By Howard Swains It could be Barcelona, it could be Monte Carlo. It could be Las Vegas, Copenhagen, Warsaw or Dortmund. It could be any country, any culture, any time zone in the world. But some things are constant, and we're grateful for them to keep our feet firmly...more
There is a pretty good chance that one of the PokerStars Million Dollar Men will be a World Series Champion in just a few weeks. Only problem is, right now, we have no idea which one it will be. But, here's an interesting question (somewhere along the lines of whether...more
Of all the regular stopping points through five seasons of the European Poker Tour, only four have been visited during every renewal. There's the sun-kissed Costa Brava coast of Barcelona, where season five got underway earlier this month, and early next year, we'll be braving the Scandinavian madness and winter...more
Are you doing anything Tuesday night? Parties are becoming a pretty big thing with PokerStars. Whether it's Monte Carlo or Las Vegas, monsters on stilts or world famous Burlesque dancers, PokerStars know what it takes to put on a show, and that's exactly what we're doing on the eve of...more
The new Asia Pacific Poker Tour event in Auckland, New Zealand is just two weeks away and the satellites for the event are running hot. If you've been looking for a way to get to that part of the world, PokerStars has just announced another way certain players can win...more
Imagine how many people who have trembled as they looked across the net and saw Boris Becker staring back at them. Looking into the champion's eyes on the competitive field is something few people can do. Now, you have your chance and a seat to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is...more
With WCOOP and it's nearly $40 million in prizes behind us, there stood a good chance of this weekend having all the symptoms of a WCOOP hangover. Instead, we were treated to a great Sunday of poker. From the Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout to September's Turbo Takedown, there...more
Following the conclusion of the World Championship of Online Poker last week, Sunday saw the return of PokerStars’ $215 Sunday Million tourney. A total of 7,133 runners came out this week to try their luck, meaning they enjoyed a bit of an overlay in order for Stars to honor the...more
Sunday’s $1 Million Turbo Takedown provided all of rollercoaster-like thrills one would expect from a tourney with such a unique structure. The 5,000-FPP buy-in attracted 10,742 players to come out and take their shot at that $100,000 first prize. Indeed, just making the top 4,000 guaranteed everyone at least a...more
This month’s Battle of the Planets triple shootout concluded a little over four hours after it began. This is the freeroll tourney in which every player who finishes in the top 10 of any weekly Sit & Go Leader Board receives an entry and a shot at some of the...more
12am: Yoshihiro Tasaka wins the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event (KRW 148,896,000; USD 128,248.89). Hidenari Shiono eliminated in 2nd place (KRW 93,060,000; USD 80,155.56) Yoshihiro Tasaka, the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event champion. Why would things be any different in the final hand of the tournament! With Yoshihiro Tasaka...more
A lightning session has resulted in the final table being decided just over two hours from the time play commenced on day 3 of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event at the Paradise Walker-hill Casino. Wooka Kim's smile before the flop evaporated after Sam Faqiryar made a pair. Short-stacked Japanese...more
Having been assured a finish in the money, the short stacks didn’t waste much time early on day 3 of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event at the Paradise Walker-hill Casino. Two players were eliminated on the opening hand – the first being US PokerStars Qualifier Robert Campitiello, who started...more
The Sheraton Grande Walker-hill, home of the Paradise Walker-hill Casino and the APPT Seoul main event. The 16 players still in contention for the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event title have started arriving for the final day’s play. Everyone’s still talking about the dramatic end to day 2 in...more
A dramatic end to day 2 of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event saw David Saab crash out of the event on the bubble after leading for much of the afternoon and Canada's Brian Kang take the chip lead into day three. Even David Saab need to take a breath...more
With 24 players remaining after five levels on day two of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event at the Walker-hill Casino, four big stacks have emerged. Sam Faqiryar has slipped under the radar today but made his move when it mattered. Japan’s Yoshihiro Tasaka is the clear leader with 230,000,...more
