September 2007 Archives

The 2007 World Championship of Online Poker main event has just kicked off as the richest tournament in online poker history. Nearly 3,000 players are now set to battle for a nearly $7.5 million prize pool.



It's impossible to say what's going to happen over the next 15 hours or so. When the final table hits, players will be looking at a first prize of nearly $1.4 million. There stands a decent chance that we could see online poker's biggest tournament cash ever. An unchopped first prize will award the winner nearly $1.4 million.



As the event gets underway, players begin with 20,000 in chips and will be playing 30 minute levels. To watch, click on "Events" and "WCOOP" in your PokerStars lobby.

Good luck to everyone in the event. We'll see you on the other side.

The Hebrew word “Tzabra” or “Sabra” is used to describe native Israelis. A tzabra is a tough desert plant that thrives under harsh conditions. Under its thorny exterior, the “Tzabra” protects a softer, less severe interior.

It's a perfect analogy for our first PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Seoul champion, Israel’s Ziv Bachar (ziviland on PokerStars).

The soft-spoken 25-year-old showed no mercy during the final table at the Sheraton Grande Hotel. He brought the chip lead to the final table, and was rarely threatened on his way to the $139,872 first prize.

Bachar, who works in the real estate industry in his native Israel, continues great year for poker players from the Mediterranean nation of just over seven million people.

At the World Series of Poker earlier this year, high stakes poker pro Eli Elezra captured his first WSOP bracelet in winning the seven-card stud hi/lo event over poker legend Scotty Nguyen (and winning a 10-1 bet from Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein that he would win a bracelet in 2007).

Final Table Summary:

In contrast to the first APPT final table in Manila last month (which lasted well into the early hours), play lasted less than six hours and 111 hands.

Just three players returned after the dinner break – Sid Kim the chip leader on 983,000, Bachar on 740,000 and Jo Berec on 139,000. It wasn’t long until the chips were flying. On hand 97, Berec moved all-in from the big blind for 116,000, and Bachar called instantly. Berec (Ad 6h) was marginally ahead of Bachar’s Qh 10d, and the Australian made two-pair to double through and spark his comeback.

Five hands later, the heads-up line-up was decided after Bachar and Sid Kim watched a flop of Jc 6c 2s. Both players checked and the turn came 3d. Kim bet 50,000, Bachar raised to 100,000, Kim pushed all-in and Bachar couldn’t get the rest of his chips in fast enough.



The Israeli showed 6h 3c for two pair, while Kim’s Qc 4c gave him a flush draw. However, the 2d on the river missed the American, and he was out in third place.

Unlike the 60-plus hand heads-up battle at the APPT Manila event, the duel between Bachar and Berec lasted just nine hands.

With a chip lead almost 10:1 over Berec, Bachar picked his mark and made the call when Berec pushed all-in with Kd 9c.



Bachar had his nose in front with Kc 10c, but the drama wasn’t over. The flop came Qh Qc 6d, meaning Bachar’s 10 was still in play, but a Ks on the turn threw Berec some more lifelines.

But a meaningless 2d on the river gave Bachar kings and queens with a 10 kicker to win the tournament.

“It was a relief to get over Jozef so quickly,” Bachar said as the enormity of his victory started to sink in. “He’d been so aggressive and unpredictable, but I thought I was in with a good shot even though K 10 isn’t a great hand.”



It’s back to work in Tel Aviv for the modest APPT Seoul champion, but we’re hoping to see Ziv Bachar in Sydney for the APPT Grand Final in December. And that’s probably when you’ll next hear from me – on behalf of the APPT Seoul team, it’s “anyonghi gaseyo” or goodbye, from the Walker-hill Casino in Seoul, South Korea.

By Sean Callander

Just three players are still in the running to claim the first APPT Seoul title. Sid Kim is the new chip leader on 983,000, followed by 25-year-old Israeli Ziv Bachar on 740,000 with Australian Jo Berec the short stack on 139,000.
In the latest action, captured in magnificent images on http://www.flickr.com/photos/9871433@N08/sets/72157602206287029/, we went from four to three when Michel St Pierre was first wounded, then finished off by Sid Kim. On hand 84, the Canadian moved all-in for 260,00 from the small blind. Ziv Bachar, who’s stack was down to 193,000 called for his tournament life. St Pierre showed As Kd, and Bachar Qc Qd. Neither player’s hand improved on a board of 8s 6d 3d 7d 10c, as Bachar doubled through.

On the next hand, the charge of the PokerStars online qualifier came to an end after Kim raised to 60,000, and St Pierre threw in his remaining 66,000.

The Canadian was marginally ahead, holding K h 10d against Kim’s Qc Jc, and he looked set to double-up on a board of 7h 4h 2d 8h. But Kim hit a four-outer (the Jd) to eliminate St Pierre in fourth spot (worth $34,968 in prize money, not bad for an investment of $109).

Bachar’s momentum continued in the torrid half-hour before the dinner break, but Berec went from hero to (almost) zero.
On hand 88, the Israeli and the Australian popped it up to 40,000 apiece pre-flop, before the flop came Ah As 9s. Bachar bet 25,000, but Berec came over the top for his entire stack of 495,000. Bachar called the extra 395,000 in his stack.

Battling for the biggest pot of the APPT Seoul main event, Bachar showed Ac Ks for top pair and Berec had a flush draw (8s 6s). But the turn (Jc) and river (4c) missed Berec, putting a major dent in his stack.



When the trio headed for dinner and their final feed of the tournament (a shame, the buffet rocked), there was clearly a spring in the step of Bachar and Kim but Berec seemed to be looking for an answer to his woes somewhere among the tasty morsels on offer. Wisdom in the watermelon; salvation amid the smoked salmon? We’ll find out in the next few hours.

Limit poker is a dysfunctional marriage of a game theorist and a math wonk. They live in a house that looks like any other house in the poker neighborhood and, on the outside, they seem like a happy couple. Inside, though, the debates rage harder than any daytime soap opera. The math half of the marriage insists there is a correct decision for every card on every street. The game theorist insists there are nuances that can override the math. It is an in-house debate that rages through every game of limit hold'em. In this marriage, there are progeny and it's those people who are limit hold'em winners.

Event #22 of the World Championship of Online Poker drew more than 600 players at $1,050 apiece, all of whom hope to be the perfect child in the imperfect marriage. Nine of those players got closer than the rest.



Seat 1: drbk2 (619733 in chips)
Seat 2: DEVIRUS (1129819 in chips)
Seat 3: emptyseat88 (441326 in chips)
Seat 4: plattsburgh (936478 in chips)
Seat 5: Hansa.no (224548 in chips)
Seat 6: jumper17 (684116 in chips)
Seat 7: BUTCH ACIDY (366173 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (1525467 in chips)
Seat 9: der Falk (232340 in chips)

Der Falk, despite having the chip lead for a good while before the final table, was the first to go. He picked up AK versus BUTCH ACIDY's KK. Der Falk played the hand as hard as he could, but never caught up. He finished in ninth place for $8,008.

Hansa.no was the next to go. Having lost most of his stack to DEVIRUS in a hand that he didn't show down, Hansa.no played A7 for the rest of his chips against emptyseat88's KQ. A queen on the turn ended Hansa.no's day in eighth place. He was awarded $13,552 for his efforts.

BUTCH ACIDY fell on hard times a few hands later and, with only 100,000 chips left, ended up getting QT in against emptyseat88's K6 pre-flop. No queen or ten appeared and BUTCH ACIDY finished in seventh place, a $20,328 payday.

With six players remaining, the chip stacks sized up as follows:

Seat 1: drbk2 (424733 in chips)
Seat 2: DEVIRUS (1234819 in chips)
Seat 3: emptyseat88 (691887 in chips)
Seat 4: plattsburgh (868978 in chips)
Seat 6: jumper17 (1141616 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (1797967 in chips)

There were more cruel rivers in this event than just about any other. The cruelest we'd seen in a while put DEVIRUS out. He flopped a set of deuces against plattsburgh's pair of sixes on a Qd2dJh flop. They capped the betting and got DEVIRUS all-in. The river? Indeed, a six. DEVIRUS finished in in sixth place for a $27.720 cash.

After a short break, emptyseat88 sat on the shortest stack and was ready to pick up some chips. He came in for a raise with Kc7c and called a re-raise from Sowerss. The flop came own 9sKsJh. With top pair, emptyseat88 was in decent shape. Problem was, Sowerss held A7 and an ace came on the turn. No king on the river and emptyseat88 finished in fifth place for $35,112.

Four-handed play lasted for a long while before drbk2 succumbed to the pressure of the bigger stacks and mounting blinds. His last gasp was getting TJ all-in on a 3sQs6h flop. He was up against Sowerss' 78. A seven on the river ended drbk2's morning, out in fourth place and earning $43,120.

Plattsburgh was the neext to find the door. After jumper17 flopped a set against him and took him for half a million chips, plattsburgh only had enough chips to play one more big hand. He decided to go with QsJs. He got it all in pre-flop against jumper17's 77. Plattburgh never improved and was out in third place for $56,056.

Going into heads up play, the remaining two foes had the following stacks:

Seat 6: jumper17 (3334103 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (2825897 in chips)

With a $60,000 difference between first and second, the players thought it better to cut a deal with the following terms.

$108,967.05 -- jumper17
$102,184.95 -- Sowerss

They left $18,000 and the WCOOP bracelet on the table. That's where things got interesting.

After an impressive and hard-fought early battle, jumper17 (at the urging of his opponent) revealed what many people already knew. He is Markus Golser, a tough Austrian pro, known around the world as a fierce competitor.

While Golser had Sowerss on the ropes a couple of times, after a full hour of heads-up play, the stacks were still close to even. Neither player backed down, and for good reason.

Sowerss: i want the full bracelet
Sowerss: i'd almost give u 5k for it
jumper17: me too

After an hour and half, Sowerss had made an amazing comeback and taken a big lead, only to see Golser rebound and recapture his position on top. Then it was even again. Regardless of who came out on top, it was going to be a battle that neither player forgot.

It took a full hour and forty minutes for the heads-up battle to end. Over the course of several hands, Sowerss moved ahead. So many times before, the chip lead had melted back to even. This time, Sowerss held the lead. The final hand saw Golser flopping middle pair, but Sowerss turned a straight and sent Golser out in second place.

Congratualtions to all the players who cashed in Event #22 of the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker.

2007 WCOOP: Event #22 Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $18,000 for first place

1. Sowerss (United States) $120,184.95
2. jumper17 (Austria) $108,967.05
3. plattsburgh (United States) $56,056.00
4. drbk2 (United States) $43,120.00
5. emptyseat88 (United States $35,112.00
6. DEVIRUS (Canada) $27,720.00
7. BUTCH ACIDY (United States) $20,328.00
8. Hansa.no (Cyprus) $13,552.00
9. der Falk (Sweden) $8,008.00

Different strokes for different folks – it was interesting to see the demeanour of the players during the break in the APT Seoul final table. First-time final table participants like Norwegian qualifier Seval “Biffen 1” Hægeland and Michel “MSTP007” St Pierre paced nervously outside the ballroom while Jo Berec and Roger Spets looked relaxed and calm after the first two levels. James Honeybone said he’d been happy to stay under the radar during the first two hours.

After a quiet level 17, we’re expecting some fireworks during level 18, especially with Seval Haegeland (107,000) and Sid Kim (96,000) being chipped away.

Hands 36-40: Spets takes the first hand (36) after the break with 20,000 pre-flop raise, and Kim pushes all-in to claim the blinds and antes in hand 37. On hand 38, Berec raises to 24,000 and gets no action. Bachar and Berec check it down to the river on hand 39, and ace-high is enough for Bachar to take the pot on a board of Jh 9h 8c 8d Jd. Hægeland makes his move with an all-in bet on hand 40, but gets no love.

Hands 41-45: Berec takes the blinds and antes in hand 41 with a pre-flop raise of 25,000. Sid Kim is again all-in on hand 42 and after a few moments to deliberate, Roger Spets folds. Berec pumps it up to 26,000 to take hand 43, while St Pierre’s pre-flop raise of 25,000 is enough to take down hand 44. We see a flop on hand 45 between Berec and Haegeland. It comes Qc 10c 5d, and the pot goes to the Norwegian when he pops it up 25,000.

Hands 46-50: Bachar scoops hand 46 with a raise to 20,000 pre-flop. Hand 47 is a carbon copy with Honeybone taking the blinds and antes. Haegeland, Berec and Honeybone see a flop on hand 48 – it comes Qc 10c 5d, and Haegeland takes it down with a bet of 25,000. On hand 49, it’s a three-way pot between Berec, Kim and Spets. The flop reads Js 8s 2h. Kim pushes all-in, and scoops the pot. The Canadian St Pierre gets a walk on hand 50.

Hand 51: Ziv Bachar
Button: Kim (seat 7) – in one of the biggest pots of level 17, Bachar raises to 20,000 and gets a call from St Pierre. The flop is Qd Js 5h. Both players check. The turn is the Jd, St Pierre bets 25,000 and Bachar calls. The river is 5c. St Pierre checks, and Bachar bets 30,000. St Pierre folds and Bachar wins pot of more than 100,000.

Hands 52-54: The pattern resumes on hand 52, with Haegeland raising all-in after St Pierre calls on the button, and everyone folds. On hand 53, Berec bumps it up to 45,000 and gets a call from Kim. The flop is Ad Ah 7c, and it goes check-check. The turn is Qs, Berec requests a count but Kim mucks before he has a chance to take a nice pot. Bachar and Spets butt heads on hand 54 after the Israeli’s raise to 25,000. The flop reads Ac 7h 5d, Bachar bets 20,000 and takes it down. Blinds have just gone up to 5000/10,000 with an ante of 1000.

Hand 55: Sid Kim
Button: Berec (seat 3) – Roger Spets pushes all-in from the small blind with 2d 4h and gets an immediate call from Sid Kim with Ac 7s. The board comes 6h 3h 9h 7d Jd, and Sid Kim doubles through Spets, who is down to just 11,000 in chips.

Hands 56-59:St Pierre takes hand 56 from Kim with a bet of 15,000 after a flop of Kh 8c 3c, and makes it two out of two on hand 57 with a pre-flop raise of 30,000. St Pierre raises to 35,000 on hand 58, but Bachar’s reraise to 95,000 send the Canadian’s cards into the muck. Hægeland takes hand 59 with a pre-flop raise to 25,000. Honeybone gets away from it on hand 60 after his pre-flop raise of 32,000, which Berec reraises all-in. The Aussie shows pocket eights.

Hand 61: Ziv Bachar (Roger Spets eliminated in seventh position, $17,484)



Button: Honeybone (seat 2) – Bachar and Berec call, and Spets is all in for 5500 in the big blind. It’s checked down to the river with the board showing Ad 4h 2c 8h 7s. Bachar shows king-high to win the pot, eliminating Spets Js 5h. However, Roger Spets will go down in APPT history as the first player to reach two final tables.


Latest chip count (final table) Approximate:

• Ziv Bachar 620,000


• Jozef Berec 580,000


• Michel St Pierre 250,000


• James Honeybone 148,000


• Sid Kim 248,000


• Seval Haegeland 26,000

Hands 62-63: On hand 62, Berec raises to 25,000 and Kim calls. The flop reads Qh 8s 7c, Kim bets 25,000 and Berec raises enough to put Kim all-in. He doesn’t take the bait, leaving Berec in the chip lead on 580,000. St Pierre takes hand 63 with a bet of 20,000 when the board of Js Jh 2h 9h 7h is checked to the river.

Hand 64: Sid Kim
Button: Kim (seat 7): Kim raises to 25,000, Hægeland calls and the flop reads Js 8h 3c. Hægeland checks blind, Kim pushes all-in and the Norwegian calls. Kim shows 10s 9s, and Hægeland Jd 8d. The turn is 6h, but Kim hits the Qs on the river for a straight, crippling Hægeland.

Hands 65-70: Hægeland moves all-in from the small blind and gets a call from Bachar. It’s Qd 10h v Qs 7c, and Hægeland’s kicker plays to keep him alive after hand 65. Sid Kim scoops the blinds and antes with a raise of 40,000 on hand 66. Hægeland hangs on again in a chop (Ac 9h v Ad 9d) with Honeybone on hand 67. Sid Kim bets 25,000 on a flop of Kh Qs 2d, forcing Berec and Honeybone to fold on hand 68. St Pierre then gets a walk on hand 69, and Kim takes hand 70 with a bet of 20,000 on a flop of Ks Jh 6s.

Hand 71: Michel St Pierre (Seval Hægeland eliminated in sixth position, $21,855)

Button: St Pierre (seat 8): Hægeland pushes all-in for his last 19,000, and gets a call from Bachar and St Pierre. It’s checked all the way on a board of Kd 10s 9h 10d 2s. Haegeland shows Ks 3c but St Pierre has 10h 7d for a set, eliminating the Norwegian who won his way into the APPT Seoul main event for $1.

At the break, the latest chip count reads

• Ziv Bachar 562,000


• Jozef Berec 547,000


• Michel St Pierre 321,000


• Sid Kim 290,000


• James Honeybone 142,000

Hand 73: Sid Kim
Button: Bachar (seat 1) – Fireworks straight out of the break with the biggest hand of the tournament so far. Kim raises to 28,000, Berec re-raises to 112,000, Kim re-raises all-in and Berec calls. Kim shows Ks 10s and Berec Qc Qd. The flop hits Kim (As Kc 4h) and there’s no help for Berec on the turn (9c) or river (8s). Sid Kim is our new chip leader on 587,000, and Berec is down to 280,000.

Hands 72, 74-75: Berec raises to 36,000 on hand 72 to take the blinds and antes. Bachar’s raise to 36,000 is enough to take hand 73, as is Honeybone’s all-in push on hand 74.

Hand 76: Jozef Berec (James Honeybone eliminated in fifth place $28,412)

Button: Sid Kim (seat 7) – Honeybone moves all-in and Berec re-raises all in for 271,000. Honeybone shows Ad 10d and Berec 8h 8c. The flop comes 10h 4h 2s Qs, but Berec hits the 8d on the river for a set, KOing the young New Zealander.

Note: We’ll no longer be filing hand-by-hand reporting from the final table of the APPT Seoul main event, but keep an eye out for the final results in the coming hours.

The appeal of online poker--or at least part of it--is the ability to play in an event with a relatively small buy-in and have a chance at a major score.

Event #20 of the World Championship of Online Poker had nothing to do with that part of the game's appeal.

At $5,000, the buy-in to the HORSE event was the largest of the entire tournament series. It drew some of poker's top name from both the live and online world. One hundred seventy-seven players threw in five grand a piece for a chance at a $225,000 first prize.

Here's what the final table of the event looked like.



Seat 1: tj_trail (285838 in chips)
Seat 2: svesken (246331 in chips)
Seat 3: BUS02 (116856 in chips)
Seat 4: TwinkleStar (95043 in chips)
Seat 5: BOBALOB (268092 in chips)
Seat 6: hairos (382407 in chips)
Seat 7: ROXY24 (170189 in chips)
Seat 8: Cordelia (205244 in chips)

At the start of the final table, the game was Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo at the 10,000/20,000 limit. TwinkleStar had less than 100,000 in chips. With 8c4c/8d, he came in for a raise and then called a re-raise from BOBALOB who showed a queen up. On fourth and fifth street, TwinkleStar picked up nines and was looking good with two pair. He got a bet in on sixth street, but BOBALOB called and made queens up on the river. TwinkleStars was out in eighth place, cashing for $22,657.

BUS02 came into the final table with the second shortest stack and found the exit shortly thereafter. Reduced to only 43,000 chips, BUS02 got all his chips in with AdKh7c3s showing. We never got to find out what he had in the hole, as hairos pulled a straight flush and and BOBALOB had an 8-low. BUSO2 exited in seventh place for $31,860.

The players took a 30-minute break and came back to 12,000/24,000 limit hold'em, stacked up like this:

Seat 1: tj_trail (341638 in chips)
Seat 2: svesken (363231 in chips)
Seat 5: BOBALOB (430563 in chips)
Seat 6: hairos (443835 in chips)
Seat 7: ROXY24 (97889 in chips)
Seat 8: Cordelia (92844 in chips)

ROXY24 was looking for a double up and came in for a raise with J9. After calling a re-raise from tj_trail, ROXY24 saw the flop: Jc7dKs. Tj_trail bet out, ROXY24 raised, tj-trail re-raised and ROXY24 called. The turn was the 3d. This time tj_trail bet out and ROX24 called all in. Tj_trail held AdTd and had outs to any diamond, any queen, or any ace. The ace fell on the river and ROXY24 was out in sixth place and a $41,595 payday.

Cordelia was the next to go. Tj_trail rivered a flush on a 4s9cTh7c8c board to put Cordelia on life support. Cordelia was all-in in the big blind on the next hand and couldn't find a winner. For fifth place, Cordelia picked up $55,755.

Despite being the only person at the final table interested in a deal, tj_trail could not stop winning. Whether it was a rivered flush or a flopped full house, he won hand after hand and, before long, was up over 800,000 in chips.

The hold'em round simply belonged to tj_trail. After it was over, he held a firm lead.

Seat 1: tj_trail (859527 in chips)
Seat 2: svesken (303462 in chips)
Seat 5: BOBALOB (187407 in chips)
Seat 6: hairos (419604 in chips)

The beginning of the Omaha/8 round cut further into BOBALOB's stack. His frustration started to set in and he gave some clue as to his identity.

BOBALOB: this is sick 4th in both the biggest horse events of the year.

While he managed to double up and stick around for a while longer, he finally got his remaining chips in with KhKsJd6s. It was both a good and bad flop, KcQcTc. While tk_trail didn't hold clubs, he did have AAJx for the flopped straight. The board didn't pair and BOBALOB was out in fourth place for $71,685.

All the while, hairos was making a steady climb and, midway through the O8 round, had moved up to the chip lead. At the same time, tj_trail fell all the way back to third place after losing a 300,000 chip pot when svesken rivered two pair, nines and threes.

As the game turned to Razz, the chips stacks looked a lot different than they did an hour before.

Seat 1: tj_trail (409248 in chips)
Seat 2: svesken (588648 in chips)
Seat 6: hairos (772104 in chips)

Razz was unkind to tj_trail. Where he had the chip lead for a good long while, he had fallen back during the O8 round. The Razz round--and svesken--proved to be his undoing. Over the course of 20 minutes in Razz, his opponents beat him up. TJ_trail sat incredulous as his stack dwindled down to nearly nothing. The more he didn't believe his opponent had made their hand, the more they actually did. The final nail came After losing with a ten-low to svekson's six, Tj_trail finished in third place, earning $103,987.

Here's how the stacks looked going into heads-up play.

Seat 2: svesken (1056144 in chips)
Seat 6: hairos (713856 in chips)

Within a few minutes, hairos had drawn even with svesken and the players decided to chop up the money. They left $26,000 on the table and and took $176,921 a piece.

In the end, hairos picked svesken apart piece by piece over half an hour and finished him off to pick up the extra cash and the gold WCOOP bracelet.

2007 WCOOP: Event #21 Final Table Results
Results based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $26,000 for first place

1. hairos (Denmark) $202,921.00
2. svesken (Denmark) $176,921.00
3. tj_trail (United States) $103,987.50
4. BOBALOB (United States) $71,685.00
5. Cordelia (United States) $55,755.00
6. ROXY24 (Canada) $41,595.00
7. BUS02 (United States) $31,860.00
8. TwinkleStar (United States) $22,567.50

A few nervous poker players have just made their way into the TV studio for the final table of the APPT Seoul main event in the Walkerhill Sheraton Grande Hotel on the outskirts of the South Korean capital.

It’s drizzly and gloomy outside, but the lights are shining bright here at the final table – we’ve actually relocated upstairs to one of the Sheraton Grande ballrooms from the Walker-hill Casino. Once again, the 441 team have done a great job with the set: it promises to be one of the finest televised poker products you’ll ever see.

Paul Adams, an American who lives just to the north of Seoul, has added a distinctly East Asian feel to the final table by discarding the suit and tie he’s worn in the past two days for a traditional Korean outfit called a hanbok. In terms of final table fashions, Adams is already a clear winner.

Like the APPT Manila final table, we have a league of nations battling for the title: an Israeli, an Australian, a New Zealander, a French-Canadian, a Swede-based in Malaysia, a Norwegian and a trio of Americans who all make their home in South Korea.
The 25-year-old Isareli Ziv Bachar is our chip leader on 415,000, with Australian Jo Berec close behind on 350,000. The remaining seven players are covered by 70,000 in chips, so it promises to be a fierce battle for the title. Blinds are starting at 3000/6000 with a 500 ante, and the dealer button will start with Michel St Pierre in seat eight.
Keep an eye on our blog throughout the day for regular updates.

• Seat 1: Ziv Bachar (ziviland on PokerStars, 415,000 in chips)


• Seat 2: James Honeybone (nzvr4poker on PokerStars, 171,500 in chips)


• Seat 3: Jozef Berec (jbjeoli on PokerStars, 350,000)


• Seat 4: Daniel Schreiber (rekrul on PokerStars, 185,500 in chips)


• Seat 5: Paul Adams (zadignose on PokerStars, 184,000 in chips)


• Seat 6: Roger Spets (titantilts on PokerStars, 168,000 in chips)


• Seat 7: Sid Kim (110,500 in chips)


• Seat 8: Michel St Pierre (MSTP007 on PokerStars, 149,500 in chips)


• Seat 9: Seval Hægeland (Biffen 1 on PokerStars, 127,500 in chips)

Previous APPT Posts:

APPT Seoul: Last nine decided in battle for APPT Seoul glory

• APPT Seoul: Qualifiers have a tale to tell to folks back home


• Was there something in the food?


• Chinese Poker, it's anyone's game


• A Case of Tae Kwon Woe


• Schreiber stays on top in race for Seoul crown


• ‘Rekrul’ rules late on day one


• Mercier makes her move


• Quality field takes aim at Team PokerStars


• Who are those masked men?


• Seoul Tournament Kicks Off

Here's a list of poker players, who are also members of an exclusive club.

Brandon Schaefer (USA); Jeff Williams (USA); Gavin Griffin (USA); Magnus Petersson (Sweden).

As of tonight, there's another name to add to the subscription list: Joseph Mouawad. He comes from Lebanon and he's the most recent champion of a European Poker Tour event who won his seat in the tournament after succeeding in a PokerStars.com satellite event.

Joseph Mouawad: the latest EPT champion

It's only exaggerating the truth slightly to say that these are the people who stump up about the equivalent of a small blind on a cash table and turn it into the equivalent of ten years' wages for the average banker. Like turning a toothpick into a lumberyard, as one poker sage once described it.

Mouawad won £611,520 in today's tournament in London, the second stop-off during season four of the EPT. He beat 391 other players, who each parted with £5,200 for their seat in the Grosvenor Victoria casino. But only Mouawad, a property developer from Beirut, can walk out onto the Edgware Road as the new champion. And with that chunk of cash in his pocket.

We convened at 3.30 p.m, with the following people holding the following chips:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

All eyes were on Florian Langmann, the reigning German poker champion, who came to the final table with the chip lead. But neither he, nor anyone else around the table, was willing to put too much at risk during the early stages, and that allowed the young Swede named Fredrik Haugen to haul his way up the chip ladder.

Fredrik -- a 19-year-old PokerStars qualifier (surprise, surprise) -- was the short stack, but shoved it in time and again early in the day to surrender that ignominous title.

Ian Cox, from Poole, England, was the victim of many of these powerful plays and soon found himself peering over the shortest stack. Without many other options, he pushed it in from the button behind king-seven. Florian Langmann called from the small blind with king-three, a dominated hand. But a three on the flop ended it for Cox.

Next out was the only other remaining Briton in the field: Paul Mendes, from London. In each of the preceding three seasons, the London leg of the EPT had always produced a home champion, John Shipley, Mark Teltscher and Victoria Coren.

But when Mendes's king-ten couldn't overtake the ace-king of Antony Lellouche, the run of British champions was over.

That left six, and the big stack was still Langmann's. But not for long. Mouawad had played solidly throughout all three days so far, but had also demonstrated a keen ability to change gears when the situation demanded it.

Sensing an opportunity here, Mouawad, who has played poker for 15 years, put his entire tournament life on the line with ace-king, calling a huge bet of Langmann's. The German held 4-4 and was visibly sickened by the call, even more so when an ace flopped and a monster pot, the largest of the tournament so far, went to Joseph.

Joseph's stack contained more than two million in chips and that allowed him to pick off some of the remaining players. It was barely a ripple in the Atlantic for Joseph to call Anthony Lellouche's all in with 23,000, the Frenchman having been crippled in a massive pot against Marcel Baran, another PokerStars qualifier from Germany.

Mouawad only had jack-two, but had hit both on the flop. Lellouche's ace-five had been outdrawn and he was out the door.

That left five players, four of whom had qualified on PokerStars. There was Mouawad, of course, Marcel Baran, Fredrik Haugen and Josh Egan, from New Zealand, all of whose adventure began on the online tables of PokerStars.

But when something had to give, it was Haugen. Florian moved all in pre-flop, clearly just hoping to pick up the blinds and antes. But he ended up picking up much more: Haugen called with ace-jack, which couldn't retain its lead against Langmann's queen-ten.

Haugen took £124,342 for fifth place, which is a lot of buy-ins in cyberspace.

So, down to four. And one of them, Josh Egan, must have been licking his lips. Egan, known as Tycoon_Kid on PokerStars, is something of a specialist in single-table events. Proof? Well, he won back-to-back double shoot-outs to earn his place in both the Barcelona and London EPTs. That, essentially, is winning four sit n goes in a row, which the number-crunchers have determined is a 6,642 to one shot.

However, he couldn't quite make it one in a million, or so, when Florian Langmann managed to get all Josh's chips in the middle behind king-jack. Langmann had aces - the first time today, he claimed - and they stood up. The Tycoon_Kid is on his way back to New Zealand with £152,880. Someone else can do the calculations as to how impressive a mark up that is, but his initial outlay was only $215.

That left three players, which quickly became two. Marcel Baran, another PokerStars qualifier, might have been quiet at the table, but had nonetheless made all the right moves when necessary, getting his chips in when ahead, keeping them out the way when behind.

His elimination hand was no different, although his pocket fours were only a marginal favourite over his countryman's king-seven. And Langmann, who had lost a huge pot with fours earlier in the day, also watched them outdrawn again, this time to his profit. An ace flopped and Marcel missed his two outs: he was heading back to Germany with £203,840.

So, we were heads up. It was Lebanon versus Germany, and neither was going anywhere fast.

As in most heads-up battles, it was this way and that, but Joseph never really surrendered his chip lead. It all ended when both players limped to a flop and hit a pair. But Joseph's queens were bigger than Florian's nines. And another queen turned to give Joseph the money.

And there ended the EPT London, where PokerStars qualifiers ruled the roost. The four who made the final table ended up with more than a million pounds between them.

Anyone know a property developer who might know a good spot for a lumberyard?




Quotes:

Joseph Mouawad, winner

"It was a great experience; I didn't expect it at all. It was fun and a big achievement and I went up against some good players. But I never thought I'd win the championship.

"I've played casinos in Lebanon where a lot of people are starting to play. People know about Joe Hachem who's from Lebanon."

On the call with ace-king:

"We talked about the hand in the break and he said: 'How can you call with ace king?' I said: 'How can you go all in with a pair of fours?' But at the time I thought 'what the hell' and I played my intuition."

"Sometimes you get nervous but again you get used to it. He had more experience than me so I played my game. I thought if it happens it happens."

"I promised my son I'd buy him a car, so he'll get a car."

Florian Langmann, runner-up

"There was always a chance I could win, even with the short stack. At one point [Joseph] had all the chips while the others had just a few hundred thousand each. I had to push in all the time. Then Antony made his move so I waited until he went out.

"Heads up is always a gamble. He played very strangely and I tried to hit something but I didn't. I'm always trying to win but you don't expect it. This is really great."

EPT London final table results and payouts:

1st -- Joseph Mouawad -- Lebanon -- £611,520 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
2nd -- Florian Langmann -- Germany -- £346,528
3rd -- Marcel Baran -- Germany -- £203,840 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
4th -- Josh Egan -- New Zealand -- £152,880 (PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier)
5th -- Fredrik Haugen -- Sweden -- £124,342 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
6th -- Antony Lellouche -- France -- £97,843
7th -- Paul Mendes -- England -- £77,459
8th -- Ian Cox -- England -- £57,075

Click HERE for complete list of payouts.

Pictures (c) Neil Stoddart.

Joseph Mouawab, PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon, wins EPT London and £611,520

10.15pm: Florian Langmann, Germany, eliminated in second place, winning £346,528
That's it. It all goes in on a flop of queen-nine-six and Florian has a pair of nines, Joseph a pair of queens. The turn brings another queen and that's trips and the title for the man from Lebanon.

10.10pm: A scary board of 4-9-5-8-7. Florian bets 300k, Joseph called immediately. Just king high for the Florian, a pair of sevens for Joseph in a pot that had crept up to 900k.

10.00pm: Florian takes a step towards levelling his stack against that of Joseph, winning a 900k pot, when he made a full house, nines over aces. Joseph had called Florian’s big bet on the river adding a little extra to Florians’ stack.

9.45pm: Not much to report at this stage other than a few pots split evenly. Joseph still holds the overwhelming chip lead.

9.25pm: Joseph wins a pot worth over 500k when he moves all-in over a 240k raise from Florian after the flop was dealt 6-9-J. The expectation was for Florian to call but instead he mucked his cards.

9.05pm: Players take a break for a quick leg stretch, comfort stop and a sip of water before heads-up action begins.

9.00pm: Marcel Baran, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, eliminated in third place for £203,840
The story has ended for one PokerStars qualifier. All in with 4-4 it was countryman Florian Langmann calling once again, this time with K-7. Unfortunately for Marcel he was behind from the start when a king hit the flop with no four coming to his rescue.

8.45pm: Josh Egan, New Zealand, PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier, eliminated in fourth place for £152,880
When Josh Egan moved in all he could hope for was that his K-J would give him a chance. Unfortunately for him Florian Langmann had found aces and called immediately. The flop brought a jack but that alone was not enough. The Kiwi, with handshakes all round, was eliminated.

8.40pm: We're four-handed now, three of whom are PokerStars qualifiers, proving once again what we already knew about these internet players. Once more: they're quite good, on the whole. Joseph Mouawad is king of the castle still, by some significant measure, and so the other three remaining are playing all-in poker. No one is calling just yet, but they surely will very soon.

8.25pm: Fredrik Haugen, Sweden, eliminated in fifth place for £124,342
Florian moved all-in pre-flop and found Fredrik calling with A-J. Q-T for Florian, covering the Swede. The flop brought a ten and the turn brought another. It was all over for Fredrik whilst Florian’s revival continues.

8.10pm: Florian Langmann’s tournament looked all but over, except for a three way hand that has revitalised his chances. Following a bet from Marcel Joseph called before Florian moved all-in for 134k. Both Marcel and Joseph called but after a 9-3-6-3-2 board Florian’s 4-4 was good with both Marcel and Joseph mucking their cards. Florian triples up.

8.00pm: Antony Lellouche, France, eliminated in sixth place for £97,843
In a quiet hand that almost passed by unnoticed, Frenchman Antony Lellouche left the tournament stage when his last 23k was swallowed up by Joseph Mouawad’s juggernaut stack.

7.55pm: Marcel bets and Antony Lellouche decides it’s his moment to push all-in. Thinking it over Marcel eventually calls showing 8-8. Antony can only manage 7-3. The board quickly reveals nothing to help the Frenchman and Marcel doubles up again. After the smoke clears Lellouche is left with just 23k.

7.50pm: After that huge pot went towards Joseph, he has taken a commanding chip lead. The latest counts:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 2,237,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 592,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 324,000
Marcel Baran - Germany – 276,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Florian Langmann - Germany – 254,000
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 222,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)

7.40pm: Florian Langmann and Fredrik Haugen split a pot when Florian moves in with A-3. Fredrik called with A-2 with a high board. Back to where they started.

7.25pm: A Florian raise, followed by a Joseph re-raise, followed by a Florian all-in move. Joseph called for what would be a race for his tournament life. A-K for Joseph, 4-4 for Florian. “I didn’t think you’d call that” said Florian turning his cards over. An ace hit the turn, and king hit the river. PokerStars Qualifier Joseph Mouawad doubles up.

7.20pm: Big double up, to 458,000, for Fredrik Haugen. Antony Lellouche made a button raise after it was passed to him, and Haugen, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, moved all in. Lellouche was committed and called with 5h-6h, which was especially weak against Haugen's pocket fives. No six appeared and Haugen took it down.

7.10pm: Players are back from the dinner break, and Joseph Mouawad is already firing: moving all in when an ace appeared on the turn in a pot against fellow PokerStars qualifier Marcel Baran. There was no raising pre-flop but Joseph bet out on a flop of Qh 10c Jc and Marcel called. Marcel folded, though, to that big turn bet.

6.00pm: An old fashioned aces versus queens hand develops with Marcel Baran all-in with the rockets. No help for Josh Egan and his queens as Marcel doubles up.

Latest chip counts as players take a dinner break:

Florian Langmann - Germany – 1,241,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 716,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany – 656,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 601,000
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 457,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 263,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

5.45pm: A slight lull broken by two consecutive all-ins from PokerStars qualifier Marcel Baran. It brought us some high drama for a few moments but each time Marcel found no takers.

5.35pm: The big stacks -- or, rather, stack -- is now dominating. Florian Langmann has extended his lead with a number of strong pre-flop re-raises, taking a couple of pots from Josh Egan. Antony Lellouche is also joining in the fun, and has also pinched a couple of smaller pots. Six handed still here.

5.25pm: Paul Mendes, England, eliminated in seventh place for £77,459
The EPT London has always had an English winner – not so this year as Paul Mendes is eliminated, all in with K-T and called by Antony Lellouche holding A-K. First card out of the deck was another ace, ultimately condemning Mendes to the rail.

5.20pm: After Fredrik Haugen bets 55k pre-flop Kiwi Josh Egan pushes all-in for 329k. Fredrik calls, showing A-T. Josh is ahead with pocket Queens and makes a set on the flop. No further help for the Swede and Josh doubles up.

5.10pm: Marcel Baran makes it 50k pre-flop with Joseph Mouawad calls. On the flop of 7d-9s-Ts Marcel again leads, betting 100k which prompts Joseph to push all-in. After some thought Marcel calls showing J-9. Joseph is ahead though with A-Th. The turn brings another ace, the river a jack. Two pairs each but Joseph’s aces double him up.

5.05pm: Ian Cox, England, eliminated in eighth place for £57,075
We've lost one. It's folded round to Ian Cox on the button, and he moves all in for about 150,000. Florian Langmann calls from the small blind. Langmann, the chip leader, has king-three and is dominated by Cox's king-seven. But the three comes on the flop and Florian's one pair takes it down, eliminating the Englishman.

5.00pm: Wags in the press room are already predicting a long night. We've only had one all-in called so far - the Lellouche hand reported at 4.45pm - and there's not much gambling going on. Fredrik Haugen has been busiest and has moved up a couple of places as a result.

4.45pm: Anthony Lellouche is the first player to move all-in with a caller. Chip leader Florian Langmann did the calling, showing 6-5s. A-T for the Frenchman who paired his ace on the flop, doubling up. Lellouche now third in chips.

Chip counts:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 759,000
Marcel Baran - Germany - 714,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche - France - 660,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 579,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 465,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 342,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Ian Cox - England - 227,000
Paul Mendes - England - 178,000

4.35pm: It's been the short stack who's been bullying the table so far today, and Fredrik Haugen just took another pot of 205,000 from Ian Cox with a re-raise after an ace-high flop. Cos had about 40,000 invested, but folded when faced with Fredrik's 105,000 bump.

4.30pm: Still no eliminations from the final table, with chips sliding this way and that but no significant moves up or down the leaderboard. Calm before the storm?

4.15pm: The biggest pot of the day so far goes to Marcel Baran, who makes a king-high flush on the turn and manages to get Anthony Lellouche to pay him off on the end. It's worth 382,000.

4.00pm: First big hand, and it's PokerStars qualifier versus PokerStars qualifier. Double shootout maestro Josh Egan makes a small pre-flop raise and Fredrik Haugen moves all in. The pot is 313,000 and Josh has a real decision to make. He counts, he riffles, he chews gum. He counts, he riffles, he chews again. He folds and Haugen starts counting.

3.50pm: Florian Langmann flexes his muscles and picks up another uncontested pot. We've seen some flops but no showdown yet.

3.40pm: As expected, play is cagey in the opening exhanges. With blinds at 6,000-12,000 and a 1,000 running ante, no one is under any immediate threat. Antony Lellouche nicks a couple of small pots, before Fredrik Haugan slides a large percentage of his short stack into the centre to take a pot from Marcel Baran, uncontested.

3.30pm: Play is underway on the final table. We'll have full updates until the final hand.

By Sean Callander

The field for tomorrow’s APPT Seoul final table has been decided. Play wound up shortly after 12.30am when PokerStars qualifier Ulf Martensson was eliminated in 10th spot.

After a raise from Jozef Berec, Martensson pushed all-in from the big blind with Ah 5h. Berec showed Jh 10h, and made a straight when the board came Kd 9d 8s 2d Qs. The Swede departed, but was more than happy to collect $6557 for his $109 investment in a PokerStars qualifying tournament.

For the record, Kent Justice (USA) finished 11th, another American Michael Collins bowed out in 12th position, Norway’s Heige Vatne was 13th and Hong Kong player Elton Tsang was 14th. We also crowned the inaugural Chinese Poker champion, with PokerNews marketing director Gareth Edwards taking the chocolates over another Australian, James Potter.

Final table profiles

Seat 1: Ziv Bachar (ziviland on PokerStars, 415,000 in chips): For such a small nation, Israel has an impressive two-from-two record at APPT events. Following on from Maor Feldinger’s final table appearance in Manila (he finished fifth), his countryman Ziv Bachar has emulated that feat by making the last nine in Seoul. The 25-year-old from Tel Aviv, who works in the real estate industry, started his own business 18 months ago. He brings considerable poker experience to the final table, having finished ninth in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas (worth $95,000) and was victorious in the € 500 No Limit Hold'em Event at last year’s PokerStars EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (worth €54,400). Bachar, who won a Sunday Warm-up on PokerStars just a fortnight ago, won his way into the APPT Seoul main event visa a $109 satellite on PokerStars. He is the chip leader heading into the final table.

Seat 2: James Honeybone (nzvr4poker on PokerStars, 171,500 in chips): This 23-year-old from Hamilton on New Zealand’s North Island is one of poker’s true believers. He’s a real student of the game, and loves talking hands and poker folklore at every opportunity. Just about to wrap-up a business management course, Honeybone’s poker education is also coming along in leaps and bounds. After cashing for more than $US80,000 in the 2006 Barcelona Poker Classic, he has continued that solid form with cashes in the 2007 NZ Poker Championships and the 2007 Victorian Poker Championships. He’s also etched a permanent mark in the APPT record books, by winning the first tournament ever held as part of the new tour: the PHP5000 Manila Cup at last month’s APPT event in the Philippines. His girlfriend Jacqui will be the first to congratulate him if he gets over the line.



Seat 3: Jozef Berec (jbjeoli on PokerStars, 350,000 in chips): Barely known outside his native Melbourne, the performance of Jo Berec in the APPT Seoul main event might make the poker world start to sit up and take notice. The 48-year-old pro player has been in a hot vein of form over the past 12 months. He won the $550 No Limit Hold’em title and $74,000 at the 2007 Aussie Millions, and backed-up with victory in the Victorian Poker Championships main event (worth just over $250,000) two months ago. Berec, who led the field for a significant part of day two, emigrated to Australia from Hungary more than 20 years ago and formerly ran a business with his brother before turning his full-time focus to poker.



