brook's set wins the pot and Steve has now fallen to 3rd place.
4:05--The crowd just caught it's breath and realized that hand potentially cost Brook $250. If Stave should end up finishing 3rd, that river card would cost him nearly $1 millon.
3:54
Brook: $830K
David: $4.1 million
Steve: $2.3 million
BLINDS below this are $25,000/$50,000/$5000
HUGE HAND ALERT
3:47--David makes it $150 from the button, both Brook and Steve call in the blinds. The flop is 964 rainbow. Brook and Steve check, Singer bets $325K. Brook folds. Stave thinks and moves all-in. David calls. Steve turns over K9. David turns over T9. Stave has David out-kicked for the moment. The turn is an eight, opening David up with four more outs. THE RIVER IS A SEVEN. Singer goes runner, runner for the straight...and wins a $4 million pot.
3:45--Brook raised to $200. Steve makes it $750 to go. Brook folds.
3:43--David makes it $150 from the button and wins the blinds and antes
3:41--David gets a walk in the big blind
3:39--Steve folds. David calls from the small blind. Brook checks. The fop comes out K74 with two spades. both players check. The turn is the ten of clubs. Both check. The river is the three of spades. Both players check. Q5 vs. Q2. The appeared to be pushed to David Singer.
3:37--Brook folds. Stave makes it $150 to go. David folds.
3:36--Brook raises to $150 in the small blind. Steve gives it up.
BIG HAND ALERT
3:24--From the button, Singer makes it $125K to go. Brook calls from the small blind. Steve calls from the big blind. Flop comes out 977 rainbow. Brook checks, Steve bets $175K, David folds, Brook raises to a total of $350K. Steve calls. The turn is the king of clubs. Brook leads out for $400K. Steve asks for a count, then moves all in. Brook falls deep into the tank. He would have to call for all his chips. After more than five minutes, Brook folds. I can't wait to see that hand on TV. Steve took down a pot that was nearly $1.9 million
3:12--When we last left our players, Brook had folded to Steve in the small blind. Steve had come in for a raise to $150,000. ... 50 minutes later David raises to $550,000. There's a joke there about Singer being WAY in the tank, but it may be too easy. On with the action.
3:10--
Steve: 3, 060,000
Singer: 2,000,000
Brook: 2,250,000
3:06--Let there be light. We're under the lights again, which means we should be underway again shortly.
2:32-- Um...who turned out the lights? Indeed, we're in the dark, folks. The entire casino power just went down. I'd be surprised, but this happened last year as well. We'll be back when the power is.
2:31-- Missed the pre-flop action , but it beings us to Brook and Steve seeing a flop of A85 with two spades. Brook checks. Steve bets $100K. Brook folds.
2:28--David raises to $150K and Brook calls. Flop is K22 with two spades. Both players check. The turn is the ten of spades. Both players check. River is the five of spades. David checks, Brook bets $50K. David folds.
Steve: 2.8 million
Brook: 2.3 million
David: 2 million
BIG HAND ALERT1:39--Steve comes in for a raise and takes the blinds and antes.
1:37--Brook raises to $125K. Steve re-raises and makes it $475K to go. Brook folds.1:22--Steve raises to $90K. David calls the $90K from the button. Both blinds fold. Flop is J82 all spades. Steve checks. David bets $100K. Steve calls the $100K. Turn is four of diamonds. Steve checks. David bets $300K. Steve decides to muck.
1:18--Brook raises to $100K. Folded around to David in big blind who re-raises to $435K. Brook gives it up.
1:16--From the button, Brook raises it to $80K. In the small blind, Michael makes it $250K to go. Steve folds in the big blind. Brook mucks.
1:15--David comes in for a raise to $85K and wins blinds and antes.
1:14--Michael comes in for a raise to $90 and takes the blinds and antes.
1:13--Folded around to blinds, Steve raises to $90K and David folds.
1:10--From the button, Brook raises it to $60K. Steve calls from the big bling. The flop is 872 with two hearts. Steve checks, Brook best $200K and Steve folds.
1:09--Brook calls $15 more from the small blind and Michael raises to $100,000. Brook folds.
1:08--Michael comes in for a raise and picks up the blinds and antes.
BIG HAND ALERT
1:02--Steve raises to $90k and David makes it $310K to go. Steve, after some thought, calls. Flop comes out: AJ4 with two spades. Both players check. Turn is the eight of clubs. Now there are also two clubs on board. Steve checks. David checks. River is nine of clubs. Steve bets out $250K. David calls. Steve shows J9 of spades for two pair. David mucks. That pot was more than $1.1 million and puts Steve into the chip lead with $2.5 million
12:58--After a short break we're back. David raises to $80K. Folded around to Steve who raises it to $330K from the big blind. David folds.
12:49--
Steve: $1.75 million
David: $2.367
Brook: $2.4 million
Michael: $727K
BIG HAND ALERT
12:36--Anders comes in for a raise to 90K. Folded around to blinds. Brook calls from small blind. Michael folkds his big blind. Flop comes out Q62 with two clubs. Brook checks. Anders bets $150K. Brook asks for a count. Brook moves all in. Anders goes into the tank (a familiar scene, reminiscent of his 11-minute decision to call with A6 on a seven high board earlier in the tournament). Finally, Anders decides to call. Brook has aces. Anders has top pair with KQ. Turn is six of hearts. River is nine. Anders is eliminated and earns $239,900.00 .
12:32--David calls in SB> Brook checks his option. Flop is JT5 with two diamonds David bets $50K. Brook calls. Turn is eight of hearts. David bets $75K, Brook raises to make it $275K. David folds.
12:28--Folded around to the blinds. Steve calls from the small blind. David raises an additional $75K. Steve calls. Flop is 942 with two spades. Steve checks. David bets $225K. Steve folds.
12:26--Michael raises to $100,000 and Steve calls in the big blind. Flop is 974 with two clubs. Michael bets $125,000. Steve folds.
12:24--Updated chip counts
Steve: 2, 025,000
David: 2,427,000
Brook: 1, 222,000
Michael :657,000
Anders: 922,000
BLINDS below this section are $10,000/$20,000/$2000
12:04--BREAK
12:00--David comes in for raise to $60K. Brook announces a re-raise and makes it $250K. David calls. Flop is KJT rainbow. David checks. Brook bets out $100K. David folds.
11:59--Anders comes in for raise to $60K. Michael re-raises to $220K Anders folds.
11:58--From the button to $60K. From the small blind, David re-raises to $220,000. Steve folds.
11:56--Michael comes in for a raise, David re-raises to $200K, Michael folds.
11:52--Brook comes in for a raise to $65K. Anders, in the small blind, re-raises to $210K. Folded back around to Brook who folds.
11:50--Steve raises to $50K under the gun, David calls, and Anders calls form big blind. Flop comes out JT5 rainbow. Anders checks, Steves bets $108K, David folds, Anders folds.
11:45--David raises to $55K, Brook calls from SB, Michael calls from BB. Flop comes KJ6 with two hearts. Everybody checks. Turn is the nine of spades. Brook checks, Michael bets $75K. David folds. Brook calls. River is the eight of hearts. Brook checks his cards and thinks. Then he bets out $100K and Michael mucks.
11:44--Michael comes in for a raise under the gun and gets no callers.
11:39--Folded around to blinds. Steve calls the extra $10K from the small blind and David checks his option. Flop comes out: T64, all hearts. (missed who bet and who called there). Turn is the three of diamonds. Steve checks. David bets $90K. Steve calls. (The jack of spades just flew out of the muck). The river card comes as the nine of diamonds. Both players check. Steve shows 67 for a pair of sixes. David shows J6 for a pair of sixes. David's jack plays and he takes down the pot. Could's tell if either player held a heart there.
11:37--Brook caps his cards and comes in for a raise to $80K and everybody folds.
11:34--Steve comes in under the gun and raises to $60K Brook calls from the button. Michael calls from the small blind. Anders, apparently not liking his pot odds, folds. Flop comes out: J84 with two spades. Michael and Steve check. Brook bets $200,000 and takes the pot.
11:32--Anders comes in under the gun for $60K and picks up the blinds and antes.
11:31--Michael raises to $60 and picks up the blinds and antes.
11:28--Anders has the button. Folded around to him on the button. He raises to $60K an picks up the blinds an antes.
11:25--Michael raises to $60K. Steve calls the raise from the big blind. Flop is QJ3 with two clubs. Steve checks and Michael bets 80K. Steve raises and makes it $200K to go. Michael mucks.
11:24--David picks up the blinds and antes with a small raise.
11:22--Steve raises to $50,000 and wins the blinds an antes. Chip count:
Steve: $2 million
David: $2.4 million
Brook: $700K
Michael: $850K
Anders: $950K
11:19--Folded around to the blinds. David calls the small blind and Brook checks. Flop cmes 335 two spades. David comes in for $30K. Brook ponders for 25 seconds, then calls the 30. The turn is another three. Both players check. River is a nine of spades, filling the flush (although three threes on board make the flush less exciting a possibility). David checks. Brook bets $80K. And David folds.