A single blog entry is a long time in poker, as we just discovered when PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event chip leader Tim Davis busted out barely seconds after the last report was uploaded. Replacing Davis at the top of the chip count is Yoshihiro Tasaka, and it’s thanks to...more
“Players the banana bucket is coming around.” Now that’s a line you’re unlikely to here in a poker room, but APPT Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has just alerted players that they won’t need to hang on to those peels for too much longer. Yes, the PokerStars girls have once again...more
Fresh from his success in the APPT Macau main event, Eddie Sabat has found a new adversary waiting to test his mettle as the young Californian chases an unprecedented double of APPT titles. Japan’s Yu Kurita has less experience than most of her opponents but has spent the past 18...more
The final Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ElkY Grospellier has been eliminated from the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event. ElkY shrugged his shoulders as Osawa Masahiro scooped up his chips, but could have been forgiven for turning on a more demonstrative display of his feelings. ElkY heads home early on day...more
name="flashvars" value="VIDEOCONSTRUCTID=4683&SMILURI=http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/playlists/38148/movies/export_smil/4683.smil?from=embed&APIHOST=http://www.pokerstars.tv&ENABLEMENU=YES&APICONTEXT=pokerstars">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/playlists/38148/movies/4683.html">APPT Seoul 08: A look at Day 2 on PokerStars.tv After a relatively comfortable six one-hour levels yesterday, the pace will be hotter than a plate of kimchi when the 83 remaining players return to the Paradise Walker-hill Casino for day two of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific...more
name="flashvars" value="VIDEOCONSTRUCTID=4677&SMILURI=http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/export_smil/4677.smil?from=embed&APIHOST=http://www.pokerstars.tv&ENABLEMENU=YES&APICONTEXT=pokerstars">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/4677.html">APPT Seoul 08: Team PokerStars Pro Elky on PokerStars.tv And then there was one – Bertrand ElkY Grospellier is the only Team PokerStars Pro still standing after the first day’s play in the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event at the Paradise Walker-hill Casino. ElkY will be waving...more
APPT Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has just announced that the opening day of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event has been reduced to six levels, meaning there’s less than one hour of play remaining. name="flashvars" value="VIDEOCONSTRUCTID=4680&SMILURI=http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/export_smil/4680.smil?from=embed&APIHOST=http://www.pokerstars.tv&ENABLEMENU=YES&APICONTEXT=pokerstars">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/4680.html">APPT Seoul 08: James Honeybone on PokerStars.tv That’s small comfort for New Zealander James...more
At last year’s APPT Seoul main event, Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem scoffed down enough bananas to send a troop of monkeys into frenzy (keeping a certain PR manager on her toes over the course of the event). It seems the staff at the Paradise Walker-hill Casino have picked up...more
The opening day of the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event is starting to take shape, with 25 of the 165 players already free to sample to sights and sounds (and smells) of Korea’s capital city. name="flashvars" value="VIDEOCONSTRUCTID=4673&SMILURI=http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/playlists/38148/movies/export_smil/4673.smil?from=embed&APIHOST=http://www.pokerstars.tv&ENABLEMENU=YES&APICONTEXT=pokerstars">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/playlists/38148/movies/4673.html">APPT Seoul 08: Khan and Raymer on PokerStars.tv The three Team PokerStars Pros...more
The field for the PokerStars.net APPT Seoul main event has been confirmed at 165 – slightly down on last year’s figure but still an impressive figure given that many of the world’s best players are firmly entrenched in London for the WSOP Europe and PokerStars EPT London events. However, APPT...more
name="flashvars" value="VIDEOCONSTRUCTID=4669&SMILURI=http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/export_smil/4669.smil?from=embed&APIHOST=http://www.pokerstars.tv&ENABLEMENU=YES&APICONTEXT=pokerstars">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/movies/4669.html">APPT Seoul 08: A look at Day 1 on PokerStars.tv The calming sound of Kyungki Minyo provided the perfect antidote to the chaos that precedes the start of any major poker tournament as players packed the Paradise Walker-hill Casino for the start of play in the KRW...more
name="wmode" value="window">Watch http://www.pokerstars.tv/pokerstars/channels/34181/playlists/38148/movies/4668.html">APPT Seoul 08: Welcome Party (English) on PokerStars.tv Even for hardened, cynical poker professionals who are accustomed to five-star luxury whenever they travel, the W Hotel in Seoul draws a low whistle of amazement when they enter the stunning property. Located adjacent to the Paradise Walker-hill Casino,...more