Seat 4: Daniel Schreiber ("rekrul'member of Team PokerStars, 185,500 in chips): Having won the 2007 WSOP $5000 Heads-up event, at the age of 22, Daniel Schreiber became the fifth youngest WSOP bracelet winner ever. Schreiber, who had never cashed in a prior WSOP event, defeated Mark Muchnik by winning both matches in the finale to earn $425,594. The first match took 79 hands while the second lasted only 11. The field of 392 players was the largest heads-up hold 'em tournament in history. Formerly ranked #1 in the USA for the strategy video game Starcraft, Schreiber moved to South Korea in 2004 from Commack, New York, to compete as a professional gamer. Yet, he found his true calling as an online poker pro while playing on Pokerstars. Daniel Schreiber is a member of Team PokerStars.




Seat 5: Paul Adams (zadignose on PokerStars, 184,000 in chips): It’s been an unforgettable two days for 39-year-old Korean-based American Paul Adams. Originally from New York City (where he earned a degree in film and TV production from New York University), Adams has not only qualified for his first major final table, he found out during a break on day two that his wife is pregnant with their first child! Adams learned to play poker as a youngster and fondly remembers his first experience of Texas Hold’em at the Bullwhackers Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado. An English teacher at a private academy, he has lived in Korea for 18 months.



Seat 6: Roger Spets (titantilts on PokerStars, 168,000 in chips): This 40-year-old Swede burst onto the APPT scene with an impressive showing in the opening event in Manila. After leading at numerous times on day two, he eventually bowed out in sixth position (worth $26,966). Not bad for a player making his first live tournament appearance. Spets, who runs a wealth management company in Malaysia, joined the APPT Seoul field along with fellow final table participants from Manila, Japan’s Kazuhiro Sato and runner-up Ira Blumenthal. However, Spets enters the record books as the first player to feature at two APPT final tables. Spets has been playing poker for only two and a half years, starting out in home games before turning his focus to cash games and sit ‘n’ goes on PokerStars.



Seat 7: Shinhan Sid Kim (110,500 in chips): No Korean players are permitted to play in the Walker-hill Casino, but Shinhan Sid Kim comes as close to a local as anyone in the APPT Seoul field. Kim was born in Korea but moved to the USA as a four-year-old. After growing up in Ventura, California, he returned to Korea 10 years ago. Now 38, he’s turned more than 20 years of poker experience into a final table berth in his first major tournament appearance. Kim, who battled a short stack for much of the event but struck when it mattered, operates a chain of hagwons (or private schools) throughout Korea and also provides opportunities for Koreans to learn English through his own radio show and his own line of books.



Seat 8: Michel St Pierre (MSTP007 on PokerStars, 149,500 in chips): The sole North American to make the final table of the APPT Seoul main event, Michel St Pierre is originally from Repentigny in Quebec, Canada but now resides in Montreal. A contractor who works in property development, he has been playing poker for about three years and has considerable experience in a number of major Canadian poker tournaments. The 29-year-old qualified for the long trek from the east coast of Canada to East Asia via a $109 buy-in tournament on PokerStars, where he holds Goldstar status. St Pierre is hoping the “jouissance” (or enjoyment) he’s been experiencing in South Korea will continue all the way to the APPT Seoul title.



Seat 9: Seval Hægeland (Biffen 1 on PokerStars, 127,500 in chips): It’s been a massive month for Norwegian poker after 19-year-old Annette Obrestad won the 2007 WSOP Europe main event. Seval Hægeland is hoping to follow in her footsteps with victory in the APPT Seoul main event. A native of Lyngden in southern Norway, the father-of-two qualified for his trip to South Korea via a $1 buy-in tournament on PokerStars for Nordic players, outlasting a massive field of more than 800 players. The 40-year-old bricklayer has been a lifelong poker player, and first picked up on Texas Hold’em about four years ago. He’s hoping to use the experience he picked up in last year’s PokerStars EPT event in Barcelona to steer him to victory in Seoul.

By Sean Callander

“There are eight million stories in the naked city; this has been one of them” was the tagline to the classic 1948 movie of the same title. There aren't exactly eight million PokerStars qualifiers at the APPT Seoul, but there are eight in the final 16, chasing the APPT title at the Walker-hill Casino tonight.

One of those players is Seval Hægeland, a bricklayer from the town of Lyngden in the south of Norway. After conquering a field of more than 800 players to qualify for a trip to South Korea via a $1 buy-in tournament, Hægeland has steadily amassed chips throughout the tournament to be perfectly poised for a shot at the final table. He’s currently fourth in chips, on 200,000.

And even better yarn is emerging with the performance of young Israeli Ziv Bachar. A final table finisher at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2006 (he won $95,000) and victor in the € 500 No Limit Hold'em Event at last year’s EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (worth €54,400), Bachar is the new chip leader on 430,000. He won his way to Seoul on the back of a $109 satellite on PokerStars.



However, the dream has ended for another PokerStars qualifier, Germany’s Uwe Braukhoff. The freeroll winner grimly hung on after losing much of his stack to Hægeland just prior to the last break, then pushed all-in with pocket 10s.
The call came from another PokerStars qualifier, Swede Ulf Martensson, with Ah Kh. Martensson missed his overcards but rivered a flush on a board of Jh 9c 7s 5h 3h. Braukhoff takes home $4371 for his 15th placing, not bad for an investment of $0.



Braukhoff can also claim that he outlasted the final member of Team PokerStars Pro still in the running for the silverware, Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ Mercier. Short-stacked for much of the day, Mercier endlessly searched for opportunities to double up, but they proved few and far between. Eventually she ran into, you guessed it, James Honeybone. She pushed in for her last 40,000 and received an insta-call from the New Zealander.



He showed pocket aces against Mercier’s pocket eights, and just to rub salt into the wound, Honeybone hit an ace on the flop to send the French-Canadian glamour to the rail.


We’re just three spots away from deciding the final table line-up for tomorrow.

Chip count, day 2 (approximate)

• Ziv Bachar (Israel) 430,000


• Jozef Berec (Australia) 250,000


• James Honeybone (NZ) 240,000


• Seval Hægeland (Norway) 200,000


• Daniel Schreiber (USA) 140,000


• Paul Adams (USA) 126,000


• Roger Spets (Sweden) 90,000


• Shinhan Sid Kim 85,000


• Ulf Martensson (Sweden) 75,000


• Kent Justice (USA) 70,000


• Michel St-Pierre (Canada) 60,000


• Michael Collins (USA) 50,000

Previous APPT Posts:

• Was there something in the food?


• Chinese Poker, it's anyone's game


• A Case of Tae Kwon Woe


• Schreiber stays on top in race for Seoul crown


• ‘Rekrul’ rules late on day one


• Mercier makes her move


• Quality field takes aim at Team PokerStars


• Who are those masked men?


• Seoul Tournament Kicks Off

Seat 1: Ian Cox, 45, UK – 234,000
Of all today’s final table players, Ian Cox, a poker pro & sports bettor from Poole, Dorset, has the most experience beneath the studio lights. His first live poker came after qualifying online for the 2005 Poker Million and he’s played in three later TV tournaments. Cox spent 11 years terrorizing fixed odds bookmakers with his knowledge of golf betting, before moving to the exchanges. He took up poker while waiting for market moves. Three final tables from 11 live events in 2006 and six from 14 this year attest to the skills of a natural.

Seat 2: Florian Langmann, 24, Germany – 927,000

Florian, the reigning German champion, carries the chip lead to the final table of the EPT and is enjoying the best year of his fledgling poker career. A professional player taking a break from studies in Dresden, he made two final tables in this year's Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas and cashed in EPT Dortmund last year. Oiginally from Verden in Germany, Florian usually plays high-limit SNGs on PokerStars.

Seat 3: Anthony Lellouche, 27, France – 466,000

Parisian Antony Lellouche mainly plays live poker in high stakes cash games around the world. He is both respected and well-liked by his peers and mentors, including the “godfathers” of French poker Claude Cohen and Jan Boubli. Antony turned pro nine years ago, honing his skills at the smallest limit games at the Aviation Club. Fearless and intuitive, Antony has already made two WSOP final tables and come close in two EPT Grand Finals – 12th in 2005 and 21st in 2007. Today gives him his biggest tournament payout to date.

Seat 4: Fredrik Haugen, 19, Sweden, PokerStars cash qualifier - 190,000
Fredrik, from Gothernburg, is already a highly experienced poker player. With EPT final tables often dominated by Swedes, Fredrik is – unusually - the last Swedish survivor at EPT London and, being the short stack, his task is hardest. One thing in his favour is his girlfriend Elvedina who made the journey with him, providing moral support from the rail. She admitted to being “very nervous” but Fredrik looks far more relaxed. His previous biggest win was 32nd place at EPT Dortmund last year.

Seat 5: Josh Egan, 23, New Zealand, PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier - 477,000

Student Josh has had a "massive roller-coaster" at the London EPT. Down to 3,000 in chips on Day 1, three great hands (fives, sixes and kings) turned it around for the 23-year-old from Auckland. Josh also qualified for the Barcelona leg of this year's EPT via a double shootout, on the same day that he also won his double shootout ticket to London -- four sit and go wins back-to-back, a 6,642 to one shot. He also previously qualified for the 2006 World Series where he came 602nd for $20,000. His strategy for today is suss out the table – and avoid chip leader Florian Langmann.

Seat 6: Marcel Baran, 28, Germany, PokerStars cash qualifier – 583,000

Marcel, from Aschaffenburg in Germany, has been pro for two years after quitting his job as a web developer. The decision has paid off as he’s now on the verge of his biggest cash yet. Marcel took up poker after coming home late one night and catching TV highlights of EPT Season 1. He is now set to improve on his previous best - 11th (€25,870) in EPT Dublin. “I’m not nervous. I’m only nervous when I’m all in. In a hand, I’ve no time to be nervous!”

Seat 7: Paul Mendes, 44, UK - 282,000

Londoner Paul has been a striking figure at EPT London thanks to his distinctive Stetson– a gift from Vegas. He said: “I wear it for special occasions – and this is certainly one of those.” Today’s final table place is by far Paul’s biggest result to date. His previous biggest win was £1,200 after coming 8th in a tournament in Edinburgh a couple of years ago. The 44-year-old screenplay writer took up poker when he was working in a petrol station. He was invited to a game by some regulars, won the game and hasn’t looked back since.

Seat 8: Joseph Mouawad, Lebanon, PokerStars cash qualifier - 780,000

It was nearly over before it began for Joseph Mouawad. He planned to come here with friends but when they cancelled, he nearly did too. Thankfully he changed his mind and is now 2nd in chips. “My friends are following the action from home instead. They’re very excited.” Married with three children, the real estate developer from Beirut began playing poker nearly 15 years ago. He took up Hold’em two years ago when it became popular in his local casino. Today will be his best result yet. “I’ll be nervous for the first 15 minutes - but then I’ll get going.”


Back row L to R: Antony Lellouche, Florian Langmann, Fredrik Haugen, Ian Cox
Front row L to R: Josh Egan, Marcel Baran, Paul Mendes, Joseph Mouawad

All pictures (c) Neil Stoddart

Credit: Neil Stoddart

Hello and welcome back - for the final time - to London.

It's final table time on the second stopping point of season four of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT). We've been holed up since Monday at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in Great Britain's venerable capital.

And late last night, we lost the 384th player from the 392 who entered the event, leaving us with the following eight who'll fight it out for the big money:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Anthony Lellouch - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

A reminder of what they're playing for:

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

The final table is due to begin at 3.30 p.m. GMT, which is 10.30 a.m. ET. We'll have photographs and biographies of all the contenders before then, and then all the action as it happens.

By Sean Callander

Normally break time in a major tournament is like holding a red flag to a bull. Players go away and consider their position, and many return with a new found determination to make something happen. Usually, that means it’s time to push.

Well, the remaining 21 players in the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event have decided one thing – they want the money. A full level (with blinds at 1200/2400 and 400 antes) has passed without a single elimination.

But that’s not to say there hasn’t been any action – most of which has surrounded the excitable young New Zealander James Honeybone. Former chip leader Daniel Schreiber and Honeybone have butted heads on numerous occasions, but it was Schreiber who dealt a major blow to the Kiwi’s stack.

On a flop of Ad 9h 4h, Honeybone moved all in for 76,500 with Ah 3h. Schrieber made the call with Ac Qd. Honeybone’s nose was in front when a 3s came on the turn, but an unlikely 4c on the river negated Honeybone’s two pair as Schreiber’s queen came into play.

However, he quickly rebounded by doubling through Korean-based American Clarence Abrams. All-in pre-flop with pocket aces, Abrams (with pocket 10s) made a set on the flop but an ace on the turn breathed new life into Honeybone’s challenge.

But just when we thought it was safe to back into the water … a massive pot has followed the first two eliminations (Clarence Abrams and Beng Hong Ker) in more than 80 minutes.





On table one, Danny Purkins (pocket fives), Uwe Brauckhoff (pocket eights) and Seval Hægeland (As 10s) were all-in on a board of 3s 5s 8s. Hægeland, who qualified for the tournament via a $1 tournament on PokerStars, hauled in a massive pot when his nut flush held up. Purkins is out, and the German freeroll winner Brauckhoff has lost a substantial slice of his stack.





Meanwhile on table two, the charge of PokerNews marketing manager Cory-Ann Joseph ended in two hands, firstly when her pocket twos ran into Michael Collins’ eights; then her A 5 failed to improve against Bachar Ziv’s nines.



Then suddenly, the bubble burst after just two rounds of hand-for-hand when Haward Speer, a PokerStars qualifier from Germany, was knocked out in 17th position. With 16 players remaining, players have been redrawn into two tables (half of who qualified for their seats on PokerStars). Now it gets serious.



By the way, a quick mention about the great work of our two local photographers Byong Kwan and Jae Hoon. Covering their first major poker tournament, the two young snappers have been doing a terrific job. To check out some samples of their work, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/9871433@n08. BY the way, if you see a name mispelled, or even see a picture of yourself and we didn't put your name right, please drop a line through Flickr, We'll do what we can to fix it up.

Chip count, day 2 (approximate)

• Jozef Berec (Australia) 400,000


• Bachar Ziv (Israel) 240,000


• Seval Hægeland (Norway) 230,000


• Daniel Schreiber (USA) 195,000


• Roger Spets (Sweden) 145,000

Previous APT Posts:

• Chinese Poker, it's anyone's game


• A Case of Tae Kwon Woe


• Schreiber stays on top in race for Seoul crown


• ‘Rekrul’ rules late on day one


• Mercier makes her move


• Quality field takes aim at Team PokerStars


• Who are those masked men?


• Seoul Tournament Kicks Off

Imagine this scene.

It's been a bloody fight on an Old West street. The shoot out has been blazing for fourteen hours and all but two of the gun fighters lay dead in the dirt. The two remaining foes are trading bullets and staring at each other across a High Noon landscape. One fighter falls, gutshot, and bleeding in the dirt. He's still breathing, but could succumb to his injuries at any moment. Maybe even resigned to his fate, the bloodied man raises his head and down the barrel of the standing cowboy's gun.

Click.

It would seem too good to be true. The gun is jammed.

Now, the bleeding man has a choice. He can empty his gun into his defenseless opponent. Or, he can say, "Oh, I'll wait. Unjam your pistol and we'll resume when you're ready."

Yeah, that kind of thing didn't happen in the Old West, and, frankly, that kind of thing doesn't happen in poker very often. In a world where angle shooters are everywhere, catching a break in poker is rare. And yet, that's what happened in Event #20 of the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker, a $530 Triple Shootout.

However, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Seven hundred and twenty nine people packed the triple shootout event. To make the final table, players would have to win two single tables in a row. These nine did just that.



Seat 1: adotlee
Seat 2: lyerly_
Seat 3: "Dumping"KGB
Seat 4: Cobra234
Seat 5: Nutedawg
Seat 6: Zock'n'Rock
Seat 7: THE__D__RY
Seat 8: AJunglen7
Seat 9: pannipha

With 3000 in chips and super-low blinds, there was less action at the beginning stages and more questions about the conspicuous absence of Cobra324. Apparently, he was taking a little nap and missed quite a few orbits before making it to the table. In the meantime, "Dumping"KGB jumped out to early lead after rivering a spade flush in a hand against Zock'n'Rock. Zock'n'Rock was not deterred however, and over the next half an hour managed to work his way up over 4,400 in chips.

The first huge confrontation of the third round came when lyerly_ and "Dumping"KGB were all-in pre-flop. At the 25/50 level, it would take a lot to get all the chips in the middle. No surprise then that both players had aces. Drama came up on the turn when a third spade appeared on the board. Lyerly_ held the ace of spades. No spade on the river saved "Dumping"KGB an ugly beat and play resumed.

It only took a few hands before the action monster raised its ugly head again, and this time, the ugliness prevailed. After raising and calling a re-raise from Cobra234, AJunglen7 saw a flop of Tc2c4s. When Cobra234 bet out, Ajunglen7 raised, and Cobra put him all-in. AJunglen7 couldn't have been happier to call. He'd flopped a set of fours, good enough to beat Cobra234's pair of kings. Cobra234 was out a few hands later in ninth place, cashing for $3,645.

Lyerly_ must have been a little misty about missing his freeroll a few hands earlier. Just a few hands after Cobra234 went out, Lyerly_ went head to head with adotlee. Both held AK, but lyerly_'s was suited in spades. They got it in pre-flop and saw two spades on the flop and one on the river to send adotlee out in in eighth place, a $6,561 payday.

The beginning hour of the third round had been void of big action until those hands happened. Suddenly, things were getting crazy. Witness Nutedawg raising to 241 and AJunglen7 putting him all in for another 1,000. AJunglen7 held KQ suited in spades to Nutedawg's AT. This time, all three spades fell on the flop and Nutedawg was out in seventh place. He earned $10,206.

Players took a thirty-minute break and came back to some tighter play. After ten more minutes of small action at the 50/100 level, the chip stacks looked like this:

Seat 2: lyerly_ (2508 in chips)
Seat 3: "Dumping"KGB (4542 in chips)
Seat 6: Zock'n'Rock (5300 in chips)
Seat 7: THE__D__RY (4585 in chips)
Seat 8: AJunglen7 (7560 in chips)
Seat 9: pannipha (2505 in chips)

Zock'n'Rock moved into the lead after playing AQ against AJunglen7's AK. While both players played the hand relatively carefully, the queen on the flop gave Zock'n'Rock the chip lead. It was a position he clearly relished. A few hands later, he called a 1350 bet from THE__D__RY on a Qc5d4c8sAs board with a pair of nines. THE__D__RY held KcJc for the busted flush draw. Zock'n'Rock's chip lead got even bigger and he held close to half the chips in play.

The final table had not yet seen a brutal suckout. THE__D__RY was the unfortunate victim of the first. Lucky enough to get pocket aces all-in against lyerly_'s AcQc, THE__D__RY likely threw up in his mouth a little when he saw the flop 9TJ with two clubs. The turn meant nothing, but the river was a king, filling in lyerly_'s straight and sending THE__D__RY out in sixth place with a $14,580 cash.

Pannipha had not been playing a lot of hands, but by this point also didn't have a ton of chips. When he came over the top of an AJunglen7 raise, he didn't have enough chips to force a fold. While Pannipha held AK, AJunglen7's Q4 turned a four and sent Pannipha out in fifth place. He picked up $20,047.

Here's what the chip stacks looked like after the hand:

Seat 2: lyerly_ (4953 in chips)
Seat 3: "Dumping"KGB (1897 in chips)
Seat 6: Zock'n'Rock (12190 in chips)
Seat 8: AJunglen7 (7960 in chips)

On the short-stack, "Dumping"KGB was looking for a chance to double up. When Zock'n'Rock came in for a raise, "Dumping"KGB pushed with AT. He was in bad shape. Zock'n'Rock held pocket queens. "Dumping"KGB didn't improve and finished in fourth place for $27,337.

Three-handed play was tough, but did not see an exit before the next break. Zock'n'Rock had moved his chip stack above the 15,000 mark. AJunglen7 was in second place with 6,400. Lylerly_ was not too far behind with 4,700. When the players returned from break, they faced 100/200 blinds.

Within a few hands after play resumed, the shorter stacks went to war. AJunglen7 raised from the button, lyerly_ re-raised from the small blind. After thinking for a bit, Ajunglen7 pushed and lyerly_, who had moved up to second place in chips, called with pocket tens. AJunglen7 called with A9, a hand rendered useless after a ten came on the flop. AJunglen7 was out in third place and cashed for $36,450.

Seat 2: lyerly_ (10693 in chips)
Seat 6: Zock'n'Rock (16307 in chips)

Zock'n'Rock quickly chipped up to 18,000 and kept the aggression on. Lylerly_, however, would not back down. He waited for his spot and then bet out on a Jh 9c 3d flop. Zock'n'Rock raised and lyerly_ moved all-in. Zock'n'Rock thought for a second before folding and moving lyerly_ up above 12,000 in chips. Just a few hands later, though, he gave all of it back after Zock'n'Rock flopped trip eights and rivered a full house.

The players then settled into a chip-passing rhythm that would've been hypnotic if not for the money on the line. Just when the rail started to get dreamy, the first huge confrontation hit. Zock'n'Rock held 66 to lyerly_'s pocket nines. Lyerly_'s hand held up, and for the first time, he held the chip lead. Now, it was his turn to turn up the aggression. After an entire game on the offensive, Zock'n'Rock was set back on his heels and suddenly had only 7,000 chips.

What might have turned into a quick bloodbath soon came to a standstill as lyerly_ lost his internet connection. This was the moment in which Zock'n'Rock had a choice. He could blind lyerly_ out or he could exhibit something far too rarely seen in poker: sportsmanship.

Only six hands went by before Zock'n'Rock asked tournament adminstrators to pause the event. As the rail waited, this appeared in the chat box.

StaffBryanS [Supervisor]: We have reached lyerly on the phone. He is dashing to a friend's house. Approximately 15-20 minutes, okay?

Zock'n'Rock: well alright, I hope I dont fall asleep by then. Gonna make some more coffee heh.

Twenty more minutes passed before lyerly_ re-appeared and said, "Thank you for the respect and consideration."

In a Western made by Disney, these two men would've stood up from the ghost town dust and headed to the saloon for a root beer. However, Disney doesn't cotton to poker and poker tournaments don't end with two people standing.

With lyerly_'s virtual gun un-jammed, the fight resumed, and it was short. Zock'n'Rock's dying gasp was an all-in bluff with 63. It ran directly into lyerly_'s pocket sevens and never caught up.

While Zock'n'Rock finished in second, his sportsmanship alone gained him respect, something a poker player simply can't buy. So, respect to Zock'n'Rock and congratulations to lyerly_ for winning Event #20 of the World Championship of Online Poker.

2007 WCOOP: Event #20 Final Table Results

1. lyerly_ (United States) $76,545.00
2. Zock'n'Rock (Germany) $51,030.00
3. AJunglen7 (United States) $36,450.00
4. "Dumping"KGB (United States) $27,337.50
5. pannipha (United Kingdom) $20,047.50
6. THE__D__RY (United States) $14,580.00
7. Nutedawg (United States) $10,206.00
8. adotlee (United States) $6,561.00
9. Cobra234 (Denmark) $3,645.00

By Sean Callander

The PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour is breaking new ground in this emerging poker region, but it’s a case of back to the future in Seoul thanks to a unique addition to the tournament schedule.

Although Chinese Poker is one of the most popular forms of the game – especially among poker’s top players – the addition of Chinese Poker to the list of events on the APPT Seoul schedule has set tongues wagging all over the poker world.
So why is Chinese poker (sometimes called Russian Poker or 13-card Poker) so popular? Well, it’s easy to play, the rules are basic, luck generally overrides skill (although there is still a significant component of skill to the game) and it’s a great game to play heads-up.

They’re just some of the reasons that you’ll often see a gaggle of pros huddled in the corner of a poker room, in a hotel room or just about anywhere there’s enough space to deal the cards.

Legend has it that Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein provided Phil Ivey with the excuse to attend the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions after agreeing to play Chinese Poker with him high above the Atlantic. Ivey went on to win the tournament and the $US1.6 million first prize. Greenstein is also said to have dropped $US1.5 million to high-stakes rival/friend Ted Forrest in a month-long game of Chinese Poker.

While Chinese Poker returns to the tournament spotlight here at the Paradise Walkerhill Casino, the game experienced a moment in the sun during the mid-1990s. At the 1995 and 1996 WSOP tournaments, two Chinese Poker events were held in each year ($1500 and $5000 buy-ins).
Let’s hope that Chinese Poker is back to stay, thanks to the PokerStars.net APPT.

Meanwhile, it’s chaos in the main event with players still dropping at an astounding rate. Jozef Berec looks almost assured of a final table berth after taking a massive pot against Singapore’s Zhiwei Ang. The Australian said he had a great read on Ang, who pushed all-in after the turn on a queen-high board with A K. Berec called and showed K Q, and made two-pair when a king hit on the river.

Ang has been one of the stories of the tournament. The quietly-spoken but fiercely competitive young student was among the chip leaders at the end of day one before walking into Berec.

However, his countryman Beng Hong Ker, who qualified for this event via a $109 buy-in event on PokerStars, remains in the hunt with more than 45,000 in chips.




Another player to make a move is Seval Hægeland. Amazingly, the Norwegian player earned his trip to Seoul in a special $1 buy-in tournament for players in the Nordic region. He’s sitting above 100,000 in chips. Just 21 players remain, an agonising five spots short of the money with less than an hour until the dinner break.

Chip count, day 2 (approximate)

• Jozef Berec (Australia) 220,000


• Daniel Schreiber (USA) 158,000


• James Honeybone (NZ) 142,000


• Seval Hægeland (Norway) 115,000PokerStars Qualifier


• Cory-Ann Joseph (Australia) 79,000

Previous Posts:

• A Case of Tae Kwon Woe


• Cory-Ann waves the flag for females, felines and the Land Down Under


• Schreiber stays on top in race for Seoul crown


• ‘Rekrul’ rules late on day one


• Mercier makes her move


• Quality field takes aim at Team PokerStars


• Who are those masked men?


• Seoul Tournament Kicks Off

By Sean Callander

If Cory-Ann Joseph’s grin gets any broader, the top of her head is going to snap off! She is one of two female players still in the hunt for the APPT Seoul crown (along with Isabelle Mercier) and one of only two Australians still in the field (there’s also chip leader Jo Berec).

But the main reason for Cory-Ann’s joy is happening thousands of miles away at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. For sports fans out there, it’s the biggest weekend for Aussie football followers, with the grand final of the Australian Football League being played.

Cory-Ann’s favourite side, the Geelong Cats, haven’t won a premiership since 1963, but they ended the 44-year drought with the greatest winning margin in League history in a one-sided game against the Port Adelaide Power. A quote Cory? “Go the Cats!”

As if to celebrate, Cory-Ann just took down a nice pot against Swedish player Roger Spets, when her pocket kings held firm against Spets’ K 10. She’s now third in chips, trailing only Daniel Schreiber and her countryman Berec.

Other big movers in the first two levels on day two of the APPT Seoul main event include James Honeybone, who’s up to 125,000 after taking a slice of Jo Berec’s stack. However, Berec quickly made amends by eliminating young US player Alex Fitzgerald. Honeybone also claimed the scalp of Isaac ‘The General’ Galazan, who’s K Q failed to improve on a board of Jd 6c 5d 10d Js against the Kiwi’s pocket sevens.



We’ve also lost Jimmy Cha, a local poker icon who proved a popular addition to the line-up for this event. Cha’s pocket kings ran into Ryan Collett’s pocket aces, and the board provided no favours. We’re down to 30 players, just 14 short of the money.

Day 2 chip count (approximate):

• Jozef Berec (Australia) 180,000


• Daniel Schreiber (USA) 132,000


• Cory-Ann Joseph (Australia) 98,000


• Bachar Ziv (Israel) 82,000


• Heige Vatne (Norway) 78,000


• Roger Spets (Sweden) 73,000


• Kent Justice (USA) 70,000


• Ryan Collett (USA) 70,000

Latest placings:

• 37 - Ruizhong Chen (Switzerland)


• 38 - Anthony Rafter (Ireland)


• 39 - Jonny Vincent (Australia)


• 40 - Shannon Hudson (USA)


• 41 - Naohiko Yamazaki (Japan)


• 42 - James Potter (Australia)


• 43 - Tomonaga Masaaki (Japan)


• 44 - Jacques Zaicik (France)


• 45 - Jimmy Cha (USA)


• 46 - Michadel Walker (USA)


• 47 - Paul Roper (Ireland)


• 48 - Karsten Jensen (Denmark)

No matter whether it's the World Championship of Online Poker, the World Series, or your local bar league's yearly championship series, when it starts getting toward the end, the pressure to put up a good score starts to mount. With only three days left in the 2005 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, the $530 Pot-Limit Omaha event drew all kinds of wild gamblers to compete for the $523,000 prize pool. More than 1,000 runners jumped into the Friday event. One hundred fifty-three of them got paid, bot only nine could say they made it to the final table. There, the gold WCOOP bracelet and some big money waited for first place.



Seat 1: buck21 (675653 in chips)
Seat 2: cpfactor (346548 in chips)
Seat 3: Gu Minda (254942 in chips)
Seat 4: tralaira (321000 in chips)
Seat 5: Taknapotin (610847 in chips)
Seat 6: muzzu (278486 in chips)
Seat 7: Egar1m (130656 in chips)
Seat 8: villepn (398332 in chips)
Seat 9: Niiiv (121536 in chips)

The first big hand of the final table saw a rough runner-runner beat for villepn. On a 5dJs2c flop, muzzu re-raised villepn all-in. Villepn had flopped a set of fives. Muzzu only held JdAhKh4d for a pair of jacks and a gutshot draw. A running king and jack, though, pushed the pot the muzzu. His reponse? "Uuups."

Villepn said nothing. Or, at least, we couldn't hear it. His neighbors? That may be a different story. Villepn was left with 128,000 in chips, while muzzu moved up into second place.

Gu Minda was the next to double up after flopping jacks full of sevens against Taknapotin and getting paid off. That hand cut Taknapotin down to less than 300,000 in chips. He wasn't around for much longer. He came in for a raise with 9cQc7dTc and called a re-raise from buck21. It was the kind of flop that was going to get Taknapotin all in: 7cQd8s. With two pair and the open-ended draw, Taknapotin got his money in to see buck21's As3s7sAd. When the board paired eights on the turn, buck21 moved ahead in the hand and Taknapotin missed his myraid of outs. He finished in ninth place for $6,014.

Niiiv didn't have a lot of chips at the start of the final table and wasn't able to climb out of the hole. Niiiv re-raised all-in with KdKc4hQd versus villepn's 8c8sAc9h. An eight fell on the flop, Niiiv never caught up, and ultimately finished in eighth place for $10,460.

It took a few more minutes for the action to heat back up, but when it did, it was hot. Gu Minda flopped quad aces and got paid off by buck21. Then villepn got all in with aces and flopped a full house versus cpfactor.

Aces worked for those players, but failed Egar1m. He got all-in pre-flop with them against buck21's 8d9c7hQs. Buck21 flopped two pair and rivered a boat to send Egar1m out in seventh place and a cash of $10,206.

Seconds later, cpfactor went on a run and doubled up twice, once against muzzu (in which his aces held up) and once against villepn (in which he cracked aces). After that, play slowed down for a while. Some measured action led up to a big confrontation between villepn and tralaira. Villepn held queens pre-flop to tralaira's kings. Villepn couldn't suck out and was reduced to getting his remaining chips in against two players. While, the rail never saw his hand, he coudn't beat Gu Minda's trip threes and exited in sixth place for $14,580.

Five handed, the stacks looked like this:

Seat 1: buck21 (1345638 in chips)
Seat 2: cpfactor (350432 in chips)
Seat 3: Gu Minda (901980 in chips)
Seat 4: tralaira (153000 in chips)
Seat 6: muzzu (386950 in chips)

Sitting third in chips, cpfactor came in for a raise and got action from Gu Minda. The flop came down Ks8d4d and both players checked. The turn was the Ts. Gu Minda bet out and cpfactor raised. Gu Minda put him all in and cpfactor called. Cpfactor held 8c7sTdQd to Gu Minda's JsKhTc9s. A king on the river solidified Gu Minda's winning hand and cpfactor was out in fifth place, cashing for $26,934.

Within the next few hands, tralaira was down below 100,000 in chips and got all-in on a 999 flop. Bad timing, for sure, as Gu Minda held the case nine and put tralaira out in fourth place, a $33,472 payday.

Buck21 took three-handed play as an opportunty to slowly build his stack and, before long, had more than two million chips. His stack grew even bigger when his pocket aces held up against muzzu's 7hTsJs7s. Muzzu finished in third for $41,840.

Heads-up, buck21 had a better than 2:1 chip lead and refused to talk about a deal, saying it was "only a 60k difference." Gu Minda accepted the denial and set about chipping into buck21's lead. He nearly did it in less than 15 minutes. Finally, buck21 said okay to a chop. It took a while to negotiate it, but the deal ended with $16,000 left on the table and the players getting the following payouts.

buck21 - $81,262
Gu Minda - $77,053

It took a while, but buck21 prevailed. He gradually worked Gu Minda down to a 1:4 deficit. All the money eventually went in after Gu Minda turned two pair. At the same time, buck21 had turned his Broadway straight. Gu Minda didn't boat up on the river and finished in second place.

Congratualtions to all the people who cased in Event #19. Final table results are below.

2007 WCOOP: Event #19 Final Table Results

1. buck21 (Canada) $97,262
2. Gu Minda (France) $77,053.00
3. muzzu (Finland) $41,840.00
4. tralaira (Spain) $33,472.00
5. cpfactor (United States) $26,934.50
6. villepn (Finland) $20,397.00
7. Egar1m (United States) $15,167.00
8. Niiiv (United States) $10,460.00
9. Taknapotin (United States) $6,014.50

By Sean Callander


A word of warning for any aspiring poker players out there who plan on crossing a member of Team PokerStars with a poorly timed raise or a horrible suckout on the river. They now have the power; the power to fightback!

Prior to the start of day two here in South Korea for the inaugural APPT Seoul event, Team PokerStars sampled some local culture with a visit to the Korea Taekwondo Tae Jeong Club – their lesson may not have added much to a centuries worth martial arts’ tradition on the Korean Peninsula, but it certainly provided plenty of side-splitting moments for the PokerStars Pro and assembled media.



Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Isabelle Mercier, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Tuan Lam suited up in traditional costume, went through some stretching exercises and then it was time to kick some bags and break some blocks!

Taekwondo is the national sport of South Korea and sparring, kyeorugi, is a recognised Olympic sport. Roughly translated, 'tae' means to destroy with the feet; 'kwon' to strike or smash with the hand; and do is the 'path', 'way' or 'method". In English it can be understood as; “the way of the feet and fist”.

Joe Hachem, who has years of karate experience under his belt, certainly showed some fists of fury when he shattered five wooden blocks with a single blow. During last night’s dinner break, Joe warned that he had some steam to let off – indeed, sparks literally flew as the timber shattered into several pieces.

Despite playing through to the end of day one and only catching a few hours’ sleep, Isabelle Mercier was full of energy and used her kickboxing background to deliver some ferocious kicks. ‘No Mercy’ shared an ominous message after the session finished: “I think I’ll break some blocks if I make the final table, that way no-one will ever mess with me.”



Mercier is now back in the Walker-hill Casino poker room battling it out to live up to her promise of making the final table.
The new chip leader is Australian Jo Berec, who just took down a massive pot to move ahead of last night’s chip leader Dan Schreiber to 190,000. Berec, who won the Victorian Poker Championships main event in his home casino Crown in Melbourne, has been in terrific form and will be a tough man to break down today. Only 35 players remain in the race for the title, with the top 16 players chasing the money.

Let's start at the end.

Tomorrow, the final table of this week's EPT London will feature the following eight players chasing this trophy.

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars qualifier)

How we got there is a long, long story that began at 1pm today. At that point there were 40 players, headed by Surinder Sunar, Ben Grundy and Anthony Lellouche. As you can see, only the Frenchman Lellouche survived unscathed on a day where the poker "names" had it rough.

Erik Friberg, who had previously sat around a World Series main event final table, came back today with just 7,000 chips and shoved them in on his second hand. He went out. And then we raced towards the bubble, losing Carlo Citrone, another well-known professional in 33rd place, the last not to get paid.

In the money, we found some genuine world class players: former EPT champions Pascal Perrault and Roland de Wolfe; WPT champion Sunar, and a certain Team PokerStars pro named Moneymaker.

But none of them would make it to the end. De Wolfe hit a couple of miracle flops to stay alive early in the day, but went out in 19th. Perrault was edged out in tenth, just an inch, or metric centimetre, from the final table.

And as for Moneymaker? Well, he'd played some of the best cards of his career to go deep here: he was the star that everyone was trying to dethrone. He dodged some bullets and shot plenty of his own, but he couldn't stop Florian Langmann's flush draw getting there, and he'll have to wait to add an EPT win to his WSOP bracelet.

Let's hear it, then, for the PokerStars qualifiers - all in one way or another following in Moneymaker's footsteps. There was Katja Svendsen, who had bossed and bullied her way through the field for three days, only coming unstuck when a well-timed squeeze-play, with 5-4, was miraculously called by Joseph Mouawad's 7-8. She came 27th.

That was one place higher than Martyn Reeve, of Wales, and five below Vijayan Nagarawan, who is going back to Malaysia with £12,230. Peter Petersen takes the same back to Denmark.

And we also bade a sad farewell to Phidias Georgiou, from Cyprus, who had entertained railbirds and struck fear into players all the way to 11th place, good for £28,537.

But that's not all. That's by no means all.

Of the eight men reconvening for that final table tomorrow, four of them are PokerStars qualifiers, undoubtedly one of the best showings by qualifiers in these events.

Leading them is that man Mouawad, who knocked out Katja. He continued to eliminate player after player, until he'd got up to 780,000.

Marcel Baran, from Germany, also hacked and slayed his way through the field. He'll be back with 583,000.

And Josh Egan's long flight from New Zealand was clearly worth the trouble. He'll be returning tomorrow with 477,000 and the prospect of a huge win.

The final PokerStars qualifier is also still in with a great shout. Fredrik Haugen, of Sweden has 190,000 and is in the unique position of being the only Nordic player on an EPT final table. I'm sure that's a first.

So, that's it for now from London. The final table begins at 3.30 p.m. tomorrow. Join us then for all the action.

And here's all the action from today:

Play begins

Qualifiers on the charge

Making moves

Boom or bust on the bubble

Lights, cameras, action...

Money men (and woman)

All the way to the money

Photo gallery

The shape of things to come

Going slowly into that good night

Hand for hand

PokerStars qualifier Phidias Georgiou is out of the EPT London having experiencing the highs and lows of both the chip lead and the short stack on the same day. It came as the hour was just minutes from midnight after play had for hours given the illusion of standing still. It wasn’t, it was just the death crawl that accompanies the approach of the TV bubble.

With a flop dealt Q-9-T Phidias bet out 40k. The decision was now with Florian Langmann whose stack looked mightier than the Cypriot’s, with plenty to spare – even with the re-raise of over 200k. Phidias, who had led the tournament before losing a mammoth hand to fellow qualifier Marcel Baran, was out of his chair, his jaw working a piece of gum in what is the loneliest part of a poker player’s day – the decision for your tournament life. He called, wincing almost immediately as Florian turned over his A-Q. Phidias could only manage K-Q. He’d need help.

Alas it didn’t come. To the handshakes of all at the table Phidias was gone, the curtain drawn on his impressive performance.

Phidias Georgiou now out of the EPT London

“I gave my chips away” I heard him say to one of those people trying their best to offer some consolation. Sometimes you can talk to a player as he leaves the tournament area - either they’ve exceeded their own expectations or they know another tournament is just around the corner. But sometimes it’s best just to let a man grieve. It might take him a while but Phidias will be back, but right now we’re left with ten players at the EPT London.

Tournament update:

Or so we thought. On the next hand it was Frenchman Pascal Perrault heading for the rail. Just as he had eliminated his countryman Thomas Fougeron earlier in the tournament, it was another countryman Anthony Lellouche who quashed Perrault’s hopes of a second EPT title. All in pre-flop it was Q-J for Pascal, K-Q for Lellouche. No help and Pascal was out in 10th place.

Chip counts in seat order:

1. Ian Cox – England – 239k
2. Florian Langmann – Germany – 835k
3. Anthony Lellouche – France -- 452k
4. Fredrik Haugen – Sweden – PokerStars Qualifier – 201k
5. Josh Egan – New Zealand – PokerStars Qualifier – 500k
6. Marcel Baran – Germany – PokerStars Qualifier – 606k
7. Paul Mendes – England -- 340k
8. Jason Hacket – England -- 92k
9. Joseph Mouawad – Lebanon – PokerStars Qualifier – 674k

Well, it would be nice to report a rush of eliminations, the foundation of a final table, and my fingers hovvering over the keys labelled G-O-O-D-N-I-G-H-T. But the truth is something different.

Although we're now down to 11 players, having waved goodbye to Tony Cascarino, David Obrobac and Surinder Sunar, they've been trickling out the door rather than rushing. That's understandable, of course, because we're playing for more than half a million pounds. But in contrast to the boom and bust of yesterday, this has been very slow progress.

One man not complaining, however, is Joseph Mouawad, the PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon, who was responsible for the most recent two eliminations. Both were from the feature table and both were of exceptionally dangerous players.

Mouawad first took his pocket queens up against the A-K of Obrobac and survived a flush draw on the flop to take out the young Swede.

He then accounted for Surinder Sunar, the overnight chip leader, who had been bleeding chips for most of the day and then moved all-in pre-flop with queen-ten. Mouawad had pocket sevens, made the call, and the best hand stayed that way, despite Surinder picking up myriad outs on the J-J-A 9 board. The 5 on the river was not one of them.

Joseph has now quietly assumed the chip lead - another PokerStars qualifier tearing up a major tournament field.

Here are the latest counts of the featured table players:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 707,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jason Hackett - England - 146,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 201,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 599,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ian Cox - England - 157,000

Out on the other table, things aren't quite so clear for the chip counters. But Florian Langmann, Josh Egan (PokerStars qualifier) and Anthony Lellouche are still the big stacks, with Paul Mendes, Phidias Georgiou (PokerStars qualifier) and Pascal Perrault slightly shorter.

The latest official counts:

Marcel Baran -- Germany -- 602,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Florian Langman -- Germany -- 421,000
Josh Egan -- New Zealand -- 350,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen -- Sweden -- 313,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche -- France -- 277,000
Paul Mendes -- England -- 264,000
Pascal Perrault -- France -- 264,000
Phidias Georgiou -- Cyprus -- 249,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Surinder Sunar -- England -- 233,000
David Obrobac -- Sweden -- 214,000
Joseph Mouawad -- Lebanon -- 165,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ian Cox -- England -- 119,000
Jason Hackett -- England -- 108,000
Tony Cascarino -- Ireland -- 99,000

And all the eliminations so far:

15th - Trinh Lam - England - £16,307
16th - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - £16,307
17th - Chris Moneymaker - USA - (Team PokerStars pro) - £12,230 ($22,785)
18th - Roland de Wolfe - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
19th - Ken Wong - China - £12,230 ($22,785)
20th - Peter Petersen - Denmark - (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
21st - Ben Grundy - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
22nd - Vijayan Nagarawan - Malaysia (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
23rd - Nicky Roeg - Holland - £12,230 ($22,785)
24th - Christopher Andler - Sweden - £12,230 ($22,785)
25th - Javed Abrahams - England - £8,153 ($15,174)
26th - Daniel Mangas - Spain - £8,153 ($15,174)
27th - Katja Svendsen - Norway - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
28th - Martyn Reeve - Wales - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
29th - Marc Goodwin - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
30th - Fuat Can - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)
31th - Stuart Nash - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
32nd - Mehmet Cinar - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)

EPTs champions are a varied bunch - casino locals, old timers, the new boy on the scene playing his first live event, and journeyman players due a result. One category of winner is the ‘player nobody seems to notice until things get serious.’ Natural ability and a knack for blending in trigger this phenomenon, and one player of this ilk is young Swedish PokerStars qualifier Fredrik Haugen.

With a ton of chips and the support of his girlfriend Elvedina on the rail, Fredrik is getting close to the final table, and has already beaten his previous best EPT result of 32nd in EPT Dortmund. But it might not have been such a pleasant trip to London for Fredrik who came close to falling at the first hurdle.