11:15--First to act, Brook comes in and makes it 60K to go. Michael says, "Call." The blinds fold. Flop comes out: Q93 with two diamonds. Brook immediately bets $100,000. Michael announces raise and makes it $300,00 to go. Brook mucks.
11:13--Michael now has the button. It's folded around to him and he makes it 60K t steal the blinds and antes.
11:10--Button moves over to Brook. David comes i for a raise to $50,000. Michael calls the $50K from the small blind. Heads up between David and Michael. Flop comes out 976 rainbow. Michael checks. David bets $105,000. Michael folds.
11:08--Steve raises it to 60K and gets a call from Brook in the small blind. They will play heads up. Flop is AA7 with two hearts. Brook checks and Steve bets 74K. Brook folds.
11:06--Anders comes in for a raise to 60K. Folded around to Brook in the big blind, who folds.
11:05--Michael raises it to $70,000. Folded around to David in the big blind, who folds.
11:03--Brook announces a raise to 60K and it's folded around to the blinds who fold.
BIG HAND ALERT
10:56am--Michael Higgins has the button. Tony is getting ready to deal. Players wil be playing an hour at each round. Shuffle up and deal.
Steve brought in for a raise to 65,000 under the gun. Folded around to Ozzy in the big blind. He considers the bet for a moment and then moves all in for $229,000. Steve will have to call $164,000. Steve calls. Ozzy shows two black aces to Steve's pocket sevens.
Board: 7T3/6/3.
Steve spikes the seven and knocks Ozzy out on the very first hand. This was the first time on the WPT that there was an all-in, call, and elimination on the first hand. Ozzy earned $177,200.00 for his effort.
10:53am--Player introductions are underway. This usually indicates we're close.
10:45am--So, I guess it's okay to mention now that this time yesterday there was a lot of concern about the weather. There was a chance of rain in the forecast. Instead, it's damned nice outside. Even here on our hastily-assembled media row, it's warm with a beautiful breeze. Now, if the internet connection will...hold, hooolllld...we'll be just fine. And it appears everyone should've taken the over on the start time.
10:39am--Blinds are going to start at $10,000/$20,000 with a $2000 ante. Beginning chip counts can be found at the very bottom of this post. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that my boss, Dan Goldman, will be co-announcing the final table with veteran Linda Johnson. Give us the good stuff, Dan.
10:34am--The TV tricks are underway. If you've not been to the taping of a WPT event, you might not know that a lot of the crowd reaction shots are taped in advance. That's why you sometimes see one guy smiling while the rest of the crowd is looking especially interested. This sometimes takes a little time.
10:15am--As you might have guessed, final table play has not yet started. Linda Johnson and Mike Sexton have been going over the do's and dont's of televised play with the final table players. The cameras are getting set up. It's a gorgeous day with a nearly cloudless sky. If I had to guess when we're going to start, I'd put it at 10:50am.
9:21am--Good morning, folks. We're about 40 minutes away from the start of final the final table. Beginning at 10am ET, I'll be reporting the final table hand for hand (or to the best of my ability with limited internet access) all day long. Until then, be sure to check out today's installment of "The Circuit" on CardPlayer.com. Scott Huff and I handicapped the final table.
Here are your final table players:
Seat One: Steve Paul-Ambrose ($1,780,000)
Steve is a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He started playing poker about two years ago and is a frequent participant in the Sunday guaranteed tournaments on PokerStars. He's 22 years old and has his mom, sister, and buddies on the rail rooting him on. You will find him on PokerStars as "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose qualified for the PCA in a $650 satellite on PokerStars.
Steve Paul-Ambrose
Seat Two: David Singer ($2,535,000)
Singer, a well-known pro on the tournament circuit, has spent the last three days defining the concept of "pressure points" in poker, putting his opponents to tough decisions when they least expect to make them.
David Singer
Seat Three: Brook Lyter ($875,000)
Lyter is an entreprenuer who has owned a bar, a DJ service, and most notably, a poker league in the upper midwest. Lyter's most recent and notable project is a partnership in DakotaPokereague.com. He's 34 years old and engaged to a beautiful woman who stood on the rail during his final table assault. Lyter is from Fargo and, with his business partner, put a few people into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure with his company's satellite tournaments. You'll find him on PokerStars as "flushthecat." Lyter qualified for the PCA in a $33 re-buy tournament on PokerStars.
Brook Lyter
Seat 4: Michael Higgins ($794,000)
One (yes, one) of the youngest players at the final table, Higgins is 18 years old and a student at The Ohio State University. Higgins also has a rail full of supporters. Higgins made the final table after pushing in with pocket aces to defeat the TV bubble, Brian Green's, pocket tens. You'll find Higgins on PokerStars as Higgins43.
Michael Higgins
Seat 5: Anders Henrikkson ($1,033,000)
Anders "gambler21" Henriksson now goes under the name "Mr. Four of a Kind" in Sweden after winning the TV tournament "Pokermiljonen" two week's ago. He drew quads twice at the final table. Henrikkson is 24 years old and from Stockholm. Henrikkson also placed 18th in the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He has been playing poker professionally for two years. He qualified for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in a PokerStars double shootout.
Anders Henrikkson
Seat Six: Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh ($231,000)
Ask anybody who plays any good amount online at PokerStars and they'll tell you about Ozzy87. Pakistani born and now living on Staten Island, Ozzy has already started to a hear a familiar cry from the rail. "Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy! Oy, Oy, Oy!" Sheikh is coming into the final table with the shortstack, but no one who knows this 18 year-old prodigy is counting him out yet.
Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh
With a day off here at the PCA, Flight 2 of the World Championship of Battleship Poker is the main event in the poker room. The final two players in this flight will play in the final four tomorrow night, live in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure poker room. You can find the action online in the PokerStars lobby by clicking Tourney/Special and looking for Battleship at the Atlantis.
Here's a look at the action going on right now.
Day 3 Coverage
PCA Winners List
Payout structure
Humans are conditioned to deal with a specific amount of input. When the sounds are loud, the food is rich, the lights are bright, the room is over-fragrant, and the air is hot, humans have a limited level of endurance.
Poker players are not humans. They are machines.
It's now been four days we've been in a giant ballroom. A cacophony of loud speakers, clacking chips, celebration screams, and desperate groans has mixed with the cigarette smoke, amonia-clean bathrooms, hastily-eaten sandwiches, and occasionally chilly Bahamian air. Carpal tunnel syndrome has set in on the dealers', writers', and players' hands. And yet, it, this desperate clawing for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure championship, continues. What's more, it is as beautiful a piece of abstract art as you could ever want.
Understand, it's been a mission of an importance that only poker playing machines can compute. Regular people, like the poker widows and widowers on the beach, can't understand the drive to make it to the final table of a major poker event. The widows and widowers understand yearning and unspoken dreams, but they are not the kind to chase those dreams to the felt. That mission is reserved for the poker players. This week, that mission has been accomplished by six poker players.
What started as a game of more than seven hundred players is now a contest between six people. Two students, three poker pros of varied backgrounds, and an entrepreneur with such vision that only he could explain it.
Seat One: Steve Paul-Ambrose ($1,780,000)
Steve is a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He started playing poker about two years ago and is a frequent participant in the Sunday guaranteed tournaments on PokerStars. He's 22 years old and has his mom, sister, and buddies on the rail rooting him on. You will find him on PokerStars as "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose qualified for the PCA in a $650 satellite on PokerStars.
Seat Two: David Singer ($2,535,000)
Singer, a well-known pro on the tournament circuit, has spent the last three days defining the concept of "pressure points" in poker, putting his opponents to tough decisions when they least expect to make them.
Seat Three: Brook Lyter ($875,000)
Lyter is an entreprenuer who has owned a bar, a DJ service, and most notably, a poker league in the upper midwest. Lyter's most recent and notable project is a partnership in DakotaPokereague.com. He's 34 years old and engaged to a beautiful woman who stood on the rail during his final table assault. Lyter is from Fargo and, with his business partner, put a few people into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure with his company's satellite tournaments. You'll find him on PokerStars as "flushthecat." Lyter qualified for the PCA in a $33 re-buy tournament on PokerStars.
INSTRUCTIONS: Keep refreshing this page and scroll to the bottom for the latest info.
PCA Winners List
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
Payout structure
Many thanks to the PokerStars staff, especially Steve Wood, for helping with the action today.
If you're looking for the latest pretty stuff, click here.
2:55pm--40 players remain. One of the most recent bustouts, was Jason Strasser who, without about $70K in chips jammed with KQ after facing a raise. His opponent thought for a bit before calling with 55.