If PokerStars Frequent Player Points ever started weighing anything, carting around a few million of them would be a pretty hard task. PokerStars VIP Club member knifefish8 may have just come up with a solution. He used them to buy a truck. This truck. We asked PokerStars newest man behind...more
by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts I had been hoping to move forward this week to discuss “per game” money management, but, due to your many responses to last week’s blog, which covered bankroll needs, I felt compelled to address your questions on this important issue. It seems like your two...more
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier had a fantastic WCOOP, cashing seven times and nearly winning a bracelet. He agreed to give us a few of this thoughts now that WCOOP is behind him. by ElkY Since I began playing poker online, WCOOP has become the most awaited series of...more
Tournament poker is played in all sorts of locations – from cavernous function rooms in Las Vegas to the historic casinos of Monte Carlo and exclusive clubs in London and Paris. However, it’s safe to say that the Paradise Walker-Hill Casino, located in the Sheraton Grande Walker-Hill Hotel, in Seoul,...more
Zachary “ckingusc” King outlasted a massive field of 2,185 players including some of the world’s biggest stars to take down the Main Event of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker. The 2-day event had a record $10,925,000 prize pool, with $1,260,000 heading to the young pro from Columbia, SC....more
In just about six weeks, we're going to see six PokerStars players sit down at one of poker's most historic final tables. PokerStars' Million Dollar Men Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov, Peter Eastgate, Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto and David ‘Chino’ Rheem will be vying for the World Series Main Event championship...more
23-year-old Andrew “TheActionKid” Glogowski is an online poker old-timer, despite his youth. Glogowski got his start in online poker almost five years ago, making six figures the first year and never looking back. Despite tournament scores in the $20-30K range, his victory in Event #27 of the World Championship of...more
Don't put away your sunglasses and beach blankets just yet. You might just be needing them again in a few of months. PokerStars has just announced the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The excursion will once again take you to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. January 5-10 of 2009, the PCA...more
The dust never settled because there was no dust. The clouds never lifted because there were no clouds. If it had happened in a live casino, those things might have happened. But this monstrosity of a poker festival all happened online at PokerStars. It was nearly beyond description. No trite...more
ckingusc takes down the WCOOP Main Event Day 2 of the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event began with 60 players vying for the $1.775 million first prize. Those were the survivors of 2,185 runners who started the event on Sunday. The number of entrants created an online poker...more
Day 2 live blog coverage of the WCOOP Main Event, $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em is brought to you by Johnny Kampis and Martin Harris. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. For a look at previous coverage, see the Main Event Day 1 live blog...more
About a year and a half ago, Ruben “rubenrtv” Visser made his first deposit on PokerStars. Since then, the 19-year-old Dutch Business Administration student has been on quite a tear, with final tables in the Sunday Million, Sunday Warm-Up and other tournaments to his credit, but nothing to date can...more
After more than two solid weeks of poker, we are just about to bid goodbye to the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Before we get Day 2 of the Main Event underway, we have another great highlight show. PokerStars.tv has all the action from the $1,050 Limit Hold'em...more
by Hevad Khan I have positive thoughts on the 2008 WCOOP. I was never much of a mixed game player, but at the end of this entire series I have gone from a complete newbie to a knowledgable player in all mixed games to the point of being able...more
The big one. The 2008 World Championship of Online Poker main event. Thirty-two events of all shapes, sizes, and buy-ins led to this - the main event extravaganza. Players logged in from around the world so as not to miss the online championship that started it all and continues to...more
Live blog coverage of the WCOOP Main Event, $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em is brought to you by David Aydt, Stephen Bartley, Martin Harris, Jennifer Newell, and Dave Behr. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 5:08am--Day 1 of the Main Event is a wrap! Upon...more