“I was down to 3k after two hours on day 1 but I worked my way up. I was all-in with A-5 and was called by Q-Q. I hit an ace on the river.”

Luck goes nicely with a little talent and since then the Gothenburg native hasn’t looked back.

Another player, a PokerStars qualifier no less, fits this 'from out of nowhere' description. Joseph Mouawad survived a spell in glorious Technicolor on the TV table against the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Roland de Wolfe and French pros Anthony Lellouche and Pascal Perrault. The quiet man from Lebanon, who only started playing a few years ago at the home game of a friend, now finds himself looking at his best tournament result yet, and has a stack of 160k.

EPT Tournament update:

PokerStars qualifier Peter Petersen is eliminated in 20th place.

Ken Wong followed shortly after in 19th place

Roland de Wolfe is eliminated in 18th. After surviving multiple all-ins Roland came second in a clash with Pascal Perrault - two EPT champions locking antlers, leaving only Pascal in the chase for a remarkable EPT double.

Chris Moneymaker is also out. Florian Langmann made the nut flush to send the Team PokerStars pro and 2003 World Champion is out in 17th place.

There’s a new chip leader after a monster pot developed between two PokerStars qualifiers (who seem to be flying right now at the EPT London). German Marcel Baran took the chips when his flush draw paid off, trumping Phidias Georgiou’s set. Marcel is now up to over 600k.

As mentioned in a previous post, the action has slowed significantly in London. We need to get down to a final table of eight tonight, but there are a lot of medium-sized stacks out there, meaning most of the pots remain small unless there are two big hands. Blinds are at 8,000-4,000 with a 1,000 ante, giving potential bullies something to aim at.

Roland de Wolfe, on the featured table, has doubled up a couple of times, outdrawing kings with an ace-jack in one notable hand. Josh Egan, the PokerStars qualifier from New Zealand, has also recently doubled his short stack.

But this slight slackening of the pace works in our favour, allowing us the chance to take a glimpse at the work of another PokerStars star: photographer Neil Stoddart, who produces many of the peerless pictures from these EPTs.

As a rule, if the photos are crisp and inventive, they came from Neil's camera. Photos like these, for instance:

Ben Grundy, the Milky Bar Kid departed in 21st


Tony Cascarino, former "Irish" footballer, now poker star


Josh Egan, PokerStars qualifier from New Zealand


Jospeh Mouawad, PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon


Marcel Baran, PokerStars qualifier from Germany


Paul Mendes, from England (Texas)


Jason Hackett, from England, on the feature table


Chris Moneymaker, Team PokerStars pro


Stuart Nash, British pro departed in 31st


Phidias Georgiou, PokerStars qualifier from Cyprus, leading the way in London


Roland de Wolfe, EPT champion grinning his way deep again

All photos (c) Neil Stoddart

Earlier tonight I caught up with Martyn Reeve in his hour of defeat. The Welshman who qualified on PokerStars seemed happy enough with his £8,200 – the biggest cash of his career.

Martyn Reeve: looking down, and out
Credit: Neil Stoddart

“The first day went really well. I had about 50,000 at the end of the day so at the start of day two I was in 15th. But I didn’t get many cards yesterday, I went down to 35k then one pot took me back up to 60k. I went up a little and came back today with 82k.”

Moving all-in he found ex-footballer Tony Cascarino calling, ahead on the showdown by the narrowest of margins, A-Q to Martyn’s A-J. Another ace arrived on the board but no sign of a jack, putting end to Swansea’s hopes of an EPT title.

“I tried to play a bit today,” said Martyn. “I wasn’t afraid of going out. I would have liked to make it to tomorrow but I’m glad I made it to the money after all this work! ”

A worthy effort from Martyn - £8,200 for four days work.

Tournament Update:

After a hectic spell of eliminations and chip movement players have now returned from their dinner break in something of a post-prandial slumber. There have been no further eliminations since Ben Grundy's departure in 21st and the chip leaders of before maintain their lead over the others.

By Sean Callander

The dreams of winning the first APPT Seoul trophy have ended for more than three-quarters of the 186 players who started day one here at the Walker-hill Casino.

On the heels of last night’s cocktail party and nine tough hours over the felt, there are plenty of weary souls – 48 to be exact – ready for a long night’s sleep.

One who’s been through the wringer is Jacques Zaicik, a player that has featured a number of times in our blog today. After KOing Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso and Joe Hachem, the Frenchman found himself short-stacked and all-in against Adam Kagin. Worse still, Zaicik’s pocket queens were in trouble after Kagin showed pocket kings.

Unbelievably, the flop came Kd Qs Qc, giving Kagin a full house but Zaicik made quads. “There’s something for you to write about,” he said, so Jacques, here it is!

Young Kiwi James Honeybone, who won the first event ever held by the APPT (the Manila Cup at last month’s APPT event in the Philippines), has also clawed his way back after being down to less than 2000 in chips early in the day.

He’s since steadily built up his stack to more than 50,000, well above the average of 38,000. “I pushed in with K Q and was called by a player with A K. I flopped two pair, won the hand and it’s just escalated from there for me,” the affable New Zealander said.
At the same table as Honeybone was Alex Fitzgerald, a 19-year-old poker pro from Seattle, Washington. Playing in just his second live tournament, the youngster wasn’t overawed despite earning the ire of 2005 world champ Joe Hachem.

“I was just playing common tournament strategy. At one point I realised he was getting angry so I knew if I raised him again I’d need a hand. But it was pretty cool to mix it up with Joe, he’s a nice guy and a top player,” Fitzgerald said.

At day’s end, South Korean-based player and Team PokerStars member Daniel Schreiber, originally from Commack, New York, holds the chip lead on 164,500.

Other players prominently placed at the end of the day’s play included Canadian PokerStars online qualifier Jason Min (83,900) and Germany’s Uwe Brauckhoff (who won his seat in a free tournament on PokerStars, 85,900).

Chip count at the end of day 1 (approximate):

1. Dan Schreiber (USA) 164,500


2. Uwe Brauckhoff (Germany) 85,9000 - PS Qualifier


3. Jason Min (Canada) 83,900 - PS Qualifier


4. Zhiwei Ang (Singapore) 74,100


5. Jozef Berec, (Australia) 71,000

The tournament floor at the Vic is its usual chaos this afternoon, with a side event starting and drawing many of the earlier casualties from the main EPT contest.

That tournament is, of course, still progressing and edging ever closer to the final table. We're down to three of them at the moment, around which we now have 24 players. That means that we've lost the following:

21st - Ben Grundy - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
22nd - Vijayan Nagarawan - Malaysia (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
23rd - Nicky Roeg - Holland - £12,230 ($22,785)
24th - Christopher Andler - Sweden - £12,230 ($22,785)
25th - Javed Abrahams - England - £8,153 ($15,174)
26th - Daniel Mangas - Spain - £8,153 ($15,174)
27th - Katja Svendsen - Norway - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
28th - Martyn Reeve - Wales - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
29th - Marc Goodwin - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
30th - Fuat Can - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)
31th - Stuart Nash - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
32nd - Mehmet Cinar - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)

Of those still afloat, some of the top chips counts are:

Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus - 480,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Surinder Sunar - England - 470,000
Anthony Lellouche - France - 432,000
Lam Trinh - England - 420,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 205,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Chris Moneymaker - 176,000
Florian Langmann - 164,000
David Obrobac - Sweden - 160,000
Peter Petersen - Sweden - 157,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Josh Egan - 118,000
Roland de Wolfe - 109,000
Josh Hackett - 84,000

Day three of the EPT means the introduction of a television table. One group of eight will today have every move scrutinised by a swarm of cameras, serried ranks of supporters, an army of technicians and, eventually, millions in the comfort of their own homes (in edited form, at least.)

While for some that's a daunting proposition, others relish their time under studio lights. And around the first television table of this year's London EPT, there are significantly more of the latter category than the former. Take a look at today's first feature table.

Seat 1 - Daniel Mangas - Spain
Seat 2 - Roland de Wolfe - England
Seat 3 - Fuat Can - Sweden
Seat 4 - Katja Svendsen - Norway - PokerStars qualifier
Seat 5 - Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - PokerStars qualifier
Seat 6 - Anthony Lellouche - France
Seat 7 - Chris Moneymaker - USA - Team PokerStars pro
Seat 8 - Pascal Perrault - France

At a quick count, that's two EPT titles and one WPT crown, alongside a WSOP main event winner.

Tough table.

* * * * *

Tournament update:

We're down to 31 players now. And here's how most of them are faring (the others are out of reach):

Ben Grundy – England - 250,000
Tony Cascarino – Ireland - 85,000
Martyn Reeve – Wales - PokerStars qualifier - 45,000
Stuart Nash – England - 43,000
Peter Petersen – Sweden - PokerStars qualfier - 140,000
Vajayan Nagarajan – Malaysia - PokerStars qualifier - 120,000
Fredrik Haugen – Sweden - 120,000
Nicky Roeg – Holland - 75,000
Surinder Sunar – England - 390,000
Alan Smurfit – Ireland - 120,000
Marc Goodwin – England - 66,000
Josh Egan – New Zealand - 160,000
Katja Svendsen - Norway - PokerStars qualifier - 110,000
Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus - PokerStars qualifier - 180,000
Anthony Lellouche - France - 238,000
Lam Trinh - England - 330,000

Eliminated:
Fuat Can
Stuart Nash
Marc Goodwin

Daniel Schreiber is as close to a ‘hometown’ player battling it out for the APPT Seoul title.
Like fellow Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Team PokerStars member Guillaume Patry, Schreiber relocated to Korea (from his home in Commack, New York) to compete as a professional Starcraft player. Yep, that’s right, a video game.

The trio are treated like celebrities here, and can’t go out without being swamped by fans of the game. Like Grospellier and Patry, Schreiber turned his focus to poker and quickly built a reputation as one of the top high stakes online players.
He turned that online practise to immediate live success when he captured the $5000 Heads-up championship at the 2007 World Series of Poker, becoming the fifth youngest WSOP bracelet winner ever.

“I've played for a while now. I started out playing ring games or the six-handed but then I started testing myself with heads-up,” Schreiber said.

“I learned a lot from the players who had more experience and who were probably better than me. I took that experience and used that to improve my game to the point where it is today.”

But for a player who honed his skills on a video game, did Starcraft offer any preparation for the cut-throat world of poker?

“You’d be surprised, StarCraft and poker are similar games. I like to say they are both games of missing information. You have to figure out what your opponent is doing, then use that information against them. If you're good at StarCraft, you’re likely to be good at poker.”

With a chip stack pushing 120,000 (the first player to break through 100,000), we’re more than happy to declare Schreiber a “good” player!

But good players sometimes have bad days, like the one Joe Hachem is slowly dissecting beside our blogging base in the Walker-hill Casino poker room.



The 2005 WSOP champion had his hands full with a 19-year-old American Alex Fitzgerald for much of the day, the youngster ignoring reputations and raising Hachem’s bets at every opportunity.

However, it was Jacques Zaicik who eventually took Hachem down. The player who had also eliminated Vanessa Rousso earlier today called Hachem’s all-in with A K. Holding pocket threes, Hachem found himself in a coinflip, but Zaicik hit a king on the flop, which proved enough to send the Aussie favourite to the rail.

Latest chip count (approximate):

Dan Schreiber (USA) 120,000
Joe Berec (Australia) 75,000
Isaac Galazan (Thailand) 61,000
Ziv Bachar (Israel) 60,000
Cory Ann Joseph (Australia) 56,000

Bubble time is the cruellest time in a poker tournament. It's also the most anxious, often the busiest at the rail and among the media but, when all's said and done, usually the slowest too.

For the uninitiated, "the bubble" bursts when the last remaining player goes out of the tournament without earning any money. In this event, the top 32 players are assured at least £8,153, but the person finishing 33rd gets nothing, nada, zilch, zero, nowt and/or nought.

To ensure the playing field is as level as possible, and to stop short-stacks delaying the action unnecessarily, the tournament director instigates "hand-for-hand" play. That means that the dealers on each table can only start shuffling and dealing the next hand when all the other tables have finished the preceding one.

It's often a tortuous process as a player might be faced for a decision for his tournament life, something he or she doesn't want to rush into. This means that the players from the other tables, all of whom have finished their hand, have to sit patiently around their tables, or sometimes crowd around the decision-maker, ramping up the pressure.

Today was no different. And it lasted for about half-an-hour.

The hand that accounted for Carlo Citrone - and burst the bubble

Eventually the bubble burst when Carlo Citrone, the British pro and poker commentator, and Vijayan Nagarawan, the PokerStars qualifier from Malaysia, got it all in pre-flop. Vijay had Carlo covered, in both chips and cards. The Malaysian tabled A-K, Carlo had A-Q. There were no miracles on the flop and Citrone was sent packing after a lot of work for nothing.

That means everyone still remaining is in the money. Unfortunately, Joris Jaspers, a PokerStars W$ buy-in, was among those to beat Citrone out the door. But there are still plenty of big names, more than a handful of qualifiers, and some fitting both categories still in with a shout.

Stay tuned. It's getting towards the business end.

Vajayan Nagarajan was the first PokerStars qualifier to make a move today, pushing all-in only for Peter Petersen to fold an ace rather than risk the damage. It wasn’t quite so straightforward for PokerStars qualifier Joris Jaspers. His exit was of the unlucky kind - with aces...

“I bet 8k pre-flop. He re-raised and I moved all in for 43k and he showed jacks.”

Seemed like a good deal...

“He made a back door flush... Sick!”

Disappointed Joris was in still good spirits. “I enjoyed it” he said, despite the sting at the end. He almost cashed in Barcelona and matched that here. Little consolation, but there’s always EPT Baden.

Another player out was PokerStars qualifier Niclas Svensson. His tournament came to an end after he followed a bet by EPT Dublin champion Roland de Wolfe by moving all-in...

“Anyone else... straight away...” said Roland as he took time to consider his options. “Call.”

It’s the stage of the tournament where that simple word sends anyone within earshot into a frenzy, stretching the rope line to get a better view of some poor soul’s misery. 9-9 for Niclas, A-Qd for Roland – the race quashed when two aces hit the flop shattering Niclas’ hopes for at least a well earned pay check at the end of a hard week.

“Anyone else” repeated Roland “I call (click) like that. But him...”

You may have noticed from the list of remaining players in the EPT London that PokerStars qualifiers are doing rather well. That's nothing new, of course. We've all heard of the likes of Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer in the World Series, as well as Brandon Schaefer and Jeff Williams on the EPT.

And if there's another qualifier turned champion here in London, it will be one of these candidates:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon


Marcel Baran - Germany


Josh Egan - New Zealand


Fredrik Haugen - Sweden


Joris Jaspers - Holland


Katja Svendsen - Norway


Peter Petersen - Denmark


Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus


Martyn Reeve - Wales


David Sonelin - Sweden


Niclas Svensson - Sweden


Vijayan Nagarajan - Malaysia

And although he doesn't have to qualify these days, the man Moneymaker will hardly be ashamed to be featured in this company. So here's another snap of the man who started all this, now, of course, a Team PokerStars pro.


Chris Moneymaker - USA

Sat in the cardroom between the TV people at one end making finishing touches to the main stage and bar staff at the other polishing glasses for first drinks of commiseration, is Marcel Baran. The young PokerStars Qualifier from Germany starts the day on 102,800 and is no stranger to the trials and tribulations of making it to the business end of an EPT.

“This is my fifth EPT so I have a bit of experience of live poker – not as much as online of course.”

What kind of tournament has Marcel had so far?

“Early on I had a standard hand of aces against kings. A king came and I was short stacked from then. Going into day 2 I had about two thirds of the average. I had one hand that was pretty big with pocket tens -a raise, re-raise, he moved in and I called. That brought me back up to 200k. Then I lost a few.”

Then came the hand late on day 2 against fellow PokerStars qualifier Katja Svendsen. Not a huge pot but enough to re-ignite Marcel’s tournament hopes. Playing with her trademark aggressive style Katja had set the pace, but with the board showing 7-J-9-3-K Marcel bet out 15k into a 40k pot.

“She took her time and thought for a while but eventually called. I had K-9. I think she had something like K-Q.

"Today I have two guys on my left with 200k stacks. If I raise I can get into problems - I can beat them but I’d rather have smaller stacks on my left. I’ll see how it goes.”

The boxes have been moved, the cables shifted - the stage is set for day 3.

By Sean Callander

One-third of the field have already been eliminated barely four levels into the APPT Seoul main event.

After a strong start, Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson joined the growing list of casualties when his stack received a mortal blow at the hands of Ariel Bronstein. Nelson pushed all-in on a flop of Jh 6h 2c with his pocket queens but found himself trailing Bronstein’s pocket jacks.

Down to barely 1000 in chips, Nelson coughed up the remainder to PokerStars sponsored player Jimmy Cha, who has charged to more than 40,000 to be among the leaders.

Two other players on the charge are Team PokerStars players Isabelle Mercier and Masa Kagawa. Mercier just took a huge pot against Gareth Edwards to break through the 50,000-chip barrier.



Kagawa called an all-in of 25,000 with pocket aces, which had his opponents A K dominated. The flop of Qc 8c 5d 3c Jc gave the popular Japanese player the nut flush and shot him up to almost 40,000 in chips.



While Kagawa is no stranger to casinos, he is still a relative newcomer to poker. In contrast, his countryman Yoshio (Yosh) Nakano has earned his stripes in poker and was a popular addition to the entry list for this APPT Seoul event.

Now residing in California, this Team PokerStars player is best known as one of the most popular poker room hosts in the US after a long stint at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. On the other side of the felt, Nakano placed 14th in the 2002 WSOP main event (won that year by Robert Varkonyi). He also cashed in the 1989 and 1994 main events.



The Japanese ‘team’, many of who are regular players in the Japan Poker League, are among the largest here at the Walker-hill Casino – a great sign for the future of poker in the region.

It’s worth noting that due to regulations allowing only non-Korean players to enter the Walker-hill Casino (home to Korea’s only legal poker room), the APPT Seoul field consists entirely of international visitors and foreign ex-pats living in Korea.

Unusually for a major poker tournament, the main event is being contested inside the casino poker room, which is operated by Mike Kim and the Korean Professional Poker Tour. As such, there’s a great vibe and presence in the room. It’s also a great showcase for poker, which is still in its infancy in this country.

Hello folks and welcome back to London -- especially those who have taken a recent brief sojourn via the PokerStars blog to Seoul for the APPT and, well, anywhere, for the WCOOP.

These are busy days for blog followers, but for the next eight hours of so it'll be PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT) action, from a drizzly, chilly London.

Lovely London

We have reached day three with 40 players remaining. The top 32 get paid, and the big money goes to the final eight, who'll convene for the final table tomorrow.

First, of course, we'll have to shed those unfortunate eight, who will sidle out of the Grosvenor Victoria casino this afternoon having spent more than two full days around the tables for a grand profit of minus £5,200. It's some of the worst work going.

It's hardly made any better by the knowledge that those remaining inside will be battling it out for the following:

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

9th-10th -- £34,652
11th-12th -- £28,537
13th-14th -- £22,422
15th-16th -- £16,307
17th-24th -- £12,230
25th-32nd -- £8,153

And those still in with a shout are:

Surinder Sunar (UK) 403,400
Ben Grundy (UK) 220,000
Anthony Lellouche (France) 213,800
Lam Trinh (UK) 207,400
Phidias Georgiou (Cyprus) PokerStars qualifier 200,200
Pascal Perrault (France) 172,800
Josh Egan (New Zealand) PokerStars qualifier 162,300
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 152,400
Stuart Nash (UK) 125,100
Alan Smurfit (Ireland) PokerStars qualifier 122,100
Katja Svendsen (Norway) PokerStars qualifier 105,900
Marcel Baran (Germany) PokerStars qualifier 102,800
Nicky Roeg (Holland) 98,200
Fuat Can (Sweden) 94,700
David Obrobac (Sweden) 93,500
Paul Mendes (UK) 92,500
Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia) PokerStars qualifier 92,400
Martyn Reeve (UK) PokerStars qualifier 82,100
Ken Wong (China) 79,700
Chris Moneymaker (US) Team PokerStars 76,400
Roland De Wolfe (UK) 76,100
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) PokerStars qualifier 75,400
Javed Abrahams (UK) 74,800
Peter Petersen (Denmark) PokerStars qualifier 70,800
Ian Cox (UK) 70,600
Shane Reihill (Ireland) 64,100
Marc Goodwin (UK) 54,500
Christopher Andler (Sweden) 54,400
Mehmet Cinar (Sweden) 53,400
Tony Cascarino (Ireland) 52,700
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 51,700
Joris Jaspers (Holland) PokerStars W$ player 51,600
David Sonelin (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 49,400
Thomas Tollund (Denmark) 49,200
Niclas Svensson (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 48,500
Jason Hackett (UK) 39,300
Florian Langmann (Germany) 37,900
Carlo Citrone (UK) 29,700
Richard Ashby (UK) 25,700
Erik Friberg (Sweden) 7,000

By Sean Callander

Official numbers have been confirmed with 186 players battling it out for the inaugural APPT Seoul title. The total prize pool is $437,100, with 16 players set to share in the spoils. The winner will pocket $139,872.

Shortly into level three, already 20 players have been sent to the rail including Team PokerStars’ Tuan Lam (runner-up in this year’s WSOP main event) and Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier.

On a board of Ad 10s 2c Kd, Lam pushed all-in for his last 6000 and received a call from Steven Gunter, who showed Ah 10c for two-pair against Lam’s Ac Jd. A 5s on the river didn’t improve either hand, ending the Canadian’s APPT experience.
Most of Rousso’s stack ended up in the possession of Kelly Flynn, an American who cashed in last month’s APPT Manila event but it was Frenchman Jacques Zaicik who delivered the final blow. He made a pair of queens on the river, dominating Rousso’s pocket fours.

In contrast, New Zealander Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson, who won the 2006 Aussie Millions, is among the early chip leaders. The 64-year-old Team PokerStars Pro has started each morning with a trek up the mountain at the rear of the Sheraton Grande Hotel – he looks in better shape than many players half his age!
Nelson’s table is intriguing – Hong Kong-based high stakes gambler David Streicke is to his left while directly opposite sits Cha MinSoo, better known as Jimmy Cha.

Arguably Korea’s most famous poker player, Cha has excelled in many fields – from poker to martial arts, classical music, and Baduk. He made his name in Las Vegas during the late 1980s and early 1990s as one of the world’s premier cash players (in a period dominated by Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese). He even provided the basis for the lead character in the locally produced TV series All-in.

Cha isn’t the only famous face in the Walker-Hill poker room. Isaac Galazan, who won a WSOP bracelet in 2005 (the same year as Joe Hachem captured the main event title) is back after playing in the opening APPT event.
A nightclub owner in Thailand, Galazan outpointed a final table that included David Singer, Antonio Esfandiari and Harry Demetriou to win the $2500 Short Handed No Limit Hold'em bracelet and $315,125.
Speaking of WSOP bracelet winners, word has reached us of an intriguing side game in progress during the APPT Seoul event.
It features 2007 WSOP $5000 Heads-up winner Daniel Schreiber and reigning Aussie Millions heads-up champion David Saab.



The pair are playing a best-of-three heads-up match, with Saab taking honours in the first game yesterday. The stakes are modest, but the gregarious Saab said it was all about national pride: “I’m doing it for the (Australian) flag!” Saab will be able to concentrate on tomorrow’s battle with Schreiber after being eliminated at the hands of Gareth Edwards, who is among the chip leaders.

There are certain things in your life that you shouldn't attempt without a solid working knowledge of how they work. While opinions vary on what these things are, I'd think the top ten would include driving a tractor, using a pressure cooker, and playing Seven Card Stud Eight or Better.

I've spent several years around some of the greatest poker thinkers in the world. I've traveled with somebody who has a World Series bracelet in the same event, and I've played the game in Vegas casinos. However, if someone asked me how to play, I'd only be able to say (as a friend once told me), "If you have a nine in your hand to start, fold."

Fortunately, there are people out there who love this game and are, by all accounts, quite good at it. Nearly 600 people signed up to play in Event #18 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Eleven hours later, eight of them still had a chance at the WCOOP bracelet.



Seat 1: theowl48 (193105 in chips)
Seat 2: BigLL (116329 in chips)
Seat 3: mysticaces (215596 in chips)
Seat 4: TheActionKid (179319 in chips)
Seat 5: pinfishtom (218792 in chips)
Seat 6: Sensor (81840 in chips)
Seat 7: motor1963 (489027 in chips)
Seat 8: crazyjanie (299992 in chips)

Sensor started the final table with the shortest stack, and by the time the limits moved up to 10,000/20,000, he was down to 50,000 in chips. It was time to pick a hand and go with it. Starting with 6c5c/5d, Sensor made his move. It was as if he knew he was on his way out when he said, "Big shout out to my grandmother who is watching me play this tonight, my mom, my girlfriend, and all of my friends . Thanks for the support." He came in for a raise and got action from motor1963, who was showing a 2. By sixth street, Sensor had committed himself to the hand and was all-in. While he finished with aces up, he never made a low. Motor1963, meanwhile, picked up trip threes to send Sensor to the rail in eighth place for a $5681 payday.

Motor1963, already flush with chips, continued his tear a few hands later when he rivered a straight and six-low to cut a big chunk out of TheActionKid's stack. The mood at the table then turned a little sour.

TheActionKid: nice river
motor1963: ty
TheActionKid: keep betting into the best player at the table

TheActionKid did his best to fight back and was able to work his stack back up to where he started at the final table. However, no matter his level of talent, he would be the next to go down. Over the course of the next half an hour, his opponents whittled his stack down to a mere 30,000 at the 15,000/30,000 limit. Dealt 3h5c/As, he got all his chips in against his foe, motor1963's 2sAh/2h. Four cards later, motor1963 had trip deuces, good enough to beat TheActionKid's pair of aces. TheActionKid placed seventh for $8,730.

After a 30 minute break, the limits moved up to 20,000/40,000 and hands that went to the river started to get expensive. Six-handed, the average stack was risking half his stack by playing a hand to the river. BigLL used this time to take over a commanding chip lead, building his stack above 800,000. However, this chip lead wouldn't last for long. After making a few unsuccessful attempts to knock out the short-stacks, BigLL ran into crazyjanie's rolled up sevens and handed the chip lead across the table.

Theowl48 was the first to succumb to the bigger stacks. With 115,000 left in his stack, he started with a pair of kings. He got his stack in against mysticaces and motor1963. Motor1963 had three jacks by fourth street and mystic aces was on a low draw. By the river, theowl48 had an eight low and the pair of kings he started with. Neither was good enough for half the pot and he was out in sixth place, cashing for $11,661.

While motor1963 had his share of victories at the final table, he couldn't hold up against the relentless action at the table. We never saw his full hand. He had 5dThQc9h showing and had all his chips in on fourth street. At the river, he couldn't beat a pair of threes. Motor1963 finished in fifth place for $14,950.

BigLL may have had a massive chip lead for a while, but crazyjanie had sights set on the man with the Bacardi player icon. When BigLL was dealt two aces down, the pot was sure to be big. It got even bigger when crazyjanie made trip sixes on fourth street. BigLL never caught up and the 400,000 chip pot slid to crazyjanie, moving the player over the million chip mark.

Pinfishtom may not have been the most active player at the final table, but he managed to make it all the way to fourth place and a $18,567 cash. Ultimately, a pair fours dealt down was his downfall. Mysticaces started with a pair of nines and ended with aces up, while pinfishtom never improved.

Mysticaces looked to be on his way to getting heads up with crazyjanie, but BigLL missed having the chip lead and set about getting it back. The first order of business was pulling an ace-high flush by fifth street and picking up a pot worth more than half a million chips.

By and by, the chips kept moving around the table, but not much was changing. Crazyjanie maintained the chip lead, while mysticaces and BigLL sat closely together. Eventually, the players decided to make a deal that left $9,000 and the WCOOP bracelet on the table.

BigLL: $39,367
mysticaces: $38,712
crazyjanie: $49,473

The deal got things moving. BigLL jumped into the game like a man on a mission to win it all or go to bed. When his pair of three ran out trips against craxyjanie's queens, BigLL started a march that had him rolling over the table. Within five minutes, he had more than a million chips and more than half the chips on the table. Five minutes later, he sent crazyjanie to the rail after crazyjanie missed a heart flush draw and ended with jack-high.

Heads-up, BigLL started with a big chip lead, but it evaporated quickly in a scene that looked a lot like a bar fight--punches being thrown with no particular aim, sometimes landing, sometimes not, but always hurting somebody or something. The chip lead moved back and forth faster than even instant hand histories could understand. Ultimately, BigLL started landing the big blows, took the chip lead, and eventually the bracelet after making trip deuces and a six low against mysticace's king-high.

Congratulations to all the players who cashed in Event #18.

2007 WCOOP Event #18 Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and a three-way deal that left $9,000 for first place

1. BigLL (United States) $48,367.00
2. mysticaces (United States) $38,712.00
3. crazyjanie (United States) $49,473.00
4. pinfishtom (United States) $18,567.90
5. motor1963 (Germany) $14,950.00
6. theowl48 (United States) $11,661.00
7. TheActionKid (United States) $8,730.80
8. Sensor (United States) $5,681.00

By Sean Callander

The cards are in the air at the Walker-Hill Casino in Seoul for the first APPT event in South Korea. Even though this is only the second event in the first season of the APPT, a few traditions have already started to emerge.

After a welcome from APPT president Jeffrey Haas and PokerStars.net’s Sarne Lightman, players were greeted to a performance of traditional Korean violin (with a contemporary twist) by the all-girl group Airato.

Players also received a Korean mask, known as Yang Ban. The masks have been used by warriors, in burial rites and in shamanistic ceremonies to drive away evil spirits. Players will be hoping that extends to bad beats!



And for those planning to pull a Phil Laak and cover their faces with the mask, we have bad news – the masks are so small they’d barely cover Mini Me’s face!

The tournament kicked off with a bang on two counts. Firstly, the order to “shuffle up and deal” was given by Yuji Okamoto – a flamboyant Japanese high stakes player who turned up complete with feather boa in the style of former professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

The fireworks continued just minutes later when Japan’s Kazuhiro Sato, who finished eighth in the APPT Manila tournament, doubled up on the first hand.

Sato, holding pocket sixes and his opponent Martin Myles (mupser on PokerStars), holding pocket nines, both made a set on the flop of 6d 9c Qc. Sato couldn’t believe his luck when he made quads on the turn (6c), before being faced with a no-brainer when Myles pushed all-in on the river (Qc), having made a full house.

The Irishman just popped by the share his hard luck story – “what am I going to tell them when I get home?” – but was already scouring the schedule for the next event.

For another player who performed strongly in Manila, Ira Blumenthal, the tournament is over. Blumenthal, a Bangkok-based lawyer from the US, found himself on arguably the toughest table in the initial draw, including Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier, PokerNews’ Gareth Edwards and top Australian player Jo Berec.

But it was one of the big contingent of Japanese players, Naohiro Ishihama, who delivered the killer blow when he made a flush against Blumenthal’s pocket queens. Another player who made the final table in Manila, Swede Roger Spets (sixth), is also back for another shot at APPT glory.

By Sean Callander

Having celebrated a highly successful debut in Manila last month, the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has rolled into the South Korean capital, Seoul.

We’re at the Paradise Walker-Hill Casino, located in the Sheraton Grande Walker-Hill – a magnificent setting that overlooks the Han River. And appropriately for a historic moment in Asian poker history, the property is also the site of the ancient A-Cha fortress, which dates back to the Shilla Dynasty almost 2000 years ago (or so I was told).
What a week for poker – the EPT London event is in full swing, the World Championship of Online Poker has been attracting record numbers and prize pools while here in Korea, we’re about to kick-off the first televised poker tournament ever held on mainland Asia.

The impact that poker is starting to have in the region was reflected at yesterday’s press conference, which attracted media representatives from China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

APPT president Jeffrey Haas, who hosted the conference along side PokerStars.net Asia/Pacific director of marketing Sarne Lightman, also welcomed players and qualifiers from more than 30 countries, continuing the international flavour established by the APPT in Manila.

Team PokerStars Pros are again out in force, headed by 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem. Other Team PokerStars Pros to make the long trek include Vanessa Rousso (who also played along side Joe in Manila), Isabelle Mercier, Masa Kagawa, Lee Nelson and Tuan Lam, the Canadian who finished runner-up in this year’s WSOP main event.

Adding some local flavour to the field is Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, who lives here in Seoul. We’ll catch up with the members of Team PokerStars in coming days.



Other Team PokerStars’ names to watch in the $2500 main event include well-known high-stakes player Yosh Nakano, Korean legend Jimmy Cha, Japan’s Hiroshi Shimamura, Manlee Wan and a pair of locally-based young guns, Canadian Guillaume Patry and American Dan Schreiber, who won the 2007 WSOP $5000 Heads-up bracelet.

Keep an eye on www.pokerstarsblog.com for regular updates over the next three days from the first major poker tournament ever held in east Asia.

The curve beteeen learning poker and becoming a champion can be as long a a lifetime or as short as the time it took PokerStars player pes4fans to win a WCOOP bracelet. Though he asked repeatedly for a chop in Event #17, his opponents refused. Germany's Pes4fans responded by winning the whole thing. Here's what he had to say when it was all over.

Q. Tell me a little about yourself.

pes4fans: I'm 20 years old and live in Trier in the western part of Germany I love poker as much as I like soccer and I'm more a calm boy who is a little crazy too.

Q. Any particular meaning or story behind your screen name?

pes4fans: I had a website about Pro Evolution Soccer so I used that name a lot even if it is silly.

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

pes4fans: For a year.

Q. How did you learn to play?

pes4fans: I watched a celebrity poker show and learned the basics and then I started playing at PokerStars for play money.

Q. What was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

pes4fans: It was an incredible experience, especially because I've only played poker for one year and it was my biggest buy-in tournament ever.

Q. What do you do when you're not playing poker?

pes4fans: I start going to university next month studying economics.

Q. Is this your biggest win to date or have you had others?

pes4fans: Yes by far. My next biggest was almost $10k.

Q. What is your best poker game?

pes4fans: NL Holdem 6 handed ;)

Q. Any goals for your poker play?

pes4fans: I want to go step-by-step to higher limits and make some money. And one day I want to play the WSOP, but first I have to improve my offline poker skills.

Q. If you have a basic poker philosophy, what is it?

pes4fans: Trust your instincts. That helped me a lot today and I had some real good reads and bluffs.

Q. Is poker a game that is played a lot in your family, or are you the only one who plays?

pes4fans: My family doesn't like poker at all but I'll teach them a lesson by telling them what I won.

Q. Is there a lot of live poker in your hometown? What’s it like there?

pes4fans: We have a casino here and I'll go there soon. Haven't been there yet so I can't tell you how it is.

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world? Heroes?

pes4fans: Daniel Negreneau, Humberto Brenes and Phil Ivey.

Q. Do you have any plans for the money you won in WCOOP?

pes4fans: I've got no idea, I'll save most of the money and maybe buy some stuff like a PS3.

For the full story of pes4fan's win, check out the 2007 WCOOP: Event #17 Final Table Report.

Well, well, well. Apologies dear readers.

Less than an hour ago, the tournament director announced a break of half an hour and PokerStars blog took a slight break to gain some sustenance to see us through to the small hours. We returned to gather a few stories and take a few snaps and were just writing them up when an announcement was made. The tournament is over for the night.

What? It's only 8.30 p.m. GMT. We're hardly getting going.

But it was true. Earlier today, we'd been promised that the tournament would pause for the night when we reached 40 players. Thirty-two of them will make the money, and the television crews, who begin filming tomorrow, want to capture the bubble moment.

Fair enough, but there were still about 46 players when we headed to the media room to begin writing. We missed, it seems, ten minutes of utter carnage.

And so it proved. After consulting with fellow media reps and players, it turns out that the final hand of the evening was the largest of the tournament so far, and accounted for both Liam Flood and Erik Friberg, who both had sizeable stacks last time we looked.

It played out as follows:

Liam Flood open raised from mid position for about 8,000. Surindar Sunar called on the button and Erik Friberg called from the big blind. The flop seemed innocuous: 9s-8c-4c.

Erik checked, but Liam, the short stack among the three, moved in for about 40,000. Surinder, with a much larger stack, flat called Liam's all in and then Friberg moved all in over the top. Surinder hardly blinked before calling for all his chips and we were three-way. We were also fairly certainly looking a three big hands.

So it proved: Liam had Ac-Kc for the nut flush draw. Erik had 4-4 for bottom set. Surinder had 9-9 for top set, and the rail gasped.

The turn and river did not hit for Liam, and he walked. Friberg also walked, but was soon called back as he had about 5,000 chips remaining. He'll have to bring them back tomorrow, when those chips will represent about one big blind.

Also returning tomorrow are a number of PokerStars qualifiers, most of whom we have already met, and most of whom are in with a significant chance of making some big bucks in London.


Vijayan Nagarajan


Martyn Reeve


Katja Svendsen


Marcel Baran


Josh Egan

And that cap at the top of the page. That's on the head of Phidias Georgiou. He'll be back too.

Oh yeah, and this man. No caption necessary.

Full chip counts for the remaining players will be posted here momentarily. And we'll be back to play down to a final table tomorrow.

See you then.

And for anyone just tuning in who may have missed the action...

EPT London: Day two begins

EPT London: In the thick of day 2 action

EPT London: Chip counts

EPT London: Before and after the break

End of day two chip counts:

Surinder Sunar (UK) 403,400
Ben Grundy (UK) 220,000
Anthony Lellouche (France) 213,800
Lam Trinh (UK) 207,400
Phidias Georgiou (Cyprus) PokerStars qualifier 200,200
Pascal Perrault (France) 172,800
Josh Egan (New Zealand) PokerStars qualifier 162,300
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 152,400
Stuart Nash (UK) 125,100
Alan Smurfit (Ireland) PokerStars qualifier 122,100
Katja Svendsen (Norway) PokerStars qualifier 105,900
Marcel Baran (Germany) PokerStars qualifier 102,800
Nicky Roeg (Holland) 98,200
Fuat Can (Sweden) 94,700
David Obrobac (Sweden) 93,500
Paul Mendes (UK) 92,500
Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia) PokerStars qualifier 92,400
Martyn Reeve (UK) PokerStars qualifier 82,100
Ken Wong (China) 79,700
Chris Moneymaker (US) Team PokerStars 76,400
Roland De Wolfe (UK) 76,100
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) PokerStars qualifier 75,400
Javed Abrahams (UK) 74,800
Peter Petersen (Denmark) PokerStars qualifier 70,800
Ian Cox (UK) 70,600
Shane Reihill (Ireland) 64,100
Marc Goodwin (UK) 54,500
Christopher Andler (Sweden) 54,400
Mehmet Cinar (Sweden) 53,400
Tony Cascarino (Ireland) 52,700
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 51,700
Joris Jaspers (Holland) PokerStars W$ player 51,600
David Sonelin (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 49,400
Thomas Tollund (Denmark) 49,200
Niclas Obrobac (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 48,500
Jason Hackett (UK) 39,300
Florian Langmann (Germany) 37,900
Carlo Citrone (UK) 29,700
Richard Ashby (UK) 25,700
Erik Friberg (Sweden) 7,000

The first sign that PokerStars qualifier Marcus Lind was all-in was his head appearing from the crowd peering across the cardroom. The first sign that this hand would be an inter-PokerStars qualifier clash was Phidias Georgiou doing the same. What’s more there was a third unknown player involved.

Close up it became clear what the fuss was about. Marcus Lind of Denmark was all-in, so too the unknown player. The crowds that had forced their way past the remaining tournament tables for a glimpse were waiting to see what Phidias would do. It would take some time. He was out of his chair. As Marcus stared serenely away, relieved that whatever was going to happen was now beyond his control, Phidias surveyed the seriousness of the situation, looking at the table then sending a hard stare towards Marcus.

There was a lot in the pot. “I’m sorry man” said Phidias. He was talking to the unknown player about the time he was taking.

“It’s okay. I’m all in. You take your time.”

It would be Marcus who called the clock. But maybe it gave Phidias the nudge he needed. He called for a three way showdown. 6-6 for Marcus, 9-9 for Phidias, T-T for the unknown player.

The board missed everyone leaving hand values at the end the same as they’d been at the start. Marcus was out but Phidias had taken a sizable pot. One PokerStars qualifier would advance at the expense of another. The unknown player was sitting down feeling less of the strain too. After good natured handshakes that only those who have experienced the same hardships can proffer, Marcus was gone.

Another PokerStars qualifier rumble occurred after the break, this time with Norwegian (via Copenhagen) Katja Svendsen and Dane Marcel Baran. Katja has claimed a number of scalps this week, including the mighty one of Ram Vaswani on day 1 and now she seemed equally menacing, leaning forward in her seat as Marcel ran through his options on a board showing 7-J-9. Katja had bet. Marcel opted to call. The turn brought a 3 but both players applied the brakes, checking it before the river card K was dealt.

Katja was still leaning forward - like she couldn’t wait to win the hand. A pensive Marcel, his head titled slightly either to talk himself into checking, or talk himself into raising, bet 15k.

“15k?” asked Katja for confirmation. She counted out the three brown chips from her own stack to call but showing less of a smile now. “Call.”

Marcel tabled Ks Ts. Katja inhaled deeply - the king on the river had saved Marcel’s hand from oblivion. Katja could only muck, cursing the same king.

Vijayan Nagarayan has survived his first close call in a monster pot that saw him back to his earlier stack weight of around 100k.

After suffering some losses – folding to big bets on a table that features Ben Grundy, Erik Friberg and Thomas Fougeron, Vijayan pushed in with 50k only for Tony Phillips to chase him to the middle, pushing his entire stack forward in the old fashioned way - a mess, but nothing like it for dramatic effect.

The flop had already been dealt J-3-4 and both players had a piece of it. For Tony 4-4, for Vijayan A-5c - a draw to a straight or a flush. Either would do on the turn or river.

The 9 on the turn did Tony no harm. The river 2 though was a different story. Filling the straight it sent Vijarayan to 100k and Tony out of his chair to an audible “ooooh” from the table.

“It’s been a tough week." said Vijayan. "I was up to 100k but I’m back down to about 60k now. I’m still comfortable and I’ve had to fold a few. I folded pocket eights when a guy moved in on a flush draw. But I had to fold.”

His new table includes Roland De Wolfe and Chris Moneymaker so the journey into the night won’t be easy, but Vijayan is one of 51 players left and that’s good for the time being.

Approximately 75 players remain here in London, as we enter level 12. That means blinds of 800-1,600 and a 300 ante.

The following are still fighting the good fight:

Chris Moneymaker - USA - Team PokerStars - 108,000
Carlo Citrone - England - 12,000
Marc Goodwin - England - 140,000
Katja Svendsen - PokerStars qualifier - Norway - 50,000
Anthony Lellouche - France - 68,000
Stig Rasmussen - Denmark - 95,000
Nicolas Levi - France - 110,000
Tony Phillips - England - 72,000
Roland de Wolfe - England - 25,000
Pascal Perrault - 178,000
Joris Jaspers - Holland - PokerStars W$ player - 43,000
Tony Cascarino - Ireland - 37,000
Ville Wahlbeck - Finland - 28,000
Ben Grundy – England – 86,000
Marcus Lind – Denmark – PokerStars qualifier – 33,100
Vajayan Nagarayan – Malaysia – PokerStars qualifier – 97,300
Thomas Fougeron – France – 41,000
Eric Friberg – Sweden – 72,000
Stuart Nash – England – 36,000
Liam Flood – Ireland – 31,000
Dave Colclough – Wales – 30,000
Surinder Sunar – England – 135,000
Sebastien Riviera – Sweden – 85,000
Phidias Georgiou – Cyprus –
Fuat Can – Sweden – 61,000
Warren Wooldridge – England -27,000
Thomas Bihl – Germany – 25,400
Ola Brandborn - Sweden - 38,000

We lost Sebastian Ruthenberg towards the end of the last level, when he ace-king was outdrawn by ace-queen. Auf Wiedersehen to the German PokerStars sponsored pro.