3:22pm--Down to 36. Brian Mogelefsky now has well more than 300,000 in chips. We'll soon be at three tables, a point at which some hand coverage should be much more manageable.
3:30pm--Joe Marcal, a $33-rebuy PokerStars qualifier playing in his first major event has just won an almost uncountable pot. On a flop of K63 rainbow, Marcal check-raised Christian Grundtvig to 60,000. Grundtvig responded by moving in the rest of his formidable stack. Marcal fell into the tank, thinking for nearly five minutes before stacking, unstacking, the re-stacking his chips. He put his card protector on top of his cards and appeared as if he was going to fold. Instead, he said, "I have to call." He turned over KJ. Grundtvig, looking disgusted, turned over a pair of eights. An ace and queen on the turn and river didn't help Grundtvig. He's still alive, but now sitting on a fairly short stack.
3:47pm--Kenny Weinstein has just doubled up off Joe Marcal. Weinstein, working from a shorter stack came in for a raise. Marcal put him all in and Weinstein happily called with KK. Marcal showed AJ. The flop gave Marcal a jack but didn't further improve his hand. Marcal, having just doubled up off Christian Grundtvig, is still doing okay.
3:53pm--Isaac Baron just busted out. He got his chips on a K57/6/ board. The flop had two spades giving Baron the nut flush draw. Michael Higgins held a pair of jacks and put Baron out of the contest.
3:56pm--Jorge Teixeira, in a hand that escaped every reporter in the house, has been eliminated. As we were reporting that information, Dan Lauzon was elimiated as well.
4:10pm--On the last hand before he break, Brian Mogelefsky, who just an hour ago had more than 300,000 in chips, laid down what must have been top pair top kicker. We joined the action on the flop, Q73 rainbow. Mogelfsky had bet around 70,000 into an already large pot. His opponnent, Stave Paul-Ambrose, put in 200,000, enough to put Mogelefsky all-in. Last night, Ambrose had made a super call at the end of play to rise to the chip lead. Today, he's playing just as well. Mogelefsky took a large chunk of the break to consider his move. Finally, with stress-watered eyes, he folded. Paul-Ambrose, perhaps feeling some sympathy, or perhaps looking for later respect, showed his pocket kings.
4:14pm-- Andrew Schwager, under the gun, went all in with 99 and got a call from a big stak who held AK. The board came out A274J. Andrew Schwager was elimiated in 32nd place.
4:20pm--Kenny Weinstein has been eliminated. After getting doubled up earlier by Joe Marcal, he decided to move in with AQ. Marcal called with TT. The tens held up and Weinstein was eliminated in 31st place.
4:28pm--Lee Gooldman just doubled up with a set of tens.
4:30pmChip counts of remaining players, courtesy of a very helpful BJ Nemeth. Blinds are currently at 3000/6000/1000
Steve Paul-Ambrose $686,000
Izzy Subotic $555,000
Anders Henriksson $400,000
Omar Abede $395,000
David Singer $380,000
Ziv Bachar $335,000
Michael Fletcher $287,000
Brian Dawydiuk $286,000
Michael Higgins $272,000
AVERAGE $226,250
Lee Goldman $226,000
Steven Suh $225,000
Roman Yitzhaki $221,000
Jaavel McCrae $215,000
Will Barr $211,000
Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh $209,000
Joe Marcal $207,000
Roger Kaska $177,000
Brian Mogelefsky $170,000
Joe Zappia $167,000
Matt Matros $149,000
Daniel Samson $146,000
Gunther Hornung $136,000
Michael Banducci $131,000
James Siwik $125,000
Brook Lyter $122,000
Matt Smith $110,000
Christian Grundtvig $107,000
Allen Goldstein $96,000
Mike McStott $89,000
Brian Green $84,000
4:41pm--Brook Lyter of Fargo, ND, has just doubled up. Working on a stack of just more than 100,000. He found aces at the perfect time...right when chip leader Steve Paul-Ambrose held queens. All-in pre-flop, the aces held up.
4:52pm--Brian Mogelefsky, who has been running bad today, finally found some good fortune. He got pocket fours in against Steve Paul-Ambrose's AQ. The pair held up and Mogelefsky stayed alive.
5:00pm--A couple of interesting notes. David Singer just made quad fives on the river in a very big hand. His stack is looking very dangerous right now. In another note, Daniel Samson sits in the final 27 as, in his words, "the last surviving Brit."
5:10pm--We've had a few quick bustouts, the latest being Day 1 Flight A chip leader Brian Mogelefsky. After running bad all day, he came in for a raise that equalled about a third of his stack. The small blind jammed with with AK. Brian called with AQ and didn't improve. A few seconds later Roman Yitzhah got in short-stacked with K2 versus Ax and didn't improve. He's out in 26th. Check the money board for the most recent winner's list.
5:27pm--Matt Matros has been eliminated, after flopping top two pair with AK versus Aurangzeb Sheikh who flopped bottom set with a pair of sevens.
5:35pm--Daniel Samson, the last remaining player from Great Britain, has just been eliminated after getting his AK-suited all in against Brian Dawyduik's JJ.
5:45pm--Omar Abede has been eliminated in 20th place. He got a pair of fives all in versus Joe Marcal's 88 and didn't improve.
5:56pm--Players are on a 90-minute break. They will return at 7:25pm.
6:25pm--Here are the dinner break chip counts with thanks to BJ Nemeth.
Steven Paul-Ambrose $761,000 (PokerStars $650 satellite qualifier)
David Singer $740,000
Aurangzeb Sheikh $637,000
Michael Fletcher $537,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Anders Henriksson $509,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Brian Dawydiuk $447,000 (PokerStars Top 150 Tournament Leader Board)
James Siwik $402,000
AVERAGE $381,052
Michael Higgins $343,000
Izzy Subotic $320,000
Joe Marcal $318,000 (PokerStars $33 rebuy qualifier)
Brook Lyter $315,000 (PokerStars $44 rebuy qualifier)
Ziv Bachar $310,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Christian Grundtvig $292,000
Brian Green $286,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Gunther Hornung $262,000 (PokerStars FPP qualifier)
Will Barr $232,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Lee Goldman $198,000 (PokerStars $650 satellite qualifier)
Jaavel McCrae $178,000
Steven Suh $150,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
7:32pm--Just back from the break, Michael Higgins, all-in pre-flop with AQ doubled up after catching an ace on the river with AQ versus Sheikh's TT. The hand pretty much cut Sheikh's stack in half and moved Higgins toward the chip lead.
7:41pm--David Singer has just become the first player at the 2006 PCA to cross the million-chip mark. His success could've spelled Michael Fletcher's demise. Singer turned the ace-high flush with with ATo. Fletcher, with KJ suited in clubs had the king-high flush and the straight flush draw on the turn but missed on the river. Fletcher has been reduced to less than $200,000 in chips.
7:50pm--Lee "Enon" Goldman, after a tremendous run at the PCA, ran queens into aces and has been eliminated in 19th place. We're now down to tow tables and 4000/8000/1000 blinds.
7:56pm--Michael Fletcher just suffered a tough beat has been eliminated in 18th place. All-in pre-flop with pocket kings, Fletcher got a call from Ziv Bachar who held AK. The poker fates were mean and waited until the river to throw out the ace.
8:12pm--It was a battle of the blinds that was as bloody as they come. Folded around to David Singer in the small blind, he came in for a raise. Brian Dawydiuk, in the big blind, peek at his hand. From over his shoulder, I saw the ace and felt the move coming. "All-in" he announced. David Singer confirmed that Dawydiuk had, indeed, moved all-in. As soon as it was official, Singer called in a shot and flipped kings. Dawyiuk showed his AQo and never improved. He's out in 17th place.
8:28pm--Brook Lyter, after running through a roller coaster of a day, just doubled through Christian Grundtvig. Grundtvig, holding TT, put Lyter all-in. After some thought, Lyter said, "Okay, call." He turned over AK and found an ace on flop and king on he river for the win. Seconds later, Michael Higgins doubled up Steven Suh. Higgins queens were no good against Suh's aces.
8:47pm--Steven Suh has been crippled by Brook Lyder. Suh came in for a raise to 25,000. Lyter called in the big blind. The flop came out 536 with two spades. Lyter check-called a 42,000 bet on the flop, then check-raised a 42,000 bet on the turn, a four. Suh announced he was all-in and Lyder insta-called, showing his flopped set of threes. Suh held A6. The river was an unimportant jack. The hand left Suh with just a few thousand and he was subsequently eliminated by Grundtvig, KT vs. K3.
8:48pm--Joe Marcal is out after putting A6 vs. Steve Paul-Ambrose's AQ, all in on a neutral flop.
9:01pm--Players are on a 15 minute break. Blinds will be going up to 6,000/12,000/2000 in the next level.