Some professional internet players have become famous enough that their screen names are widely known without introduction, like ElkY. If you sit down across the table from ElkY, you know you’re facing Team PokerStars Pro Bertran Grospellier. Some players have achieved such heights of live success that their online...more
In WCOOP Event #31, the shove-and-pray strategy was unavailable. It was time for limit hold’em, giving the entrants an opportunity to bunker down and play a lot more hands at the six-handed tables. With a plethora of chips spread all over, players’ hopes of grabbing the $107,300.00 first-place prize...more
The last mixed game event of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker sported an eye-popping $10,300 price tag for entering. And as we see during the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event at the World Series of Poker every summer, the combination of the challenging mixed game format and high entry fee...more
Event #24, No-limit 2-7 Single Draw (or Kansas City Lowball) is one of those games that not a lot of people play, and not a lot is written about. That’s a bonus to this year’s No Limit 2-7 Single Draw champion, Tom “luvgamble” Schneider. Schneider, who has had tremendous...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #32 $10,300 HORSE brought to you by Jason Kirk, David Aydt, Dave Behr, and Martin Harris. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 4:42am--Team PokerStars doesn't quite get there; DocHolatchya wins Event No. 32 Team PokerStars Pro Andre...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #31 $1,050 Limit Hold'em is brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Johnny Kampis, Jordan Raanan, and April Kyle. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 7:04am - drood out in 2nd, aasezz takes it down To win a...more
With a successful poker career that spans more than a decade of live play and includes multiple WSOP final tables, it’s no surprise that Mark “weaktight” Gregorich mirrors his live success on the virtual felt. Our World Championship of Online Poker Event #21 champion spared some time to chat with...more
by Greg Raymer So far the 2008 WCOOP has been a huge success, and I'm sure that won't change now that we're in the home stretch with only a few days to go. I can't wait for the 10K HORSE event Saturday, nor the $10M guaranteed Main Event on Sunday...more
As the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker began to wind down, the series offered the last of the rebuy tournaments for those who simply aren’t satisfied with buying into a tournament once. While there are those who enter the tournament with the intention of refraining from the rebuy options,...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #30 $1,050 Pot-Limit Omaha is brought to you by Martin Harris, Jason Kirk, David Aydt, and Dave Behr. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 7:03am--u_dirty_dog eliminated in 2nd place; salamandra24 is the champion! After being crippled to...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #29 $530 NLHE with rebuys is brought to you by Johnny Kampis, April Kyle, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 6:43am--PiKappRaider wins Event #29, AceOfSpade11 finishes second PiKappRaider never let up on...more
Event #12 came down to a clash of the titans, as Randy “Randers” Haddox squared off heads-up against Aaron “011180” Kanter for the bracelet and the top cash prize of $66,000 in the Mixed Hold’em Event. It took well past sunrise ET for the final table to finish, but finally...more
You might have watched it the first time and saw rubenrtv beat an exceptionally talented field of poker players. You probably think you know exactly how he did, the plays he made, where he was fortunate, and when he made the best play at the table. Well, you might know...more
Just a few days after Mary 717’s boyfriend staked her $1,000 on PokerStars to take a shot at some bigger buy-in tournaments, she’s logged three WCOOP cashes, two final tables and a World Championship of Online Poker Bracelet for Event #7. Not a bad couple of weeks’ work! The relative...more
The WCOOP has a little something for everybody. There is Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, Triple Draw and HORSE. Plus, different variations of each. It’s a smorgasbord of poker designed by PokerStars to accommodate just about everyone and anyone. With Hold’em there has been six-max, four-max, heads-up, pot-limit, re-buy and...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #28 $530 WCOOP Event 28 Limit Omaha High-Low is brought to you by David Aydt, Jason Kirk, Dave Behr, and Carol Kline. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 9:41am--And we have a winner! After a marathon heads-up...more