Also departed:

Barny Boatman
Age Spets
Roberto Romanello
Dennis Plejdrup
Patrik Antonius
James Dempsey (PokerStars qualifier)
Daniel Negreanu (Team PokerStars)
Jan Boubli
Michael Greco
Liz Lieu
Alan Heller

Day two has begun in a hurry and Stephen Bartley and I have been scooting round the room to pick up the stories from the PokerStars qualifiers, Team PokerStars members and other big names alike. Here's what's happened in the opening hours:

Getting set
By Stephen Bartley

PokerStars qualifier Vijayan Nagarayan, he of day 1a success is one of the more relaxed players at a table featuring Frenchman Anthony Lellouche and Australian Jeff Lisandro. Vijayan is looking forward to the day with 59,800.

Also at this table is PokerStars qualifier Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The ear to ear smile on his face is laced thick with irony though as he clutches his blue bag of chips. It’s a small bag.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko: facing the inevitable with a smile

“Put your chips on the table and check them please," said the dealer.

“This should be easy," replied Yevgeniy.

Harbouring only the slightest of optimism, the American youngster plonked his handful on the table. There are worse things than having just 3,800 at the start of the second day but he seemed under no illusion as to the Herculean challenge ahead of him, with blinds starting today at 400-800 with a 100 ante.

“I’ll talk to you when I bust out!” he smiled. Surely he means at the first break?

One table along was Phidias Georgiou. The Cypriot and former Vic regular was floating around the average mark yesterday, spending the last hour next to Daniel Negreanu as he demonstrated how to fight back from the brink. A lesson in the fine art of poker for sure, but right now Phidias was putting his own stack to good use.

With a flop dealt Q-T-2 Sweden’s Ola Brandborn had on his war face betting 4k with just Phidias to act. A pause for thought and gum chewing and Phidias re-raised, doubling Ola’s bet. This was interesting enough but more so was Ola’s insta-re-re-raise, a reflex flick of the wrist throwing in a random pile of chips –no clue as to how much he’d committed knowing only that he’d see it safely returned shortly.

Left with a decision for his tournament life Phidias moved all-in. After a slight administrative delay to count chips (Ola had Phidias covered) the cards were on their backs. K-Tc for Ola, A-Qd for Phidias – the Queen putting the PokerStars qualifier ahead.

Blanks on the turn and river. A hand slap of joy from Phidias, or was that relief? Either way Phidias has doubled up.

* * * * *

Shopping
By Stephen Bartley

“Show me the way to Harrods.”

That was Joey Lovelady heading out of the EPT London on an all-in push with his last 8,500.


Joey Lovelady

His story started a few weeks ago, though. The 22 year old from Liverpool turned $215 into $173,451 when he won the weekly million dollar tournament on PokerStars.com. Outlasting 6,030 players, the economics graduate from Leeds University banked the biggest pay-cheque of his short poker career after nearly ten hours of intense competition. It was a sweet moment for the consistent Lovelady, who finished 17th in the same event two weeks earlier.

“Last time I made mistakes when we got near the final table,” he said, “but this time I played well and got lucky. Everyone needs a bit of luck to win a big event like that, but you don't do it by accident.”

Cut to today and a slightly more sour experience. After starting with 28,900 he was down to 8,500 approaching the first break. Raising pre-flop he left himself with a single 1k chip. Insurance perhaps or good economics? Ben Grundy moved in to find out and Joey flipped in his last grand. K-4 against Ben’s A-J. An ace on the flop, a king on the turn, but nothing on the river to slow down the prospect of a consolation shopping trip.

“I play short-handed hold’em cash games because I need more hands. I only play the big live events because I get bored too easily,” said Joey.

Patience is a virtue perhaps but Joey was taking defeat in his stride. Now though it was time to hit the shops hard and exploit his own private economic boom.

* * * * *

A long way from home

Another PokerStars qualifier returning for day two is Josh Egan, known as Tycoon_Kid on PokerStars. He wins the prize as the qualifier with the longest journey home, to Auckland, New Zealand. It'll no doubt fly by if he can edge his way into the money.

A regular cash-game player on PokerStars, he transferred his experience to the tournament tables of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and took third spot in event 13, good for $43,600.


Josh "Tycoon_Kid" Egan

And this was hardly surprising. Egan also made headlines in the online poker world when he won back-to-back double shootout satellites on PokerStars to earn his seat at the Barcelona and London EPTs. That means four sit n goes in a row, a total return of $27,400 in satellite package from a $430 investment.

He missed the money in Barcelona. But he's still in the mix in London.

* * * * *

On the charge

There are some big names acquiring some big stacks early on day two, none more so (in both senses) than these three:


Pascal Perrault: the Frenchman aiming to be the first player to win two EPT titles


Surinder Sunar: WPT champion and much-feared British tournament professional


Chris Moneymaker: Team PokerStars' lone remaining representative

* * * * *

Departures

Yes, the caption above is correct, meaning we have lost Daniel Negreanu. He had ace-queen and his opponent found kings during the first level of the day. He's gone.


Daniel Negreanu's last-minute swotting was in vain

Also out is Rafael Camos, who prospered early on day 1A, but found his stack dwindling towards the end of the day, and got the last of it in this afternoon behind an ace-five. It ran into ace-king and there was no miracle.


The hand that did the damage to Rafael Camos

Hello all and welcome back to London for the third day of action and the official day two of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT) event from the Grosvenor Victoria Casino.

Day two: the calm before the storm

A total of 142 players made it through their respective day ones, and we're likely to play down to somewhere near the money tonight. That begins after the 33rd player departs, so we might not quite make it all that way; we're playing eight one-hour levels.

Leading the way into day two was Nicolas Levi, from France, followed by Daniel Mangas, of Spain, and Tony Phillips, a home-town hope. But lurking menacingly behind them, in the distinctive Team PokerStars livery, was Chris Moneymaker.

And the day couldn't have started any better for the former World Series champion. Less than half an hour in, while us hacks were still getting our first cup of coffee, Moneymaker found a hand.

Well, it wasn't much of a hand -- pocket twos -- but when another flopped, he managed to prise all of Age Spets' 50,000-odd chips into the middle. Spets had aces and was walking out the door, barely pausing to see a fourth deuce river to make Moneymaker quads.

Moneymaker went into the chip lead with about 130,000.

So, with talk of Moneymaker, here's a reminder of the money they're hoping to make:

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

9th-10th -- £34,652
11th-12th -- £28,537
13th-14th -- £22,422
15th-16th -- £16,307
17th-24th -- £12,230
25th-32nd -- £8,153

Six-max no-limit hold'em is all about action. Starting hand values change. Ace-rag starts to seem like a much better holding. Re-raises are a lot more common. Naked aggression is rewarded and punished in nearly every orbit.

So, after 14 hours of playing down from 2,872 players to six, one might have been able to assume the final table of the 2007 WCOOP Event #17, $320 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em, would go fast.

In fact, no. It took three and half hours go from six players down to the champion. However, that's getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. Here's how the field looked when the final six sat down.



Seat 1: Pillars (1334972 in chips)
Seat 2: PeachyMer (3065033 in chips)
Seat 3: AcEGoDD (1226016 in chips)
Seat 4: jejune524 (441688 in chips)
Seat 5: pape85 (1720515 in chips)
Seat 6: pes4fans (830776 in chips)

Jejune524 came into the final table with the shortest stack and wasted no time getting it all-in. With a little more than 400,000 in chips at the 12,500/25,000/2,500 level, Jejune524 moved all-in under the gun with AT. If jejune524 was hoping to pick up the blinds, it was a bad time for it. AcEGoDD made good on his screen name and woke up with two aces. While jejune524 flopped a gutshot draw, it didn't come in and he was out in sixth place for $11,204.70.

After the first exit, the normally action-packed game got a lot tighter. Chips moved around the table, but big showdowns weren't the order of the day for a good, long while. After a short break, PeachyMer started to pull ahead with aggressive position play and moved above $3 million in chips. Eventually, aggression go the better of her and she gave about a million chips back to her opponents. Regardless, with $2.3 million chips, PeachyMer retained the chip lead.

Even at the 20,000/40,000/4,000 level, it was evident what an amazing structure the PokerStars staff had put together. Five handed, the average stack had an M of 20, allowing for serious, deep-stacked poker play. Despite the deep stacks, a pre-flop confrontation saw Pillars get nearly a million chips in pre-flop. When pes4fans came in for a raise to 120,000, Pillars re-raised to 400,000 with pocket eights. Pes4fans put all the chips in and Pillars called. Pes4fans held pocket aces and Pillars couldn't find an eight. Pillars exited in fifth place for $19,823.70.

AcEGoDD was the next to go. The levels had gone up to 25,000/50,000/2,5000. After an earlier confrontation with PeachyMer in which AcEGoDD was forced to fold to an all-in re-raise, AcEGoDD decided to get his remaining 669,000 in pre-flop, pushing under the gun with Ah4h. PeachyMer woke up in the big blind with QQ. AcEGoDD was out in fourth place and picked up $37,061.

Three-handed, the tables started to turn and PeachyMer fell down to 1.5 million in chips, while pape85 and pes4fans both moved above 3 million. However, after going runner-runner for a full house, PeachyMer doubled through pes4fans to move back up to 2.5 million. Within a few minutes, all three players had nearly even stacks.

When the limits moved up to 40,000/80,000/8,000, PeachyMer had fallen back below two million in chips, pes4fans was in second place, and pape85 held the chip lead with 3.6 million. It got worse for PeachyMer when pes4fans turned the nut straight with 34 and got a value bet in on the river. A few hands later, pes4fans flopped two pair against pape85 and picked up another million chips.

PeachyMer, however, would not go away. She got AT all-in pre-flop against pes4fans' JJ. Pes4fans flopped a set, but a Q and K came as well to give PeachyMer the straight and the double-up.

And that's the way it would go for some while. PeachyMer would fall back, double up, fall back and double up. After pape85 doubled her up, he had less than 2 million chips and got them all-in pre-flop with KJ. He ran into pes4fan's QQ and was out in third place for $62,918.

Pes4fans had the chip lead by 2:1 going into heads-up play, but PeachyMer (saying, "girls don't do deals") had no interest in a chop, despite the nearly $70,000 difference between first and second place. By the 8am ET 15 minute break, pes4fans (who was playing from Germany) had worked his way up to a 3:1 chip lead.

Both players seemed to know exactly what they were doing heads up. It was a battle that didn't last forever, but very well could've had it not been for a chilly board. On a flop of 33Q, PeachyMer bet and pes4fans called. The turn was an ace. Again, PeachyMer bet and pes4fans called. The river was a six. This time PeachyMer put the rest of her chips in and pes4fans again called. PeachyMer held AQ to pes4fans' 53.

Conrgatulations to pes4fans and all the players who cashed in Event #17.

2007 WCOOP: Event #17 Final Table Results

1. pes4fans (Germany) $167,553.36
2. PeachyMer (United States)$98.946.12
3. pape85 (Finland) $62,918.70
4. AcEGoDD (United States) $37,061.70
5. Pillars (United States) $19,823.70
6. jejune524 (United States) $11,204.70

Nicolas Levi (France) - 100,300
Daniel Mangas (Spain) - 98,500
Antony Phillips (UK) - 94,600
Chris Moneymaker (US) Team PokerStars - 79,700
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) - 73,100
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier - 63,800
Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia) PokerStars qualifier - 59,800
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) PokerStars qualifier - 59,700
Anthony Lellouche (France) - 58,000
Fuat Can (Sweden) - 57,500
Ville Wahlbeck (Finland) - 56,700
Peter Gelencser (Germany) PokerStars player - 52,500
Age Spets (Norway) - 50,800
Lars Bonding (Denmark) - 50,500
Martyn Reeve (UK) PokerStars qualifier - 50,000
Pascal Perrault (France) - 49,400
Thomas Tollund (Denmark) - 48,500
Johan Spiga (France) - 46,600
Roberto Romanello (UK) - 46,500
Torbjorn Jonson (Sweden) - 45,800
Barny Boatman (UK) - 45,300
Tony Cascarino (Ireland) - 45,100
Marc Goodwin (UK) - 43,000
Samir Shakhtoor (Sweden) - 42,800
Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) Team PokerStars sponsored pro - 42,400
Andrew Buzzigoli (Italy) - 41,900
Carlo Citrone (UK) - 40,900
Javed Abrahams (UK) - 40,300
Per Hildebrand (Sweden) - 40,300
Dennis Bjerregaard (Denmark) - 39,800
Sebastian Riviere (Sweden) - 39,700
David Colclough (UK) - 39,000
Surinder Sunar (UK) - 37,900
John Conroy (Ireland) - 37,500
Marcus Lind (Denmark) PokerStars qualifier - 37,100
Sergey Rybachenko (Russia) - 36,900
Mehmet Cinar (Sweden) - 36,300
Josh Egan (New Zealand) PokerStars qualifier - 36,200
Jason Hackett (UK) - 35,200
Lam Trinh (UK) - 34,600
Ian Cox (UK) - 33,900
John Parker (UK) - 33,700
Bruno Martin (France) PokerStars qualifier - 33,300
Paul Leckey (Ireland) - 33,100
Christophe Benzimra (France) - 32,400
Dennis Plejdrup (Denmark) PokerStars qualifier - 32,300
David Sonelin (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier - 32,200
Joris Jaspers (Holland) PokerStars player - 32,100
Stig Rasmussen (Denmark) - 32,000
David Obrobac (Sweden) - 31,800
Peter Petersen (Denmark) PokerStars qualifier - 31,100
Thomas Fougeron (France) - 31,000
Patrik Antonius (Finland) - 30,400
Theo Tran (USA) PokerStars qualifier - 30,100
Andreas Hagen (Norway) - 29,700
Doug Rudling (UK) - 29,400
Joey Lovelady (UK) - 28,900
Phidias Georgiou (Cyprus) PokerStars qualifier - 27,800
Liam Flood (Ireland) - 27,200
Katja Svendsen (Norway) PokerStars qualifier - 26,700
James Dempsey (UK) PokerStars qualifier - 26,500
Ken Wong (China) - 25,900
Dave Clark (UK) - 25,600
David Daneshgar (USA) - 25,200
Andreas Krause (Germany) - 24,600
Anthony William Hardy (UK) - 23,900
Richard Ashby (UK) - 23,600
Sutha Nirmalananthan (UK) - 23,600
Thomas Bihl (Germany) - 23,500
Roland De Wolfe (UK) - 23,300
Paul Mendes (UK) - 23,100
Samir Rahal (France) - 22,900
Michael Martin (US) PokerStars qualifier - 22,500
Lewis Pilkington (UK) - 22,400
Jeffrey Rogers (UK) - 22,200
Jonothan Campbell (UK) - 22,100
Florian Langmann (Germany) - 21,700
Maz Nawab (UK) - 21,700
Jon Lundberg (Sweden) - 21,700
Dieter Dijkstra (UK) PokerStars qualifier - 20,800
Daniel Negreanu (Canada) Team PokerStars - 20,100
Ben Grundy (UK) - 20,000
Shane Reihill (Ireland) - 19,900
Jan Boubli (France) - 19,500
Jeffrey Lisandro (Australia) - 18,700
Andrew Bell (UK) PokerStars qualifier - 18,500
Ian Woodley (UK) - 18,500
Chris Moorman (UK) - 17,600
Marcel Baran (Germany) PokerStars qualifier - 17,300
John Murphy (UK) - 17,300
Alan Smurfit (Ireland) PokerStars qualifier - 16,900
Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 16,800
David Finney (UK) - 16,600
Stephan Gerin (France) - 16,600
Niclas Svensson (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier - 16,400
Pier Paolo Ruscalla (Italy) - 16,100
Per lennart Mattsson (Sweden) - 15,800
Erik Friberg (Sweden) - 15,600
Michael Greco (UK) - 15,500
Mark Vos (Australia) - 15,000
Stuart Rutter (UK) - 14,900
Richard Toth (Hungary) - 14,400
Paul Alterman (UK) - 14,300
Warren Wooldridge (UK) - 14,200
Henric Strath (Sweden) - 14,100
Stuart Fox (UK) - 13,600
Martin Smyth (Ireland) - 13,600
Samir Patel (Pakistan) - 13,500
Anders Johnsson (Sweden) - 13,300
Arild Helland (Norway) - 13,200
N Nagrecha (UK) - 13,200
Paul Campbell (UK) - 13,100
Ricardo Pinto De Sousa (Portugal) - 12,900
Guillaume Darcourt (France) - 12,300
Stuart Nash (UK) - 12,300
Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) - 12,300
Arnaud Mattern (France) - 12,200
Christopher Andler (Sweden) - 11,900
Stephane Souffir (France) - 11,800
Benjamin Roberts (Iran) - 11,700
Mattias Andersson (Sweden) - 11,600
Thomas Gilles (USA) PokerStars qualifier - 11,500
Terry Cook (UK) - 11,400
Paul Christoffersson (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier - 11,300
Magnus Cornmark (Sweden) - 11,200
Jonas Svensson (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier - 11,200
Chris Bush (Canada) Team PokerStars sponsored pro - 11,000
Liz Lieu (USA) - 10,600
Dennis Vanrijn (Holland) - 10,600
Rafael Comas (US) PokerStars qualifier - 10,600
Nicky Roeg (Holland) - 10,500
Simon Renoldi (UK) - 9,600
Manuel Palanca (UK) - 9,200
Yanick Fressenon (France) - 8,300
Kjetil Nass (Norway) PokerStars qualifier - 7,500
Daniel Dodet (Belgium) - 7,100
Geoff Sanford (Canada) - 7,000
Nicholas James Katz (UK) - 6,800
Mika Puro (Finland) - 6,600
Chris Sokrati (UK) - 6,400
Adam Heller (UK) - 6,100
Yevgeniy Timoshenko (US) PokerStars qualifier - 3,800

Another day, another day 1. And now it's over.

We started day 1b with another 215 hardly souls, each stumping up £5,200, or its online satellite win equivalent, and when the clock stopped moments ago, fewer than 90 remained. Of them, there were some very familiar names.

The tournament area in the final stages of the day

Former EPT champions Patrik Antonius, Jan Boubli and Roland de Wolfe are still standing, as well as Team PokerStars' Daniel Negreanu. The latter found railbirds flocking to his table all afternoon, especially when he was lined up beside Liz Lieu and de Wolfe. But the attention is hardly new to Kid Poker, and he stayed comfortably above the average for the entire day, ending with 20,000 and change.

The early running was made by Katja Svendsen, a PokerStars qualifier originally from Fredrikstad, Norway, but now living in Denmark. She won the first double shootout she played to earn her seat here and decided to play aggressively from the outset, taking a lot of chips from Ram Vaswani, among others, to get up to about 40,000 at one point. As the end of the day neared, she lost a few coin flips against small stacks, but her 26,700 is plenty to see her into day two.


Katja Svendsen: still alive

Also in the mix are fellow PokerStars players Joris Jaspers and Phidias Georgiou, the latter spending the end of the day seated next to Negreanu and giving him some vicious staredowns.




But the probable chip leader ("probable" only because the official list doesn't come out for about an hour) is Tony Phillips, whose stack is closing in on the 90,000 mark.

He's in pole position at this early stage to take home some of this chunk of change:

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

9th-10th -- £34,652
11th-12th -- £28,537
13th-14th -- £22,422
15th-16th -- £16,307
17th-24th -- £12,230
25th-32nd -- £8,153

As mentioned, the full counts will be here within the hour, and the remaining players from days 1a and 1b will be back at the Vic at 1 p.m. tomorrow for day two.

We'll be here as well, so be sure to check back as we get nearer the business end.

Good night from London.

Daniel Negreanu has arrived at a new table and finds himself on the right of Phidius Georgiou. On Daniel’s right is David Danashgar, but more of him later.

Daniel’s journey here wasn’t an unpleasant one, working up to a sizable stack in the first 7 levels with some trademark banter and the grin of a contented man, before finding himself here for the 8th. Now though things have changed a little, highlighted by a hand that saw him lose half of his stack to an unknown player when his jacks ran into an uncrackable pair of aces. But revenge would soon be sweet.

On a flop of T-5-2 the unknown player was again looking for action with a bet of 6,100. Daniel is usually the chatty one, happy to talk, a grin on his face like he’s attending a party thrown in his honour. But now he was suddenly quiet, seriousness had descended, this could be his tournament. Evidently Daniel decided there was only one thing to do...

“All-in.”

Whilst English only at the table is the common rule in EPT there are many languages spoken among the multinational field. So whilst you can’t hope to understand them all there is at least some common ground when it comes to involuntary purge noises, guffaws, howls of the soul that come the moment something bad happens. The unknown player made this very noise. From a country far far away yet everyone knew what he meant.

Up out of his seat all he could do was twirl round and try to compose himself.

“Please stay in your seat sir”, said the dealer.

It seemed unnecessary to tell him this - by the looks of things this leap had been caused by an excess of adrenaline coursing though his loins. But he sat back down to finish out a hand he’d thought he’d done enough to win. No so now. He mucked his cards. Hard won chips he’d taken from Daniel were now back with their original owner. That same Daniel was smiling again.

But this sign that the tide had turned back in Negreanu’s favour was not long in fading. With a board showing K-9-K David Danashgar, mentioned earlier and 4th place finisher at the EPT in Barcelona last year, was raising 1,625 from the cut off with only Daniel on the button left to face down. When he called the turn brought a 9, which in turn saw both players check. Only the river now - a 2.

2,350 from David, keeping the momentum going, asking Daniel the questions. Would Daniel call? No, he’d re-raise, doubling the initial bet. It seemed nobody had expected this, least not David who looked confused, looking at Daniel once, then twice with an expression that to the untrained eye suggested “What the hell do I do now?”

But sometimes there’s only one way to ease the curiosity, and David has proven himself to be a capable player. He called. Daniel showed A-J. Pocket Queens for David and a pot to make day 2 seem less of the mountain it could have been. No noise from Daniel who takes a knock in the closing stages of day 1b, now down to 17k.

Players have now been served their dessert, so the dinner break, which isn't really a dinner break, is over.

So, unfortunately, is the tournament for a number of players, including the likes of David Flusfeder, Neil Channing, Julian Thew, John Gale, Karl Mahrenholz and, most recently, Hevad Khan, whose jacks couldn't beat the tens of Andreas Kraus. Kraus flopped a set.

Hevad Khan: in happier days

"I don't mind," said Khan. "It's a tournament. I've played a million tournaments."

Still in the running, however, are:

Jan Boubli - 26,500
Mika Puro - 6,000
Surinder Sunar - 10,000
Ben Roberts - 9,000
Tony Cascarino - 19,000
Ben Grundy - 17,000
Joris Jaspers - 26,000
Stuart Nash - 11,000
Liz Lieu - 19,000
Katja Svensson - 22,500
Mel Judah - 9,600
Thomas Fougeron - 27,300
Praz Bansi - 14,000
Daniel Negreanu - 23,000
Roland de Wolfe - 8,500
Noah Boeken - 6,000
Carlo Citrone - 25,000
Patrik Antonius - 27,000
David Davies - 11,000
James Dempsey - 7,500
Phideus Georgio - 7,100
Andreas Kraus - 34,000
Richard Ashby - 20,000
Magnus Petersson - 18,000
Martin de Knijffe - 6,000

Gold rimmed sunglasses – sunglasses of the expensive kind, black clothes and a few days beard. Cap on backwards, shirt open at the neck and hands going haywire on a stack of chips measuring 11k.

This is 28 year old Phidias Georgiou. The Cypriot supernova is a rugged looking guy, the type cast to play Sergeants in old war films, no nonsense men who lead from the front. He’s not at the front, not here at least, but he looks like he should be and maybe looking the part is good enough.

James Dempsey is also at this table, opposite Phidias, who also qualified on Stars and knocked Phidias out in the satellite before he qualified. Nice coincidence and they tap knuckles in that way only cool kids know, talking of old times before the next hand.

First EPT – how was it going?

“Do you mind if we go outside so I can smoke?”

The man looked like he could do with a breather, nicotine or otherwise. Standing outside in the light drizzle seemed the least I could do.

“It’s my first big live event although I used to live in London and played at the Vic and at Gutshot. My table is okay with two aggressive players, on my left. I lost half of my stack in the first half an hour but I’m back up to 11k – I’m fine.”

It’s a table that doesn’t feature the kind of names that will gather a crowd, just poker. Soon it’s back to it, headphones back in, glasses back on, chips back in hand.

It's a fairly safe bet that most PokerStars blog readers have played the occasional hand of online poker. And it's highly likely that they've watched one or two television shows where some of the top names in this game have riffled a few chips.

But it's not quite so certain that everyone has actually witnessed one of these major live events in the flesh; perhaps you haven't bumped and slithered your way through a throng of observers to a temporary rail beside a clutch of densely packed tables, where two hundred or so slouched men and women are grumbling a small vocabulary of acknowledged phrases in the pursuit of half a million quid. Or something like that.

So, in a bid to translate some of this to your living room, office, study, or wherever you read the PokerStars blog, please join us for the first in an occasional series of "Round with..." where your reporter stands stock-still for an entire orbit of a day one table and absorbs exactly what's really going on on the EPT.

Today's table was not, I confess, selected at random. While television usually only shows the final table of these major events, the real winners first know how to get themselves there. And that means navigating through all the early levels, where there are considerably more hazards. And seated on the same table today are two real winners: Daniel Negreanu and Roland de Wolfe, sandwiching Liz Lieu, who also knows a thing or two about poker tournaments.

Kid Poker on the EPT

So, welcome to "Round with Daniel Negreanu". Here's how it panned out.

Hand one - Roland de Wolfe in the big blind
Liz Lieu calls under-the-gun and Roland checks his option. The flop comes jack-high and Liz takes it down with a pot-sized bet.

Hand two - Roland de Wolfe is in the small blind; Liz Lieu big blind
Daniel Negreanu calls under-the-gun. Liz checks her option and they see a seven high flop. Check. Check. The turn is the ace of hearts, and Daniel bets 700, which is enough. Liz folds.

Hand three - Roland de Wolfe is on the button; Liz in small blind; Daniel big
It's folded round to Liz in the small blind - including a rare decision not to raise from the button from Roland. Liz makes up the blind and they see a flop of 3-4-4. Daniel bets and Liz calls. The turn is the seven of clubs and this time Liz leads out for 1,000. Daniel calls. The queen of diamonds came on the river and Liz bet 1,600. After much anguish Daniel called and was shown aces from Liz. "I bet you wish I'd have raised from the button," said Roland, and Liz's giggles were assumed to be in the affirmative.

Hand four - Liz Lieu is on the button; Daniel in the small blind
It's folded to Daniel, who makes up the blind. He then bets on a jack high rainbow flop and wins.

Hand five
An early position raise is then re-raised from one seat along. Roland de Wolfe, who hasn't been paying a great deal of attention, suddenly blurts out "Raise! Re-raise!" and folds. Liz Lieu then says "This is my chance to triple up," and then also folds. As the play continues between the two early raisers, a controversy breaks out between Daniel Negreanu and ... the waitress. She offers a choice of beef, chicken or salmon for tonight's table-side dinner and Daniel, a strict vegetarian, says: "I thought I could get falafel." The argument rages for a moment, before Daniel is placated by the promise of falafel.

The flop, meanwhile, comes Kh-2h-Ac and one of the early raisers puts 3,600 into the pot. The other one folds, but no one really notices because another dinner-centred brouhaha erupts on a neighbouring table. This time, the wait staff delivering cutlery to the players knocks a drink over Stuart Nash's trousers. The result is censored for readers of a family blog, but Ian Frazer, sitting next to Nash, giggles sheepishly at the expletive-laden reaction. So does Roland de Wolfe, who has a tendency to giggle sheepishly at quite a lot.

The dealer shuffles up and gets on with...

Hand six
Roland calls, as does Daniel Negreanu in the cut off. The big blind checks his option and three of them see an ace-high flop. The big blind checks and Roland bets 700 (blinds, by the way, are 150-300). Everyone folds and Roland says: "I've got ten-seven," which he duly shows. That's no pair, nor no draw, but it takes it down.

Hand seven
An mid-position raiser is called by the big blind, who gets out the way when the original raiser slips in a continuation bet on a queen-high flop.

Hand eight
The player under-the-gun limps, and Daniel Negreanu raises to 800, which is called by three other players. The flop comes 3d-Jc-9c, which is checked by all. The turn is the Ah, which is checked round again, before the 3h falls on the river. This brings a bet of 1,500 from the big blind, and everyone folds.

Hand nine
The big blind gets a walk.

At the start of this brief odyssey, Daniel Negreanu had about 17,000 in chips, as did Roland. At the end of it, they had about 17,000 in chips. Liz had 11,000 at the start and increased her stack by about 1,000.

As you can see, it's not always queens against ace-king, all in pre-flop.

Joris Jaspers and Matthias Neu were enjoying a quick chat about their current prognosis as play stopped for a break after level 4. Both find themselves at the same table with little room for camaraderie - a table that includes the scenery of William Thorson, Daniel Dodet and Carlo Citrone.

“It’s not too good” says Matthais. “I’m down to 6k.”
“I’m on 14.2k chips” says Joris, a touch more relief in his voice from less of that stress which accompanies a short stack and grinds away at your sense of fair play.

Joris played the EPT Barcelona earlier this month, climbing to 7th in chips at the end of day 1. “Then I blew it on day 2!” A native of Holland, a country half underwater, it seemed appropriate to say that Joris is here to plug the leak in his own game that saw his collapse in Spain.

For the German Matthias meanwhile this is his first taste of EPT action, although his experiences at the WSOP gave him a taste of live casino poker.

“There’s a difference though. The level of play on the EPT is higher.”

We’ll see how that bodes for Joris and Matthias as the day progresses.

Katul Nathwani (born2dogbaby) and Tom Bentham (tjbentham) both of London, are more familiar with the high stakes cash games on PokerStars.com than the slow confines of live tournament poker, and both are suffering. Aged 22 they’ve each opted to ditch the university life of Maths and Computing in favour of dedicating themselves to full time poker. Any lessons today? Well, one of them lost his chips early in a heroic chase for the nuts, whilst the other has found early fair winds turning stormy.

“I had a straight flush draw earlier” said Tom, “and lost a lot of chips on that! I’m crippled with a short stack. I don’t mind it but I prefer deep stack games – I’m more of a cash game player.”

Ketul’s story wasn’t dramatic but was creeping towards the same end result - a short stack.

“I had a few chips at the start when I was just raising and raising. I’m still doing the raising but now I’m losing the chips back!”

No use worrying now, both are still in the game looking for a change of gear. From there anything can happen.

Just as every poker player has his or her own style, developed through their years and months (or sometimes minutes) of play, every table in these major tournaments also begins adopting some very definite characteristics.

Through some quirk of scheduling -- or maybe just the law of averages -- there is often at least three tables of maniacs, tossing chips around as though they're sowing seeds, as well as a couple of rock gardens, where some of the seeds inevitably end up lodging as the players themselves scatter across the room.

There is also, without exception, a great discrepancy in the level of noise that is generated by each table. While some are surrounded by ten statues producing nothing louder than a tinny drone from the wrong side of twenty I-Pod headphones, others resemble nothing more than a meeting of mothers who have brought their mothers and their mother's mothers along for motherly natter on a cold morning, not as cold as it was last week, but still quite nippy in that draft there, isn't it.

Today's mothers' meeting features some of the best-known natterers in the business: Neil Channing, Nik Persaud and Noah Boeken, of Team PokerStars fame. And they're hardly attempting to quash the sterotype.

Noah "Exclusive" Boeken

"You're such a limit player, Noah," gibed Nik Persaud a moment ago after "Exclusive" had called a button raise with 10-6 suited and rivered a full house.
"You got to play those cards," said Noah.
"Who else is a limit player?" Nik asked. "You're a limit player," he continued, pointing to seat nine. "That explains that call with ace-queen."
"I had the best hand," said seat nine.
"Limited skill player," mumbled Noah.

A couple of orbits later and Nik and Noah were crossing swords as well as words. Nik stuck in a decent bet with four cards already exposed, and Noah passed. Nik flipped up six-seven off-suit which, after a quick check of the board, was round about seven-high, no draw.

"I knew he had nothing," chimed seat four.

Etc., etc., etc......

"TeflonCoated" is the handle Englishman David Davies plays under on PokerStars.com and judging by at the line up of his table a touch of the Teflon coating might indeed be in order. He sits with Andrew O’Flaherty, Julian Thew, Ben Grundy and John Gale and faces a long storm if he’s to make it through day 1b.

That said David is no stranger to this game, no newbie making his first venture into the world of live casino poker. The 54 year old father of three from Altrincham near Manchester in England, began playing poker over 35 years ago “in establishments where you need to be well connected or known to the right people to get out with your winnings.”

David Davies

Right now he’s enjoying a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere regardless of the ferocious opposition. A first pot does well to ease the nerves and as John Gale sat opposite inspects the canapé offerings of vegetable samosas and fish blinis, a little shine appears on Teflon as he rakes in a pot against Ben Grundy, betting all the way to the river before Grundy mucked his hand.

I caught up with David at the break.

“It’s a good table with John Gale, Julian Thew and Ben Grundy - some very entertaining banter. And I’m where I want to be – slightly up. The EPT is the biggest tournament I’ve played to date and marks a kind of return to poker that I’m making.”

David was brought back to the game after his son Brett, a University student asked for the basics of the game when he started to play 2 years ago. Father helped son and then father started playing himself, online at PokerStars.com. Now it’s a game the whole family plays including his other son, an officer in the British Army’s Logistics Corp (known to win a few quid from the enlisted men.)

“There aren’t many father son teams in poker and my son Brett and I are hoping top both qualify for more tournaments.”

So is it good to be back on the poker scene all these years later, albeit in different and more serene settings.

“It’s like a time warp. I look at the internet players playing so aggressively but here it seems a lot slower. I’m playing alongside older guys, rather than the young kids, so it’s a more relaxed game.”

We’ll keep tabs on ‘TeflonCoated’ David as the day progresses...

Tournament update:

It's rare that these early stages generate a great number of stories, but in keeping with yesterday's slaughter, it's been tough out there so far.

Already on the rail are former EPT champions Thang Duc Nguyen, Ram Vaswani and Gavin Griffin, while Carlo Citrone and John Gale have also departed.

The likely assassin of Ram (although this is not yet confirmed) is Katja Svendsen, a PokerStars qualifier from Denmark. Katja was tangling with Ram early in level one, and is now sitting behind more than 30,000 in chips, while the Hendon Mobster is on the rail. Two plus two equals...?


Katja Svendsson

We'll catch up with her soon to get the story.

The casino has just announced the payout structure. Here it is...

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

9th-10th -- £34,652
11th-12th -- £28,537
13th-14th -- £22,422
15th-16th -- £16,307
17th-24th -- £12,230
25th-32nd -- £8,153

Welcome back to the PokerStars.com EPT in London

Day 1b is about to get underway, the second act of a five act play which culminates in the finale on Saturday where, following the elimination of defending champion Vicky Coren yesterday, a new EPT London Champion will be crowned.

As the clock struck noon players were already gathered outside the Victoria Casino in the heart of sunny London’s Edgware Road. As staff opened the doors the hectic formalities of player registration began, the first step towards a seat at a table and 10,000 starting chips.

As happened yesterday they’ll be eight one hour levels with the blinds starting at 25/50. Registration is still open to tempt curious passers-by or for poker players in the area to reconsider their plans for the day. They’ll join the 200 expected today, each paying £5,200 or $10,480. Just to be thorough, that’s €7,400.

Here's some of the players you'd be up against:

Daniel Negreanu - Canada - Team PokerStars
Needing very little introduction, Negreanu is one of the undoubted heavyweights in the world game and joined Team PokerStars this year. Made his debut on the EPT in Barcelona last month, before leading Canada to a creditable third place in the World Cup of Poker.

Daniel Negreanu

Noah Boeken - Holland - Team PokerStars
A former rising star now turned star full stop, Boeken made two final tables on season one of the EPT, securing the title in Copenhagen. Gunning to be the first player to win two EPT titles.

Hevad Khan - USA - Team PokerStars
Making his debut on the EPT and also as a member of Team PokerStars, Khan, better known as RaiNKhaN on the site, made the World Series main event final table this year to bolster a terrific string of online results. Winner of last weekend's Hold 'Em 100.

Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan

Gavin Griffin - USA - PokerStars sponsored player
Winner of last season's EPT Grand Final, for more than a million euros, Griffin also has a World Series bracelet and pink hair.

Gavin Griffin

David Flusfeder - England - PokerStars sponsored player
Novelist and journalist, Flusfeder writes the poker column for the Sunday Telegraph, as well as a blog detailing recent poker expoits. Those include a cash in this summer's World Series main event.

Joe Beevers - England
As well-known as they come on the European poker scene, Beevers has 12 WSOP cashes and won the 2004 Four Queens Classic in Las Vegas. A member of the Hendon Mob, lining up alongside Ram Vaswani today.

Joe Beevers

Iwan Jones - Wales - PokerStars qualifier
Here a PokerStars qualifier, Jones has a string of excellent results in the live arena, including a $750,000 payday in the inaugural London Open in 2005.

John Gale - England
A WPT and WSOP champion, Gale is one of only a handful of players in with a shot of claiming the trio of poker's top prizes. Just the EPT title eludes him.

Andy Black - Ireland
Made the WSOP main event final table in 2005 and, with two more final table appearances in the 2007 series and seventh in the EPT Grand Final, is among the top tournament players in the world.

Alan Betson - Ireland
Veteran Irish pro, with countless high-ranking results in major tournaments, including a 12th place in the EPT in Vienna in season two.

Stuart Nash - UK
Wily veteran of the UK poker scene and a regular at the Vic, Nash made the final table of the EPT event in Deauville during season two.

Sander Lylloff - Denmark
The form horse going into today's tournament, Lylloff won the first event on this season's EPT in Barcelona last month.

Thang Nguyen - Germany
Another PokerStars qualifier with exceptional live pedigree, Thang won last year's EPT event in Baden.

Erik Friberg - Sweden
Made the final table of the World Series main event in 2006 having qualified on PokerStars and followed up this year with third in the $5,000 short-handed event.

Thomas Brolin - Sweden
Former Leeds, Crystal Palace and Sweden international footballer, whose goal famously ended England's qualification chances for the European Championship.

Peter Hedlund - Sweden
One of the first players to join the EPT circuit – winning €1,100 for 25th place at the first event in Barcelona in 2004. Also made the money three years in a row at the WSOP.

Thomas Fougeron - France
An EPT regular, with three cashes including one final table, Fougeron is among the most popular French players on the circuit.

Richard Ashby - England
Well known and well respected cash player, Ashby also has six WSOP cashes including two final tables.

James Vogl - England
Burst onto the poker scene when he won a World Series bracelet aged 24 in 2004, as well as two other cashes. Has focused more on business concerns in the past few years but is returning to the tournament scene for his hometown EPT.

Steve Zolotow - USA
Hugely respected American veteran who was cashing in the WSOP before many of today's young guns were born. Has made the money 34 times in series events, including a bracelt win in 2001.

Praz Bansi - England
The Londoner crashed the poker scene in 2006 when he won a WSOP bracelet before going on to boast a string of UK tournament wins including a GUKPT title earlier this year.

Karl Mahrenholz - England
Another young gun on the UK poker scene Karl has had GUKPT success this year and has wins across the world. He has also clocked up four WSOP cashes.

Thomas Wahlroos - Finland
The outspoken Finn is either out early or has a stack of chips at the end of the day. It comes with having such an aggressive ‘no-fear’ style of play that has seen him become a player to be feared in any tournament.

Thomas Wahlroos

Ram Vaswani – England
One quarter of the notorious Hendon Mob, Ram won the inaugural EPT Dublin event and finished second in Copenhagen in the same year. He has two other final table appearances to his name including the Monte Carlo Grand final last March.

Ram Vaswani

Ben Grundy - England
Known as “The Milkybar Kid” for his youthful appearance, Ben is one of the UK’s internet poker maestros and has had his share of EPT success with four cashes which included a final table appearance in season 1. He narrowly missed out on doing the same in season 2, finishing 9th.

Fabrice Soullier - France
The Frenchman featured in the documentary “That’s Poker” showing life as a young journeyman pro in Las Vegas. The former TV director who lives in Las Vegas, cashed in the EPT Barcelona earlier this month.

Fabrice Soullier

Alexander Stevic - Sweden
When Alexander cashes in an EPT he pretty much comes close to winning it. He’s done it twice so far, winning in Barcelona in season 1 to become the first ever EPT winner after a gripping 4 hour heads up battle David O’Callaghan, and then third in the Grand Final that year.

Liz Lieu – United States
The Los Angeles native, formerly of Vietnam is a former dealer now professional poker player. The former cash player turned to tournament poker in 2005 and has had cashes in the WSOP and the WPT.

Neil Channing – England
A regular on the UK poker scene playing in his ‘Office’ here at the Victoria Casino. The former bookie finished 13th here last year and has had success across the Atlantic cashing 7 times in the WSOP. He also won the Grosvenor World Masters here in 2006.

Carlo Citrone - England
A UK poker rounder from the Northeast, The TV commentator/pundit is looking for his first EPT cash on home turf.

Surinder Sunar - England
The English pro, typically described as quiet, was a regular on the revolutionary Late Night Poker series with under the table card cameras that brought poker to TV screens across the world.

Surinder Sunar

Patrik Antonius – Finland
One of poker’s sensations. The former Tennis pro’s breakout year came in 2005 when he one the season 2 EPT Baden and came 3rd at the EPT Barcelona. He then narrowly missed out on WPT success at Bellagio the same year.

Theo Jorgensen - Denmark
Made the final table of the recent WSOP Europe finishing 8th. His EPT record is equally impressive with two 4th place finishes in Deauville in season 2 and again in Copenhagen in season 3. Apparently one of the best rifflers in the game.

Keith Hawkins - England
English pro known as “The Camel”. The PokerStars qualifier and father of one is a massive online player and fan of Queens Park Rangers.

Juha Helppi - Finland
The Finn is an extreme poker champion, winning a much publicised game underwater against the likes of Phil Laak. The honour of the next venue was his and Juha picked the frozen tundra of his native country.

Peter Eichhardt - Sweden
Former card dealer Peter Eichhardt, a pro for 12 years, has cashed in dozens of tournaments across Europe and in Vegas. He made the final table in Baden in season 3 and at the EPT Deauville in season 2. A keen practitioner of the Japanese martial art Bujinkan.

Peter Eichhardt

Roland de Wolfe - England
Former journalist turned champion poker player. He became the first player to win both a WPT and EPT event when he won the EPT Dublin in season 3. A regular on the EPT and always a threat.

Julian Thew - England
The former draughtsman now in his third year as a pro has 6 EPT cashes to his name including two final tables in season 1, Most notably of those was his fourth place finish in Copenhagen that year. Julian finished 6th in the Amsterdam Master Classics in 2005.

John Shipley - England
Winner of the EPT London in season one the man from Solihull will be looking to repeat past glory at The Vic. Came 7th in the WSOP main event in 2002, one of 11 WSOP cashes.

Omaha, by nature, is a gambler's game. Make it pot-limit and it becomes like walking on a tightrope. Make it hi-lo and you might as well have greased your feet and told the ring master to do away with the net.

And that's what makes it so much fun.

More than 1,500 people put up $320 a piece to play in Event #16, Pot-Limit Omaha/8. It was an event sure to be a wild ride. Picking who would end at the final table was impossible. We simply had to wait about 12 hours and see who survived the tightrope walk.



Seat 1: VicVega9 (425024 in chips)
Seat 2: tiger76 (1108988 in chips)
Seat 3: GotGame76 (457804 in chips)
Seat 4: phyllis (660454 in chips)
Seat 5: mikiantimd (192693 in chips)
Seat 6: PokerSavage1 (632000 in chips)
Seat 7: mrmanorman (204044 in chips)
Seat 8: INKO05 (640274 in chips)
Seat 9: Jackarama (286719 in chips)

Phyllis, a longtime and familiar PokerStars player, came into the final table with one of the top three chip stacks and seemed to be on a mission to play as many pots as possible. Involved in a couple of early hands, phyllis only came away with a chop. Staying on the offensive, phyllis came in for raise to 42,000. INKO05 popped phyllis back and made it 132,000 to play. Phyllis called the additional 90,000 and they saw a flop of 5cTd7d. INKO05 bet 270,000 and phyllis got the rest of the chips in the middle. Phyllis held 3cTc7sAh for two pair and the second nut low draw. INKO95 held As4dTsAd-- one pair, a flush draw, and the third nut low. The turn, a three of diamonds, was a killer for phyllis. The low draw evaporated and INKO05 picked up the nut flush. Phyllis needed to pair a card for a boat, but the queen on the river didn't cooperate and Phyllis was out in ninth place for $4,417.20.