9:12pm--So, oddly enough, everybody stood up for the break and so did we. When we came back from our various bathroom breaks, two players were gone. It's like the Twilight Zone in here. Apparently, on the last hand before the break, Jaavel McCrae got QQ in against AQ an his opponent spiked an ace on the turn. As for Izzy Subotic, who finished in 13th place, we're still working on how that happened. (Update: Izzy got in with Q7 on a 7A5 flop and his opponent showed ace ten, eventually making an unnecessary full house aces full of tens).
9:24pm--Sheikh justed doubled through Brian Green. On a board that read x2AAx, Sheikh pushed all-in on the river and got a reluctant call from Green. Sheikh showed A2 for aces full. Green mucked in disgust.
9:30pm--Chip counts:
David Singer $1,384,000
Steven Paul-Ambrose $967,000
Brook Lyter $811,000
Michael Higgins $802,000
Anders Henriksson $621,000
AVERAGE $603,333
Ziv Bachar $564,000
James Siwik $538,000
Aurangzeb Sheikh $480,000
Christian Grundtvig $383,000
Will Barr $376,000
Gunther Hornung $236,000
Brian Green $150,000
9:39pm--Gunther Hornung just doubled through Michael Higgins. Higgins raised pre-flop and Hornung re-raised, leaving himself basically pot-comitted. Higgins called and they saw a flop of 37A with two spades. Higgins immediatey announced all-in and Hornung called. Higgins showed KJ suited in spades for the nut flush draw. Hornung had AQo. Higgins didn't improve and Hornung doubled up to around $680,000.
9:48pm--We on press row are collectively confused. In what amounted to a $900,000 pot, Henrikkon raised from the cutoff and Bachar called from the button. On a flop of 752, Henriksson check-raised Zui Bachar, who moved all-in. Henriksson fell into the tank. Sharla from Poker Pages timed it at 11 full minutes. Finally, Bachar called the clock. Forty-five seconds later, Henrikkson called for another $300,000. Bachar didn't want to show his hand. "Good call," he said. When forced to show his cards, he reluctantly flipped over JJ. We around the table expected to see Henriksson turn over queens...or even top pair (maybe A7). Instead, he turned over...A6. The air was sucked out of the room. Eyes bulged out. The turn and river didn nothing to help Henrikkson. The room is still asking...A6? Henriksson now has about $150,000 in chips. Bachar has more than a million.
10:04pm--Now, back to some poker normalcy. In a pre-flop battle that invovled a raise, a re-raise, a re-re-raise, and a Singer all-in, Bachar folded pocket queens face up. Welcome back to the room, discipline.
10:12pm--Anders Henrikkson is trying to make his way back. He just flopped lucky after getting all in pre-flop with QdJd vs. Will Barr's AdTs. The flop came out K82 all diamonds. Barr still had the nut draw but missed.
10:25pm--Christian Grundtvig just doubled through Brook Lyter with kings full of aces versus Lyter's trip-aces (he held AQ) on a xAK-A-x board.
10:40pm--Gunther Hornung is on the ropes. Brian Green raised to 40, Lyter made it 100 to go and Hornung called from the small blind. Green folded and the remaining players saw a flop of A44. Hornung checked, Lyter bet 100, Hornung raised to 300, Lyter moved all in, and Hornung called. Lyter showed AK to Gunther's AQ. The hand left Lyter with 1.2 million and Hornung with 77,000.
10:44pm--James Siwik was just eliminated. Siwik was in MP with JJ and raised to 40K. Both blinds called. The flop came K93 all spades. It was checked around to James who bet 60K. SB dropped, big blind pushed all in. BB showed the queen of spades. The river brought a spade to eliminate Siwik.
10:48pm--Okay. Lots of fast action. The players are on break. David Singer just conceded a huge pot to Anders Henrikkson. With one card still to come and getting huge odds to call (140,000 into a 1.2 million pot), Singer gave up his hand. It is the general concensus that Singer must have been running an elaborate bluff that went awry. We're going to collect ourselves and be right back.
11:05pm...and we're back of the final level of the evening. The blinds are at 8000/16000/2000. Eleven players remain.
11:15pm--Will Barr was just eliminated in 11th place. All-in pre-flop with Kd8d, he ran into David Singer who had pocket fives in the small blind. A five on the flop took Barr out of contention. He earned $65,400 for his efforts. We're now consolidating to one table of ten.
11:38pm--Unless my tired eyes decieve me, we just saw our biggest hand of the tournament. Steve Paul-Ambrose raised from the button to 50K. David Singer raised and made it 150K more from the big blind. Paul-Ambrose called. The flop came out 8d6d5h. Singer bet out 240K and after some thought Paul-Ambrose called. Both players checked the turn and river. Paul-Ambrose turned over pocket tens and Singer mucked. That hand moved Paul-Ambrose into the chip lead. Word on the street is, the young Canadian is playing in his first live tournament EVER. Not a bad way to start things off, eh? Singer now has about 1.14 million in chips to Paul-Abrose's 1.73 million.
11:47pm--Gunther Hornung, PokerStars FPP qualifier, has left the building. After calling Christian Grundtvig's all in with AQ, he flopped top pair, top kicker. Unfortunately for Hornung, a nine fell on the river to give Grundtvig a set with his pair of pocket nines. Hornung earned $80,400.
11:54pm--Ziv Bachar has been eliminated after getting all in with A2s on a xA99 board. David Singer, after some serious thought (seriously), called the all-in with Q9. Bachae needed an ace on the river...which did not come. He earned $95,400.
12:12am--Christian Grundtvig has been eliminated. It was a battle of the blinds. We pick up the action on the turn when Grundtvig bet into a 8cTd5c/2c board and Singer raised enough to put Grundtvig all-in. Grundtvig, sensing he was beat, but knowing he had to call, put in the rest of his chips. He showed QT with one club, giving him any queen, any ten, or any club as outs. None of them came on the river and he finished in eighth place for $117,200.
12:33am--We just hit the final table. Brian Green was eliminated in seventh place. Steve Paul-Ambrose came in for a raise to 45, David Singer called, Brian Green just moved all in for 200 more, and THEN Michael Higgins moved all in for 400. Steve Paul-Ambrose and Singer folder. Green showed TT and Higgins showed AA. The board brought 78J, opening up a gutshot straight draw for Green. Then, as they say, nothing bad happened for Higgins. Green cashed for $144,500. Chip counts to come.
1:00am--Here are your chip counts and seat numbers for the final table.
Steve Paul-Ambrose $1,780,000
David Singer $2,535,000
Brook Lyter $875,000
Michael Higgins $794,000
Anders Henrikkson $1,033,000
Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh $231,000
The final table will be played Tuesday morning at 10am. We will be live with hand for hand action. Check back here later for some more biographical info on the players.
Click here for the latest PCA winners list update.
What a day at the PCA. Day 3 of the maini event is getting to be quite a battle. And now that the World Championship of Battleship Poker is underway, it's proving to be a great success. Pretty soon, we're going to have to get down to the nitty-gritty, but for now we have a few minutes for a few pictures.
Just one hour has passed since the beginning of Day 3 and already ten people are down to the felt. Among them are Hoyt Corkins and Marco Traniello. Corkins did not have a big stack coming into to the day, but Traniello, who had been on a tournament-long rush comes as a surprise to many in the room.
Click here for an updated list of winners.
In other news, our fingers are crossed and we're hoping to christen the first-ever World Championship of Battleship Poker, now featured in Tourney/Special in the PokerStars game lobby as tournament 17727931, Battleship at Atlantis.
Update: Now down to 43. See the winners list for an updated look at the winners list. Pictures to come.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is back in action. Players in the main event have taken their seats and are resuming the battle to make the final table. We'll have reports here all day and night.
Also, the World Championship of Battleship Poker is working to get in the water. Trying to create the world's richest poker LAN party is more technically and logistically difficult than you'd imagine. We're hoping to have the event off the ground shortly. If you'd like to watch from your computer, you'll find it under Tourney/Special in your PokerStars game lobby. Look for tournament number 17727931, "Battleship at the Atlantis."
At the close of Day 2, 66 players remain. Joe Hachem looked to be among them until his pocket aces were cracked by queens. Later, he made a move the big blind with KJ after Adam Friedman raised from late position. Unfortunately for Joe, and fortunately for Friedman, Friedman held AK. Hachem opened up a flush draw on the turn but didn't get there.
Players return at Noon on Sunday. See the links below for important information regarding the tournament and the World Championship of Battleship Poker.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
2006 PCA Winners List
PokerStars World Championship of Battleship Poker
How the Bubble Broke
Adjusting to Day 2
Day 1 and Pre-Game Coverage, and Photo Gallery
Here are the chip counts for the end of Day 2. Sixty-six players remain and will return at Noon Sunday. We still have half an hour of Level 12 left to play. Blinds will remain at $1,200/$2,400 and a $400 ante.