We've barely cooled off from the first season of the PokerStars Latin America Tour. Now, it's already time to start planning for Season 2. The Latin America Poker Tour has already announced the dates for the first LAPT stop of the second season. This year, the LAPT will kick off...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #27 $530 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Shootout is brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Johnny Kampis, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 6:22am--TheActionKid wins, SgtKyle finished in second place Once TheActionKid took over...more
According to popular demand, there can never be too many no-limit hold’em tournaments. Not only does PokerStars recognize this and cater to the wants of its players with daily NLHE offerings, but when it came to planning the 2008 WCOOP, there had to be enough NLHE events for everyone. Thus,...more
Brent “92848” Carter is no stranger to tournament poker success. While his victory in Event #11 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker is his first WCOOP bracelet, he’s got two WSOP bracelets to go with it, along with an eye-popping 48 career cashes at the World Series of...more
It took two days for Mike “NYC P.I.M.P” Shklover to navigate the massive 3,467-player field in Event #20 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, but when the dust settled, the 28-year-old New Yorker took down the bracelet and $257,953 for first place. We caught up with the young...more
by Steve Paul-Ambrose The No Limit 2-7 drew one of the smallest field of WCOOP so far (as well as the first overlay) and not surprisingly one of the toughest. The field was full of recognizable names, some with 2-7 experience, some without. I recognized nearly everyone at my starting...more
by Tom McEvoy In the $530 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Tournament, PokerStars once again really outdid itself. This event allowed one re-buy and one add-on, so if you got broke, re-bought and got broke a 2nd time you could not re-buy anymore and were out of the event. If you...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #26 $320 No-Limit Hold'em Six Max is brought to you by Martin Harris, David Aydt, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 8:37am--rubenrtv wins Event #26, MCLegend finishes second rubenrtv beat MCLegend in...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #25 $320 Pot-Limit Omaha with rebuys is brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Johnny Kampis, Jason Kirk, and Dave Behr. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 7:00am--TheNew eliminated in 2nd place; shaundeeb is the champion of Event...more
The penultimate Sunday of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker saw one of the biggest events of the tournament series. The two-day $1,050 No-Limit Hold'em contest brought out more than 3,400 players. The $3.4 million prize pool was an tantalizing as anything anybody could imagine on any given...more
by Katja Thater Horses are not a new love to me. I spend my entire life in wellington boots on a ranch. No wonder that I prefer H.O.R.S.E games at the poker table. You think that doesn't add up? If you want to train a horse. it´s all about knowing...more
Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari has been hanging out in Barcelona for the European Poker Tour and playing WCOOP at the same time. This is a road dispatch from the Brazilian bomber himself. By Andre Akkari EPT started in the best way possible to me, and in the city I...more
They all came out for this one. With a structure (no-limit hold’em with a $530 entry fee, one re-buy, one add-on) that received high praise and a prize pool that stretched to $1.46 million, WCOOP Event #23 was an attractive option for players. That was evident by the 1,159...more
No-limit 2-7 single draw, otherwise referred to as Kansas City lowball, is arguably the poker game that requires the most player intuition and therefore the highest degree of skill. Why is that? You have less information to work with than you do in other games. In flop games and stud...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #24 $530 NL 2-7 Single Draw brought to you by bloggers David Aydt, April Kyle, David Behr, and Carol Kline. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 5:27am--SirWatts eliminated in second place; luvgamble is the champion of Event...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #23 $530 NLHE (1 rebuy, 1 add-on) brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, Jason Kirk, Jen Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 8:24am--The final hand This is how ddrufnek finished off luckyuli...more
Omaha hi-lo split is a kind of poker game where you can see more action than in any other kind of poker and this final table was a good example of this statement - chips were changing hands fast, players stacks were going up and down. For example "PieOhMy" started...more