Mikiantimd was getting a little short and sat on 150,000 chips. He got a free flop in the big blind and saw 6h7c8h. Both he and HotGame76 checked. The turn was the Qc. GotGame76 bet out and mikiantimd raised to 90,000. GotGame76 called. The river was the eight of diamonds. GotGame76 bet enough to put mikiantimd all-in, and so it was. 'Twas a hard turn and river for mikiantimd. He held Kd9d6c6d for the flopped set of sixes and the rivered full house. Unfortunately for him, GotGame76 held 9sQsAc8c for the runner-runner boat. Mikiantimd went out in eighth, cashing for $7,050.24.

VicVega9 was the next to go. He got it all-in pre-flop against INKO05. VicVega9 held 5cQcAs3s to INKO05's monster AcJdAd2s. By the river, VicVega9 only held a pair of threes and a worthless low to INKO05's aces and nut low. VicVega9 picked up $11,427 for seventh place.

Jackarama is one of those people you never miss when he enters a room. His exit was no less eye-catching. Afer calling a INKO05 raise, jackarama saw a 8d6s8s flop. A back and for betting battle ensued and ended with all the chips in. Jackarama held 4cKs5dKc for kings and rthe gutshot draw. However, INKO05 had him in trouble. Jackarama was up against trip eights and by the river was crushed by INKO05's boat. Jackarama went out in sixth and cashed for $16,128.

Mrmanorman followed closely behind. He got all his chips in on a flop holding the nut low draw and a gutshot straight raw. Both draws missed and tiger76's flopped set boated up on the turn. Mrmanorman finished in fifth place for $21,196.

With the stacks now a lot deeper, the four-handed battle lost some of its devil-may-care attitude. The remaining players played tough poker, as careful as they could under the game's in-your-face scariness. The players played for half an hour before another player went down.

PokerSavage1 lost his internet connection for a moment and, when he came back, immeditely got his stack in the middle pre-flop against GotGame76, PokerSavage1 held Ah2d4cKd to GotGame76's 5s4h6hAd. An ace and six fell on the flop and another ace fell on the turn, giving GotGame76 a full house. PokerSavage1 still had outs for a bigger boat and a low, but the river was a nine and PokerSavage1 was out in fourth place, earning $27,095.

Three-handed, the players cut a quick deal, leaving $14,000 on the table for first place.

tiger76 - $47,419
GotGame - $68,974
INKO05 - $46,784

With prize money locked up, the stacks started to move. On the first hand out of the break, tiger76 and INKO05 got it all-in on a flop of 2hAh6s. INK005 held 8cAcJsQc to tiger76's 5sKh7hAs. A deuce on the turn and nine on the river pushed the pot tiger76 and put INKO05 on life support. He was out a few hands later in third place.

Within a few hands of heads-up play, GotGame76 hand jumped out to a 2-1 chip lead, but tiger76 was not going to be tamed that easy. It took just a few more hands for tiger76 to take over. He flopped the nut flush draw to GotGame76's two pair. They got it all-in on the flop and tiger76 hit his flush on the turn. With a lead in hand, tiger76 lunged for the bracelet. He called GotGame76's raise and they saw the flop: 8s3c5h. GotGame76 bet out 100,000, tiger76 raise to 450,000 and GotGame76 called. When the seven of diamonds fell on the turn, they got it all in. Tiger76 held 4sKcTh2s to GotGame76's 2hAsTdQh. GotGame76 was ahead until an ace hit the river and gave tiger76 the wheel and the WCOOP gold bracelet.

2007 WCOOP Event #16 Final Table Report
Based on finishing order and a three-way deal that left $14,000 for first place

1. tiger76 (United States) $61,419.00
2. GotGame76 (United States) $68,974.00
3. INKO05 (Switzerland) $46,784.00
4. PokerSavage1 (United States) $27,095.04
5. mrmanorman (United States) $21,196.80
6. Jackarama (United Kingdom) $16,128.00
7. VicVega9 (United States) $11,427.84
8. mikiantimd (Spain) $7,050.24
9. phyllis (United States) $4,147.20

The complete chip counts from Day 1A are as follows:

Nicolas Levi France 100,300
Daniel Mangas Spain 98,500
Chris Moneymaker US 79,700 Team PokerStars
Ola Brandborn Sweden 73,100
Vijayan Nagarajan Malaysia 59,800 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ville Wahlbeck Finland 56,700
Peter Gelencser Germany 52,500 Sponsored player
Age Spets Norway 50,800
Martyn Reeve UK 50,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Pascal Perrault France 49,400
Johan Spiga France 46,600
Torbjorn Jonson Sweden 45,800
Barny Boatman UK 45,300
Marc Goodwin UK 43,000
Andrew Buzzigoli Italy 41,900
David Colclough UK 39,000
Marcus Lind Denmark 37,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Mehmet Cinar Sweden 36,300
Josh Egan New Zealand 36,200 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jason Hackett UK 35,200
Bruno Martin France 33,300 (PokerStars qualifier)
Christophe Benzimra France 32,400
Dennis Plejdrup Denmark 32,300 (PokerStars qualifier)
Peter Petersen Denmark 31,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Theo Tran USA 30,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Andreas Hagen Norway 29,700
Liam Flood Ireland 27,200
Anthony William Hardy UK 23,900
Sutha Nirmalananthan UK 23,600
Paul Mendes UK 23,100
Michael Martin US 22,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jeffrey Rogers UK 22,200
Jon Lundberg Sweden 21,700
Dieter Dijkstra UK 20,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Shane Reihill Ireland 19,900
Jeffrey Lisandro Australia 18,700
Niclas Svensson Sweden 16,400 (PokerStars qualifier)
Pier Paolo Ruscalla Italy 16,100
Per lennart Mattsson Sweden 15,800
Michael Greco UK 15,500
Mark Vos Australia 15,000
Richard Toth Hungary 14,400
Henric Strath Sweden 14,100
Martin Smyth Ireland 13,600
Samir Patel Pakistan 13,500
Ricardo Pinto De Sousa Portugal 12,900
Arnaud Mattern France 12,200
Christopher Andler Sweden 11,900
Stephane Souffir France 11,800
Mattias Andersson Sweden 11,600
Paul Christoffersson Sweden 11,300 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jonas Svensson Sweden 11,200 (PokerStars qualifier)
Chris Bush Canada 11,000 Sponsored player
Rafael Comas US 10,600 (PokerStars qualifier)
Nicky Roeg Holland 10,500
Yanick Fressenon France 8,300
Kjetil Nass Norway 7,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Geoff Sanford Canada 7,000
Nicholas James Katz UK 6,800
Yevgeniy Timoshenko US 3,800 (PokerStars qualifier)

Day 1B commences at 1 p.m. GMT Wednesday.

EPT London: bagging up

Day 1a started as a story of canapés after lunch and then a leisurely dinner at the table. A relaxed afternoon of poker you might have expected, but the reality was a pace much less enjoyable.

As PokerStars qualifier Vijayan Nagarajan found out the going can be tough when the big names are headed your way, but the Malaysian still managed to make it through the eight levels. Each time I spoke to Vijayan he answered in an unassuming manner - things were fine, he’d be happy to make it through the last hour, he’d said. That was one way of looking at it. He finished with close to 60k, more than enough to make day two an interesting one.

Another of the day’s stories centred around the dreadlocked Rafael Comas who started the day alongside the equally long haired Jani Sointula before bouncing around the cardroom to various tables, spending one period alongside Team PokerStar’s Chris Moneymaker (“I took 15,000 off him in half an hour”), on his mission to reach day two. Rafael, a former bodyshop owner, coasted to the end of play today as next to him Johnny Lodden move all-in on each hand played in the last ten minutes (Lodden went out on the last hand of the day).

Others were destined to fall by the wayside. As Team PokerStars’ Katja Thater fell in the first levels last year’s EPT Baden runner-up Ben Johnson followed and was out into the London touristic night before he could be joined by the likes of Victoria Coren, Donnacha O’Dea and the green haired (all done for charity we hear) Gary Jones.

But the night would belong in the most part to Chris Moneymaker. The 2003 World Champion built on his stack throughout the day (run in with Rafael notwithstanding) before he eliminated one of the stalwarts of British poker in Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott with 15 minutes in the day to play. “Lucky” Devilfish called it. Moneymaker may think otherwise.

That would be the last big hand of the night. Day 1a here in London comes to a close.

And if you're just tuning in, here's what you may have missed:

Cards in the air: introducing the players

Early stages: welcome to William Franceschine and Vijayan Nagarajan

Rafael Camos: making money from Moneymaker

Tournament firsts: Ben Johnson

Thinning the field: the dearly departed

Thinning the field: the dearly departed

Ryan Nathan: from a land down under

Pardon the nostalgia trip

There are two oft-repeated truisms about poker in Britain that don't get any less true the more oft they are repeated. One: the Vic is the spiritual home of the game in the country, and two: "Late Night Poker" really was a brilliant television show.

This week's EPT in London means the collision of these two, with the venerable establishment playing host to many of the faces who first came blinking into the limelight in the much-missed Channel Four programme. And just now, there was a real sight for the connosseurs when Barny Boatman and Liam Flood, both of whom were "Late Night Poker" regulars, clashed in a hand that had the railbirds crying out for "those famous under-the-table cameras," as Jesse May might have said.

Liam raised from the button and Barny called from the big blind. ("Explain that dealer button, Barny.") The flop brought rags - jack-seven-eight - but Barny bet and Liam called. They saw the turn - a deuce - and Barny bet, Liam raised and Barny moved all in.

"He's just moved all in!" we could practically hear Jesse screeching from his commentator's perch. But without those cameras, we were never see the cards.

Liam shrugged, nodded, frowned and folded. One that will never be screened, more's the pity.

* * * * *

Moments later, another "Late Night Poker" stalwart, and arguably the first poker superstar Britain produced thanks to his victory in the first series, made his way out of the door. It was fitting in some way that Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot (for it was he) was eliminated by Chris Moneymaker, whose story also has something to do with the start of the poker boom.

Chris Moneymaker: looming large in London

There was a raise from early position and Devilfish bumped it up to about 8,000. Chris Moneymaker, on the button, asked Ulliot how much he had, and was shown about another 20,000. The PokerStars player and former World Champ moved in and had the fish covered, in more ways than one.

After the initial raiser got out the way, Ulliot checked the clock (15 minutes until the end of the day), recounted his stack and said: "You're a lucky boy." He called.

Devilfish flipped jacks, but Moneymaker had aces and may have taken the chip lead with this huge pot late on on day 1A.

Table 7 is practically a bastion of PokerStars. Three men at work, line astern and each a healthy stack. Rosiest of the three is Marcus Lind, in a white cap flecked with a floral pattern of brightly coloured paint. He has an equally colourful stack - two brown chips, each worth 5k guard several towers of blues adding up to over 50k, not bad when you consider the opposition at the other includes Mark Vos and the gentleman Liam Flood.

Also still here after a full seven levels is Rayan Nathan. The Australian is playing his third EPT. He qualified for the Monte Carlo Grand Final on PokerStars last March and bought into Barcelona earlier this month with W$. Doing the same again in London he’s looking to improve on a cash finish in Monte Carlo and a ‘One table off cashing’ finish in Spain.

Rayan Nathan

The task might be a little easier if he wasn’t sitting with Jani Sointula, Dennis Plejdrup, Barny Boatman and Michael Greco. Each of them has posed some threat today, highlighted neatly by Rayan’s volatile stack.

“I was okay, up to 14k. Then I lost some with A-J against K-T when he made a straight. Now I’m down to 8k. I’m in trouble.”

The man from Adelaide is still chipper though, looking for a boost in the last hour before the end of play.

Another man still on the happy side of calm is Vijayan Nagarajan, sat alongside the likes of Marc Goodwin and EPT Dortmund Champion Andreas Hoivold - in the midst of a marathon massage.

“I have something like 25k” Said Vijayan. “The big stacks are vicious but one of them doubled me up so I can’t complain! I just want to get through the next hour.”

When the timetable was first published for this renewal of the EPT at the Vic, many commentators (this one included) were sceptical that the tournament playing time of 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. would be strictly adhered to. Anyone who's ever been to a major tournament knows that punctuality is not often a poker player's strongest suit, while they also seem reluctant to leave at the end of the night, short stack or no short stack.

But, I confess, we were all wrong. Although the tournament kicked off slightly late, the half-hour delay was, in poker terms, bang on cue. And, what's more, they're dropping like flies. We were down to 90 players when I checked up on Dario Minieri on table one and, unfortunately, we were swiftly down to 89.

I've watched Minieri in a number of tournaments, and if ever the phrase "live by the sword, die by the sword" applied to anyone, the Italian SuperNova is it. His out hands are usually something similar to the hands with which he accumulates a monster stack of chips, and this one was no different. Jack-three of diamonds ran into Dave Colclough's ace-king of clubs and that was that for Minieri.

The game's up for Dario Minieri

Slightly earlier in the night, we also lost his compatriot and fellow Team PokerStars member Luca Pagano. He ran ace-king into aces, and with a king on the board, it was always all going in. And Luca departed.

Victoria Coren also took the walk: her ace-jack couldn't overtake the ace-king of Dennis Plejdrup, the PokerStars qualifier from Denmark. Plejdrup wasn't satisfied with taking out just Vicky in that pot. The ace on the flop meant he also knocked out another player holding queens. Plejdrup is somewhere near the 25,000 mark.


Victoria Coren: no longer the Queen of the Vic

One other thing: we're playing ten-handed here in London in these relatively early stages, and that means that some real tables of death were always likely to occur. How about, for instance, Marc Goodwin, Andreas Hoivold, Jeff Lissandro, Ola Brandborn, Dag Mikkelsen and Jonas Molander, all on table six. Or Jani Sointula, Rayan Nathan, Dennis Plejdrup, Barny Boatman and Michael Greco all on table four.

Table of death one: Marc Goodwin, Andras Hoivold, Jeff Lissandro, Ola Brandborn, Jonas Molander, among others

Table of death two: Rayan Nathan, Dennis Plejdrup, Barny Boatman, Michael Greco,among others

Also, on table two, Johnny Lodden is playing into Rafael Comas (who just knocked out Mark Teltscher), and Chris Moneymaker is tangling Devilfish on table four. As mentioned above, David Colclough just despatched Dario Minieri but he's still got Pascal Perrault to contend with.

It's going to get nasty.

Just taken a quick walk of the floor to discover the following:

David Colclough -- 15,000
Dario Minieri -- 13,500
Johnny Lodden -- 12,000
Brandon Schaefer -- 11,000
Illari Sahamies -- 4,800
Rafael Camos -- 24,000
Chris Moneymaker -- 17,000
Mark Teltscher -- 10,500
Jonas Molander -- 7,500
Mickey Wernick -- 19,500
Andreas Hoivold -- 13,000
Dag Mikkelsen -- 51,000
Ola Brandborn -- 13,000
Barny Boatman -- 32,000
Dennis Plejdrup -- 19,500
Mats Iremark -- 2,500
Liam Flood -- 15,000
Mark Vos -- 28,000
Dave Ulliot -- 18,000
Michael Greco -- 21,000
Willie Tann -- 2,500
Christer Johansson -- 7,300
Paul Testud -- 10,000
Pascal Perrault -- 30,800
Andreas Hagen -- 7,500
Age Spets -- 33,500
Vijayan Nagarajan -- 22,200
Jeff Lisandro -- 31,500
Martin Wendt -- 5,100
Marc Goodwin -- 40,000 ("About 39k more than usual")
Ville Wahlbeck -- 10,600
Jani Sointula -- 4,000

Notable eliminations:
Victoria Coren
Donnacha O'Dea
Gary Jones

Stick around and you’ll see a lot of firsts at an EPT. In fact the London event last year marked the first female winner of an EPT when Vicky Coren took the honours here in her local casino. But there’s been nothing close to the sight of 150 poker players eating at the table simultaneously.

Like the canteen at school where kids must eat on demand, bowls of grub in various colours (selected earlier) are being chomped on as players check cards, pausing only to wipe their hands on their trousers. They seem happy to play on without a dinner break – the reason for this group feed on The Vic casino floor, but what happens if you’re eliminated before the food arrives remains unclear.

One player who managed to wipe his plate clean before heading for the rail was Ben Johnson.

Anyone looking to capture the true facial expression of defeat, that gut burning howl of having come so close need look no further than American Ben Johnson as the last hand played out at the EPT in Baden last year. In the shadows of the victorious Thang Nguyen who was busy leaping up and down in joy was Ben, his face in close-up on the TV monitors, who had just watched his EPT glory hopes vanish.

Cut to London nearly a year later where Johnson is back on the tournament trail. The poker pro from New York City now seems a little more relaxed, even in defeat, wandering over with a slight ‘ahh, you saw that?’ smile.

“Better now than on the bubble!” he said.

The story had been different earlier when he’d sat above average on the chip scale, winning one pot, then another after the break, telegraphing signs of run on the lead before the wires were suddenly cut.

“I went out with sevens against queens but I lost it all earlier with aces against kings. I went from 15k to 4,300.”

Now, with the prospect of dessert on the horizon, Johnson is out. Here with Supernova pal Yakov Hirsch who plays tomorrow, the two are on one of those buddy road trips, usually accompanied by a Joni Mitchell album that passes through London on the way to Baden where another run on the EPT will commence next week.

“At least I have more time to explore this great city now.”

After a few tourist suggestions, and the assurance of a pub on every corner, he was gone.

What's it like sitting next a World Champion?

"Pretty good," said a sprightly Rafael Comas, a PokerStars qualifier from Miami, who was moved to the right of Chris Moneymaker during level two.

And Moneymaker had chips at the time; plenty of them, after going on a tear through the early levels. But while the 2003 World Series bracelet winner might not have recognised his new neighbour, he was certainly familiar with the chips that began appearing in front of Comas. They were once his.

"I had kings," Comas began, when asked how he prised a few thousand away from Moneymaker. What followed was the tale of a raising battle, a ragged flop, and a big bet on the end that made Moneymaker lay it down.

"I had ace-queen, and the flop came queen high," Comas continued, as he described how he got another couple of thousand. "I took about 15,000 off him in half an hour."

Previously the owner of a bodyshop -- for cars, rather than muscles -- Comas recently sold up to play a lot more poker. It's in his blood, he says. Originally from Puerto Rico, Comas learnt the game at the age of 13, joining a regular family game.

Rafael Comas
And he's doing the family proud here in London. Moments ago, he picked up another few thousand after moving in over the top of an early-position raiser. Chips are moving.

There’s a cocktail party mood at The Vic in these early stages, with waitresses forcing their way between tables with trays of canapés determined to feed people. It’s a truly decent gesture which would have gone down nicely were it not for a few hands to be played. When you’re facing a raise on your big blind the food has to wait, whether it’s the crab soup or the meaty lump no one can quite put their finger on.

That aside, in the traditional way the EPT London brings together PokerStars players from the four corners. One of those is Vijayan Nagarajan.

In terms of man most travelled Vijayan would be up there with the best of them. Lumbered with the early obligation of playing alongside Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott and Martin Wendt, the PokerStars qualifier from Malaysia is faring well, or was. Now he’s holding his own.

A raise pre-flop followed by what could only be called a wry smile as two re-raises followed. No use getting ahead of yourself - get out and fight another day. Vijayan spent a few hands like this, hiding his agony behind a look of peaceful ambivalence. Shouldn’t he look more nervous in his first EPT? He clocked up a fair few air miles to make it this far.

“I feel good. I was down to 6k then up to 11k and now I’m down to 10k again. I’m not daunted though.”

Worth the trip so far then.

Not so assured is William Franceschine, distinguished by an outdoorsman beard, a camouflage cap and a tattoo down his right forearm spelling out the word “Foreigner”, albeit in Thai. The online pro has hit the rough ground early despite reaching the clear air of 19k shortly after the start.

William Franceschine

The 27 year old turned pro two years ago after a result at the Manadalay Bay, quitting the marketing world to travel to Thailand and live the carefree life of a tourist - a tourist with a laptop and a penchant for online poker.

Hello and welcome again to the PokerStars.com EPT in London.

As is now customary, day one last for two days, meaning the field is divided roughly down the middle to play today and tomorrow, with the remaining players joining forces on Thursday. At last count, 178 were registered for today and around about 200 are estimated to join the fray later.

In a change to advertised information, players can still register to join the action. So check under the mattress for a few thousand quid and by Saturday night, you could be a European Champion.

To continue with the basic information, the buy in is £5,200, or $10,480, or €7,400. We're playing no limit Texas hold 'em, with one hour levels, and blinds starting at 25-50.

Among all those people paying all that money are:

Chris Moneymaker - USA - Team PokerStars
What's left to write about Moneymaker? In 2003, a 27-year-old accountant from Tennessee changed poker forever, etc, etc, etc. But Moneymaker is still a fierce competitor and fearsome force at the tables.

Dario Minieri - Italy - Team PokerStars
Making his debut as an official member of Team PokerStars, Dario Minieri has already established himself as one of the most aggressive and dangerous European players, belying his diminutive appearance.

Dario Minieri

Katja Thater - Germany - Team PokerStars
Two World Series cashes last year, then a final table on the EPT, before Thater won a World Series bracelet winner in Vegas this year. She followed up by making the money in Barcelona last month to cement her reputation among the best in Europe.

Katja Thater

Vicky Coren - England - PokerStars sponsored player
Journalist, broadcaster, poker columnist and - oh yeah - poker player. Vicky is the reigning European champion, having triumphed here at the Vic a year ago.

Luca Pagano - Italy - Team PokerStars
Not yet 30, Luca is nontheless something of an elder statesman on the EPT, with five cashes including two final tables. He's seen all this before but is no less a competitor.

Luca Pagano

Mark Teltscher - England
A former champion of this event during season two, Teltscher came second in Barcelona last month and so has both form and pedigree. One of several players in the field gunning to be the first ever two-time EPT champions.

Pascal Perrault - France
"Triple P" Perrault won in Vienna during season one and has been a consistent performer in European events for many years.

Christer Johansson - Sweden
Three cashes on the EPT, including a second place in Barcelona during season two. Also a former WPT champion.

Christer Johansson

John Kabbaj - England
A Vic regular and close friend of the Hendon Mob (often referred to as the fifth member of the London-based collective), Kabbaj has been a regular on the

Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke - USA
Online maestro making a name for himself on the live circuit, Gobboboy came second in the Aussie Millions in January and cashed earlier this month in the H.O.R.S.E. event of the WSOP Europe.

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot - England
Arguably the best known British tournament pro, Devilfish is a WSOP bracelet winner and a WPT champion, meaning he only needs an EPT crown to be the first to claim the holy trinity.

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot

Gary Jones - England
Another hugely popular and supremely talented British pro, Jones made the final table of the H.O.R.S.E. event at this year's World Series Europe. He was the top placed European finisher in the 2004 World Series main event, and if reputation isn't enough, he's also got green hair.

Gary Jones

Jonas Molander - Sweden
Molander has had three high-placed finishes on the EPT, including a seventh in Baden, a ninth in Dublin and 12th here during season two.

Scott Fishman - USA
With two World Series bracelets and a seven other cashes in Vegas, Fishman is among the most decorated players here in London. Yet to make the money on the EPT.

Liam Flood - Ireland
Tournament director and veteran of the European poker scene.

Liam Flood

Jani Sointula - Finland
Winner of the inaugural Monte Carlo Million in 2004, the distinctive Sointula (long blonde locks) also has a second place in a WPT tournament to his name.

Chris Bjorin - Sweden
Made three final tables at this year's World Series, Bjorin is among the most respected and feared players in Europe.

Mats Gavatin - Sweden
Another of the Nordic young guns, Gavatin won the Dublin EPT event during season two, as well as taking top spot in a Showdown Poker Tour event in 2006.

Nikolaus Jedlicka - Austria
The PokerStars SuperNova made the final table of last months' EPT event in Barcelona, following on from his victory in the Austrian Masters in June.

Marc Goodwin - England
Renowned pro on the UK scene, Goodwin has four World Series cashes, two on the EPT and a third place in the Monte Carlo Millions.

Johnny Lodden - Norway
Has cemented his reputation as one of the very best online players, Lodden has threatened to dominate the live scene without yet recording the huge result his talent unquestionably deserves.

Johnny Lodden

Brandon Schaefer - USA
Schaefer has one of the most envied EPT pedigrees: played four, won one, second in another. Was also going well in Barcelona last month before an accident with aces versus kings.

Brandon Schaefer

David Colclough - Wales
A former European Player of the Year, Colclough is always there or thereabouts in major European events. Has made six World Series final tables, and won leg four of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour earlier this year.

Mats Iremark - Sweden
Another EPT champion (Deauville, season two), Iremark is among the PokerStars qualifiers here in London.

Mats Iremark

Barny Boatman - England
The only member of the Hendon Mob playing today, Barny cashed in the H.O.R.S.E. event at the WSOP Europe and finished ninth in the £1,000 no-limit event this week. Previous results too numerous to mention.

Mickey Wernick - England
Former European Player of the Year, Wernick is hugely respected on the European scene and has cashed twice on the EPT.

Jeff Lisandro - Italy
Six cashes in this year's World Series including one bracelet win and a second place.

Jeff Lisandro

Martin Wendt - Denmark
Another fixture on the EPT, with four cashes.

Willie Tann - England
Another WSOP bracelet winner in today's field, the Dice Man is among the best known and respected players in Europe.

Willie Tann

Michael Greco - England
The actor turned player, Greco has put together a series of impressive results - including a cash in Barcelona last month - to prove his worth at the forefront of the UK poker scene.

And, typically, with such a star-studded line up, there are some some tasty looking tables out there.

Among them:
Perrault, Jones, Moneymaker
Colclough, Thater, Kabbaj
Wernick, Ola Brandborn, Raymi Sanchez Thorn, Dag Mikkelsson, Paul Gourlay
Coren, Greco, Boatman, Fricke, Dennis Plejdrup
Lodden, Fishman
Ullio, Vos, Iremark
Shaun Deeb, Jedlicka, Donnacha O'Dea, Paul Testud

Update: The first high-profile casualty of the day is Katja Thater, of Team PokerStars, on the wrong end of a real cooler. All the money went in on a flop of A-A-4 and Thater's A-J had been outdrawn by A-4.

There is a truth about seven-card stud that most new players to the game fail to recognize: the difference between in good and bad players is likely greater than any other game. Stud requires more than a simple understanding of math and odds. To be a successful stud player, one must have near-perfect recall. Those who don't are reduced to simple Level 1 poker play. They know what they have and hope to make it better. Without that ever-important recall, they won't have any idea of their real odds of getting there. What's more, they will have no way of knowing where there opponent is. Even worse, if you're playing against someone who maintains that perfect focus and recall, you're in even more dire shape. Not only do you don't know where you are in a hand, your opponent does. It reduces one to hoping, and hope is no way to win a poker game. Perhaps that's why stud has fallen out of popularity and and become almost a novelty in the modern poker world. It's hard and better separates the good from the bad players than hold'em.

Nearly 700 people signed up to play in the 2007 WCOOP Event $15, $320 Seven Card Stud. Unlike most other events, it took less than 12 hours to reach the final table. When the eight players got together, they might have noticed they were playing against a WCOOP bracelet holder. A little more than one week ago, spielraum.at won the WCOOP 5-Card Draw bracelet. At the time, he told us stud was his best game. This night, he made good on the statement.

Here's how the final eight measured up to each other.



Seat 1: Ubsolute (518432 in chips)
Seat 2: Lystig (293671 in chips)
Seat 3: scrubbyz (95970 in chips)
Seat 4: sascos (146888 in chips)
Seat 5: spielraum.at (379752 in chips)
Seat 6: Grape (64248 in chips)
Seat 7: Dersu Uzala (400790 in chips)
Seat 8: bull_99 (188249 in chips)

Scrubbyz started the table on the second shortest stack and was unable to recover. On his final hand, he started with 33/T and came in for a raise. Grape called with a 2 showing. Scrubbyz picked up a four on fourth street to Grape's ten. Again he bet, and again Grape called. Fifth street, a five for scrubbyz and a six for Grape, helped neither player. Still scrubbyz bet and Grape called. Sixth street is where the balance shifted. Scubbyz drew a nine and didn't improve his hand, but Grape paired his six. Now Grape bet out and scrubbyz raised all-in. Grape called the final bet. Scrubbyz didn't improve on the river and exited in eighth place for $3,967.20.

Ubsolute had a bad run in the beginning moments of the final table and lost more than half his stack. He turned it around when he picked up rolled up sixes against bull_99. By the river, bull_99 only had a pair of kings and was on life support. He managed to doubled up once, but still couldn't hold on. Three hands later, he was on the rail in seventh place, cashing for $6096.96

With bull_99's exit, the remaining six stacks were all close to even. Grape, who had been on the short-stack to begin the table had managed to catch up with his foes. With the stacks so even, discussion of a deal broke out. After a short negotiation, the players worked out a chop that guaranteed them all a five-figure payday and left $6,000 on the table for the first place.

Ubsolute:$19,000
Lystig: $18,828
sascos: $19,902
spielraum.at: $19,805
Grape: $21,011
Dersu: $22,360

After the nightly 30-minute break, play continued and went on for a few minutes before Lystig got involved in a big hand with Dersu Uzala. At the river, Lystig couldn't beat Dersu Uzala's aces-up and was eliminated in sixth place.

Two hands later, Grape bit the dust after starting with a pair of sevens versus Ubsolute's beginning pair of eights. Grape never improved and finished in fifth.

The next exit erased all hope of having a double bracelet winner. Spielraum.at had fallen below 70,000 in chips. He started with nothing, but picked up a pair of tens on fourth street. That happened to be the same time Ubsolute made two pair. Neither hand would improve and spielraum.at exited in fourth place.

After a protracted three-handed battle, Dersu Uzala eventually fell behind and dropped to lower than 200,000 chips at the 25,000/50,000 limit. With an ace in the hole and a six up, Dersu Uzala brought it in and got raised by sascos, who held a ten down and a ten up. Dersu Uzala raised and got a call. He missed on fourth street, but called a but from sascos. The scene repeated itself on fifth. Then sascos made two pair on sixth and got Dersu Uzala all-in. Dersu Uzala made a pair of aces on the river, but it was no good against two-pair and he was out in third.

Going into heads-up play, Ubsolute held a small chip lead, but after a few hands had passed the lead across the table to sascos. Over time, though, Ubsolute worked his Irish magic. In the end, he pulled a pair of aces on fifth street to best sascos' pair of fours. Obsolute won $25,000 and the Event #15 gold bracelet.

Here are the final table results.

2007 WCOOP Even #15 Final Table Report
Based on finishing order and six-way deal that left $6,000 for first place

1. Ubsolute (Ireland) $25,000.00
2. sascos (United States) $19,902.00
3. Dersu Uzala (Finland) $22,360.00
4. spielraum.at (Austria) $19,805.00
5. Grape (United States) $21,011.00
6. Lystig (Norway) $18,828.00
7. bull_99 (Netherlands) $6,096.96
8. scrubbyz (Canada) $3,967.20
9. Randers (United States) $2,088.00

Full 2007 PokerStars WCOOP Event #15 Results

London.

It doesn't quite have the instant poker cache of, let's say, Texas, but there's really nothing new about the game that can be taught to denizens of the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on London's Edgware Road. Nothing at all.

These players were shuffling up and dealing before most of the new breed of poker professional were even born. In fact, they were probably riffling chips at the very moment that some of these new kids were on their way into existence. And even if these players had been the fathers, they'd probably more likely have been in the line for some pot-limit Omaha than at the maternity ward.

Poker is a passion at the Vic at least the equal to any venue across the world. And as the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) rolls into town for the second stop of season four, the locals lie in wait.

The EPT has been dominated throughout its three-year existence by players from the Nordic countries. But the London date has always been the exception. In season one, everyone shipped it to John Shipley. Season two saw the emergence of Mark Teltscher, who has since become a familiar face around the final tables of the world.

And last year, the homecoming queen was Victoria Coren, such a familiar face that they named the place after her. Or so history should be rewritten to confirm.

Vicky will be among a host of top-ranked players wearing the PokerStars livery in London this week, most of whom joined a welcome party on a boat on the Thames this evening. We left Westminster Pier at 7.30 p.m., bobbing down Old Man River in the company of World Series bracelet holders, former EPT champions, as well as those in with every chance of joining the esteemed ranks.




Daniel Negreanu and Chris Moneymaker mingle on the Thames
Representing Team PokerStars, we found many familiar faces: those of Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Katja Thater, Noah Boeken and Luca Pagano. Also joining them for their first outings as members of this exclusive club were Dario Minieri, the sensation from Italy, and Hevad Khan, he of a million consecutive sit and gos and a World Series final table.

Oh, and Khan can add another title to his resume: yesterday he won the fabled, fabulous Hold 'Em 100 tournament in London, a well-known charity event with the proceeds going to the Royal Marsden hospital. Khan bested a field of more than 120 to take the prize - including seeing off Gavin Griffin, EPT Grand Final winner, who finished 10th. Griffin will play on Wednesday at the EPT.

Also in the line up are the usual vast number of online players who have either won their seats on PokerStars or cashed in their W-dollars for a seat. And there are plenty in their ranks who know a thing or two about live events. Mats Iremark, Brandon Schaefer and Thang Nguyen are previous EPT champions. Keith Hawkins, Iwan Jones, James Dempsey, Mel Judah and Osman Mustanoglu are well known pros.

The game begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. GMT. Pull up a chair. We'll have all the stories and pictures right here.

Confidence. It's an intangible part of a poker player's arsenel and one of the qualities that seperates mere players from champions. It's the ability to look at a table and say, "I'm going to win this."

Many times, confidence can be mistaken for foolhardy hubris. Sometimes it takes waiting until the end of the tournament to tell the difference between the two.

The 2007 WCOOP Event #14, $1,050 no-limit holdem, was the third biggest cash tournament in PokerStars' history. Only the 2005 and 2006 WCOOP main events were bigger. The money at the final table alone (in the neighborhood of $1.5 million) was astounding. With two players busting simultaenously on the bubble, the final table began eight-handed. Almost immediately, a player suggested the players chop it up.

Dissent came instantly from the man in the two-seat.

"No chop as long as I am playing," mig.com said.

Around the world, eyes widened. Who was this guy? Sure, eight-handed was a little early to chop, but who could possibly refuse to consider a deal at any point during the final table.

That role fell to mig.com, known to most people offline as one James Mackey, a red-haired poker wizard from the heart of Mizzou Tiger country in Columbia, Missouri. Mackey won a gold bracelet and $730,000 in Event #22 of the World Series this year, just a few months after taking third and winning $61,000 in a $2,500 event at the Bellagio.

Certainly, Mackey didn't need the money. Certainly, he had the confidence. The only question that remained was did he have what it took to win the final table of Event #14.



Seat 2: mig.com (8642161 in chips)
Seat 3: jochen8 (2804200 in chips)
Seat 4: Kenny Rap (3487870 in chips)
Seat 5: chulwoo (8760270 in chips)
Seat 6: saphire1 (8847480 in chips)
Seat 7: Trickybstrd (4048930 in chips)
Seat 8: ephman (9527811 in chips)
Seat 9: tralaira (3756278 in chips)

With eight players remaining and the blinds at 65,000/130,000/13,000, tralaira looked at AQ suited in hearts in the small blind. When chulwoo came in for a 3x the big blind raise, tralaira decided to pick up the pot right then and there. He moved his entire 3.75 million stack into the middle. Chulwoo, with nearly nine million in chips, wasted no time in calling with AK. While an ace flopped, no queen fell to match tralaira's kicker and he was out in eighth place, earning $43,890.

On the short-stack, Kenny Rap (a solid player in his on right) was in a fun mood. He asked commentator Tom McEvoy for a little advice. McEvoy joked back, suggesting Kenny Rap win his next all-in. It was advice Kenny Rap couldn't follow.

Facing a raise from Mackey and a re-raise from jochen8, Kenny Rap called all-in with a pair of tens. He was actually ahead of jochen8's JhAc. His lead lasted all of one second. A jack fell on the flop and Kenny Rap never caught up. He finished in seventh place for $69,825.

With fewer than than three million chips, jochen8 was looking for a chance to double up. When Mackey came in for a raise 420,000, jochen8 pushed all-in. Chulwoo over-called for the whole amount and Mackey, obviously more than a little suspiscious, folded. Chulwoo held KsAh to jochen8's 5cAs. A king fell on the flop and jochen8 finished in sixth place, a $96,425 payday.

Over the course of the final table, there were three hands that had nearly everyone scratching their heads.

Hand #1

The first began with a min-raise to 320,000 from ephman. Mackey popped him back to nearly $2 million and ephman called. The flop came down 8h9s3d. Mackey led at the pot for four million, nearly his entire stack. Ephman re-raised all-in and Mackey was forced to call with AK. He was dumbfounded when he saw ephaman's hand...TdJd.

"Wow," Mackey said. "Are you serious?"

Although he was ahead at the moment, it looked like disaster for Mackey. When another diamond fell on the turn, more outs materialized for ephman. Mackey needed to dodge 21 cards...and did. The river was the six of hearts.

Hand #2

Suddenly, ephman had the attention of everybody at the table. He sat in the big blind when saphire1 picked up queens on the button. Saphire1 had more than seven million chips and raised to 420,000. Ephman had just slightly more chips and moved all-in. After seeing the JT hand a few mintues earlier, it was an easy call for saphire1. He looked over to see AcJc in ephman's hand. It could not have gone worse for saphire1. Two clubs on the turn and one on the river sent saphire1 in fifth place for $130,340.

Hand #3

Now, ephman had nearly 15 million in chips, nearly the same as two other players at the table, and a huge lead over Trickybstrd. The chances of anyone getting their entire stack in pre-flop while the short-stck was still playing were slim. Or so everyone thought.

From the button, Trickybstrd came in for a raise, ephman re-raised to 800,000, and Mackey re-raised to a huge eight million. Trickybstrd wisely got out of the way. Ephman chose a different route. With less than one million invested in the pot, ephman pushed in the rest of his 15 million chips. Mackey called with AK. Ephman held...AQ.

In just three seconds, Ephman's meteoric rise was reduced to nothing. He finished in fourth place, earning $166,250.

Mackey now had a commanding chip lead...more than $30 million chips.

"It's going to be an uphill battle," Tickybstrd mused.

He thought he'd found his first step up the mountain. Looking down at pocket aces, Trickybstrd flat-called a raise from chulwoo. The flop came down TdQs9d. Trickybsrd decided to make his move, check-raising all-in. His first step up the mountain was a tragic stumble. Chulwoo held a set of nines. Trickybstrd was out in third place for a whopping $210,472.50.

Beginning heads-up play, Mackey held a 3-2 chip lead and was staring at a nearly $300,000 difference between first and second place. Making good on his vow to play it out without a deal, he never offered a chop. He simply went to work.

Mackey played a hyper-aggressive game, but one that couldn't be criticized. He raised nearly every time he was on the button. He controlled the size of the pot and kept chulwoo on the defensive. Chulwoo's only defense was the all-in pre-flop re-raise. It was a scene that played itself out over and over. For anyone watching, there was never a time that Mackey's victory was in question. It only seemed a matter of time.

It came down to this: Mackey came in for his usual raise and Chulwoo re-raised. Mackey called and they saw a flop of 6cQh8c. Both players checked. The turn was the four of spades. This time, chulwoo checked, Mackey bet, and chulwoo raised all-in.

Bad timing.

Chulwoo had nothing. His bluff with K2 had run right into...the nuts. Mackey held 5h7h.

It's quite something to maintain the kind of confidence that allows one to compete for a $300,000 difference between first and second place without even the consideration of a deal. It's quite something else to win it without breaking a sweat.

Congratulations to James Mackey (aka mig.com) for winning Event #14 of the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker.

2007 WCOOP: Event #14 Final Table Results

1. mig.com (United States) $580,212.50
2. chulwoo $292,932.50
3. Trickybstrd (Canada) $210,472.50
4. ephman (United States) $166,250.00
5. saphire1 (United Kingdom) $130,340.00
6. jochen8 (Sweden) $96,425.00
7. Kenny Rap (United States) $69,825.00
8. tralaira (Spain) $43,890.00
9. UWillSuckOut (United States) $25,935.00

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #14 Results

Hevad Khan, the vocal and popular final tablist at this year’s World Series of Poker main event maintained his run of form yesterday by winning the Hold’em 100, the charity event founded 12 years ago which raises money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Fund in the UK.

Tearing through a field which included fellow Team PokerStars players Daniel Negreanu, Noah Boeken, Chris Moneymaker, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri and guest of honour Gavin Griffin (winner of the EPT Grand Final last March), Hevad - known as “RaiNKhaN” on PokerStars, won a tense heads-up battle against Hold'em 100 regular Rory McCafferty, a 34-year-old IT support analyst from Lewisham, London. Rory, whose mum Cathy has made the Hold'em 100 final table three times, won £1,500.

2007 Hold’em 100 Final Table Results

1. Hevad Khan £1,500 + £5200 seat to London EPT [*]
2. Rory McCafferty £1,500
3. Valentine Low £1,000
4. Geoff Marsh £650
5. Barney Cordell £400
6. Phil Shaw £250
7. Geoff Henman £100
8. Mark Patrick £80

[*] since Hevad is already playing London, he will defer the seat to Baden EPT in Austria, October 7-10, 2007.

In town for the EPT London which starts tomorrow, Hevad finished 6th at the WSOP main event this summer, winning $956,243. But it’s hard not to have seen or at least heard of the 22 year old former ‘Starcraft’ player before that break through result.

RainKhaN's unorthodox playing practices brought him to the attention of the PokerStars security team some months ago, when they thought they had dentified 'bot' activity. In other words, they thought it impossible for a human to play so many Sit & Go’s online at the same time. To clear his good name, Hevad made a video of himself playing 36 Sit & Go’s and sent it to PokerStars support.

Case closed.

Being the type of guy who lives for online poker Hevad jumped from the Hold’em 100 final into the $1,000 WCOOP event on PokerStars, doubling up on the first hand when he spiked a queen to make a set against pocket Kings. Then two hands later he did the same, spiking a ten to match the two in his hand again against kings, only this time the board filled out a straight for his opponent.

The Hold’em 100 marked Hevad’s debut appearance as a Team PokerStars player. Not a bad way to warm up for the EPT marathon this week. Congratulations to him, to organisers and to the 78 runners who raised over £8,000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Fund. Whoever said that poker players weren’t generous?

Just a few minutes ago, one of the biggest events in online poker history kicked off. The 2007 WCOOP Event #14, $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, started with an astounding 3,325 players and a prize pool of $3,325,000. In the event someone wins this tournament outright, they will win $580,000.



Starting with $15,000 in chips and half hour levels, the people who eventually make the final table of this event will need lots of caffeine. In talking with some of the greater minds behind these things, I'm told we could expect a final table to begin between 8am-9am ET.

Yeah, tomorrow morning.

Regardless of how long it takes, this is going to be one of the most fun tournaments to watch of the entire tournament series. If you'd like to follow along, open your PokerStars software, and click on Events, WCOOP, and Main Events.

Guest of honour at the Hold’em 100 was Gavin Griffin, winner of the Season 3 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. He is in town with his girlfriend Kristen, both of whom are no strangers to raising money for a cause close to their hearts.

Much publicised in Monte Carlo was Gavin and Kristen’s support for the Avon Walk for Life, a breast cancer charity in the United States and the reason behind Gavin’s shock of pink hair - the colour of breast cancer campaigns around the world. Was he surprised how many poker players are happy to dig deep for a good cause?

Gavin and Daniel Negreanu

“I’m not surprised so many poker players turn up for events like this. It’s a good thing – it really allows us to have fun and play wild and crazy for a while and for a good cause.”