Steve Paul-Ambrose 275,200
Isidor Subotic 274,800
Allen Goldstein 257,000
David Singer 248,600
Will Barr 247,800
Anders Henriksson 227,200
Isaac Baron 220,900
Marco Traniello 192,500
Dannny Lauzon 192,000
Brian Mogelefsky 184,400
Aurangzeb Sheikh 182,800
Daniel Samson 176,600
Adam Friedman 167,400
Steven Suh 166,500
Michael Banducci 160,800
Daniel Schiff 159,800
Nathan Hudson 157,000
Jonathan Ogline 147,300
Dustin Dirksen 144,500
Matt Matros 144,500
James Siwik 138,300
Joe Marcal 137,500
Joe Zappia 137,000
Ziu Bachar 131,800
Michael Higgins 117,100
Roger Taska 115,200
Roman Yitzhah 108,500
Anthony Aragon 105,700
Russell Carson 105,100
John Brown 103,300
Andrew Schwager 101,900
Fred Goldberg 98,500
Brian Dawyduik 95,700
Lawrence Samuel 90,100
Brook Lyter 83,900
Steve Tague 83,200
Louise Francouer 82,100
Michael Fletcher 82,000
Matt Smith 81,200
Marc Karam 79,300
Jason Strasser 76,800
Michael McStott 74,200
Omar Abede 71,800
Brian Green 71,500
Christian Grundtvig 70,100
Kenny Weinstein 66,200
Kyle O'Donnell 62,800
Jaavel McCrae 61,700
Dennis Waterman 61,200
Francis Cagney 57,400
Vlad Yanovsk 56,500
Hoyt Corkins 56,200
Guenther Hornung 55,000
Paul Greim 52,600
Jennifer Leigh 52,400
Robert Firestone 43,700
Matt Schmitt 42,700
Kasper Nielsen 38,300
Greg Peters 38,000
Lee Goldman 33,800
Mary Lucas 30,100
Lee Markholt 30,000
Jorge Teixeira 28,300
Russ Hamilton 22,200
David Sykes 21,200
Evan Decker-Spence 300
Click here to see the latest list of winners in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
FLASH: Chris Moneymaker and Isabelle Mercier to play in the World Championship of Battleship Poker--space limited, so get your seat early!
Sunday at 11am, players will square off in a live heads-up, single elimination $1000 tournament. The thing is, while the players will be sitting face to face in a live card room, they will be playing on their laptops with PokerStars' software.
If you're still trying to figure out the battleship thing, think about the old sea-war game that sat two players face to face. Now, exchange the old game boards with laptops. Get it?
Registration is going on now in the card room. Players must provide their own laptop and sign a waiver. PokerStars will provide internet access and a power supply. Full details are available at the poker room cage.
Since the event will be played on PokerStars, anyone around the world will be able to watch the event as it unfolds (stay tuned for details on how to find the event in the tournament lobby). What's more, the final four will be projected onto the big screen in the poker room in a live championship on the last night of the PCA.
Get your seat before it is too late.
Now that we're in the money, the players are falling fast. From here on out, the money list will be updated on this page.
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Winner's List
$1,363,100.00 + $25,000 WPT Championship seat
1. Steve Paul-Ambrose (PokerStars re-buy satellite qualifier--$102 total investment)
$681,500.00
2. Brook Lyter PokerStars $33 rebuy qualifier
$436,200.00
3. David Singer
$327,100.00
4. Michael Higgins
$239,900.00
5. Anders Henrikkson (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
$177,200.00
6. Aurangzeb (Ozzy 87) Sheikh
$144,500
7. Brian Green
$117,200
8. Christian Grundtvig
$95,400.00
9. Ziv Bachar
$80,400.00
10. Gunther Hornung
$65,400
11. Will Barr
$54,500
12. James Siwik
$43,700
13. Izzy Subotic
14. Jaavel McCrae
15. Joe Marcal
16. Steven Suh
$32,000
17. Brian Dawydiuk
18. Michael Fletcher
19. Lee "Enon" Goldman
20. Omar Abede
$23,500
21. Daniel Samson
22. Matt Matros
23. Michael McStott
24. Roman Yitzhah
25. Brian Mogelefsky
$16,900
26. Michael Banducci
27. Joe Zappia
28. Mathew Smith
29. Roger Teska
30. Joseph Goldstein
$13,500
31. Kenny Weinstein
32. Andrew Schwager
33. Danny Lauzon
34. Jorge Teixeira
35. Isaac Baron
36. Lawrence Samuel
37. Marc Karam
38. Francis Cagney
39. Nathan Hudson
40. Jason Strasser
41. Russ Hamilton
42. Jennifer Leigh
43. Dustin Dirksen
44. Jonathan Ogline
45. Steven Tague
46. John Brown
47. Russell Carson
48. Louise Francoeur
49. Anthony Aragon
50. Robert Firestone
$12,000
51. Paul Greim
52. Vladislav Yonoysky
53. Kyle O'Donnell
54. Adam Friedman
55. Daniel Shiff
56. Matthew Schmitt
57. Dennis Waterman
58. Marco Traniello
59. Kaspar Nielsen
60. Fred Goldberg
61. Hoyt Corkins
62. Lee Markholt
63. Mary Lucas
64. David Sykes
65. Greg Peters
66. Evan Deceker-Spence
67. Joe Hachem
68. Serge Didishem
69. Patrick R. Kellogg
70. Christopher Harpley
71. Paul Paris
72. David Plastik
73. Mark Guttormsen
74. William Brindise
75. John Kanellis
76. Don Mullis
77. Nicolai Vivet
78. Eirik Kolaas
79. Steve Stolzman
80. Thomas Koral
$10,700
81. Julien Koskas
82. Rupert Elder
83. Benjamin Yogel
84. Jeffrey Heffelfinger
85. Henric Olander
86. Peter Field
87. Paul Anaka
88. Jim McManus
89. Timothy Rich
90. Darrell Hardin
91. William Appel
92. Eric Koskas
93. Steve Weinstein
94. Yuriy Kerzhapkin
95. Tom McEvoy
96. John Phan
97. Antonio Salorio
98. Charles Johnson
99. Michael Gillian
100. Sargon Ruya
101. Stephen Schneider
102. James Bucci
103. Mathew Solitro
104. Robert Johnson
105. Peter Gunnarson
106. Stephen Bachman
107. Glen Henbest
108. Daniel O'Connor
109. Mark Rollings
110. Dennis Fabian
111. Andrew Lambo
112. Wayne Lucier
113. James Burkhammer
114. Alexander Kravchenko
115. Chistopher Cincotta
116. Zvi Groysman
117. Simon Turobiner
118. Glen Theobold
119. Morten Langbraten
120. Matthew Tevlin
121. Brian Mizok
122. Justin Wright
123. Pete "PGA71" Athansoulis
124. David Kreps
125. Thomas Dunker
126. Keith Ogren
127. Christopher Erickson
128. Bernard "Dogger9" Lee
129. Lawrence Lin
130. Tyler Knode
The tournament board read 132. The rail--a real rail this time, constructed during the dinner break--was thick with railbirds and family members. In the balance hung more than $10,000. The person who placed 130th would make $10,700. The player who finished 131st would get nothing.
So, with 132 players remaining, tournament director Mike Ward announced play would go hand-for-hand. The room reflected tension and $10,000 beads of sweat.
We're back in action. With 137 players remaining, the players are sweating the bubble. More than $10,000 per player hangs in the balance. We'll be in the poker room until the bubble breaks.
I wonder if food tastes differently if you know that when your repast is over, you could be one of 25 people who win nothing, or one of 130 people who stand to win at least $10,000.
That is where we stand right now. We're nearing the money bubble and players are on a 90-minute dinner break. I just grabbed a quick bite to eat next to a man who qualified for this event with his Frequent Player Points and is currently on his first vacation in a decade. What's more, he sits on 15,000 chips. That puts him in a somewhat desperate position as the blinds are about to go up to $800/$1,600 with a $200 ante.
While we expect play to slow down quite a bit as we approach the bubble, you can expect more frequent updates as the post-bubble action picks up. I can't promise much in the way of finely-crafted prose, but the updates will be coming faster now.
Until then, enjoy your supper.
No pictures, no stories, just some quick action. A little less than 170 players remain. About 40 to the money.
Big Chips
Marco Traniello
Jennifer Harmon
Danny Shiff
Bigslick789
Empire2000
Brian Mogelefsky
Barry Greenstein
Roger Kaska
Matt Matros
Other notables still in action
Joe Hachem
Tom McEvoy
Jay "WhoJedi" Newnum
JohnnyBax
Steve Stolzman
Jim McManus
Jason Strasser
Hoyt Corkins
David PlastikMonica Reeves
Adam Friedman
Jennicide
Pete A.