There speaks a man after four re-buys.

“I’m looking forward to my first EPT London this week.” He added. “The EPT has a really good structure and it’s my first time in London. We both expected it to be raining, but there’s all this sunshine! Even with the jetlag though all this travelling is something that I love and I wouldn’t be able to do if I wasn’t a poker player. I’m happy to be here.”

No pink hair, just a pink ribbon for Kristen though...

“I’m an engineer” she laughed, “and I start a new job in 4 weeks. I’d be worried about what they might think!”

Fair enough.


Good form

John Tabatabai, on a solid run of form after his second place in the WSOP Europe last week, is pretty excited about his first EPT.


John Tabatabai

“After I came second in the WSOP Europe I got a call asking if I’d like to come down to the Hold’em 100. I’m not sure how many re-buys I’ve had. I’ve been all in a lot. But it’s a fun table with a lot of locals from the Vic Casino. There’s Gavin Griffin and Vicky Coren all-in on every hand. No idea how many re-buys though. Four or five?”


In the swing of things

Daniel Negreanu was away from his table between deals, golf club in hand taking a few swings (where do you find a golf club at short notice?) Was the man famous for re-buys on his game today?

“I’ve been really lucky - I keep winning hands! So not many re-buys for me. But other people were re-buying so that’s good! (Swing) It’s been fun working with PokerStars so far. I get to travel to a lot of cool cities here in Europe and I’m falling in love with a lot of places. (Swing) And London will be my second EPT – so I’m looking forward to it.

So is he actually good at golf?

“Getting better...” he smiles (Swing)

Full coverage of the Season 4 EPT London begins on Tuesday.

First, cram some of the best poker players in the world into a subterranean poker cavern in the heart of London. Second, play for charity to tap in to their good natured hearts. Finally, make it a re-buy to give the betting muscles time to warm up. What have you got? Fast paced action and for a good cause at the Hold’em 100.

That’s the scenario this afternoon at the Loose Cannon Sports Bar in London for the Hold’em 100, a prestigious charity poker tournament now in its twelfth year in aid of the Royal Marsden, the UK's leading cancer hospital.

Members of Team PokerStars stopped off on their way to the EPT London to add their support to the event organised by Conrad Brunner who staged the first Hold’em 100 back in 1995.

Gavin Griffin and Conrad Brunner

“A 100-player tournament was a really big deal back then.” Said Brunner. “We didn't think we would get enough players but kicked off the first event with 104 runners. That made it the UK’s biggest ever tournament at the time."

Brunner and his fellow organisers were inspired to turn the Hold’em 100 into an annual event and in 2001 more than 280 players turned up.

“We’ve raised over £100,000 now. People don't believe poker players are generous, but every year we see them splashing out extravagantly on the re-buys, knowing the cash is going to a very good cause.”

Along with familiar Team PokerStars faces such as Chris Moneymaker, Noah Boeken, Daniel Negreanu and Katja Thater were Team PokerStars debutants Dario Minieri and Hevad Khan. The Italian Minieri famously became the first player on Stars to reach the lofty position on ‘Porsche’ on the FPP list, (that’s not its official title but it was somewhere beyond Supernova) whilst RaiNKahN, as he is known online, reached the final table of this year’s World Series of Poker main event, finishing 6th.

Charity aside there was still a tournament to be won and a seat in the EPT London to the winner courtesy of PokerStars. Want to know who won? Check back later for the results.

In this contest, push-monkeys needed not apply. They can win their bananas in another game. In PokerStars WCOOP Event #13, the game was pot-limit hold'em and that meant anyone afraid of a flop had better find another tree in which to play.

More than 1,000 people showed up on Saturday to compete for the Event #13 bracelet, an event that allowed for fantastic post-flop play and let some real poker play shine. Among all the remarkable things that happened throughout the event, one statistic stood out. Two members of Team PokerStars, ElkY and Bill Chen, had made the final table. At the very same time, another member of Team PokerStars, Lee Nelson, was fighting at the Event #12 final table.

Here's how all the final table players in Event #13 stacked up.



Seat 1: ElkY (228419 in chips)
Seat 2: SpotLIGHT19 (384068 in chips)
Seat 3: kedvedert (167596 in chips)
Seat 4: betgo (210463 in chips)
Seat 5: sh00ter (225198 in chips)
Seat 6: Bill Chen (529666 in chips)
Seat 7: Tycoon_Kid (639911 in chips)
Seat 8: antroff (159804 in chips)
Seat 9: shahmat (724875 in chips)

When the final table started, those with keen eyes could see a small sign form above the head of SpotLIGHT19. It read, "Abuse me." The poor guy couldn't catch a break. First, betgo doubled through him with QJ vs KQ on QJx flop. Then, after extended break, antroff doubled through him with KK vs. QQ.

"So sick," was all the man in the two seat could say.

He got a brief repreive when Team PokerStars' ElkY got it all-in pre-flop versus shahmat holding AJo against AKo. ElkY couldn't find the suck-out and finished in ninth place for $6257.50.

With the one-seat gone, it was lot easier to see the abuse invitation in the two-seat. Having not caught a break yet, SpotLIGHT19 was ripe for some more bad luck. He moved all his chips in pre-flop holding TT aginst sh00ter's 99.

Guess what fell on the flop?

The nine popped up, crippling the man already besieged by bad luck. He was out on the next hand when Team PokerStars' Bill Chen flopped two pair against him. SpotLIGHT19 finished in eighth place for $10,900.

As if to atone for the suckout, sh00ter was the next toface the firing squad. All-in pre-flop with AK versis kedvedert's 99, sh00ter couldn't win the race and finished in seventh place, winning $15,805.

The next exit once again put pair against pair pre-flop. Kedvedert got all his chips in with 77 versus betgo's 88. No seven could find its way onto the felt and kedvedert was out in sixth place, picking up $21,255 for his efforts.

Perhaps it was something about Team PokerStars. More likely, it was an odd little coincidence. Regardless, Bill Chen went out holding the same hand as ElkY, AJ. This time, he was up against betgo's AQ. A queen on the flop all but ended it. While he still had some straight outs going into the river, Chen didn't get there and finished in fifth place for $28,067.50.

Chen's exit began a four-handed dance that went on for some time without any serious action. Only when Tycoon_Kid doubled through betgo did the table's adrenal glands start to pulse again. Betgo went on a tear and built a nearly 3-1 chip lead over second place. When it started to look as though betgo may run away with the event, talk of a deal broke out. Rather than try to recreate the comedy at the table, I've simply pasted the chat as it happened.

StaffBryanS [Support]: 1. You must leave $16,000 on the table for the eventual winner.
StaffBryanS [Support]: 2. This is only one way of chopping the remaining prize money. You may of course continue to negotiate, of course.
StaffBryanS [Support]: Having said that..
StaffBryanS [Support]: betgo: $85,019
StaffBryanS [Support]: Tycoon_Kid: $47,247
StaffBryanS [Support]: antroff: $56,848
StaffBryanS [Support]: shahmat: $55,013

betgo: I want 90, since I am running over the table
Tycoon_Kid: lmao
antroff: i want 100k cus im a sumo

betgo: Look up betgo's stats on OPR
Tycoon_Kid: dude ur a donkament pro
Tycoon_Kid: little to no respect
betgo: this is a donkament

In the end, Tycoon_Kid had two words for the deal. "No" and "Gamble."

The end of deal talk set up a confrontation between shahmat and betgo in which they got all in with shahmat holding KJ to betgo's QQ. While betgo flopped a jack and rivered a king, the river also put the fourth spade on board, matching the queen of spades in betgo's hand. Shahmat was out in fourth place, earning $34,880.

Seconds later, Tycoon_Kid got all-in vs. antroff with AK vs. TT. He lost the race. His desire to gamble ended up costing him a little cash. Regardless, he finished with $43,600 for third place.

Heads-up, betgo had a 2-1 chip lead and turned down the offer of a deal. It only took antoff a few hands to even the score. Then betgo took the lead right back.

Therein settled an epic heads-up battle that was the longest so far in this year's WCOOP. Just when it looked like betgo had the game won, antroff battled back. Then betgo would pull ahead again. The stacks were deep, the blinds were small, and both players were fighting for the $50,000 difference between first and second place. When antroff took a slight lead, there was an ever-so-brief discussion of a deal, but it fell apart as quickly as it started,

With the deal discussions kaput, antroff took the initiative and quickly opened up a 5-1 chip lead. A few seconds later, he flopped top pair and got betgo all-in drawing to three outs. Betgo missed and, just like that, antroff was the Event #13 champion.

Here are the final table results.

2007 WCOOP Event #13 Final Table Results

1. antroff (Sweden) $117,175.00
2. betgo (United States) $64,473.50
3. Tycoon_Kid (New Zealand) $43,600.00
4. shahmat (Canada) $34,880.00
5. Bill Chen (United States) $28,067.50
6. kedvedert (Hungary) $21,255.00
7. sh00ter (United States) $15,805.00
8. SpotLIGHT19 (United States) $10,900.00
9. ElkY (France) $6,267.50

Full PokerStars WCOOP Event #13 Results

No-Limit Texas Hold'em may be the Cadillac of poker. It's popularity can't be denied. However, at the same time, there is a growing number of people who believe the best poker players in the world can't be determined by one game. These are the people who see true poker skill not on four tires from Motown but on the four hooves of a mixed game called HORSE.

In the past couple of years, HORSE has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, spawned in part by the World Series $50,000 buy-in championship and last year's WCOOP $5,000 HORSE event. This year, the first HORSE event of the 2007 WCOOP was a $215 contested by more than 1,600 players.

By morning eight people, including Team PokerStars' Lee Nelson were sitting at the final table.



Seat 1: Hikkespett (121290 in chips)
Seat 2: Cactus Benny (1161571 in chips)
Seat 3: TheBigViking (193611 in chips)
Seat 4: JJJanet (872019 in chips)
Seat 5: LeeNelsonP* (258981 in chips)
Seat 6: Phillyho (870321 in chips)
Seat 7: BBwinz (137704 in chips)
Seat 8: jaliks (1301503 in chips)

It took nearly an hour for the first player to bust. In the opening minutes of the Stud Hi-Lo round, BBwinz started with a three showing and a pair of sixes in the hole. He went up against Cactus Benny who had a pair of aces. Though BBwinz made two pair on fourth street, Cactus Benny made a bigger two pair at the same time. BBwinz never caught up and finished in eight place, adding $6883 to his bankroll.

Phillyho was the next to go. With a little more than 200,000 in chips at the 26000/52000, finding fold with AQ after turning an ace is pretty hard. The only thing harder was dealing with the fact that Cactus Benny held AK. Phillyho was out in seventh place for $9,934.

Team PokerStars' Lee Nelson must have seen the coldest run of cards in all of WCOOP. Over the next hour, he barely played a hand, and those he did, he couldn't show down. By the time the Razz round came up, he barely had any chips and ended up getting all-in with barely a chance at winning. That chance never presented itself and Nelson exited in sixth place, earning $13,112.

The Razz round didn't end without the loss of another final table player. JJJanet was the next to go. JJJanet started strong with a A4/7. At battle with Cactus Benny, it became a battle of sevens. JJJanet finished with a 7-6, but Cactus Benny had made a 7-4 by fifth street, sending JJJanet out in fifth place and a payday of $16,717.

While Cactus Benny had been having a good game, he fell on hard times and by the time the seven-card-stud round rolled around, he was down to the short-stack. With a pair of tens to start, he got to work getting his stack in. He was behind from the beginning against Hikkespett's jacks. Neither hand improved and Cactus Benny was out in fourth place, earning $20,651.40.

TheBigViking might have been the most tenacious of any WCOOP performer yet. For most of the final table, he simply had no chips. Yet, every time he got all in, he manged to survive. He was the Viking who refused to abandon ship. Ultimately, though, he couldn't survive past third place. His two pair just wasn't as big as Hikkespett's two pair. TheBigViking was finished with a $27,863 cash.

The final table began with jaliks holding most off the chips and it ended with him holding all of them. After a drawn-out final table, jaliks made rather quick work of Hikkespett, finally finishing him off with a sixth street straight to beat Hikkespett's two pair.

2007 WCOOP Event #12 Final Table Results

1. jaliks (Netherlands) $72,116.00
2. Hikkespett (Norway) $42,614.00
3. TheBigViking (Norway) $27,863.00
4. Cactus Benny (United States) $20,651.40
5. JJJanet (United States) $16,717.80
6. LeeNelsonP* (New Zealand) $13,112.00
7. Phillyho (New Zealand) $9,834.00
8. BBwinz (United States) $6,883.80

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #12 Results

Razz is just ugly name for a game. It's pejorative. It's ugly. The name aside, though, there is something beautiful about the game. Though it's reputation is perpetuated by the media and misunderstanding of the nature of the contest, Razz is a downright beautiful game.

You think I protest too much? Perhaps I'm on the board of the Razz Preservation Society? Well, maybe, but before you call me a shill, consider this.

On its face, Razz is simple. Make the lowest hand and win. The cards tell you what to do. The decisions seem easy. The bricks are disgusting. On another level, though, there is a complicated beauty to the game.

I liken it to talking to a woman. Almost immediately, you know whether she is a woman worth pursuing. You can tell whether she is in or out of your league. After a short discussion, you know whether there is a chance for a relationship. It's only as you walk down more streets together that you start to realize that finding the truth is not as easy as you might think. When you first started talking, you didn't know what was in her past. You didn't know if she was lying or telling the truth. Soon, you'll discover if it was ever meant to be or if you were being taken for a ride.

Or, maybe Razz is just a sick game that attracts the world's greatest losers and is masochism defined. I just don't know yet. Maybe it's a not-so-latent way of punishing myself for real and imagined transgressions, but I absolutely love Razz. Apparently I'm not the only one. Nearly 1,200 people ponied up $215 to compete in Event #11 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Eight of those players made the final table.



Seat 1: lvstraddle (261940 in chips)
Seat 2: JAMEST1 (755997 in chips)
Seat 3: OnlyPlayRagz (645519 in chips)
Seat 4: larki1 (943582 in chips)
Seat 5: needabanana (303132 in chips)
Seat 6: tsudneves (147628 in chips)
Seat 7: atactor (284122 in chips)
Seat 8: Ima_QT (186080 in chips)


The chip stacks at the final table were far from evenly distributed. With the limits at 20,000/40,000, many of the stacks were in danger of crumbling under a couple of bricks. ima_QT found that out the hard way and within a few hands at the final table was reduced to 36,000 in chips. All-in before fourth street, Ima_QT needed to catch well to have any hope of staying alive. It didn't happened. A nine low couldn't best larki1's eight and Ima_QT was out in eighth place earning $5,409.60

With barely any chips to play, lvstraddle decided his work the comedy circuit, quipping, "The remainder of this tournament will be played hand for hand." Shortly thereafter, he managed to double up, proving that laughter is, in fact, the best medicine.

One player could find no reason to laugh, however. Tsudneves had 158,000 chips left and a five showing when he came in for a raise. By fifth street, he was all in against OnlyPlayRagz. By the end, OnlyPlayRagz held a 9-6 low to tsudneves' 9-8. Tsudneves was out in seventh place for $7,761.50.

That's when things started getting bloody. With few laughs and fewer chips, lvstraddle put his chips in with a decue showing. All-in before fourth street, lvstraddle ended with a king-low to OnlyPlayRagz ten. Lvstraddle placed sixth for $10,113.60.

Seconds later, OnlyPlayRagz knocked off another short-stack, putting atactor out with 8,6,5,4,2 to atactor's queen-low. Atactor earned $12,465.60 for fifth place.

Four-handed, the stacks had evened out enough that players had a few bets in them before getting too desperate. Only one player fell into danger within the next 20 minutes. JAMEST1 started getting low and only got lower. Again, it was OnlyPlayRagz who dealt the final blow. JAMEST1 had a nine showing when he raised OnlyPayRagz king bring-in. The bring-in wasn't going away. JAMEST1 was all-in by fifth street with a queen-low. He was ahead of OnlyPlay Ragz, but by the river, OnlyPlayRagz held a six low and sent JAMEST1 out in fouth place, earning, $15,240.96.

Three-handed, all the players were within shooting range of first place and cut a quick deal. Leaving $7,000 on the table for first place, the player locked up the following payouts.

OnlyPlayRags - $34,136.80
larki1 - $29,759.09
needabanana - $37,296.11

Despite the deal being in place, the three-handed match was more protracted that the rest of the final table. The three top players at the table went on to battle for a long while. The next to fall was larki1 who started with an ace showing but couldn't make better than a jack against needaabanana's nine.

In all of WCOOP, if there was a ever player who predicted victory with his screen name, it was OnlyPlayRagz. While it took him a while to defeat needabanana, he did it in perfect Razz style. After 14 hours of play, OnlyPlayRagz had played his way to the role as biggest loser and WCOOP Event #11 champion.

2007 WCOOP Event #11 Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and three-way deal that left $7,000 for first place

1. OnlyPlayRagz (United States) $41,136.80
2. needabanana (United States) $37,296.11
3. larki1 (Norway) $29,759.09
4. JAMEST1 (United States) $15,240.96
5. atactor (United States) $12,465.60
6. lvstraddle (United States) $10,113.60
7. tsudneves (United States) $7,761.60
8. Ima_QT (United States) $5,409.60

Full 2007 PokerStars WCOOP Event #11 Results

Poker is nothing without aggression and when players sit down at a full table, it's never clear who is going to throw the first punch. However, when two players make up the whole of the game, there is no looking around to see who is creeping up behind. It's eye-to-eye. It's an aggressive dance that ends with one player with the belt and the other on the canvas.

If full-table poker is a battle royale cage match, heads-up poker is poker's sweet science.

Nearly 1,900 people signed up to play in PokerStars WCOOP Event #10, a $530 heads-up no-limit hold'em contest. Ten rounds later, two players sat facing each other, the Ali and Frazier of the 2007 WCOOP.



As you might expect, getting to the eleventh round was a victory in itself. Both ugotmeyet? and ansuz decided they'd had almost enough. They chopped all but $17,000 of the prize money and took $65,054.00 each. That left 3% of the prize money and the WCOOP bracelet for which to battle.

Ugotmeyet? jumped out to an early lead in the first 20 hands without showing his cards, but ansuz jumped right back, winning the first showdown with trip queens and evening the score. Ugotmeyet? was not deterred. Aggression was the name of the game and within another 20 hands, he had opened up another sizable chip lead, only to give it back after ansuz moved all in on a KQ5 flop. At the first break, the players were even in chips.

After the break, ansuz proved he could give as well as he gets. He turned Ugotmeyet?'s aggressive game against him and opened up a 2-1 chip lead. Just when it looked like ansuz had his foe where he wanted him, the first big roundhouse of the match fell. Ansuz came in for a raise and Ugotmeyet? re-raised. Ansuz called and they saw a flpo of 3s6h2s. Ugotmeyet? bet out and ansuz raised all-in. Ugotmeyet? called with pocket queens to ansuz's Ts7s. Ansuz missed and Ugotmeyet? re-took the lead.

It wouldn't last for long. Ansuz flopped two pair with QT againist ugotmeyet?'s middle pair with 9T. That pot put ansuz ahead 5-1. He looked to finish ugotmeyet? off and got all-in with QT vs A5. Though he flopped a queen, ugotmeyet? rivered an ace to survive. Within another ten minutes, the stacks were even again.

At that moment, the heads-up match took on an atmosphere of an end-round prize fight, two boxers pounding each other for points, and putting themselves on the edge of destruction for the chance at a knockout. Just when one player moved ahead, the other would slam their way back to the lead.

Ugotmeyet? started his move ahead after turning a queen-high flush. It would prove to be the beginning of the end. After opening up a 2-1 chip lead, he got all-in with AJ vesus ansuz's QQ. An ace on the flop and no queen on the turn and river meant Ugotmeyet? had his first WCOOP bracelet.

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #10 Results

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker has now been around for so long, it's sort of hard to keep up with all the fun statistics, like who has won the most money, who has made the most final tables, and who has cashed the most times.

PokerStars is now making it easier for me (and you) to keep up with the best WCOOP players of all time. For instance...

Top 10 cashes in all WCOOP events (through 2006):

Lenny -- 14
copi -- 11
Riverloser -- 11
omaha kid -- 10
osten -- 10
Rabscuttle -- 10
-db- -- 10
Sassenage -- 10
ZZSER -- 10
emptyseat88 -- 9

The people at PokerStars have broken these stats down into a number of cool categories and are keeping track of this year's stats as well as all-time stats.

If you'd like to take a look, check out:

World Championship of Online Poker Stats through 2006

World Championship of Online Poker Stats (2007)

Cardinal7 has been playing casino poker for seventeen years and in that time he's won a lot of tournaments. What's more, there have more than a few times that he's won more than the $67,000 he won in Event #7 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. That said, the pro poker player (who prefers to remain anonymous) is elated to have taken down the WCOOP tournament.

"It was a great feeling to win a WCOOP event. I have won B&M events but never won a major online event," he said. "It is an incredible feeling to win against such a huge field -- by far the biggest field I have ever beaten."

Cardinal7 (the screen name is an homage to John Elway, in case you were wondering) is a full-time pro who is always looking out for the right money-making opportunities. A HORSE specialist, Cardinal7 also excels in both limit and no-limit hold'em. He's been playing on PokerStars for two years.

In just a few short sentences, Carinal7 can sum up a winning poker player's outlook on the game and life.

"My overriding goal in poker is to play my best at all times. There are more talented players, but I try to consistently play my best and to never lose focus. I am strong in these areas," he said. "My basic poker philosophy is not to allow results (good or bad) to affect my play. My plan is to play more poker with the money that I won, always important to maintain a healthy bankroll. I respect all the players who have stood the test of time in poker."

For the entire story of Cardinal7's win, see the 2007 WCOOP: Event #7 Final Table Report

It takes a certain breed of poker player to compete in an event the likes of Event #9 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Though many words comes to mind, the only one that seems to fit like a gutshot draw's lucky card is "manic."

With nearly 2,200 players in the field, the first few levels required a particular (and some would say peculiar) sense of abandon. No draw was too ugly. No amount of rebuys was too much. No amount of recklessness would be criticized. It was like a mid-20th century anti-drug film titled, "Rebuy Madness." When the rebuy period was over, there were more than twice the number of rebuys and add-ons as initial buy-ins.

Those players left after the first hour of play must have been sitting in front of their computers with the glazed eyes of someone who has looked insanity in the face and come out the other side. If the craziness of the first hour was the stuff of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the next several hours were Huxley's sweet, sweet soma. Deep-stacked and relaxed, the poker players settled into the freedom of playing tons of post-flop poker, the kind of environment where real poker players find solace. Though it would require the stamina greater than that of most people, the people of Event #9 persevered. Nearly 16 hours later, nine of those rebuy maniacs turned deep stack geniuses settled into a final table covered in money. First prize, more than a quarter million bucks, was enough to keep any of them in rebuys for the next several years.

Here's how the stacks looked going into the final table.



Seat 1: 777NMC (928843 in chips)
Seat 2: puffinmypurp (663306 in chips)
Seat 3: OlliPolli (1641930 in chips)
Seat 4: Qcity1 (1687738 in chips)
Seat 5: kiwid10 (3515871 in chips)
Seat 6: LUHMAN (6437978 in chips)
Seat 7: Blinda74 (1333840 in chips)
Seat 8: ruthan (3375954 in chips)
Seat 9: yojje (3404540 in chips)


With the blinds at 30,000/60,000/6,000, puffinmypurp only had one choice when facing a standard raise from ruthan. Holding pocket eights, puffinmypurp shoved in the rest of his chips. At that point, he would've been happy to race. He must have been decidedly unhappy to the ruthan's insta-call. Up against pocket aces, puffinmypurp was woefully behind and never caught up. After exactly 16 hours of play, puffinmypurp finished in ninth place out 2,188 for $11,640.64.

Puffinmypurp's departure left 777NMC as the shortest stack at the table and the only player with fewer than a million in chips. After raising with KK, he found a huckleberry in kiwid10. Kiwid10 popped him back and 777NMC got it all in. Up against pocket tens, 777NMC was comfortable favorite. As an old boss of mine liked to say, "Nothing bad happened," and 777NMC doubled up. Ollipolli got the same favor around half an hour later when he doubled through kiwid10 with A4 vs KQ.

777NMC's early double up didn't sustain his tack for long, and by the time the blinds had moved up to 40,000/80,000/8,000, he felt it was time to get the chips in again. This time, he open pushed with ATo. This time, kiwid10 stayed out of his way, but LUHMAN did not. LUHMAN isolated with AJ, flopped his jack, and sent 777NMC out in eighth place for $19,445.16.

Now seven-handed and at the 40,000/80,000/8,000 level, the beauty of the event's structure stuck out. The average stack at the table had an M of 20, enough that push monkeys need not apply, but not so large that the already-marathon event wouldn't stretch on for an unreasonable amount of time. Players could call re-raises without committing themselves to the pot and make continuation bets that were not all-in shoves.

So, once again, the players settled into a rhythm that respected the $220,000 difference between seventh place and the Event #9 bracelet. Apart from a pre-flop race that saw Blinda74 double through ruthan, showdowns were rare for many trips around the table. That only changed when OlliPolli went for a re-steal from the blinds after ruthan made a standard button-raise. OlliPolli held A7 to ruthan's AQ. The board offered OlliPolli no help and he was out in seventh place, cashing for $31,350.36

That exit took the players to a 15-minute break, a brief respite before jumping back into the fray. The blinds moved up to 50,000/100,000/10,000 and would go no higher. IT was high enough that Blinda74 felt it was time to open shove with A8s. Kiwid10 offered a heart-felt good luck and made the call with 77. A seven on the flop and a paired board on the turn sent Blinda74 out in sixth place for $44,578.36.

It was then that people began to notice the final five came from two counties. As host Lee Jones pointed out, "We've got us an all Swedish-American final. 3:2 for the Swedes, if you're booking side action."

Whether it was national pride or the kind of aggression born of blind battles, the two counties went to war. Kiwid10 came in for a raise from the small blind, LUHMAN re-raised, kiwid10 pushed all-in and LUHMAN called. Kiwid10 held A5 suited in hearts to LUHMAN's AJ.

The flop was all hearts. LUHMAN had kiwid10 well covered, but it was huge blow to the American.

Sweden: 1
America: 0

Just a couple of hands later, kiwidd10 did it again. This time, he put Qcity1 to bed. Qcity1's K9 paired the nine on the flop, but kiwid10 turned his ace and river his eight for two pair, sending Qcity1 out in fifth place for $59,129.16.

Sweden: 2
America: 0

Four-handed, the players quickly struck a deal that left $66,000 on the table and guaranteed the players the following prize money.

kiwid10: $144,539
LUHMAN: $109,241
ruthan: $132,126
yojje: $107,109

With six-figure paydays guaranteed, the players opened up a bit, as evidenced by the biggest pot of the tournament thus far. A raising and re-raising battle between ruthan and kiwid10 ended with ruthan all-in and kiwid10 with just a couple chips left in his stack. Ruthan held pocket tens to kiwid10's AQo. Kiwid10 never improved. He was out in short order, having already locked up his $144,539. Despite finishing fourth, he made a deal at the right time, earning better than the posted second place money.

A few hands later, yojje went out on the sickest hand of the tournament, getting all his chips in with A6 on a AAT3 board against ruthan's KJ. Indeed, a queen fell on the river, knocking yojje out in third place.

Now Event #9 was left with one American and one Swede. Ruthan had around a 2-1 chip lead over LUHMAN going into heads-up play, but LUHMAN made up most of the difference rather quickly without showing down a hand. It all ended in one instant, though, as the American and the Swede went to war pre-flop, getting it all-in with LUHMAN holding AT to ruthan's KK. LUHMAN never had a chance. By the river, ruthan held jacks full of kings...and the WCOOP bracelet. After eighteen and half hours, the mania had ended.

Here are the final table results.

2007 WCOOP Event #9 final table results
Based on finishing order and four-way chop that left $66,000 for first place

1. ruthan (Sweden) $198,126.00
2. LUHMAN (United States) $109,241.00
3. yojje (Sweden) $107,109.00
4. kiwid10 (Sweden) $144,539.00
5. Qcity1 (United States) $59,129.16
6. Blinda74 (Sweden) $44,578.36
7. OlliPolli (Finland) $31,350.36
8. 777NMC (Brazil) $19,445.16
9. puffinmypurp (United States) $11,640.64

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #9 Results

Jalla79 won more than $67,000 in Event #3 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. The full-time pro from Sweden marks the win as not his biggest, but one of the bigger scores he's put together recently. The money is headed straight for his bankroll.

"It was a great feeling, as it always is to reach FT," he said. "It was special because of WCOOP and to win it was really nice."

Jalla79 has been playing poker for around three years, half of that time at PokerStars playing Pot-Limit Omaha and No-Limit Hold'em tournaments. With seven tables left in the six-max event, the Swede realized he was on his way to a big score.

"I hit a straight against AA and took a huge pot, after that pot I felt pretty sure I would make the final table," he said. "I got the feeling that this one is mine, because the players start to think more and tighten up. I had a monster stack and I am a very aggressive player and knew that my stack wouldn't become smaller."

Jalla79 gas been a gambling since he was a youngster. Now 27 years old, he spends his off time with his girl friend and watching his favorite soccer team, Solna AIK, on the field.

When he's not playing on PokerStars, jalla79 hits up his local casino where he plays in the big monthly tourneys. While the cash game action is, in his estimation, good, he prefers to stick to the tournaments.

"I see my self as a tourney player," he said.

Now, so does everybody else.

For the full story on jalla79's win, read the 2007 WCOOP: Event # 3 Final Table Report.

When the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker kicked off, it did so in style. The winner, samh33, won an impressive $155,561 in the no-limit short-handed hold'em event. Not bad for a guy who quit his job in Janauary to focus on poker. Looks like he's made his nut for the year. Here's an interview with samh133.

samh133

Q. Tell us a little about yourself.

samh133: I'm 25 years old and I play poker for a living. Life is good.

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

samh133: 2 1/2 years.

Q. How did you learn to play poker?

samh133: I started playing like 5 $ games in our garage and I think my brothers were trying to teach me at first. They had to teach me that J2s wasn't a good hand to play. But after I started getting serious about it, I signed up for a training site, cardrunners.com. It helped out a lot. I also read forums and talk hands with other good poker players.

Q. Any particular meaning or story behind your screen name?

samh133: It's my name and weight class I used to wrestle in college.

Q. What was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

samh133: It was a great feeling to win a tournament this big. I think this was the first tournament that I had ever won and it was just a great feeling.

Q. Are you a full-time player or do you have a regular job?

samh133: I was an accountant, but I quit to pursue poker in January of this year.

Q. Do you have any plans for the money you won in WCOOP?

samh133: I'll probably invest most of it.

Q. Is this your biggest win to date or have you had others?

samh133: This is my biggest win but I've had 2 3rds this year for about 35k a piece.

Q. Any particular moments in the tournament when you thought, "I'm going to make the final table?"

samh133: I got in first early on in the tournament and I thought I had a chance to make the final table but I obviously had a long way to go. After I recovered from being in last place with 54 players left and won a couple of key flips, I knew I was going to win it.

Q. Any goals for your poker play?

samh133: Always improve and try to keep moving up stakes.

Q. Is there a lot of live poker in your hometown? What’s it like there?

samh133: No, and theres really no good casinos nearby either. I just play $20 homegames with my friends once in a while. It's fun to do once in a while though.

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world?

samh133: I respect most of the NLHE players because I know all the work that it takes to get there. I guess a few players that stand out are Stinger, Taylor, and Brian Townsend.

For a full reporting samh133's win, visit, the 2007 WCOOP: Event # 1 Final Table Report.

In the world of marketing and business, advertising gurus toss around the word "elite" like a teenager would toss out the word "awesome." At PokerStars, the word "elite" actually means something. How so? Well, this year was the first year for the PokerStars VIP Club's Supernova Elite level. In the first nine months of the year, only three people have achieved this top ranking. ElkY was the first. BigJoe2003 was the second.

Now, this elite level has a third member: marchinvest2.

ElkY and BigJoe2003 made it to Supernova Elite largely playing SNGs. Marchinvest2 took a different approach. He did it playing cash games. So, it seems like a good idea to introduce you to the player behind the game.

Marchinvest2 is a 28 year-old owner of several fast food restaurants. He lives with his girlfriend on Lake Minnetonka in Minneapolis, MN.



With his Elite status, marchinvest2 will pick up some great live tournament entries and a great bonus on his FPPs while he plays. And what is he playing? In the nine months since the beginning of the year, he's been playing a lot.

"I play six to nine tables of 10/20 to fifteen tables six-max and full-ring limit games," he said.

By this point in a persons poker career, they have amassed enough FPPs to just about anything they want. Marchinvest2 is different.

"I don't have many FPPs right now, because each time I get 100,000, I buy a $1,500 bonus," he said. "I have bought countless bonuses over the course of the year. I really appreciate PokerStars offering a cash bonus. It is much better than any other poker site for player bonuses."

Congratulations to marchinvest2 for becoming PokerStars' third Supernova Elite.

"A lot of my friends had bankrolls. A lot of my friends started playing Omadraw. A lot of my friends went busto. Omadraw is like crack. Once you start you can't stop...until you are out of money."

My friend Miami Don wrote that a couple of weeks ago. Whether it's because I respect Don, whether I love Omaha games, or because they are a constant threat to my roll, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I think Don was talking about the Pot-Limit variety, but the quote came to mind when I sat down to watch Event #8 of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker, the $530 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. If you're an Omahaddict, tournaments like this one are bankroll candy. Limited loss, tons of fun, and a chance for a really big score. Even the limit varietal provides a lot of excitement. Just ask the 917 people who signed up to play Event #8.

It took nearly eleven hours to get down to the final table of nine players. All players were guaranteed at least ten times their buy-in. First place offered a cool hundred grand to the winner, and that's not a candy bar that's been in the freezer.

Here's how the final nine Omaha players stacked up at the final table.

Seat 1: copi (693336 in chips)
Seat 2: SSSHIP_IT (307845 in chips)
Seat 3: bigdogpckt5s (259245 in chips)
Seat 4: joeaces (69874 in chips)
Seat 5: Lystig (280373 in chips)
Seat 6: SKOAL (553128 in chips)
Seat 7: rkruok (67632 in chips)
Seat 8: ch0ppy (256864 in chips)
Seat 9: oskar (262703 in chips)


It only took one hand to turn the nine-handed contest into an eight-handed final table. Joeaces entered the final table with only a few big bets left in his stack. Holding QdKcAh2h, he got into the pot and saw a decent flop, 3d8d9c. From there, nothing good happened. His deuce paired on the turn, and the four of clubs on the river was no help to beat Lystig's Jh7cJc6d. Joeaces finished in ninth place, earning $5,502.00

With one player gone, the nightly half-hour break gave the players a much-needed rest after eleven hours of play. When discussion of a deal broke out, ch0ppy was the first to speak up and say he wasn't interested. At the time, he was short on chips and left with half an hour to think about how he might remedy the situation. Back from break, the cards didn't cooperate. He called a raise with KdJsTcJc. From that point, he was never ahead again. Rkrouk held 3dAh2sQc and flopped two pair. All the money was in by the river and ch0ppy had not improved. He exited in eighth place and picked up $9,628.50.

Oskar had already been on the ropes and managed to stay alive. His time would come, however. He'd gotten under SKOAL's skin about an hour into final table play. SKOAL, frustrated, had wondered aloud, "How did you make it this far?" So, it must have been justice in SKOAL's mind to be the one who sent oskar to the rail. Oskar came in for a raise with 8sQsAc7c and SKOAL called with 2h4s8h6c. The flop brought 5sJc5h. SKOAL bet out and oskar raised, leaving himself just one bet for the turn. The ace of hearts fell next, followed by the ten of hearts on the river, giving SKOAL the flush and the win. Oskar finished in seventh place for $14,213.50.

Shortly thereafter, the players were five-handed. Bigdogpckt5s lost most of his chips and with less than one big bet left in his stack got his money in behind against Lystig and couldn't catch up. Bigdogpckt5s won $19,257.00 for his sixth place finish.

With five players remaining, talk of a deal broke out, and then broke down for one reason. SSSHIP_IT wanted more than his opponents were willing to give up. He typed his real name, Martin Corpus Jr. in the chat box and told everybody to check his stats. He haggled for $4,000 more and no one would give it to him. With the cards back in the air, SSSHIP_IT beat SKOAL in the next hand and then immediately said he would accept a new deal. This time, SKOAL offered in his opinion in three letters: "lol." Less than five minutes later, SSSHIP_IT was out and SKOAL was the one who sent him to the rail, his 2hKhAh9c beating out SSSHIP_IT's As3c2sJh. If there is such a thing a the Deal Kill Curse, some folks might argue SSSHIP_IT fell victim to it. The deal would've given him $32,000. His final take for fifth place was $24,988.25

With SSSHIP_IT gone, the players settled into deal-making mode again. This time, the deal went through. With $22,000 left on the table for the champion, the players locked up the following amounts for themselves.

copi: $65,882
Lystig: $53,937
SKOAL: $40,729
rkruok: $49,680

For a while, it looked like SKOAL might be the next to go. However, he wanted that $22,000 left on the table. Before long, he got all his money in with the best hand against Lystig and doubled up when Lystig's low draw didn't come in on the river. A few hands later, SKOAL did the wet work again. On a flop of 4c 5h 6c, Lystig flopped the little straight to SKOAL's nut low and nut flush draw. The betting was capped on the flop and turn, putting Lystig all in. SKOAL's flush draw gave him the nut-nut on the river and sent Lystig out in fourth place.

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, well-known Austrian player copi put on a bit of a clinic, mostly at the expense of rkruok. Before long, rkruok had to pick a hand and go with it. He chose Kh7hQh5s, which was good for two pair on the turn, but bad when copi made a bigger two pair on the river. Rkruok departed in third place, setting up a heads-up contest that was hardly fair. Copi had most of the chips on the table and finished off SKOAL in short order when SKOAL's Ts2h7sAc barley connected with the board.

Both copi and SKOAL played amazing games and have been around PokerStars for a long while. I met copi a few years ago when he played fo Austria's World Cup of Poker team. Over the years, he's been a familiar face in WCOOP and at final tables all over the PokerStars system. Congratulations to copi, SKOAL, and everybody else who cashed in Event #8.

PokerStars WCOOP Event #8 Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and four-way deal that left $22,000 for first place

1. copi (Austria) $87,882.00
2. SKOAL (United States) $40,729.00
3. rkruok (Australia) $49,680.00
4. Lystig (Norway) $53,937.00
5. SSSHIP_IT (United States) $24,988.25
6. bigdogpckt5s (Canada) $19,257.00
7. oskar (Germany) $14,213.50
8. ch0ppy (Canada) $9,628.50
9. joeaces (United States) $5,502.00

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #8 Results

When we saw the screen name spielraum.at, we knew it seemed familiar. So did the name behind the winner of Event #2 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. As it turned out, spielraum.at as appeared on this blog's pages before. Last time we ran across him, it was the 2005 World Cup of Poker. He was representing Team Austria. Now, Florian Oberauer is a WCOOP bracelet-holder.

Florian Oberauer

Q. When you're not busy winning WCOOP bracelets, what do you do with your time?

Oberauer: I am 33. I like to travel very much. I qualified for a Magic pro-tour in San Diego this summer. So, I went to Las Vegas with some friends. I lived in a ranch with all the German poker pros for two weeks this summer and played lots of Chinese Poker.

Q. Tell us about was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

Oberauer: Its a very exciting experience to play more than 14 hours in a tourney and finally own all chips, but not really because of the money. I really wanted this bracelet. World champion in Wild West poker...NICE!

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

Oberauer: More than 20 years

Q. How long have you been playing at PokerStars?

Oberauer: Since 2004

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world?

Oberauer: I am a fan of Sigi Stockinger

Q. Besides poker, do you do anything else professionally?

Oberauer: I have 3 Magic: The Gathering shops in Salzburg, Vienna, and, Berlin.

Q. You won more than $20,000 playing a game few people play. What are you going to do with the cash?

Oberauer: It just boosts my bankroll. This is my biggest win to date.

Q. What is your best poker game?

Oberauer: Heads-up and 7-card stud.

Q. Was there any particular moments in the tournament when you thought, "I'm going to make the final table?"

Oberauer: After I survived the first two hours, although I lost four times with a set against a higher set, I was sure luck would turn around.

Q. If you have a basic poker philosophy, what is it?

Oberauer: Courage has to be honored.

Limit.

It's almost a dirty word in this all no-limit-all-the-time world. In a poker world that values guts over nuance, aggression over math, and pre-flop stares over river value bets, the limit hold'em world has become a quiet, almost antiquated subculture. Stumbling over a limit hold'em tournament is like a trip to a small town's Frontier Days Festival, minus the period costumes and blacksmith artistry.

And yet, in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, the limit poker world survives and thrives. Event #7, a $215 limit hold'em tournament, drew more than 2,000 players in the middle of the week and more than quadrupled the $100,000 prize pool guarantee.

It took more than 12 hours to reach the final table. When the final nine faced each other for the first time, here's how they stacked up.



Seat 1: TheMasterJ33 (1136618 in chips)
Seat 2: 011180 (253219 in chips)
Seat 3: Itchy (956871 in chips)
Seat 4: Cardinal7 (673710 in chips)
Seat 5: cfinnn (704680 in chips)
Seat 6: superbrono (545844 in chips)
Seat 7: PapaPapsilon (475999 in chips)
Seat 8: Nirvana76 (398160 in chips)
Seat 9: lilholdem954 (1031899 in chips)

Nirvana76 came into the final table as the second-shortest stack, so when he picked up KcJs in the big blind, he felt okay calling a raise from Cardinal7. He felt even better when the flop came down king-high rainbow. With only 60,000 chips left, he decided to check-raise all-in. He was in good shape against Cardinal7's pair of queens for all of half a second. A queen fell on the turn and Nirvana76 was drawing dead. He finished in ninth place $3623.84

Within just a few hands, cfinnn was down to less than 120,000. With AK, it was time to get it all-in. Cfinnn and Cardinal7 got into a raising war and capped it pre-flop. As it turned out, the 5s2d2h was nearly irrelevant. Cardinal7 held a pair of kings. No ace appeared on the turn or river and cfinnn became the second casualty, finishing in eighth place for $6,053.46.

Overt the years, it has not been uncommon to see 011180 show up at PokerStars final tables. Event #7 proved to be yet another tournament where the pro showed his stuff. The early going at the final table did not prove to be his luckiest of moments, however. When his stack dwindled down below 150,000, it came time to pick a hand and go with it. 3cAc looked good enough. He came in for a raise and was re-raised by lilholdem954. On a flop of QhKc9h, the players got it all in. 011180's opponent only held A4, but it was good enough, especially when a four fell on the turn. 011180 went out in seventh place, earning $9,759.66.

Itchy was the next to see his chip stack fade to dangerous levels. It was both a good and bad time to pick up pocket queens. He got them all-in versus TheMasterJ33 pre-flop. Again, he was in good shape versus 6sKh. All was well until the river. There fell the king of diamonds, one of just three cards that could've sent Itchy scratching to the rail in sixth place. Itchy's scratch? $13,877.66.

Player lilholdem954 had been the most chatty at the final table and for a while looked like he might be on his way to a WCOOP win. A tough hand tore his stack apart in the late-going. Finally, saying he'd rather be sleeping, he got all his chips in with the best hand AJ vs A6 on a 4AQ4 board. The problem, his opponent TheMasterJ33 had a spade draw that got there on the river, sending lilholdem954 to bed with $18,407.46.

Superbrono had been having a very good game, but four-handed ran into TheMasterJ33's flopped two pair and ended up on the short-stack. Just a couple of minutes later, superbrono got the rest of his chips in on a six-high flop. In the end, he couldn't beat a pair of fives and exited in fourth place, earning $23,472.60

Just a few minutes later, PapaPapsilon was out. Picking up a pair of eights, PapaPapsilon re-raised Cardinal7 pre-flop. He bet and was called on a queen-high flop. When another turn, PapaPapsilon ended up getting raised and making the call. The rest of his chips went in on the river. Cardinal7 showed QcTc and and PapaPapsilon was out in second place. His efforts earned him $28,990.72.

Heads-up, TheMasterJ33 and Cardinal7 cut a chip-count deal that left $20,000 on the table to play for. TheMasterJ33 held a substantial chip lead when play resumed, but Cardinal7 wasn't going to give up on the extra $20,000 that easy. Within ten minutes, Cardinal7 had battled back to nearly even the chip counts. Instead of a quick end to Event #7, the heads-up battle became the kind of fight poker players like to watch. When a king-high flop brought big action, Cardinal7 overtook the chip lead, showing down AK to TheMasterJ33's KQ.

It was in the middle of this fight that true fans of poker could begin to appreciate what limit poker has over no-limit. One hand was not going to decide who would win this event. The limit heads-up struggle was more a boxing match than a no-limit nuclear war. Instead of a player dropping all his chips and hoping the mushroom cloud blew the jetsam his way, the two remaining fighters jabbed, juked, and threw the occasional uppercut. It was poker science instead of poker miracle.

There began a bit of a heads-up clinic. Cardinal7 went to town, applying heavy pressure and the occasional good river to put TheMasterJ33 to bed. Cardinal7 won nearly $68,000 and the WCOOP gold bracelet.

Congratuations to all the winners.

2007 WCOOP Event #7 final table results
Based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $20,000 extra for the winner

1. Cardinal7 (United States) $67,933.49
2. TheMasterJ33 (United States) $53,629.87
3. PapaPapsilon (Germany) $28,990.72
4. superbrono (Slovenia) $23,472.60
5. lilholdem954 (United States) $18,407.46
6. Itchy (United States) $13,877.66
7. 011180 (United States) $9,759.66
8. cfinnn (Canada) $6,053.46
9. Nirvana76 (Netherlands) $3,623.84

Complete 2007 WCOOP Event #7 Results

PokerStars' elite stable of poker pros and enthusiasts just grew by four members, and they are all faces you're bound to recognize. Getting a spot on Team PokerStars is no easy task, but these four players showed their stuff at this year's World Series. If you've not yet seen them on television, keep your eyes peeled, because you will soon.

So, who are the four players stepping into the Team PokerStars dugout?

Tuan Lam only started playing poker so he could deal cards in a friend's poker room. It turned out to be a move that would change both his and his family's life. After turning pro, Lam went to the 2007 World Series and nearly won the Main Event bracelet. He placed second and won nearly $5 million.

Dario Minieri is one of the best-known poker players from Italy. Perhaps most famous for using his PokerStars Frequent Player Points to buy a Porsche, Minieri also went deep in the 2007 World Series and made the final table of a European Poker Tour event this year.



Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan was once suspected of being a bot, because he played so many SNGs at a time. It turned out, he was simply a highly-animated, super-multi-tasking poker player. RaiNKhaN made the final table of the 2007 World Series Main Event and won nearly $1 million



Raymond Rahme was the first person from the entire continent of Africa to make a World Series Main Event Final table. He did it in 2007, just two years after picking up Texas Hold'em. Rahme placed third and won more than $3 million.



To learn more about these players and all the members of the elite team, visit the Team PokerStars homepage.

By now, you've likely heard that Team PokerStars' Greg "Fossilman" Raymer added a bracelet to his collection this morning after winning the 2007 PokerStars World Cup of Poker Event #6 ($320 Rebuy PL Omaha). Just a few hours later, Greg is awake, $168,000 more wealthy, and answering our questions.

Q. So, you sort of disappeared on the final table bubble for a while. Describe the disconnect period and what was going on at Chez Raymer the middle of the outage.

Raymer: The disconnect totally sucked, as you can imagine. At first I tried to re-establish it, disconnecting and reconnecting the network, restarting my computer, but it soon became clear that the problem was not inside my house or computer, but somewhere else with the cable. Fortunately, my Internet came back soon enough, so I was able to continue playing as normal.

Q. You looked pretty solid throughout the day. Were you just feeling in your stride or was it just one of those rush days?

Raymer: I was getting dealt a lot of reasonable good to great starting hands, and I was catching a lot of good flops, so we can give luck a bulk of the credit for this result.

Q. Talk about the final table, your opponents, and the key hands for you.

Raymer: There were so many key hands, some that went my way, and many that did not, and I just can't recall them all at this time. It was nice to start the final table with the chip lead, but as you saw, that came and went as the table progressed. The best thing was that most of my opponents, even when they had chips, were not interested in gambling, and they were allowing me to steal tons of small pots. Often, in PLO, I like to just limp in and see the flop before committing a lot of money. However, in this case, from the bubble to the win, it was clear that my steal equity was so high that I had to pursue it aggressively. As for individual opponents, I thought all of them played well, as far as I could tell from the cards that were shown. -db- in particular played an extremely patient game, and never got his chips in the middle while behind, I believe. I only took him out because I won as a 2:1 underdog with my flush draw.

Q. You said at the final table you'd won some small Omaha tournaments, but you considered this a big won. Tell us why.

Raymer: $168,000 is why. Plus, this event, as is true for all the WCOOP events,garners a lot of attention. Other than the bigger brick-and-mortar events, the WCOOP is a huge thing on my calendar, and something to look forward to winning in every year. I am sure once I go to twoplustwo.com or any of the other big poker discussion boards, I'm going to see a lot of talk about my win, and a lot of discussion of the hands I played well, or poorly.

Q. It got a little contentious with your heads-up opponent. Any thoughts?

Raymer: I wouldn't say contentious. I would just say that he was getting rather whiny. The funny thing is, I can get bad beat several times in a row on PokerStars, and then when I win a simple coin-flip hand or the like, the losing player will whine in the chat box about the games being rigged in my favor. Obviously, this is just sour grapes on their part, and reflects NOTHING about the reality of the situation. Also, I think that this player quite possibly had little if any experience with heads-up PLO. I mean, why would he think it’s a big deal for me to call with the dumb end of the straight? I mean, it's not like a full table, where you often give your opponents credit for the nuts when you don't hold them yourself. Most of his whining seemed to reflect this misunderstanding, as I would call him down with hands that are quite weak by full table standards.

Q. What does winning a WCOOP bracelet mean to you?

Raymer: This means a LOT to me. As far as I am concerned, this is only a small step shy of winning a WSOP bracelet. While I have had some very good results in the last 3 years, I haven't really WON anything since the Main Event in 2004. So, winning this tournament is a fantastic feeling.

Q. What's next for you?

Raymer: Win the Omaha hi-lo tomorrow, and do the commentary while playing. ;-)

If PokerStars observer chat had been active, the joke would likely have been oft repeated.

"You're telling me you won $5 million in the World Series of Poker, but you can't afford a decent Internet connection?"

Insetad, the jokes were left to the people actually sitting at the final two tables of WCOOP Event #6, the $320 PLO rebuy event. Player Oswaldo was the first to speak. "Is Raymer now running and on his way to a Internet bar?" he imagined.

In the history of WCOOP, there have been several unfortunate and ill-timed Internet service outages. However, none have happeneed to more public poker figure at such an important time in a tournament.



There sat the one and only Greg "FossilMan" Raymer--with the chip lead, no less--on the bubble of the final table table of Event #6. The remaining two tables were five-handed and Raymer's "disconnect time bank" had run out. He was getting blinded out. At a time when Raymer is most dangerous (for instance, when he has more than twice the chips of anybody at his table), he was rendered powerless. There was a very real possibility the final table would start without him. Despite the fact he was a prized and valued member of Team PokerStars, no special treatment was ever mentioned. He was timed out, blinded off, and left to wither in the virtual poker sun.

And then he came back.

"Whew, bad time to lose internet," appeared in the chat box. [Interview with Greg Raymer]

And that's almost how the final table of WCOOP Event #6 began. Instead, Raymer came back and the players fought their way down to the final nine. At the start of final table play, Raymer still had the chip lead.



Seat 1: FossilMan (1519556 in chips)
Seat 2: Oswaldo (439874 in chips)
Seat 3: PlayaAAK8 (858200 in chips)
Seat 4: Rage Of Fury (597216 in chips)
Seat 5: rutasasha (996630 in chips)
Seat 6: MrSmits (1103257 in chips)
Seat 7: Rsa87 (1233579 in chips)
Seat 8: -db- (981710 in chips)
Seat 9: O.Mustang (491978 in chips)

As play began, the stacks were so deep, few confrontations were necessary or warranted. While chips moved back and forth, the huge swings seen earlier in the event were nowhere to be found. Apart from an early Royal Flush by O.Mustang, there was little in the way of highlights in the early going. Eventually, though, someone had to go.

Oswaldo called a Mr. Smits raise from the small blind, as did PlayaAAK8 in the big blind. On a flop of [6d 3h Jh], Oswaldo bet out 195,000. PlayaAAK8 pushed all-in, enough to get MrSmits out of the way and cover Oswaldo. Oswaldo showed [Td Qc 7c Jd] to PlayaAAK8's [9s 6h Ah Js]. A king of hearts on the river locked it up for PlayaAAK8. Oswaldo left in ninth place, earning $9,274.20.

With one player gone, O.Mustang began to quietly creep up the leaderboard, eventually overtaking the chip lead. As he did so, as you might expect, the other players' stacks began to dwindle to levels at which they were ready to start gambling again.

If there's one frustrating thing about Omaha (and some people would argue there is a lot more than one frustrating thing about the game), it's watching your opponent's re-draw get there in a pot that almost certainly should've beeen chopped. So lived Rage of Fury as he got all his chips in the middle with the same two pair as MrSmits. On the turn, MrSmits made a bigger two pair. The river didn't come in for Rage of Fury, and so ended the raging against the dying of the light. Rage of Fury was out in eighth place, taking home $15,694.80.

The biggest hand of the tournament so far came just a few minutes later when Raymer came in for a raise, rutasasha called, and Rsa87 called. The flop came [3c Ts Js] and Raymer bet out 125,000, rutasha called, and Rsa87 pushed all-in. Raymer made the call to see Rsa87's set of jacks. Raymer held the nut flush draw...which came in on the river. Covered and smoothered, Rsa87 left in seventh place for $23,542.20.

"Just lucky," Raymer admitted.

His luck would not continue for long. Within a couple of hands, Raymer tried to finish off another opponent, to no avail. The chip lead Raymer had taken over departed as he doubled up rutsasha. Soon, though, after O.Mustang lost a rough hand against PlayaAAK8, the stacks started to even out. It was just about anybody's game.

Despite being among the most gambley games in WCOOP, the final table of Event #6 featured deep-enough stacks that players could find folds where they normally might not. It was not uncommon to go for long stretches without seeing a showdown. It was during one of those stretches that Raymer chipped up to the chip lead and -db- started getting perilously close to his exit. After getting exceptionally low, he managed to double though Raymer after rivering a flush against Raymer's overpair. That hand and one that followed against O.Mustang brough Raymer's stack back down with everybody else's.

Raymer, however, was not content to have an average stack. He went back on the attack and slipped into a hand with PlayaAAK8 that proved to be a bit of a cooler. A flop of 678 drew both players into the pot. PlayaAAK8 held 45 for the low end of the straight, but Raymer was holding 9T for the high end. There were no miracles to emerge for PlayaAAK8 and he exited in sixth place for more than $32,000.

Raymer did not remain in the stratosphere for long. After flopping a threes full of eights on a 388 board, Raymer ran into Mr Smits' Q8 on the turn, a queen. A costly pot, it doubled MrSmits up and dropped Raymer down to third in chips. Raymer's only response: "Shoot."

-db- is one player who can boast to have cashed in every year WCOOP to date. His best finish came in 2002 when he won a Limit Omaha/8 event. Event #6 marked his 12th WCOOP cash and his third final table. He was looking to make it his second championship when he flopped a straight against Raymer. All the money went in with Raymer on the nut flush draw. It got there and -db- finished in fifth place for $40,663.80

Four-handed, discussion of a deal broke out, but broke down just as quickly. Back to battle, O.Mustang held onto the chip lead, while Raymer and MrSmits battled for second and rutasasha hung out in fourth place.

It would not last that way for long. O.Mustang stretched his lead out, only to see the entire game go haywire over the course of half an hour. It started when Raymer flopped the second nut flush to rutasasha's two pair. They got it all in and rutasasha ended up out in fourth place. Hardly a few moments later, O.Mustang knocked out Smits after they got it in pre-flop. Smits ended with a set of queens, but O.Mustang rivered a straight.

Heads-up, the atmosphere was tense. O.Mustang had not been complimentary of Raymer's play. Raymer, with a slight chip lead, decided he didn't feel like chopping. So began a short and tense heads-up battle. It ended after the pair saw a flop of 8d5c6c. Raymer check-raised and O.Mustang pushed all-in. Raymer held Jc7d8c5d to O.Mustang's 7cAcQc6s. The turn, 3h, helped neither player. The river, however, was the 7s, giving Raymer the win, his first WCOOP bracelet, and more than $168,000.

Just a couple of hours before, the player known as FossilMan had been cut off from the etheral world of the Internet and blinded off at the table. His return came just in time. Now, the 2005 World Series champion has a WCOOP bracelet to wear on his other wrist.

Here are the final table results.

2007 WCOOP Event #6 Final Table Results

1. FossilMan (United States) $168,362.40
2. O.Mustang (United Kingdom) $97,022.40
3. MrSmits (Denmark) $64,919.40
4. rutasasha (Ukraine) $49,938.00
5. -db- (United States) $40,663.80
6. PlayaAAK8 (United States) $32,103.00
7. Rsa87 (United States) $23,542.20
8. Rage Of Fury (Norway) $15,694.80
9. Oswaldo (Finland) $9,274.20

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #6 Results

It was a merely a function of the software. It was a wink from Randomness that said, "Yeah, I've got a sense of humor. How about you?" It was an arbitrary number designating the final field of competition for the ultimate nine in the 2007 WCOOP Event #5.

The final table's number was 666.

The number of the beast notwithstanding, Event #5, a $530 No-Limit Hold'em bonanza, had been an amazing event. More than 6,000 players showed up in the normal place of the Sunday Million to fight a fiery (and perhaps a bit brimstoney) battle for a $3 million prize pool. In what would end up being the longest tournament in WCOOP history, Event #5 lasted more than 20 hours and saw some of online poker's greatest names make valiant runs for the final table.

As the sun rose and shed light on Monday all over the world, nine people remained at the cleverly-cursed final table.

Click image for full-size version

Seat 1: fredmainiac (18342861 in chips)
Seat 2: dankhank (3225517 in chips)
Seat 3: 666 INRI (3885339 in chips)
Seat 4: Bill Ivey (4442000 in chips)
Seat 5: glynda (8057854 in chips)
Seat 6: debrisfish (7950211 in chips)
Seat 7: wNwNw1 (5480442 in chips)
Seat 8: AB_illusive (4615230 in chips)
Seat 9: taktloss47 (4250546 in chips)

Should anyone have given any credence to the unfortunate table destination? Hard to say, really. After all, not every culture assigns any significance to the triplicate six. It would be left to the cards to see what if any issues with good versus evil we'd see. Looking back, maybe it should've been more obvious. Take for instance, the first evil blow of the final table.

wNwNw1 came in for a raise 640,000 and taktloss47 made it 1,440,000 to play. Back around to wNwNw1, and in went the rest of his chips. With the virtual cards on their virtual backs, we saw the timeless and epic fight. Aces for wNwNw1. Kings for taktloss47. People who find good in everything, a silver lining in every cloud, and see a chicken in every pot should turn away before the river.

A king.

It was a pot worth nearly 8,000,000 chips. Even more significant, it was the first sign that the table number might not be just a number.

It's been said that insanity is defined as repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. However, no one could blame wNwNw1 when he repeated the same behavior just a couple of minutes later. Once again, in he went with his aces. This time he was up against...well, wait just a minute. Who is this player in the three seat? His name: 666 INRI.

666? Well, that's just spooky.

Indeed, wNwNw1's aces were up against the man who shared a name with the actual table's. This guy held pocket eights. This time, the aces--righteous warriors that they are--held up, leading anyone who might have been speculating on the double 666s to consider the possibility of double negatives when combining two numbers of the beast.

Player wNwNw1 on had one word for the chat bar: "JUSTICE."

Duly smitten by the final table of the same name 666 INRI was left with fewer than a million chips. So, when chip leader fredmainiac came in for a raise, 666 INRI got it all in with KJ. Two angels, both queens, greeted him on the other side of the baize. King and knave were no match for the crowned ladies. 666 INRI--one of three final table players from Germany--was out in ninth place, earning $18,677.50.

'Twas then, friends, it appeared as though good had taken a foothold in the crevasse of evil. Bill Ivey's kings held up against fredmainiac's AJ. Then AB_illusive's 44 held against AK. Indeed, for a while, it seemed like the best hands would hold up. Then, a half hour into the final table, the people managing the triumph of good over evil took a powder.

Taktloss47 came in for a min-raise to raise 400,000, fredmainiac called, and AB_illusive called from the big blind. The flop came down [4s Kc Ah]. AB_illusive checked, taktloss47 bet 780,000, and fredmainiac raised to 1,600,000. AB_illusive saw the battlefield grow dark and stepped into the shadows to let the two remaining Germans do the good vs. evil dance. Taktloss47 called.

The turn was the seven of hearts. This time taktloss47 checked. Fredmainiac bet out 2.2 million. And why wouldn't he? He already held two pair with his big slick. Taktloss47 called.

So, what was under taktloss47's virtual hands. Was it AQ? Was it some odd sort of draw? Hard to say, for sure. Taktloss47 had made the min-raise to start the hand and had made the continuation bet on the flop. Now he had reduced himself to check-calling on a dangerous board.

The river was the five of hearts. Suddenly, taktloss4 woke up and pushed all in. It was nearly six million to call. Fredmainiac didn't take too much time before throwing in his chips. When he saw taktloss47's JhTh for the flush, fredmainiac had but one word.

"Sick."

Somewhere south, a man with a pitchfork was chuckling.

***

Was taktloss47 some sort of evil genius? A demon from the underworld well-schooled in the ways of Texas Hold'em and how to make kings beat aces? The devil himself? No, no. The man in the nine-seat was not damned. He was simply a pretty damned good poker player who had gotten a tad lucky in a couple of hands at the final table (and to be fair, he'd had his share of bad luck along the way as well). Taktloss47 was, in fact, Sebastian "taktloss47" Ruthenberg, a German poker star. Last year, he won the German Open placed third at the EPT event in Dortmund, Germany.



With the chip lead now firmly in his grasp, taktloss47 (name taken from a German battle rapper), let some of the other players go to work on each other. AB_Illusive doubled through Bill Ivey with TT vs AT on a ten-high. A sign that the evil had been vanquished? Nay. Welcome to Suck Out City, Population: 8.

Bill Ivey's A4 vs AT? Winner (A4)
wNwNw1's AJ vs QQ? Winner (AJ).
Dankhank's AQ vs QQ? Winner (AQ)

If getting in behind was working for everybody else, it didn't work for debrisfish. With 1.75 million chips left, debrisfish got it all in with A4 vs. glynda's TT. A ten on the flop sealed the deal and sent debrisfish out in eighth place earning $30,125.

Fredmaniac had been quiet since his earlier unfortunate defeat. So, when he picked up KK pre-flop, he was happy to get all his money in before a suck-out could happen. This time, he was up against dankhank's Ah8h. Two hearts on the flop were scary, but fredmainiac held the other nine curvy red spots at bay and scored a key double-up. Short-stacked, dankhank was out shortly thereafter earning $49,706.25 for his seventh place finish.

Fredmainiac was the next to go. He got all his money in on a jack-high flop with AJ vs AB_illusive's 99. If anyone needed evidence of the sick nature of poker, they should witness the turn, a nine of clubs, giving AB_illusive a set and forcing fredmainiac into the Land of the (Drawing) Dead. He was comforted on his walk with the departed by $69,287.50.

Short-stacked and in need of making a move, Bill Ivey finally got his money in with A3 vs AB_Illusive's 88. This time, there would be no suckout evil. Bill Ivey placed fifth and took home $96,701.25.

On an ensuing hand, there was little doubt all the money was going in the middle on the flop. With [Th Qs Kd] showing on the board, taktloss47 held KsKh. The man known as wNwNw1 held KcJh. It was the kind of set-up meant for pure drama...drama erased when the ten of diamonds fell on the turn gave taktloss47 the full house. wNwNw1 was out in fourth place earning $126,525.00.

Glynda had been exceptionally quiet throughout the entire tournament, even remaining as the only silent person during talk of a deal. The only words that came from glynda's chat box during the final table were "I want to play it out" and, after bluffing at a 5dKhTs flop against taktloss47's aces, "nh." That spelled Glynda's end, with $162,373.75 going to the third place finisher.

So began the talk of a deal. With 5% required to be withheld to play for, AB_illusive and taktloss47 cut a deal giving taktloss47 about $12,000 more. They would play for $150,000 over the course of the next hour and half. It was a heads-up SNG for some serious cash.

Over the course of an epic heads-up battle, AB_illusive chipped up and up, then doubled up with a straight versus taktloss47's two pair. Before long, AB_illusive had caught taktloss47 in a river bluff and taken over the chip lead. However, taktloss47 would not be kept down, doubling up with AQ vs KQ )all-in preflop) and then out-kicking AB_illusive with KJ vs QJ on a J374J board.

To be sure, the tournament looked all but over. When AB_illusive got his As3s all-in versus taktloss47's JJ, the cage was already wrapping up the win for man with the jacks. Two spades on the flop and one on the river, though, sent the money the other way. That would be the last time taktloss47 saw the bulk of the chips. After getting caught in what must have been a bluff, taktloss47's stack was a third the size of AB_illusive's.


Turn Bluff Snuff: AB-illusive picks off taktloss47 in heads-up marathon

Ultimately, taktloss47 got KQ all-in against 33 and couldn't find any of his outs. In the end, indeed, the best hand held up. The curse of the table number may have affected some, but when it came to the cards, good prevailed over...well, not as good. Still, everybody at the final table walked away with more money than anybody should really make in one work day...even if that work day lasts 20 hours under the shadow of an evil number.

2007 WCOOP Event #5 Results
Based on finishing order and two-way chop that left $150,000 for the winner

1. AB_illusive (Denmark) $398,649.93
2. taktloss47 (Germany) $260,184.82
3. glynda (United States) $162,373.75
4. wNwNw1 (Finland) $126,525.00
5. Bill Ivey (United States) $96,701.25
6. fredmainiac (Germany) $69,287.50
7. dankhank (United States) $49,706.25
8. debrisfish (Italy) $30,125.00
9. 666 INRI (Germany) $18,677.50

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #5 Results

It may not have been the longest tournament in PokerStars history, but it was certainly the longest in the history of the World Championship of Online Poker. It took more than 20 hours to finish WCOOP Event #5, a $3 million no-limit hold'em affair that pitted more than 6,000 of the world's top players against each other in a battle for a huge first place prize. At the end, the top two players chopped up more than half a million prize money.

A full report will be out in a while. In the meantime, here are the final table results.

2007 WCOOP Event #5 Results
Based on finishing order and two-way chop that left $150,000 for the winner

1. AB_illusive (Denmark) $398,649.93
2. taktloss47 (Germany) $260,184.82
3. glynda (United States) $162,373.75
4. wNwNw1 (Finland) $126,525.00
5. Bill Ivey (United States) $96,701.25
6. fredmainiac (Germany) $69,287.50
7. dankhank (United States) $49,706.25
8. debrisfish (Italy) $30,125.00
9. 666 INRI (Germany) $18,677.50

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #5 Results

To the beginner 2-7 Triple Draw looks simple - three ‘lives’ (okay, officially called 'draws') per hand – that’s three chances to improve, surely? With that in mind you could easily think that playing every hand is a good idea. Finally a medley of poker that doesn’t require you to fold 19 of every 20 hands.

Not so. As experience will tell you there is little simplicity to Triple Draw, which Team PokerStars’ Victor Ramdin called a game of gambling and position. Each round creates a new dynamic to be devoured before any decision can be made and to capture this fully can take a lifetime. Maybe I should correct this first statement about simplicity and say that in 2-7 Triple Draw the beginner can find themselves in a position of great strength – a position that could well be labelled ‘ignorance is bliss.’

But in a field of 649 for this fourth event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker the good were separated from the bad in quick fashion. Or should that be the other way around? For 2-7 Triple Draw (Lowball) is in effect the hunt for the worst hand - no pair will help you here and a flush is worthless. Instead it’s the closest hand to 7 low that will reap you rewards.

Click on image to see full version



Like the Pot-Limit Omaha that ended earlier in the morning, 2-7 Triple Draw is a new event in this year’s WCOOP schedule. But caution towards the unknown didn’t stop the guaranteed $100k from being smashed. It may take 15 minutes to say the games full title out loud but when the final table got started the six survivors were well into the swing of a game that some would later admit to never having played before.

Seat 1: Donald (417,777 in chips)
Seat 2: GymZQuirk (115,238 in chips)
Seat 3: omaha kid (339,302 in chips)
Seat 4: polpolpol (271,364 in chips)
Seat 5: pstarfish (460,110 in chips)
Seat 6: GodlikeRoy (343,209 in chips)

Unlike in the Omaha final where two hours would pass before the first elimination, it took just over 20 minutes here for the first faller to click the ‘Leave Table’ button. GodlikeRoy of Australia was one of three short stacks along with Cypriot polpolpol and American GymZQuirk (more of him later).

Both GodlikeRoy and polpolpol would suffer early. First polpolpol lost a pot to omaha kid when after three draws he couldn’t shake off a queen, and then GodlikeRoy struggled when he found himself on the losing end of a pstarfish hand. Neither player could escape the depths and were out in sixth and fifth place respectively – GodlikeRoy for $3,200 and polpolpol for $4,900. Certainly no need for disappointment though for the man from Nicosia, who had reportedly posted on internet forums prior to signing up asking for advice on how to play 2-7 Triple Draw. He may now owe drinks to a few good-willed strangers.

Now to GymZQuirk. The St Paul resident survived his first all-in with 8 low against pstarfish’s accidental pair, and did the same again through Donald shortly after to give himself a stack with which to do business. He seemed impossible to eliminate bouncing back from a lost pot against Donald with yet another all-in with pstarfish. But big pots can take a stack away in short time and GymZQuirk’s angels, of which there were many, could only protect him for so long.

With less that 100k he called a pstarfish raise from the big blind, discarding two cards on the first draw when pstarfish stood pat. Check then bet, and GymZQuirk called again, taking another two cards on the second draw as pstarfish menacingly stood pat and again raised, only this time to see GymZQuirk check-raise all-in. For only a few thousand more pstarfish made the call, allowing GymZQuirk to discard another on the third draw, as he patiently stood pat.

With pstarfish taking no cards it seemed the writing had been written clearly on the wall three times – 8 low for him and a pair of stubborn sixes for GymZQuirk. He was out, despite scrappy-doo heroics - fourth place and $7,788.

Three were left, with fairly equal stacks, until omaha kid suddenly crashed, landing with a thump somewhere close to the exit door. A three-way pot had developed, led by Donald who found omaha kid and pstarfish calling - all three taking cards on the first draw. Donald bet out again, watching the others call and again each discarded on the second draw. By the third draw only omaha kid and pstarfish were still discarding. When a player stands pat you sense that there’s something sinister lurking in the shadows, but when omaha kid bet out and pstarfish re-raised Donald simply folded. With Donald no longer a threat omaha kid called pstarfish. But it had proven to be a costly hand and whilst his 8 low was close, it was pipped by the 7 low of his opponent. Left with just a few thousand Donald put omaha kid out of his misery in the next hand - third place for him and $12,006.

Event # 4 was now heads-up, with pstarfish enjoying a 3 to 1 chip lead over Donald, the Norwegian began his comeback quickly, picking up 400k with 8 low over 9 low (the difference is often no bigger than a rank) and then again when a big pot went his way. It brought Donald chips but also the overwhelming momentum, culminating in his victory when pstarfish could do nothing but move in with the loose change that remained of his once mighty stack.

Cursed by an Ace, normally the glory card of poker but the bogey man of triple draw lowball, he succumbed to Donald’s perfectly average but effective 9 low. There ended the lesson in 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball to spectators and finalists alike- its debut appearance over in style. $32,450 for Donald of Norway, $18,821 to the American pstarfish.

The first four events of this year’s WCOOP are complete, each shattering expectations with regard to both turnout and prize money. Show me the way to a Triple Draw game I say. I think I get the hang of this now and I’m feeling lucky. And what was that about ignorance being bliss?

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 4: $215 2-7 Triple Draw Final Table Results

1. Donald (Norway) $32,450
2. pstarfish (United States) $18,821
3. omaha kid (United States) $12,006
4. GymZQuirk (United States) $7,788
5. polpolpol (Cyprus) $4,900
6. GodlikeRoy (Australia) $3,200

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #4 Results

“Omaha is an action game and six handed it’s double the action.”

So said Team PokerStars icon and 2005 World Champion Joe Hachem prior to the final table of the Pot Limit Omaha (6 Max). It was the first of two events to complete the weekend – the other being the 2-7 Triple Draw – both of which were making debut appearances in the World Championship of Online Poker.

Whether it’s the opportunity to gamble or the novelty of a new game, a mammoth field of 1,818 formed for the start on Saturday afternoon. And what a start. In under two hours nearly 1,000 players had already been sent to the rail. The pace would steady of course as the midnight hours became a reality, and the final half dozen from the United States and beyond went in pursuit of the bracelet.

Seat 1: smittymatt (1346396 in chips)
Seat 2: ely_cash41 (1155861 in chips)
Seat 3: jalla79 (1670217 in chips)
Seat 4: lefty2506 (370944 in chips)
Seat 5: madiso (140248 in chips)
Seat 6: TomNordli (770334 in chips)

Jalla79 began cemented his lead early on, winning the first big pot soon after the start when his King high straight kept smittymatt’s trip queens in line, starting a pattern that would become familiar as play went on and the others fought their own private battles to keep up.

Click on image to see full version


Early on the short stacks were safe enough. With some time before the blinds began to bite hard action came from all quarters. madiso, the first Estonian ever to reach a WCOOP final table, put on a brave display, fighting well against the disadvantages that come with the short stack. He doubled up with a 9 to 5 straight over lefty2506’s giving himself some space to breath.

Things would get worse for lefty2506, who was playing in a library for most of the night before making the most of the 30 minute break to dash home, where presumably he could make more noise. His legwork couldn’t prevent his sixth place exit though, although it may have permitted him a frustrated scream of defeat.

The knocks from earlier pots got the better of him but not before a full two hours of play had passed. Betting had suddenly found a new gear and whilst others managed to survive all-ins in heroic fashion, lefty2506’s own double up just prolonged his demise. In an enormous pot, jalla79 took what remained of his stack with Kings up to lefty2506’s solitary pair that had held promise as a big draw but now looked flat. He was out in sixth place for $5,500.

Smittymatt followed just a short time later when he inherited the short stack. Again, others before him survived all-ins including TomNordli in a pot where ely_cash41 found his time bank exhausted and his hand made dead. Down to less than 10 big blinds, smittymatt raised pre-flop, watching jalla79 get involved re-raising. To call was to move all-in for smittymatt but he had little option, watching the board come 2-6-K-Q-7. It’s said that Omaha is a game of flushes and jalla79 proved just that. smittymatt had managed a set of sixes but jalla79’s flush measured king high. Smittymatt out in fifth place with $9,162.

With four left jalla79 had over 3 million chips with TomNordli the only other player close to a seven figure stack.

As Estonia’s first final tabler at the WCOOP madiso had made a good account of himself. A considered player he took even amounts of time to analyse each hand before reacting. But alas it was not to be Estonia’s day. Taking his turn as the short stack he raised pre-flop from the big blind and found both jalla79 and TomNordli calling.

On the 3-2-5 flop TomNordli called madiso’s all-in. J-8 completed the board but were only good for a pair for madiso, whilst TomNordli had completed a 2 to 6 straight. But there was credit all-round for madiso, out with $16,432. Ely_cash41 followed just two minutes later, out in third place for $27,379 when jalla79 (him again) made his straight leaving ely_cash41 with just Ace high and thoughts of what could have been.

It had taken just 36 minutes for the six-handed final to reach heads-up. On one side of the table was Norwegian TomNordli, who himself had avoided elimination earlier – at the other end fellow Scandinavian jalla79 from Sweden, who held a 4 to 1 chip lead and looked favourite to take the spoils.

But TomNordli was no push over. Despite being out-chipped he used well what little he had to bring things back to even, enough for both players to agree a deal split down the middle with $18k left to play for. Twenty minutes later, after play had opened up and swings had seen both players exchange the lead, a check-raise, all-in and call brought Event # 3 to a close.

TomNordli raised pre-flop and both saw the 7-2-4 rainbow flop. jalla79 bet out this time making it TomNordli’s turn to call. A 3 on the turn and jalla79 check-raised all-in, which TomNordli then called with the last of his chips. It was this card that had made jalla79 a straight, the wheel Ace to 5. TomNordli could only muster two pairs, 7s and 4s and the tournament was over. The bracelet in this mini battle of Scandinavia would go to Sweden.

$67,740 for jalla79 whilst his opponent settled for $49,740. As Joe Hachem said on the radio commentary way back at the start of the final, the two events today were certainly gambling events. That much was clear and Sweden’s Jalla79 showed just how it’s done.

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 3: $215 Pot-Limit Omaha (6 Max) Final Table Results

1. jalla79 (Sweden) $73,738.08 ($67,740 after chop)
2. TomNordli (Norway) $43,741.08 ($49,740 after chop)
3. ely_cash41 (United States) $27,379
4. madiso (Estonia) $16,432
5. smittymatt (United States) $9,162
6. lefty2506 (United States) $5,500

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #3 Results

The player with the online handle Donald became the latest PokerStars WCOOP bracelet winner in the early hours of this morning when he took honours in Event # 4, the 2-7 Triple Draw (Lowball). In a cautious final he overcame pstarfish heads-up and took $32,450 for first place. His opponent settled for $18,821.

Despite being the debut appearance of a 2-7 Triple Draw in the series it attracted a field of 649, making a prize pool of just under $130k for one of poker’s more exclusive variants.

Full report to follow shortly...

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 4 Final Table Results

1. Donald (Norway) $32,450
2. pstarfish (United States) $18,821
3. omaha kid (United States) $12,006
4. GymZQuirk (United States) $7,788
5. polpolpol (Cyprus) $4,900
6. GodlikeRoy (Australia) $3,200

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #4 Results

Swedish player jalla79 was victorious in the third event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker - the Pot-Limit Omaha (6 Max) - defeating Norwegian TomNordli heads-up in a battle of Scandinavia. The final lasted just over three hours and with two of these passing without a player being eliminated.

Following a two way chop, jalla79 took home $67,740 with TomNordli settling for $49,740 in what was one of four debut events in the WCOOP this weekend. A field of 1,818 started making a prize pool of over $363k.

Full report to follow shortly...

PokerStars WCOOP Event #3 Final Table Results

1. jalla79 (Sweden) $73,738.08 ($67,740 after chop)
2. TomNordli (Norway) $43,741.08 ($49,740 after chop)
3. ely_cash41 (United States) $27,379
4. madiso (Estonia) $16,432
5. smittymatt (United States) $9,162
6. lefty2506 (United States) $5,500

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #3 Results

The opening day of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker would draw to a close with the final table of the $215 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Max) event, which found 4,610 souls prepared to play deep into the night. As the final of the Five Card Draw raged on a few clicks away, this final table would be a rapid fire melee of quality play.

Click on image to see full version


By the time the final six were ready to start they had already been playing for over 15 hours.

Seat 1: TiltHappens (United States) 4,540,326 in chips
Seat 2: LUFCBas (United Kingdom) 2,396,363 in chips
Seat 3: Samh133 (United States) 1,959,713 in chips
Seat 4: toomanyonks (United States) 968,974 in chips
Seat 5: WiLDmAn75 (United States) 2,069,922 in chips
Seat 6: bearbeer123 (Sweden) 1,818,652 in chips

It’s a saying in the game, often quoted by players on a roll and acknowledging that the poker Gods are either looking the other way or taking a personal interest in their plight - that ‘living right’ can help you at the poker table. What is meant as a casual remark to soothe the bruises of the badly beaten surely has some relevance when you’ve been playing for the best part of all day and now find yourself having to shift up a gear, taking your game into overdrive for the final. Caffeine can only take you so far, the rest is sheer will.

TiltHappens seemed to display some of this true grit. He arrived at the final table the clear chip leader, enjoying the spoils of solid play that continued into the early hands of the final where he picked up close to 700k without showing. On the misery end of this, and maybe wondering how he’d ‘lived wrong’, was toomanydonks. The short stack at the start of the final he was left even closer to the felt by the exploits of the leader. Or at least he was for close to 60 seconds.

The next hand saw him move in. Sometimes it’s brought on by grumpiness t having lost, other times the players is fortunate enough to have a good hand disguised by the effects of the last bad hand. Either way WiLDmAn75 called to find out showing 77 to toomanydonks’ A-9. Mercy came on the flop - a second Ace to float him back up to the million mark – still the short stack but with a little more breathing space.

But his story seemed destined to come to a close. He was forced to cut ties with the final table in sixth place when he called the all-in raise of samh133. Both were holding an ace, the difference being that samh133’s made him an ace high flush, whilst for toomanydonks it was just ace high. Out in sixth for $10,142.

In contrast to the five card draw final the game showed no sign of lapsing into anything other than a volatile fight to the finish. The impressive graphics of an entire multi-colored stack pushed in captured the drama nicely - as found on a hand between WiLDmAn75 and TiltHappens.

By now TiltHappens had begun to show the first signs of decline. He led out making it 150k to play. When it reached WiLDmAn75 he re-raised, a further 350k to 500k. Already the stacks in the middle were climbing high. On a 4-5-6 rainbow flop WiLDmAn75 pushed all-in for over 1.3 million. No fear from TiltHappens, he called. 2-4 for WiLDmAn75, who would need help. Aces for TiltHappens.

But in online poker no one can hear you scream - the turn promptly delivered a 3, making WiLDmAn75 his straight and turning the Aces into dust. But it had been decided – perhaps by those poker gods again – that this would be the ‘wow’ hand, making participants pull at their hair and onlookers chuckling with relief. This very point was made by the 7 on the river which allowed both to play the board. A split pot.

This maintained TiltHappen’s lead but was perhaps the last good fortune he would find. This we would get to later but in the meantime it was WiLDmAn75 again all-in pre-flop with A-K, this time called by bearbeer123 with QQ in a monster hand. For some time LUFCBas had considered his options, looking for an excuse to call. He paused for some time before folding.

It looked good for bearbeer123 on the flop of 4-10-2 rainbow but the Ace hit the turn sending the chips to WiLDmAn75 who had returned unscathed from the brink yet again and boosted his stack to the tune of over 4 million.

“Please don’t tilt me” said LUFCBas, “I had 10s”.

“So sick” added TiltHappens. “I had QQ too.”

Living right indeed.

bearbeer123 moved in next hand with the cause of his woes being WiLDmAn75 calling him, a mercy call perhaps. Well, not exactly. Both players showed A-9, splitting this one. Same again on the next hand though where bearbeer123’s Ace high was good against WiLDmAn75’s King high.

Not to worry though from Wldman75’s point of view. Soon after he won an 800k pot, restoring him to lofty heights whilst for bearbeer123 it was into the cellar and fifth place when he moved in pre-flop finding his nemesis WiLDmAn75 calling again. 77 for bearbeer123, 99 for WiLDmAn75. The Swede’s day was done, departing with $18,901.

Whilst an 800k pot had helped TiltHappens bolster his chances, his conservative and successful style of play was about to lose its charm. A raise from samh133 of 166,666 started it all, which WiLDmAn75 called and TiltHappens re-raised to 540k. Samh133 added a re-raise of 2 million to keep things interesting which TiltHappens called.

The board brought 4-J-2-7-7. Neither player matched anything on show but both had an Ace. The difference being samh133’s was accompanied by a king, whilst TiltHappens just a 10. Out kicked, he watched nearly 5 million chips get shipped the other way. From the lead his tournament now lay in ruins and to rub salt in a little, the next hand saw him lose close to 900k to LUFCBas holding Aces. It was like kicking a man when he’s down.

No one was surprised when TiltHappens exited next, hopefully into the arms of a nurse with hot cocoa and cold compresses. samh133 did the deed, his King high flush more than enough to send TiltHappens out with $36,880.

It left three players who chopped up what was left and played on for the bracelet. One of which, representing the United Kingdom, was LUFCBas. For those not predisposed to English ‘Soccer’ LUFC are the initials of Leeds United Football Club. More than that, as fans on the English side of the Atlantic will testify, Leeds United are a team beset by turmoil - fines from the league and a deduction of points for financial irregularities have left them adrift at the bottom of what is the third tier of English soccer.

But there’s something else about Leeds United that seemed befitting of the player whose avatar proudly displayed the team’s crest. That is that regardless of such challenges they get results. LUFCBas looked set to do just that, surviving this far ahead of over 4,600 others. His journey to victory was thwarted in third place though when he found himself to be the short stack. He called a WiLDmAn75 raise to see the flop 5-10-2 and called another raise to see the ace on the turn. This time a WiLDmAn75 bet saw LUFCBas push all-in, getting the call that would make or break his tournament. His A-J was good for a pair, but the 55 in WiLDmAn75’ hand had made him a set and would lead him into heads-up with samh133. For the Englishman LUFCBas - third place and $84,710.

Soon samh133 was ahead and comfortable in the heads up, a set of nines good for a 5 million pot from which WiLDmAn75 would never recover. He still had some fight left in him and as his name suggested it would not be a predictable amble into second place. But he still trailed by almost 2 to 1.

As East coasters first noticed signs the morning sunlight and hid their heads under the sheets blissfully aware it was the weekend, samh133 sealed his bracelet win. Re-raising on a flop of 5-J-Q, WiLDmAn75 called and did so again when the turn brought a 7. The 2 on the river was irrelevant as WiLDmAn75 could only manage a pair of queens against samh133’s set of fives.

Day 1 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker had drawn to a close - the first salvo in an action packed month. All that’s left is to look forward to what’s next.

Combining his share of the chop and the extra left in the middle samh133 takes $155,561 and a bracelet for first place. Not a bad way to start the weekend.

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 1: $215 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Max) Final Table Results

1. samh133 (United States) $172,875 ($155,561 after chop)
2. WiLDmAn75 (United States) $99,115 ($96,352 after chop)
3. LUFCBas (United Kingdom) $64,632.20 ($84,710 after chop)
4. TiltHappens (United States) $36,880
5. bearbeer123 (Sweden) $18,901
6. toomanydonks (United States) $10,142

Full WCOOP Event #1 Results

As far as opening ceremonies go poker tends to skip the fanfare. No flags paraded past an ensemble of dignitaries in suits. Occasionally someone makes a speech but it’s never much more than ‘shuffle up and deal’. As play got underway in this year’s World Championship of Online Poker it was in keeping with this tradition. But perhaps online poker in general needs some kind of ceremony to mark the record numbers from across the world that converged to get the 2007 WCOOP, the biggest poker series of poker online anywhere in the world, finally started.

Click on image to see full version

Cut to the first final table - the Pot Limit 5 Card Draw event which had started 90 minutes after Event #1 which had yet to reach a final table. This was a $215 buy-in show that had whittled 857 players down to just six as the clock made its way past midnight. Making its debut appearance in the WCOOP schedule few predicted that a game that has a reputation as being one from the olden days could attract so many entrants. But if you build it they will come, and come they did, making for a prize pool of $171,400.

“The average age [of each player] is deceased”, quipped Team PokerStars player Tom McEvoy commentating before the final table, speculating as well that a lot of entrants qualified either via satellite or were “hotshot online poker players and they’ll play any tournament!”

Whether he was right or not is up for conjecture but there’s no mistaking Draw’s old time feel, especially when compared alongside Hold’em. It’s the game your father played, probably against your grandfather, and both probably still bemoan it’s disappearance to this day.

But such generalisations may be out of place. The final table was testament to PokerStars’ scope around the world, with five different nations represented amongst the last six.