Life-support alert:Isabelle Mercier
Bernard Lee
Notable bust-outs:
Phil Ivey
Patrik Antonius
Tiffany Williamson
Chris Fargis
DoubleAs
Nick "TheTakeover" Schulman
Don't miss the announcement about a brand new live-online heads up event at the end of this post
You can see it in the eyes of the people in poker room right now. After, in some cases, playing against the same players all day on Day 1, now the players are looking at new faces. It's a day of adjustments.
Now, as I'm a big fan of Joe Hachem as a player and a person, I might be a bit biased, but I don't know if there is anyone in the room more qualified to make adjustments than the 2005 WSOP champ. Why? While I'm still keeping an eye on his ability to make this Day 2 poker adjustment, I know for sure that Joe is an expert adjuster. I saw it in action this morning. The former chiropractor stepped into the PokerStars office where Sharon Goldman had been complaining of neck pain. He stepped behind her chair. A few minutes later, the room resounded with a loud pop. Sharon's face fell into contentment and Hachem had made his first adjustment of the day.
Below are the end of Day 1 chip counts. Today at 1pm, these folks will all meet in the poker room to battle. Further reports will come out this afternoon.
Mogelefsky, Brian $98,500
Fletcher , Michael $93,000
Teska , Roger $86,600
Zappia, Guiseppe $78,200
Antonius , Patrik $76,100
Elias , Dafydd $74,500
Sheikh , Aurangzeb $74,100
Subotic, Isidor $67,500
Siwik, James Michael $66,000
Ramdin , Annand $65,800
Goldstein , Allen $62,300
Greenstein , Barry $61,000
Traniello , Marco $57,300
Lauzon , Dan $56,700
Theobald , Glenn $53,100
Schmitt , Matthew $53,000
Brameld , Michael $52,300
Paris, Paul $50,900
Newnum , Jay $50,700
Schulman, Nick $49,900
Cincotta , Chris $49,100
Abede, Omar $49,000
Banducci , Michael $48,700
Mullis , Donald $47,500
Strasser , Jason $45,800
Greim , Paul $45,700
McCrae, Aavel $45,400
Weinstein , Kenny $44,900
Brindise , Bill $44,400
Dirksen , Dustin $43,600
Esposito Jr, John $43,200
Weinstein , Steve $41,600
Porter , Ralph $40,900
Reeves, Monica $40,900
Pereira , Christian $40,000
Caul , Greg $39,800
Gillilan , Michael $39,700
Goldfarb , Robert $39,700
Didisheim , Serge $39,400
Mizok, Brian Anthony $39,200
Jaikel , Luis $39,000
Friedman , Adam $38,700
Arpin , Rick $38,200
Kanellis , John $38,100
Koral, Thomas $37,800
Barton , Donald $37,600
Ogline , Jonathan $37,500
Solitro , Mathew $37,100
Hawkins , Keith $36,700
Szymaszek , Matthew $36,400
Ruya , Sargon $36,300
Appel , William (Joe) $35,600
Yitzhaki , Roman $34,700
Waterman , Dennis $34,600
Crawford , Chris $34,400
Cagney , Francis $34,300
Kromm , Derek $34,000
Bachar , Ziv $34,000
Domstein , David $33,400
Grundtvig, Christian $33,200
Suh , Steven $33,200
Layne , Chad $33,000
Knode , Tyler $32,800
Barr , William $32,700
Floyd , Russ $32,700
Lin , Lawrence $32,600
Somaiya , Rumit $32,500
Ramos , Ted $32,200
Shiff, Daniel $31,500
Brichetto , Peter $31,500
Decker-Spence , Evan $31,500
Martin , Jesse $31,300
O'Donnell , Kyle $31,200
Baron , Isaac $31,100
English, James $31,100
Kolaas , Eirik $31,100
Fargis , Chris $31,000
Henriksson , Anders $30,900
Matros , Matthew $30,700
Beasley, William $30,700
Athanasoulis , Peter $30,400
Ginsburg, Mike $30,300
Kravchenko, Alexander $30,300
Groysman , Zvi $30,200
Hudson , Nathan $30,000
Koskas , Eric $30,000
Kakoun , Haim $29,800
Peters , Gregory $29,800
Wright , Justin $29,500
McEvoy , Tom $29,300
Goldberg, Fredrick $29,200
Schneider , Steve $29,000
Smith , David K $29,000
Pittman, Grant $28,700
Mercier , Isabelle $28,000
Dawydiuk , Brian $27,600
Brown , John $26,800
Samson , Daniel $26,800
Olander, Carl $26,700
Ivey , Phil $26,200
Drechsler , Justin $26,200
Smith , Matthew $26,100
Murphy , Sam $25,800
Samuel , Lawrence $25,800
Senie, Brian $25,500
Smith , David L $25,300
Trinh , Minh $25,200
Ewing, Josh $24,900
Eisner , Seth $24,800
Tevlin , Matthew $24,800
Rollings , Mark $24,500
Mitrokostas , Spyro $24,200
Kerzhapkin, Yurly $24,100
Karam , Marc $24,000
Jackson , Darvin $23,800
Hardin , Darrell $23,600
Williamson , Tiffany $23,500
Palmieri , Michel $23,400
Borodina , Tetyana $23,300
Baird , Gregory $23,100
Pulliam, Joe $23,100
Lake, Shawn E. $23,000
Montanari , Mark $23,000
McKelvey , Carl $23,000
Moussa , Jean-Claude $22,800
Bercovitz , Bradley $22,800
Heffelfinger , Jeffrey $22,200
Sazieddine, Francois $21,900
Gallant , Scott $21,700
Langbråten , Morten $21,700
Perry , Robert $21,300
Teixeira , Jorge $21,200
Gunnarson , Peter $21,100
Roberts , Brent $21,000
Yanovsky , Vlad $21,000
Scherer , Anthony $20,800
Harwood , Joel $20,700
Josephy , Cliff $20,700
Falconer , Chris $20,600
Kenroy, Martin Eddylee $20,600
Campbell , James $20,500
Sousa , Marco $20,200
Hamilton , Russ $20,100
Schwager , Andrew $20,100
Wildt , Rob $20,100
Dix, Michael A. $19,900
Lambo , Andy $19,900
Park, Theodore $19,800
Snyder , Michael $19,800
Duncker , Thomas $19,600
Elder , Rupert $19,600
Berkowitz, Jordan $19,600
Heth , Rick $19,500
Green , Brian $19,400
Adams, Brandon $19,300
Zuchowski, Johnathon $19,100
Preston , Terris $18,800
VaVerka , Michael $18,800
Wyler , Scott $18,800
Litman, Peter Bernard $18,700
Guttormsen , Mark $18,700
Amoils , Leslie $18,200
Yogel , Benjamin $18,000
Higgins, Michael $17,900
Nielsen , Kasper $17,800
Goldman , Lee $17,800
Harman , Jennifer $17,800
Lucier , Wayne $17,700
Sykes , David $17,700
Fink , Laura $17,600
Mcstott , Mike $17,500
Rosenkrantz , Abraham $17,400
McManus , James $17,200
Firestone , Robert $17,000
Kellogg , Patrick $17,000
Kohlberg , Curt $16,800
Feduniak , Maureen $16,700
Gottlieb, Rich $16,600
Stahle , Christoffer $16,500
Stasnopolis , Dee $16,400
Gonzalez, Guillermo $16,300
Anaka , Paul $16,300
Kassin , Charles $16,200
Smallowitz , Gregg $16,200
Glass, Jason $16,200
Thurman , Mike $16,000
Dell , Tracey $15,900
Dwan , Tom $15,900
Lee , Bernard $15,900
Rosander , Anders $15,900
Santoli , Thomas $15,700
McNurlan , Jeff $15,600
Henbest , Glen $15,500
Lyter , Brook $15,300
Olson , Carl $15,300
Medic , Nenad $15,200
Kelly , Kevin $15,100
Koskas , Julien $15,000
Willumsen , Frode $14,900
Bucci , James $14,900
Lucas , Mary $14,800
Bui , Dean $14,800
Failla, Emanuel $14,800
Rich , Tim $14,800
Myung , John $14,700
VerHagen , Richard $14,200
Kroon , Mark $14,100
Koplan , Adam $14,100
Madden , Patrick $14,000
Vaverka , Dave $13,900
Harpley , Chris $13,800
Johnson , Charles $13,600
Salorio, Antoniov$13,400
Lezcano , Eduardo $13,200
Hachem , Joe $13,200
Lechman , Maros $13,200
Morrison , Jim $13,200
Ogren , Keith $13,100
Johnson , Robert $12,900
Smith , Gavin $12,800
Rosenberger , Nicholas $12,700
Morales-vargas , Jose $12,500
Baker, Amanda $12,300
Lane , Ron $12,200
Kreps, David $12,100
Fitzgerald , Brian $12,000
Bachman , Stephen $12,000
Hornung , Guenther $12,000
Lee , Sean $11,900
Corkins,Hoyt Bricken $11,800
Arias , Jorge $11,800
Minter , Jake $11,700
Mizrachi, Eric $11,700
Lucci, Tony $11,400
Penson , Michelle $11,400
Pham, John $11,400
Spadavecchia, John $11,400
Antis , Mark $11,100
Francoeur , Louise $11,100
Stolzmann , Steve $10,800
McGrail , Steve $10,700
Field , Peter $10,600
Pino , Michael $10,600
Carson , Russell $10,400
Tague , Steven $10,400
Oconnor , Daniel $10,400
Gould , Peter $10,200
Ilham, Mamedov $10,200
Galfond , Philip $10,200
Boudreau, Kevin $10,100
Kimbrough , Phil $10,100
Plastik , David $10,100
Smyrski , Mark $10,100
Montalbano, Herbert $10,000
Lindgren, Eric $10,000
Lujan , Pablo $10,000
Tomko , Dewey $10,000
Meredith , Michael $9,900
Singer , David $9,700
Guinther , Jimmie $9,700
Black , Travis $9,500
Sellers , Kenneth $9,500
Shimizu , Hayato $9,400
Cooklin , Phil $9,400
Sims, Ben $9,400
Tatevossian , Arman $9,200
Jones , Stephen $9,100
Fabian , Dennis $8,900
Vivet , Nicolai $8,900
Shak , Daniel $8,700
Tran , Quan $8,700
Kanter , Aaron $8,600
Oefinger , Robert $8,600
Steffen , Scott $8,500