Seat 1: jaygee1984 (Germany) 819,102 in chips
Seat 2: pairDboard21 (United States) 144,323 in chips
Seat 3: boro83 (Ireland) 326,065 in chips
Seat 4: BadgerPro (United States) 442,947 in chips
Seat 5: peseudos (Spain) 342,020 in chips
Seat 6: spielraum.at (Austria) 496,543 in chips

Two players, in the shape of pairDboard21 and BadgerPro, hailed from the States but it was they who would be rail birding first. The claim some make that Five Card Draw is a European game might have gone some way to ease their pain but not by much.

pairDboard21 was out just moments after the final six converged. The short stack, he called an initial raise from spielraum.at then watched peseudos raise again before pushing all-in. Peseudos stayed in, changing two cards to pairDboard21’s one. The American had made a set, showing three Jacks, but they were beaten well by the Spaniard’s three Kings. Sixth place for pairDboard21, worth $3,685.10.

American efforts for first honours were put to bed when BadgerPro was eliminated. A few minutes after his countryman was gone BadgerPro, an administrator on the popular Two plus Two forum, took a hit after he missed his straight draw against a set of Tens. By then the writing was on the wall when he tangled with peseudos in a race to get their chips into the middle. Both swapped two cards, and had a set to show for it. But it was Jacks for peseudos, sevens for BadgerPro.

It left four European players who - perhaps in the optimistic spirit of a new dawn on the Eastern side of the Atlantic - opted to chop along chip count lines. Boro83 had the smaller share and would take what he had earned for a night’s work soon after. The Irishman exited in fourth place and $17,609 after a period of calm that seemed out of place following the deal that should have removed the shackles. The forecast of sweeping all-in moves and bold betting failed to materialise. A second wind was called for. Or was it the fourth of fifth wind by now?

It was peseudos who secured the Irishman’s demise, betting big which Boro83 called all-in after changing three cards. It was telling that peseudos only needed one, turning over a straight. Check-raising with Aces up may have given boro83 some hope but it was not to be – fourth place for the man from Wexford.

Looking back to the deal it was chip leader Peseudos who came out of it best, reward perhaps for an amazing comeback from the brink earlier in the tournament after careful play with what had become signature small bets. But he was unable to continue in the same fashion. The man from Madrid fell victim to what could best be described as ‘free-fall fatigue’, carefully increasing his stack to a peak of 1.4 million before spending it like a sailor on shore leave, crashing out on his way to bed.

How? First he lost the lead, then aggressive play began to backfire and in one pot, by his own admission, he lost several hundred thousand in a ‘donk’ play against spielraum.at. From the blinds both began a raising war - like prize-fighters they seemed to match each other punch for punch until one was unable to keep his guard up any longer.

Peseudos called spielraum.at’s all-in and would pay the price. He had discarded one for Aces up, but spielraum.at switched two for a set of Kings. It was a pot measuring over 1.6million chips and probably moved the needle on the Richter scale too. It would mark the end of the Spaniard’s bracelet hopes and he was gone shortly afterwards – third place and $26,912. When making the deal earlier he’d said that he didn’t want to take a chance, perhaps realising stamina would be a defining factor. He was right.

It left spielraum.at heads-up with jaygee1984 from Hamburg, Germany who, whilst not featuring in the defining pots so far had played a careful game to leave himself every chance of glory. A German and an Austrian and both still had a mountain to climb, especially jaygee1984 who trailed his opponent almost three to one in chips.

He showed ability and endurance to hang on for the last battle, looking to get back onto level terms with both players skipping breaks to get this one finished. It would be a long drawn out finale that at one point saw jaygee1984 back to within a double up of the lead before he slipped back further and further.

spielraum.at took the vital pots he needed to stay ahead, extending his lead before forcing his opponent into risks and staking claim to the bracelet and soon it was ‘gg’ all round. ‘Spielraum’ roughly translates as games room in German, and as the sun came up after a long night of poker, spielraum.at proved that today this was his place, becoming our first winner at the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker.

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 2: $215 Five Card Draw Final Table Results

1. spielraum.at (Austria) $42,850.00 ($26,265 after chop) [Event #2 Winner Interview]
2. jaygee1984 (Germany) $23,996 ($20,654 after chop)
3. peseudos (Spain) $14,997.50 ($26,912 after chop)
4. boro83 (Ireland) $9,598.40 ($17,609 after chop)
5. BadgerPro (United States) $5,827.60
6. pairDboard21 (United States) $3,685.10

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #2 Results

Hot on the heels of the Five Card Draw final was the No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max event which kicked off the series yesterday afternoon. Whilst victory in the former went to a European, the biggest field ever in a WCOOP event saw American samh133 take the bracelet in the latter and $155,561, which included his share of a three-way chop and a little extra. He finished ahead of 4,609 others, making for a long night - pretty sure he didn’t mind the overtime though.

Full report to follow shortly...

PokerStars WCOOP Event # 1 Final Table Results

1. samh133 (United States) $172,875 ($155,561 after chop)
2. WiLDmAn75 (United States) $99,115 ($96,352 after chop)
3. LUFCBas (United Kingdom) $64,632.20 ($84,710 after chop)
4. TiltHappens (United States) $36,880
5. bearbeer123 (Sweden) $18,901
6. toomanydonks (United States) $10,142

Full WCOOP Event #1 Results

Full 2007 WCOOP Event #2 Results

Today is W-Day.

In just a little more than an hour, the world's richest and most prestigious online poker tournament will kick off. Today, the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker begins with two events: $215 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em and $215 PL Five Card Draw. That will kick-start more than two weeks of events and what will almost certainly be more than $15,000,000 in prize money.



As in past years, WCOOP Radio will be in full effect. Steve Paul-Ambrose and Tom McEvoy will be providing color commentary tonight as the events' final tables get under way. For more information, visit the PokerStars Radio homepage.

The PokerStars Blog will have full coverage from beginning to end of this year's championship series. Stay tuned for even more fun news about WCOOP as the first day off this year's fun kicks off.

In the meantime, it's WCOOP time. Here's the schedule with the guarantees in bold type:

Sep.14 (15:00) NL Hold'em [6-max] $215 $400,000
Sep.14 (16:30) PL 5-Card Draw $215 $100,000
Sep.15 (15:00) PL Omaha [6-max] $215 $200,000
Sep.15 (16:30) 2-7 Triple Draw $215 $100,000
Sep.16 (16:30) NL Hold'em $530 $2,000,000
Sep.17 (15:00) PL Omaha w/Rebuys $320 $400,000
Sep.18 (15:00) Limit Hold'em $215 $100,000
Sep.19 (15:00) Limit Omaha H/L $530 $300,000
Sep.20 (15:00) NL Hold'em w/Rebuys $215 $1,000,000
Sep.21 (15:00) NL Hold'em Match Play $320 $500,000
Sep.21 (16:30) Razz $215 $100,000
Sep.22 (15:00) HORSE $215 $200,000
Sep.22 (16:30) PL Hold'em $530 $400,000
Sep.23 (16:30) NL Hold'em $1,050 $2,000,000
Sep.24 (15:00) 7 Card Stud $320 $100,000
Sep.25 (15:00) PL Omaha H/L $320 $200,000
Sep.26 (15:00) NL Hold'em [6-max] $320 $400,000
Sep.27 (15:00) 7 Card Stud H/L $530 $200,000
Sep.28 (15:00) PL Omaha $530 $300,000
Sep.28 (16:30) NL Hold'em Triple Shootout $530 $200,000
Sep.29 (15:00) HORSE $5,200 $500,000
Sep.29 (16:30) Limit Hold'em $1,050 $200,000
Sep.30 (16:30) NL Hold'em Main Event $2,600 $5,000,000

If the preparations have not already begun in homes across the world, they are bound to happen soon. Every pantry should be stocked with provisions for two weeks. Every coffee maker should be ready for emergency use. Massage therapists should be on standby for any sort of repetitive motion disorder arising from continuous mouse-handling. All phone ringers should be turned off and voicemail notifications should sound a lot like, "Thanks for your call. I can't answer right now, because I'm playing WCOOP. Call me back in October."



Friday marks the beginning of the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Over the period between September 14 and September 30, PokerStars is guaranteeing a whopping $15,000,000 in prize money. If history is any indication, the total prize pool will end up being even more than that.

The PokerStars Blog will have full coverage from beginning to end of this year's championship series. Stay tuned for even more fun news about WCOOP as the first day off this year's fun kicks off.

In the meantime, start making your preparations now. Buy your coffee, stock your pantry, and tell all your friends to leave you alone. It's WCOOP time. Here's the schedule with the guarantees in bold type:

Sep.14 (15:00) NL Hold'em [6-max] $215 $400,000
Sep.14 (16:30) PL 5-Card Draw $215 $100,000
Sep.15 (15:00) PL Omaha [6-max] $215 $200,000
Sep.15 (16:30) 2-7 Triple Draw $215 $100,000
Sep.16 (16:30) NL Hold'em $530 $2,000,000
Sep.17 (15:00) PL Omaha w/Rebuys $320 $400,000
Sep.18 (15:00) Limit Hold'em $215 $100,000
Sep.19 (15:00) Limit Omaha H/L $530 $300,000
Sep.20 (15:00) NL Hold'em w/Rebuys $215 $1,000,000
Sep.21 (15:00) NL Hold'em Match Play $320 $500,000
Sep.21 (16:30) Razz $215 $100,000
Sep.22 (15:00) HORSE $215 $200,000
Sep.22 (16:30) PL Hold'em $530 $400,000
Sep.23 (16:30) NL Hold'em $1,050 $2,000,000
Sep.24 (15:00) 7 Card Stud $320 $100,000
Sep.25 (15:00) PL Omaha H/L $320 $200,000
Sep.26 (15:00) NL Hold'em [6-max] $320 $400,000
Sep.27 (15:00) 7 Card Stud H/L $530 $200,000
Sep.28 (15:00) PL Omaha $530 $300,000
Sep.28 (16:30) NL Hold'em Triple Shootout $530 $200,000
Sep.29 (15:00) HORSE $5,200 $500,000
Sep.29 (16:30) Limit Hold'em $1,050 $200,000
Sep.30 (16:30) NL Hold'em Main Event $2,600 $5,000,000

With the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker right around the corner, players were getting their tournament game ready this Sunday. From yokerface's $81,815 win in the Sunday Warm-up to stones99's huge win in the Sunday Million, players were starting to get a taste of the big money. Here are the results from Sunday's big tournaments.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Results

1. yokerface (Netherlands) $81,815.40
2. BeL0WaB0Ve (United States) $41,283.00
3. apestyles (United States) $29,356.80
4. TabberNackle (United States) $23,769.00
5. baylorgolf (United States) $18,639.90
6. SCTrojans (United States) $14,052.90
7. and217 (Hungary) $9,882.90
8. aconsuma (United States) $6,129.90
9. jcards911 (United States) $3,669.60

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand Results

1. unapsaggy (United Kingdom) $17,576.01
2. 7sk11 (United States) $8,788.01
3. youscareppl (Netherlands) $6,151.61
4. kalchec (United Kingdom) $4,394.01
5. poppy1977 (Germany) $2,636.41
6. matthank (United Kingdom) $1,757.61
7. melico (Argentina) $1,406.09
8. Shyeee (United States) $1,142.45
9. inf.matt (United States) $878.81


PokerStars High Stakes Showdown Results

1. malicous222 (United States) $25,000.00
2. zangbezan24 (Canada) $15,000.00


PokerStars Sunday Million Results

1. stones99 (United States) $186,451.08
2. BrainGuy (United States) $97,115.34
3. AndersBr (Norway) $69,886.74
4. kingsanti (Argentina) $54,457.20
5. tomanymucks! (Canada) $41,620.86
6. skrr (United States) $29,821.80
7. fiveonfour (United States) $21,393.90
8. falkeye (Norway) $12,966.00
9. KeepMcoming (Denmark) $8,038.92

Victorious USA: Greg Raymer, Randy Principe,
Tyler Netter, Shaun Deeb & John Kenlan

Poker players all seem to have their signature hands. Many like aces, for obvious reason, but Greg Raymer, for instance, swears by pocket eights, the hand he rode to World Series success in 2004.

And from tomorrow onwards, two other young American players schooled, like Raymer, on PokerStars.com, will have trouble passing one particular set of hold 'em pocket cards.

And here's why.

This evening in the Gran Casino, Barcelona, Tyler Netter and Shaun Deeb, of Team USA, both won huge pots holding the mighty Q-J off-suit, eliminating their Icelandic and Canadian adversaries from the final of the World Cup of Poker and building the chip stack that would eventually earn their country the top prize of $100,000. Oh yeah, and the small matter of the World Cup itself.

The United States -- Deeb, Netter, Raymer, as well as Randy Principe and John Kenlan -- are champions, beating Romania into second spot after a lengthy heads up duel. But it was those key pots with Q-J that did the damage, sending two other countries in search of sangria, and the United States to the top of the tree.

We convened at 6pm with the deepest of deep stacks and four countries in with a shout. They began with 25,000 in chips and levels starting at 50-100. How about that for a short-handed sit and go?

The World Cup is a team event, and the final is where strength in depth comes into play. Team captains are required to make at least three substitutions, ensuring at least four of their five players have at least an hour around the felt.

And in the first leg, Einar Sveinsson, of Iceland, Razvan Bengulescu, of Romania, Ed Byrne, of Canada and Randy Principe, of the United States took to the tables. And, predictably, it was tight: with the likes of Raymer and Daniel Negreanu looking on like caged lions ready to pounce, no one wanted to be responsible for denying them their chance.

When the first substitutions came at the end of level two, few chips had changed hands. That meant that Cristian Dragomir, the Romanian star player, Tyler Netter, the American captain, Jody Thompson, the Canadian captain, and Magnus Johannesson, Iceland's joker in the pack, had it all to play for. And play they did.



First substitutions: Cristian Dragomir, Tyler Netter, Jody Thompson & Magnus Johannessson


Netter had impressed in his heat before going out in second place, but Johannesson, himself a runner-up in heat five, seemed to have the American's number, pushing him around with a series of aggressive re-raises. In fact, though, it was Netter who was excelling: the television broadcast revealed that Netter made a good lay-down with pocket jacks after Johannesson moved all-in with a flopped set of deuces.

Johannesson then slow-played a flopped straight to earn a few more chips from Netter, and Cristian Dragomir joined in the beating, re-raising his turned set of kings to force Netter into another shrewd lay down.

At this point it was looking grim for the short-stacked United States, and it was soon looking even bleaker. Netter moved all in over the top of Dragomir's pre-flop raise and the Romanian made what turned out to be a great call. He had K-Qs and no one knew at that point how dominant the American Q-Jo would turn out to be.

But this was the turning point. The flop was painless for Romania: 9c-5s-2d. The turn was the eight of spades, which also hardly seemed troubling. Sure, the United States had made an inside straight draw, but Romania now had four to the flush. Only a non-spade jack or ten could win it.

Romania look away now.

Out popped the ten of clubs - one of only four outs - filling the middle-pin straight and doubling up America at the hands of their most dangerous opponents.

We then had some substitutions. The United States and Iceland both wheeled out their big guns: Greg Raymer came in for Netter and Halldor Sverrisson replaced Johannesson. Michael Watson came in for Canada.

But it was the man who stayed, Cristian Dragomir, of Romania, who took the bull by the horns. Anyone could have excused him for being on tilt after the horrific suck-out he had just suffered. And in these circumstances he must have been overjoyed to peer down at pocket kings.

Sverrisson raised from the small blind with A-6 and called Dragomir's re-raise, seeing a king high flop. This, of course, had made the set for the Romanian, and when an ace came on the turn, Sverrisson did exceptionally well to lay down his top pair to an all-in raise from Dragomir.

Iceland, however, were in trouble.

So were Canada, who had left Negreanu on the rail until the end. Michael Watson tried to get things moving for his side, but wasn't getting any help from the board and Greg Raymer was profiting with USA's ill-gotten gains.

Watson eventually gave way to Negreanu at the end of his two-level allotment, but if Team Canada was expecting their star man to send them soaring up the leaderboard, they couldn't be more wrong. They were soaring out the door instead.

Shaun Deeb, in for the United States, raised from early position and Negreanu found pocket sevens. It was all in or fold, and he favoured the first option. Deeb saw his chance to knock out a superstar and took it, tabling K-J. When the king came on the turn, Negreanu was out. Team Canada finished fourth and Negreanu had played precisely two hands.



Daniel busted

Then, it was that Q-J again for Team USA. Andri Bjorgvin, now playing for Iceland, bet from the button and Deeb moved in. The Iceland captain called with A-9 and was ahead. But as Deeb turned to his own captain, Netter, and said: "This is your hand, Tyler," the writing was on the wall. A queen came on the flop and Iceland were sent packing.

Deeb had eliminated both Iceland and Canada, and it seemed wise to keep him on for the heads-up battle. He had a three-to-one chip lead and all the momentum. He was looking strong.

Romania's Cristian Rajala did achieve one double up against Deeb, overtaking 6-6 with K-10. But after Cristian Tardea came in, he couldn't find any help from the board and eventually got his dwindling stack in the middle behind J-8.

Deeb, as was customary, was going nowhere. He'd found ace-queen, called the all in and there were no miracles for Romania.




All the chips went the way of Team USA, and the new World Cup winners were decided.

PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker - Final results

1st - United States (Tyler Netter, Randy Principe, Greg Raymer, John Kenlan, Shaun Deeb) - $100,000

2nd - Romania (Razvan Bengulescu, Florin Constantin, Cristian Rajala, Cristian Tardea, Cristian Dragomir) - $60,000
3rd - Iceland (Andri Bjorgvin, Fridrik Jorgensson, Halldor Sverrisson, Einar Sveinsson, Magnus Johannesson) - $40,000
4th - Canada (Jody Thompson, Ed Byrne, Otto Byrne, Daniel Negreanu, Michael Watson) - $20,000

Quotes:

Daniel Negreanu, Team Canada: “It’s been a lot of fun. I love this kind of environment. It’s not all about the money; it’s about five guys sacrificing personal goals for the whole team. I’ve really enjoyed it. ”

Greg Raymer, Team USA: "I was really impressed by Romania. I thought that one-through-five they had more depth than any other team in the competition. They didn't make any obvious mistakes that I saw."

Randy Principe, Team USA: "It's a dream. And now it's come true."

Tyler Netter, Team USA captain, pointing to World Cup trophy: "Who gets to keep that? I do!?!"

John, Tyler Netter's roommate: "Wooah. That's going to be the centrepiece of the apartment from now on."

1st - United States (Tyler Netter, Randy Principe, Greg Raymer, John Kenlan, Shaun Deeb) - $100,000

Team USA
Greg Raymer, Randy Principe, Tyler Netter, Shaun Deeb & John Kenlan


2nd - Romania (Razvan Bengulescu, Florin Constantin, Cristian Rajala, Cristian Tardea, Cristian Dragomir) - $60,000
3rd - Iceland (Andri Bjorgvin, Fridrik Jorgensson, Halldor Sverrisson, Einar Sveinsson, Magnus Johannesson) - $40,000
4th - Canada (Jody Thompson, Ed Byrne, Otto Byrne, Daniel Negreanu, Michael Watson) - $20,000

United States win the PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker

11.45pm: Romania eliminated in second place
The heads up battle took on a more aggressive complexion after Cristian Tardea entered the fray. But those who live by the sword can die by it, and so it proved. Tardea tried a bluff re-raise all in pre-flop, holding J-8. But Shaun Deeb had found a genuine hand - A-Q - and called the bet. The flop brought 4-K-10, eliminating the jack as an out for Romania, but the A on the turn brought a straight draw for the Europeans. However, the miracle queen failed to materialise on the end and that was that. USA are champions.

11.35pm: Substitution Romania
Cristian Tardea replaces Cristian Rajala.

11.30pm: Double up for Romania
All the chips find their way into the middle pre-flop and Shaun Deeb, of the United States, tells his team-mates: "I've got to win a race." He shows 6-6 and Cristian Rajala shows K-10. But it's the Romanian who wins when a ten flops to double up to about 32,000.

11.10pm: USA has a three-to-one chip lead over Romania in the heads-up encounter. But Romania has a new supporter. Talking about his own elimination at the hands of Shaun Deeb, Daniel Negreanu, of Team Canada, said: "It was a risky situation for the US. But they found a way to catch cards, as they have all week. Of course, I'm now rooting for Romania - changing my shirt to a blue one!"

10.50pm: Iceland eliminated in third place
Shaun Deeb has come in for the United States and is a one-man wrecking machine. He's now sent Iceland to the rail, re-raising Andri Bjorgvin's pre-flop bet from the big blind. Bjorgvin, Iceland's captain, made a good call: he showed A-9 and was up against Deeb's Q-J. "This is your hand Tyler," Deeb said, talking to his captain and referring to the hand earlier in the evening when Tyler Netter outdrew Romania to cling on in the match. And lo and behold, the Q-J did it again: a queen flopped and the A-9 never caught up. Down to two, and the United States has a massive chip lead.

10.45pm: Three-handed chip count:

Iceland (Andri Bjorgvin) - 16,400
Romania (Cristian Rajala) - 26,400
USA (Shaun Deeb) - 52,800

10.40pm: Canada eliminated in fourth place
Huge moment in this World Cup, with the elimination of Canada - and their star player, Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu came in at the end of the last level and played two hands, the second of which was a pair of sevens on the button after Shaun Deeb, of the United States, had raised. Negreanu moved in over the top for another 7,000 and Deeb made the call. Deeb tabled K-J for overcards and he won the race when the king came on the turn. We're down to three players, and superstar Negreanu is a goner.

Daniel busted - and Team Canada out in 4th place

10.10pm: We've just had word that there will be two substitutions at the end of this level. Andri Bjorgvin will be coming in for Iceland, while Daniel Negreanu will be taking charge of Canada's short stack. The levels will be 500-1,000 by that point.

10.05pm: We've now played 100 hands of this final table, and while we still have four teams, some are considerably more happy than others.

Chip counts:

Romania - 27,600
USA - 44,600
Canada - 13,300
Iceland - 12,000

9.55pm: There are some interesting sub-plots going on round the World Cup final table, with the more experienced players (read: Greg Raymer) able to exploit them. Team Canada has not unveiled its star player yet; Daniel Negreanu has been watching from the rail. And Michael Watson, who currently wears the red shirt around the table, is in an unenviable position. If he makes a huge play and gets eliminated, he'll know he's denied Negreanu the chance to shine for his country. That's ensured that he's played a very tight game since joining the fray a level ago. And Greg Raymer is happily hoovering up the spare chips.

9.45pm Substitution for Romania at the end of level five. Cristian Rajala Mihai is in for Cristian Dragomir, who played a blinder in his three levels, despite enduring a nasty beat as he tried to eliminate the United States team.

9.35pm: The table balance is definitely shifting towards the end where Teams USA and Romania currently sit. Current chip counts:

Romania - 32,800
USA - 36,000
Canada - 16,800
Iceland - 13,500

9.30pm: The Fossilman is back in Barcelona, and the lizard-eye shades have slithered to the table as well. Greg Raymer, Team USA's star player, is mixing it up, staring down both Michael Watson, of Canada, and Cristian Dragomir, of Romania, for small pots. The first he picked up without a showdown, the second was assisted by two pair.

9.10pm: It's all kicked off now after that huge suck-out for the United States. First things first: there have been substitutions. Greg Raymer is in for the United States, while Michael Watson and Halldor Sverrisson, both heat winner for Canada and Iceland, respectively, are also introduced. Cristian Dragomir stays where he is for Romania.


Halldor Sverrisson

And straight away there are fireworks. Halldor and Cristian get involved in a raising battle pre-flop and Halldor stops it with a flat call. The flop comes king high, rainbow, and both players check. The turn is the Ah. Halldor leads out for 7,500 and Cristian moves all in. Halldor thinks and think and thinks and then folds. He's down to about 11,000 now, while Romania are back up to 36,000.

8.55pm: Major hand here in Barcelona, and it's gone in favour of the United States. All the chips went in pre-flop between Romania and the United States and the Romanians were delighted to see Tyler Netter, of the US, turn over Q-J. Cristian Dragomir had him dominated with K-Qs. The flop brought no real help: 9c-5s-2d and Greg Raymer, who hasn't yet played in this final, was among all the American supporters peering nervously from the rail. The 8s on the turn brought some additional outs: any non-spade jack or 10 would do it. And sure enough, the 10c rivered to give a lucky escape to the United States.


Randy Principe's uncle Charlie looks pensive on the rails

8.50pm: Approximate chip counts:

Romania: 34,000
USA: 13,000
Canada: 23,600
Iceland: 29,000

8.45pm: They're beating up on the USA here, with Cristian Dragomir, of Romania, the latest to take a pot from Tyler Netter. Dragomir raised pre-flop and Netter called on the button. Magnus, of Iceland, came along from the big blind. The flop came 2h-Qh-Kc and Magnus and Cristian checked, allowing Tyler to put in a bet of 2,100. Magnus got out of the way, but Cristian did quite the opposite, re-raising another 6,000, which was approximately half of the USA's chips. Tyler passed.


Tyler Netter: up against it

8.30pm: After a short break, the same four players return to finish this level. And it's cagey stuff: we've hardly seen a flop, much less a turn card, with Tyler Netter, of USA, and Magnus Johannesson, of Iceland, still the two most involved. Magnus just re-raised Tyler's button raise from the big blind and took another pre-flop pot.

8.00pm: The final hand of the level just resulted in another few chips floating towards Magnus Johannesson's stack. And again Tyler Netter shipped them. It was a battle of the blinds, with the Team USA captain betting out on a flop of 10-J-8. Magnus called, and they both checked the second ten on the turn. The river was Kh and Magnus bet 2,000. Tyler was forced to pass.


Canada Team Captain Jody Thompson
& Iceland's Magnus Johannesson

7.50pm: Just checked in with Team USA to see what they made of their captain's lay down moments ago. Both Greg Raymer and Shaun Deeb seemed to think that Tyler had aces or better, maybe even bottom set, in which case they think it was a good pass. They put the Iceland player on two pair, at least, and possibly the straight. "But if he laid down middle or top set, we're not behind it," added Fossilman. Check out the broadcast HERE to see if you agree with Netter's play. (There's a half-hour delay on the live action.)


USA Team Captain Tyler Netter

7.45pm: Sure enough, we have seen fireworks in this level. Tyler Netter, of the United States, just made what seemed to be an anguished laydown when Magnus Johannesson, of Iceland, moved all in for more than 20,000. The flop was innocuous-seeming -- 2-3-7 and the turn a 5 -- and the Team USA captain obviously had a decision to make, eventually opting to pass. Then, there was more pre-flop action between Iceland and Romania, with Iceland's aggression also picking up some valuable chips.

Approximate counts:

Romania: 28,000
USA: 19,000
Canada: 26,000
Iceland: 25,500

7.35pm: These should be an intriguing couple of levels. Jody Thompson is team captain for Canada but bust early in his heat in an aces versus kings confrontation. Tyler Netter, captain of the American team, was outstanding in his heat as his team faced possible elimination. Magnus Johannesson finished second in the final heat, to the whirlwind that was Nuno Coelho, of the now-departed Portugal, while Cristian Dragomir is essentially making his debut: he played heat five for Romania, when his country had already qualified.


Cristian Dragomir, Romania's celebrity player

7.30pm: We've just reached the end of the second level, allowing team captains to make their first substitutions. And all four of them have taken their option. The new table line up is:

Cristian Dragomir, Romania
Tyler Netter, USA
Jody Thompson, Canada
Magnus Johannesson, Iceland


Level 3 players

7.15pm: As is so often the case in hold 'em, the aggressor is proving to be the winner here at the World Cup final. And in most cases so far, the aggressor has been Ed Byrne, of Canada. He's prepared to exercise his right arm, sliding in more bets than any other player and, consequently, he's picking up the chips.


Ed Byrne

7.00pm: We're still avoiding any major confrontations, although we have now entered the second level. A few moments ago was a typical hand: folded round to Einar Sveinsson (Iceland) in the small blind, he raises it to 460. Razvan Bengulescu (Romania) calls in the big blind and bets 400 on the ace high flop after Einar checks. That's enough -- Einar folds -- and Razvan shows an ace.


Einar Sveinsson

6.45pm: As the players around the table continue to trade pots of no more than 300 chips, their team-mates in the stands are discussing tactics - and they're giving nothing away to the press. "Who are you working for?" asked a cirsumspect Daniel Negreanu after I asked for Team Canada's strategy. And after bluffing my way into his confidence, he revealed: "Well, we're undecided how we're going to play in the later stages. We've got a specialist here in short-stack play. We've got another one who likes a deep stack. I might go in to finish it off, but I might play earlier too." So, in short, we're none the wiser. Although Jody Thompson, team Canada captain, did just lubricate his team with a round of beers, so they might loosen up very soon.

6.30pm: The following players will be contesting the first two levels of the World Cup final:

Einar Sveinsson, Iceland
Ed Byrne, Canada
Randy Principe, USA
Razvan Bengulescu, Romania


Randy Principe


Razvan Bengulescu

As expected, the early skirmishes have been kept to a minimum. Small-pot poker is the way to go in the opening exchanges.

Hello again and welcome back to Barcelona for the final of the PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker.

It's been a fascinating three days, pitting five representatives from each of the eight qualifying countries in five single-table sit and goes to determine who returns here today. And after leaving Mexico, Ireland, Portugal and Germany on the beach, the top four from the heats -- Iceland, Romania, Canada and the United States -- have one more match to play to determine who will be crowned World Champions.

Rules for this final showdown are simple, and they are complicated.

The simple stuff: The game is no limit Texas hold 'em. Players start with 25,000 in chips and will play 30 minute levels, starting at 50-100.

There's serious money at stake:

1st: $100,000 ($20,000 per person)
2nd: $60,000 ($12,000 per person)
3rd: $40,000 ($8,000 per person)
4th: $20,000 ($4,000 per person)

Now the tricky stuff.

The final table is a tag-team event, with team captains able to substitute players during proceedings. In fact, they MUST make substitutions. Although only one player from each team can be at the table at any one time, at least three players from each team must have played at least two levels by the end of level eight (unless the country has been eliminated).

That means that at least four of the country's five representatives will play (again assuming that the country is not eliminated). After level eight, a final substitution can be made and that player - the "closer" - can play until the end.

There are two very famous names in the line-ups today. Daniel Negreanu takes his place as the star of Team Canada, while Greg Raymer lines up for Team USA. Captains will deploy these stars as and when they seem fit.

But neither of these players won their heats, proving once again the strength in depth among PokerStars players. And it's highly likely that one of these players will have the final say:

Iceland (topped heats with 45 points)
Friorik Jorgensson
Halldor Sverrisson
Einar Sveinsson
Andri Arnthorsson
Magnus Johannesson

Team Iceland
(and the captain's brother Sigtryggur on the right)


Romania (44 points)
Razvan Bengulescu
Florin Constantin
Rajala Cristian Mihai
Cristian Tardea
Cristian Dragomir


Team Romania

Canada (40 points)
Michael Watson
Otto Byrne
Daniel Negreanu
Jody Thompson
Ed Byrne


Team Canada

United States (37 points)
Greg Raymer
John Kenlan
Randy Principe
Tyler Netter
Shaun Deeb


Team USA

Cards are in the air. Follow all the action here.

An Icelandic, a Canadian, a Romanian and an American walk into a casino...

It doesn't sound much like a joke, and it isn't. It's the line-up for tomorrow's final of the World Cup of Poker, decided today in the Gran Casino, Barcelona.

After five heats played over three gruelling days, we now have a line up for the main event here tomorrow. Today's two heat winners were teams Iceland and Portugal, but the latter won't be returning: the Portuguese team will join Ireland, Germany and Mexico in the bleechers.

There was everything to play for at the start of the day, with Romania peering down at the chasing pack and knowing that only a disaster of epic proportion could preclude their participation in the final. At the other end of the scale, Mexico knew they needed a miracle to progress, but everyone here knows that poker can often provide such things.

In heat four, which began at 3.30pm, Katja Thater, of Germany, was the star attraction. The World Series bracelet winner, and Team PokerStars member, needed to give her struggling team a boost by securing a top three place. But after running into Romania's aces, held by Cristian Tardea, Katja then had her A-10 outdrawn by A-8 and was out in seventh. The only man beating her out the door was Jody Thompson, of Canada, who had kings when Andri Arnthorsson found aces. Enough said.

That left Ireland and Portugal among those looking for a big result to promote chances of a final appearance, but they ended up being the next two sides sent to the rail, each the victims of Tyler Netter, the Team USA captain, who led from the front for his side.

Netter first busted Noel Peare, of Ireland, with A-K versus A-9. He followed up by winning a race with A-J against Luiz Freitas's 10-10. Team USA's chances had previously been in the balance, but when Netter also eliminated Cristian Tardea, of Romania (this time with aces against A-7), he was bossing this heat and looking good for the final.

Ricardo Rios, meanwhile, had been doing everything he possibly could to rescue something of a helpless situation for Mexico. He needed to earn maximum points and hope his team-mate could manage the same in the final heat. And though he tried his best, earning more points than his three previous team-mates put together, he perished in third - queen-ten not able to overtake ace-queen.

That left USA versus Iceland in the heads-up battle, and Iceland prevailed courtesy of two major pots. First, the Icelandic A-10 beat the American 4-4. Then J-3 for America wasn't good enough to beat ace-queen. It was over, and everything hung in the balance for the final heat.

Heat four results

Andri Arnthorsson, Iceland, 15 points
Tyler Netter, USA, 12 points
Ricardo Rios, Mexico, 9 points
Cristian Tardea, Romania, 7 points
Luiz Freitas, Portugal, 5 points
Noel Peare, Ireland, 3 points
Katja Thater, Germany, 2 points
Jody Thompson, Canada, 1 point

Overall standings after four heats

Romania - 43 points
Canada - 33 points
Iceland - 33 points
USA - 28 points
Ireland - 26 points
Germany - 19 points
Portugal - 18 points
Mexico - 16 points

It was party time in Barcelona for the final heat, especially if you were wearing a Portugal shirt and behind Nuno Coelho -- or "maniac" as he was soon known from the rail. Coelho knew that he needed big points from the heat, and also needed the others to fall in the right order.

He set about achieving the first part of that combination in dramatic fashion, shoving his chips into the pot behind any old hand and watching them accumulate. While the other players had abacuses under the table trying to figure out what permutations could earn their passage to the final, Coelho just went for the win, and it was great to watch.

He was assisted in the early exchanges by Christian Dragomir, of Romania, who was already in clover; Romania had qualified come what may. He shoved all in with 6-7 and couldn't beat Shaun Deeb's A-8.

Then Coelho took over. He crippled Mexico's hopes when his 5-3 outdrew Hector Rodriguez's kings. And he picked up any number of small pots with large bets. But when the next elimination came, Nuno was strangely absent. Instead, Shaun Deeb, of the United States, found queens and punished Mehmet Ogruk, of Germany. With Ogruk, who missed his flush draw, departed Germany's slim hopes of making the final.

And then it all really kicked off. In one monster pot, Coelho ended the hopes of Ireland, Mexico and, it turned out, Portugal. Micky McCloskey, Ireland's star, moved all in. Hector Rodriguez, who'd nursed a short stack for several rounds, joined in too. Then Coelho, who had them both covered, made the call with Q-Jc and hit his flush on the river.


Nuno Coelho

Ireland and Mexico hit the rail and knew they were out. But it took a little longer for the news to sink in that Coelho had run on his own sword too: the eliminations had promoted Team USA to at least fourth in heat five, which would earn enough points to send them to the final.

So it was that the four remaining teams in heat five - Iceland, Canada, USA and Portugal - played out the remainder for just the money and pride. And the finalists soon departed: Ed Byrne, of Canada, went out in fourth ("You've done enough," said Daniel Negreanu); Shaun Deeb, of the United States went out in third. He'd also done enough.

And then Nuno soon polished off Magnus Johannesson, of Iceland, in the heads-up battle to have his day in the sun.

Magnus allowed himself a wry smile, though. He, and Team Iceland, ended up topping the heat table and will return tomorrow for a stab at the big money.

Join us - and Iceland, USA, Canada and Romania - for the World Cup Final tomorrow.

Adios.

Heat five results

Nuno Coelho, Portugal, 15 points
Magnus Johannesson, Iceland, 12 points
Shaun Deeb, USA, 9 points
Ed Byrne, Canada, 7 points
Micky McCloskey, Ireland, 5 points
Hector Rodriguez, Mexico, 3 points
Mehmet Ogruk, Germany, 2 points
Cristian Dragomir, Romania, 1 point

Final standings after five heats

Iceland - 45 points
Romania - 44 points
Canada - 40 points
USA - 37 points
-----------------------------------
Portugal - 33 points
Ireland - 31 points
Germany - 21 points
Mexico - 19 points

Iceland, Romania, Canada and USA qualify for tomorrow's final.

Heat five results

Nuno Coelho, Portugal, 15 points
Magnus Johannesson, Iceland, 12 points
Shaun Deeb, USA, 9 points
Ed Byrne, Canada, 7 points
Micky McCloskey, Ireland, 5 points
Hector Rodriguez, Mexico, 3 points
Mehmet Ogruk, Germany, 2 points
Cristian Dragomir, Romania, 1 point

Final standings after five heats

Iceland - 45 points
Romania - 44 points
Canada - 40 points
USA - 37 points
-----------------------------------
Portugal - 33 points
Ireland - 31 points
Germany - 21 points
Mexico - 19 points

Iceland, Romania, Canada and USA qualify for tomorrow's final.

Nuno Coehlo, Portugal, wins heat five and earns 15 points.

Victory for Coelho but Portugal are still out

11.55pm: Magnus Johannesson, Iceland, eliminated in second place
The heads up battle was customarily brief, and Nuno Coelho's final blow was assisted by pocket aces. He slow played them and got all the chips in on a queen-high flop. Magnus, of Iceland, had picked up a spade flush draw and called for all his chips. But it never made it and we have a decision in heat five.


Icelandic chill-out

11.50pm: Shaun Deeb, USA, eliminated in third place
Shaun gets his remaining chips all in behind the mighty 7-5. He's looked up by Portugal's K-10 and a king flopped, ending it for the USA. They'll be back tomorrow, though, for the final.

11.45pm: A double up for Iceland in the three-handed battle. Magnus Johannesson has been quiet during the heat, slipping silently into the top three. But he just managed to outdraw Shaun Deeb's Q-Q with K-6; two sixes hitting on flop and river. Portugal leads, Iceland second and USA now third.

11.35pm: Ed Byrne, Canada, eliminated in fourth place
All over in this heat for Canada, who become the latest victims of Hurricane Nuno. Ed had 9-3, Portugal had 5-6 and Portugal slow-played a straight: by the turn there was a 2-3-4 on the board. "You've done what you had to do," says Daniel Negreanu to his team-mate. And he's right. Canada are in the final thanks to Byrne's solid performance and seven points.


Michael Watson high-fives team mate Ed Byrne

11.25pm: Immediately after a Canadian timeout, there's an all in move from their representative, Ed Byrne. He's looked up by Shaun Deeb in the big blind, who shows A-K. Byrne has Q-7 and can even cope with the ace on the flop because he hits a queen and a seven for two pair and the double up.

11.10pm: The calculators have been out, and we already now know our final four. Teams USA, Canada, Iceland and Romania will contest tomorrow's final, with Mexico, Germany, Ireland and Portugal taking a plane home. Heat five is still alive - and they're playing for the $5,000 heat prize - but the player of this round, Nuno Coelho, will not be returning. Despite his grand-stand performance, Portugal cannot now make the cut.


Nuno Coelho

11pm: Hector Rodriguez, Mexico, eliminated in sixth place
Micky McCloskey, Ireland, eliminated in fifth place
A double knock out at the hands of Nuno "Maniac" Coelho. Micky McCloskey, of Ireland, moved his remaining 3,000 into the middle, then Hector Rodriguez under-called all in for his, and Mexico's, final 430. Nuno, of Portugal, had a decision in the big blind, but called with Q-Jc. The flop brought a little something for everyone except Hector: 9c-3c-Qh. And when the third club fell on the turn, Portugal were looking flush and Ireland and Mexico were looking for the door. None of Ireland, Mexico or Portugal can qualify for the final now. USA are guaranteed fourth place in this heat now, which will give them more points than Portugal can accumulate.


A wistful Hector surveys the flop

Current standings:

Final totals:

Romania - 44 points
Ireland - 31 points
Germany - 21 points
Mexico - 19 points

Still playing heat five:

Canada - 33 points
Iceland - 33 points
USA - 28 points
Portugal - 18 points

10.50pm: Mehmet Ogruk, Germany, eliminated in seventh place
It's been tough out there for the short stacks, especially those who need to grind out a result to edge into the final. Mehmet Ogruk, of Germany, was one of those - and his day is now done. He got all his chips in with a diamond flush draw against Shaun Deeb's pocket queens. But the diamond missed both turn and river and Germany is out of this heat - and out of the tournament. With just 21 points, they can't qualify.


Germany depart: exit stage right

10.45pm: "He's a maniac ... maniac!" So sing the Portugal fans whenever Nuno Coelho enters a pot, which is pretty much every hand. He's got the chips and is adding to them with each re-raise. Still seven here, but there's a lot of play.

10.30pm: More chips go the way of the USA when Shaun Deeb gets involved in a three-way pot with Portugal and Germany. He leads out for 800 on a queen-high flop and finds a caller in Nuno Coelho, of Portugal. Mehmet Ogruk, of Germany, gets out the way. The last two players see an ace on the turn, and another queen on the river, but check it all the way. Shaun's A-J scoops.

10.20pm: Double up for the USA. Shaun Deeb pushed from the button with A-10 and was called by the dominant Portugal player, Nuno Coelho. Deeb survived a straight draw on the flop to double up.

10.05pm: Back from the dinner break and there are Mexican chips in the middle. Hector Rodriguez had A-7 and was called by the K-J of Mehmet Ogruk, of Germany. Neither king nor jack hit so Hector doubled up.

10.00pm: Dinner break chip count:

Hector Rodriguez, Mexico, 440
Mehmet Ogruk, Germany, 3,840
Shaun Deeb, USA, 4,300
Cristian Dragomir, Romania, OUT
Nuno Coelho, Portugal, 15,850
Ed Byrne, Canada, 4,680
Magnus Johannesson, Iceland, 5,740
Micky McCloskey, Ireland, 5,150

8.50pm: There's a dominant force at this final heat table, and he's wearing the purple colours of Portugal. Nuno Coelho just took down a huge pot on the last hand before the dinner break, leaving Mexico crippled and needing a miracle. Hector Rodriguez, the Mexican representative, tried to raise pre-flop but only threw in one chip and it went as a call. That allowed four others to see a flop, one of whom was Coelho. It came 4s-Qd-6h and Hector bet 300. Nuno called. The turn was the 7s and Nuno bet 500 after Hector checked. Hector now re-raised 2,000 but Portugal moved all in. Mexico called and showed pocket kings, but was already drawing dead to Portugal's 3-5s which had made a straight. That improved to a flush on the river, when the spade appeared. Mexico crippled.


Portugal cheer....


....while Mexico weep

8.40pm: It's really erupted here in Barcelona, with everything to play for in the final heat. So far, the tactics seem to be to cheer on anyone who's not American - Team USA is positioned in the middle of the pile and could qualify for the final with a good result, but could be banished back across the Atlantic if not. Most recently, Hector Rodriguez, of Mexico, re-raised Shaun Deeb's flop bet to take down a medium sized pot, and earn huge cheers from the bleechers.

8.25pm: Christian Dragomir, Romania, eliminated in eighth place
Romania has already booked a spot in the final, and played this heat fast, loose and quickly. After Shaun Deeb, of the United States, raised on the button, Dragomir, of Romania, moved in from the small blind. He didn't have much - in terms of chips or cards - and his 6-7h didn't improve against Deeb's A-8. The partisan crowd all wanted the Romanian double up, knocking the USA down, but it never came and Team United States is a conteder here.

8.10pm: Heat five is underway, where team strategy comes very much into play. Portugal needs the win and is the first team to move all in, check-raising Germany on a ten high flop. It's enough to take it down.