McKinney , Ryan $8,400
Williams , Robert $8,100
Marcal , Joe $8,000
Aragon , Anthony $7,800
Green , Martin $7,800
Lindholm , Christofer $7,500
Seidel , Erik $7,400
Strochak, Kenneth Alan $7,400
Englander , Mathew $7,400
Katz , Matthew $7,400
Paul-Ambrose , Steve $7,400
Feduniak, Robert $7,300
Racette , Hugo $7,300
Greenstein,Adam $7,300
Livia,Thomas $7,200
Burkhammer, James $7,100
Mills, Marco $7,100
Sandman,Vaughn $7,000
Stokes,Jamin $6,900
Jönsson,Andreas $6,600
Hylden,Mark $6,500
Saunders,Jerome $6,500
Todd,Alex $6,500
Pearson,Doyle $6,400
Ader,Mark $6,200
Karen,Sebastian $6,200
Vuong,Alexandra $6,200
Hiatt,Sam $6,100
Chan,Terrence $6,100
Lettieri,Val $6,000
Pugh,Darrel $6,000
Simon,Jason $6,000
Fidellow,Alan $5,900
Aronov,Oleksandr $5,800
Ylitalo,Jukka $5,700
Leigh,Jennifer $5,700
Brueckner,Randall $5,600
Thurman,Dean $5,300
Luman,Shawn $4,900
Orduna,Christian $4,600
Neff,Peter $4,400
Erickson,Chris $3,900
Gray,Abraham $3,800
Markholt, Lee $3,800
Gibson,Nicholas $3,400
Kelley,Nate $2,900
Lane,Jon $2,700
Turobiner,Simon $2,500
Shemko,Robert $2,400
Adams,Justin $2,400
As the final level of the evening continues, Wil Wheaton and Greg Raymer have been eliminated. Wheaton, facing a raise from a big stack and a re-raise from a small stack, pushed with AK, hoping to isolate the small stack. Unfortunately for Wil, the initial raiser had kings and the re-raiser had aces. Raymer lost a big pot when his AQ ran into AA. Later, he flopped top pair but was out kicked. About 45 minutes of play remain. I'll be back with notable chip stacks when the players finish up.
Finally, after watching Wil Wheaton double his shortstack with TT vs. AQ, I saw PokerStars Group Marketing Director Chris Welch waving me over to another table.
"Greg is all in and Tiffany has been thinking about calling for nearly seven minutes," he said.
Greg was Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. And Tiffany was none other than Tiffany Williamson of 2005 WSOP fame.
I looked at the flop. It was ten-high, rainbow.
Raymer (foreground in red) waits for Williamson (white sweater) to make a decision
The wait was agonizing, but a minute or so later, Williamson mumbled, "Call."
Raymer flipped over AQ. Williamson turned over QQ. "I would've thought you'd call in a shot with that," Raymer said. But he didn't move. He waited for the turn.
Four seconds later, an ace fell, Raymer doubled through, and Williamson (still with a comfortable 18K in chips) took a walk.
Now, players are on their way back from dinner break. The forecast is looking good for the rest of the trip. By the end of the night, the field will be pared down to one room of players and we will begin again.
For now, I'm headed back to the tournament room. We'll have more updates later.
The official numbers on the PCA are in...
724 entries
$5,452,284 Prize Pool
1 $1,363,100.00 + $25,000 WPT Championship seat
2 $681,500.00
3 $436,200.00
4 $327,100.00
5 $239,900.00
6 $177,200.00
7 $144,500.00
8 $117,200.00
9 $95,400.00
10 $80,400.00
11 $65,400.00
12 $54,500.00
13-16 $43,700
17-20 $32,000
21-25 $23,500
26-30 $16,900
31-50 $13,500
51-80 $12,000
81-130 $10,700
It's taking a little longer than expected to get blog central off the ground since we lost our internet connection this morning. This will be a brief update on the status of events. Players are now in the middle of Level 3 and will be playing one more level after this before going to the dinner break. A storm has hit the island and the wind and clouds have driven even the most hardcore tourists inside. The poker room is hopping as usual. Here are a few pictures until we get further settled in.
Folks, we're underway, but the internet connection is not. We hope to be back up and running soon.
Update: Looks like we're back up...give us a little bit to get our feet back underneath us and we'll get the updates rolling
PCA Coverage So Far:
Pre-game coverage round-up
Day 1, Flight 1 begins, with audio clips and photos
Moneymaker/Mercier Update
After Sundown
Day 1 Flight A has ended. Below you'll find the official chip count for the remaining 157 Flight A players. Flight B begins Friday at Noon ET.
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Flight A Chip Count
Mogelefsky, Brian $98,500
Zappia, Guiseppe $78,200
Antonius , Patrik $76,100
Elias , Dafydd $74,500
Subotic, Isidor $67,500
Siwik, James Michael $66,000
Ramdin , Annand $65,800
Greenstein , Barry $61,000
Theobald , Glenn $53,100
Brameld , Michael $52,300
Newnum , Jay $50,700
Abede, Omar $49,000
Strasser , Jason $45,800
McCrae, Aavel $45,400
Brindise , Bill $44,400
Dirksen , Dustin $43,600
Esposito Jr, John $43,200
Weinstein , Steve $41,600
Porter , Ralph $40,900
Reeves, Monica $40,900
Mizok, Brian Anthony $39,200
Friedman , Adam $38,700
Kanellis , John $38,100
Barton , Donald $37,600
Hawkins , Keith $36,700
Appel , William (Joe) $35,600
Waterman , Dennis $34,600
Crawford , Chris $34,400
Cagney , Francis $34,300
Kromm , Derek $34,000
Domstein , David $33,400
Grundtvig, Christian $33,200
Knode , Tyler $32,800
Somaiya , Rumit $32,500
Shiff, Daniel $31,500
O'Donnell , Kyle $31,200
Matros , Matthew $30,700
Ginsburg, Mike $30,300
Kravchenko, Alexander $30,300
Groysman , Zvi $30,200
Hudson , Nathan $30,000
Kakoun , Haim $29,800
Mercier , Isabelle $28,000
Dawydiuk , Brian $27,600
Brown , John $26,800
Samson , Daniel $26,800
Ivey , Phil $26,200
Smith , Matthew $26,100
Murphy , Sam $25,800
Samuel , Lawrence $25,800
Trinh , Minh $25,200
Ewing, Josh $24,900
Eisner , Seth $24,800
Karam , Marc $24,000
Jackson , Darvin $23,800
Hardin , Darrell $23,600
Borodina , Tetyana $23,300
Lake, Shawn E. $23,000
Montanari , Mark $23,000
Moussa , Jean-Claude $22,800
Gallant , Scott $21,700
Perry , Robert $21,300
Scherer , Anthony $20,800
Campbell , James $20,500
Sousa , Marco $20,200
Hamilton , Russ $20,100
Schwager , Andrew $20,100
Wildt , Rob $20,100
Dix, Michael A. $19,900
Lambo , Andy $19,900
Park, Theodore $19,800
Snyder , Michael $19,800
Duncker , Thomas $19,600
Elder , Rupert $19,600
Heth , Rick $19,500
Green , Brian $19,400
Adams, Brandon $19,300
Preston , Terris $18,800
Litman, Peter Bernard $18,700
Higgins, Michael $17,900
Nielsen , Kasper $17,800
Lucier , Wayne $17,700
Sykes , David $17,700
Fink , Laura $17,600
Mcstott , Mike $17,500
Firestone , Robert $17,000
Feduniak , Maureen $16,700
Gottlieb, Rich $16,600
Stasnopolis , Dee $16,400
Gonzalez, Guillermo $16,300
Kassin , Charles $16,200
Smallowitz , Gregg $16,200
Dell , Tracey $15,900
Dwan , Tom $15,900
Lee , Bernard $15,900
Rosander , Anders $15,900
Santoli , Thomas $15,700
Henbest , Glen $15,500
Lyter , Brook $15,300
Koskas , Julien $15,000
Willumsen , Frode $14,900
Lucas , Mary $14,800
Kroon , Mark $14,100
Madden , Patrick $14,000
Vaverka , Dave $13,900
Harpley , Chris $13,800
Lezcano , Eduardo $13,200
Ogren , Keith $13,100
Johnson , Robert $12,900
Rosenberger , Nicholas $12,700
Morales-vargas , Jose $12,500
Baker, Amanda $12,300
Kreps, David $12,100
Fitzgerald , Brian $12,000
Lee , Sean $11,900
Corkins,Hoyt Bricken $11,800
Lucci, Tony $11,400
Penson , Michelle $11,400
Pham, John $11,400
Spadavecchia, John $11,400
Antis , Mark $11,100
McGrail , Steve $10,700
Carson , Russell $10,400
Tague , Steven $10,400
Gould , Peter $10,200
Ilham, Mamedov $10,200
Montalbano, Herbert $10,000
Singer , David $9,700
Black , Travis $9,500
Sellers , Kenneth $9,500
Shimizu , Hayato $9,400
Tatevossian , Arman $9,200
Jones , Stephen $9,100
Shak , Daniel $8,700
Kanter , Aaron $8,600
Steffen , Scott $8,500
McKinney , Ryan $8,400
Williams , Robert $8,100
Lindholm , Christofer $7,500
Seidel , Erik $7,400
Strochak, Kenneth Alan $7,400
Feduniak, Robert $7,300
Racette , Hugo $7,300
Sandman , Vaughn $7,000
Pearson , Doyle $6,400
Hiatt , Sam $6,100
Lettieri , Val $6,000
Pugh, Darrel $6,000
Aronov , Oleksandr $5,800
Ylitalo, Jukka $5,700
Thurman , Dean $5,300
Luman , Shawn $4,900
Erickson , Chris $3,900
Gray, Abraham $3,800
Gibson , Nicholas $3,400
Lane , Jon $2,700
Shemko , Robert $2,400
An odd feature of a Bahamas January is the sunlight waning before you expect it. The paradise sun seems to promise to be around forever, convincing you that it will only fall when your body is too tired to enjoy the daylight any more. And yet, as the Bahamas sits right in the middle of Eastern Time, the sun falls as it would in any other wintertime town. It can be surprising for people to feel the cool night air on their sunburned skin.
I only bring it up because none of the players who still remain in Flight A have seen the sun since breakfast and now the sun is once again gone. Such deception by the big star in the sky would warrant ill-feelings if the sun weren't so welcoming during the day.
Somehow, it's made me think of Isabelle Mercier (by a raise of hands, how many people saw that coming?).
After the dinner break, I spent a few minutes around her table. The four-seat had opened up and offered a different view. What I saw, within just a matter of seconds was the two different Isabelles--the one who will lure you into a pot, and the one who will eat you (and your chips) for an after-dinner snack.
Just back from the dinner break and the news is as great as it is horrible for Team PokerStars. While most of the Team plays tomorrow, Chris Moneymaker and Isabelle Mercier have been in action today.
It seems best to get the bad news out of the way first. Chris Moneymaker had been having a pretty good day. After a relaxing morning on the beach, the 2003 WSOP champion had been playing well all day and had built an impressive 30,000+ stack in the first four levels of play. Then, just before the dinner break, Moneymaker flopped a set of threes. What seemed like a golden opportunity to further build his stack turned ugly. His opponent turned a set of queens. So, the champ went to dinner with the beat on his mind. Then, five hands into Level 5, Moneymaker flopped open-ended and got all-in against somebody who had flopped a pair of fives with A5. The turn and river didn't complete the straight. Moneymaker has left the tournament area.
With that out of the way, it's time to turn our attention to the queen of the tournament area, Isabelle Mercier. Heading into Level 5, Mercier has one of the bigger stacks in the room. When I had a chance to ask her how the stack came to life, she answered with a smile, "Work, work, work...and then I got kings against queens." In fact, the only bad news of the entire day for Isabelle has been that someone swiped her PokerStars silver ingot card protector during the break. A posse has been formed and the scoundrel is being hunted down as we speak. We're hoping the local sharks are hungry.
Did you miss...?
Pre-game coverage round-up
Day 1, Flight 1 begins, with audio clips and photos
In these early stages of a tournament, the movement of chips is so fast, it's impossible to keep accurate track of who is ahead and who is behind. In fact, it's hard to keep track of who is sitting at which table. With that in mind, I like to wander the room and find a few poker faces, familiar or otherwise, that you might like to see. Below, is the first Insta Photo Gallery of the week.
Everything in this fine universe is made up of a couple of neat things: matter and energy. Inside the poker room here at Atlantis, we've been witness to the two great universal components in pure poker form. While no physicist has likely ever spent any serious academic time outlining the energy and matter in a poker room, there is no doubt some experimentation could be done. From a completely non-acamdemic and non-scientific perspective, it is evident that the room is full of energy. And we just learned that it is energy that matters.
Previous coverage:
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure set to begin
PCA: Paradise Eve
The Arrival of Lee Jones
Party Time
Button-maker?
It begins with more than a thousand people, a ton of food, and an open bar. While many would believe that anything that begins that well can only go downhill, the fun and poker insanity is just beginning.
Tonight, the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure kicked off with a massive cocktail party on the Royal Deck of the Atlantis Resort and Casino. The crowd was full of familar faces and big names. So far today I've run into Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Tom McEvoy, Isabelle Mercier, Wil Wheaton, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Barry Greenstein. What's more, I've been able to catch up with many friends from the poker circuit and poker blogging community. Chris Fargis of Twenty-One Outs Twice and Matt Maroon said hi this afternoon. I've also run into poker blogging guru and good buddy DoubleAs.
Now the party is over, the poker room is opening up, and the action is getting hot. I need to get back to the poker room, but I thought I'd offer a few pictures from the welcome party tonight.
Joe Hachem, preparing to speak to the crowd
Seth "FishLips" Eisner from Mercer Island Washington and his wife Melissa. Eisner is the former COO of Expedia.com and is now playing on PokerStars and at the Caribbean Adventure. He's also writing a blog about his new journey into the world of poker.
Curzdog and DoubleAs relaxing before the big event starts
Young guns Brandon Schaefer, Carl "colson10" Olson, and Michael "anakinso" Goodman
PokerStars World Cup of Poker champions, Team Costa Rica
CardPlayer Magazine forum moderator Jay "whojedi" Newnum, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, and Matt Matros
EPT Baden Classic champion Patrik Antonius
Previous coverage:
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure set to begin-- A look around the Atlantis Resort and Casino
PCA: Paradise Eve-- How to recognize PokerStars Staff and the PokerStars goody bag assembly line
It's not like we throw a parade or anything when Lee Jones shows up. Well, actually, the island of Nassau did have a big Junkanoo parade, but we don't think it was in honor of Lee. Nonetheless, Lee's arrival nearly always indicates poker is about to happen. Since that's the reason we're all here, the arrival of Lee Jones on Paradise Island is worthy of some attention.
As you might have seen in the previous PCA coverage here on the blog, the past few days have been all about getting ready for the players. Today, those players are beginning to come in. They'll have the afternoon in the sun, a big cocktail party tonight at 7pm, and then the poker room will open tonight at 8:30pm. That will signal the start of the $200 rebuy super satellite for the main event. What's more, the cash games and SNGs should get rolling tonight as well.
I've already run into Jason Strasser, the Duke Blue Devil who's been tearing up the online games for some times, as well as hanging out on the European Poker Tour Circuit. What you might not know is that Lee Jones is a Blue Devil as well.
If you missed yesterday's preview, click here for a look at the Atlantis Resort and Casino
Nineteenth century European aristocrat Otto Van Bismarck may have had it right when he said "People who enjoy eating sausage and obey the law should not watch either being made." Still, while I'm not one to question the aristocracy, there is something to be said for the perspective one gains by getting a sneak peak behind the scenes.
If you're still on your way down to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, you will miss the sausage-making process. This is the day it all comes together. Early this morning (or, early in poker players' term) the team behind the PCA came together and kicked the event into high gear.
Who is behind the scenes? Well, there are a lot of people, some of whom you may never have time to meet. However, there are a few faces you should know before you arrive.