It was the highlight of this year's World Championship of Online poker so far. Sixty-four people put up $25,000 apiece to play for the half million dollar first prize and the prestige of being the WCOOP Heads-Up champion. PokerStars.tv put together a sweet highlight reel for everyone to see. Check...more
The mere mention of Omaha catches many poker players’ attention. While hold’em still remains the game of choice for many players, it is Omaha that seems to provide a new and exciting challenge for those who wanted to mix up their game repertoire. Popular demand for pot-limit Omaha cash games...more
If you're standing on the tracks and a train is barreling towards you, horn blaring and with the conductor leaning out a window of the engine, telling you there's not a chance he's going to hit the brakes, what would you do? Unless you're the Man of Steel (Superman, that...more
The 20th event of the 2008 WCOOP, a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament, kicked off on Sunday with a truly impressive field of 3,467 players putting up a grand apiece for their shot at big money and online poker glory. As has been the pattern so far this September, the...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #20 $1,050 NLHE Day 2 is brought to you by bloggers Jason Kirk and Martin Harris. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 11:21pm--QuasiFiction eliminated in 2nd place; NYC P.I.M.P. wins WCOOP Event No. 20! With...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #22 $530 O8 Mixed is brought to you by bloggers David Aydt, Haley Hintze, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 7:36am--BUCKIZ6 dominant in victory; jamie2000 finishes second BUCKIZ6 never trailed...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #21 $530 Stud Hi-Lo is brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, April Kyle, Dave Behr, and Carol Kline. Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 6:08am--weaktight eliminates aldenpogi in second place and wins WCOOP Event #21! It's...more
It's only been a couple of days since poker1O1 took the rest of Event #17 to school. The Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha event drew more than 900 players who put up $530 apiece for a shot at the WCOOP bracelet. The rock'em-sock'em event looked more like an abattoir than a poker...more
Matthew “cwp394” Ross, like many young poker pros, discovered the online game when he went to college. Unlike many of his age-mates, Ross, winner of Event #3 in the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, prefers Limit Hold’em to No Limit. Ross is a Limit Hold’em specialist, playing tons of...more
by Victoria Coren The WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship turned out to be the most nerve-wracking tournament I've ever played. It wasn't the size of the buy-in (I've played for this crazy price twice before, once making a profit of $17,000 and once for nada) but the structure. There was something...more
by Lee Nelson The final table of the $25,500 buy-in heads-up tournament was like none I've ever observed. Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, a Team PokerStars pro, battled it out with Steven "stevesbets" Jacobs at such a furious rate that at times I thought I was watching a ping pong championship instead...more
No-limit hold'em is like the first girl you ever loved, the one you still think fondly of several years after you broke up with her. Poker players may drift from no-limit hold'em to pot-limit omaha or to badugi or to mixed games -- the other women that follow the original...more
by Carol Kline and Brad Willis Look around and the world and count the $25,000 or bigger buy-in poker tournaments. There aren't very many. The World Series has the $50,000 HORSE event. That tournament takes a week to play. The World Poker Tour Championship is $25,000 and it takes several...more
Sebastian Ruthenberg is the newest champion on the European Poker Tour after a thrilling finale to the season opener in the Gran Casino, Barcelona. The self-styled "luck box" proved to be anything but, starting second in chips this afternoon and navigating a steady and skilful course through a day where...more
We're playing blinds of 50,000-100,000 with an ante of 10,000. Three players remained at the start of the level. Watch all the action at EPT Live.com, and find the prizewinners to date HERE. Sebastian Ruthenberg, PokerStars player, Germany, wins EPT Barcelona, earning €1,361,000 Fintan Gavin, PokerStars qualifier, Ireland, eliminated...more
There's some confusion as to what precise level we're playing, since the tournament director Thomas Kremser has tinkered with the blind structure to allow more play. The key fact, though, is that we're playing blinds of 40,000-80,000 with an 8,000 ante. Click here for the latest prize winners, and for...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #20 $1,050 NLHE brought to you by bloggers David Aydt, Martin Harris, Jennifer Newell, and Dave Behr. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Want to see the live blog for the $25,000 heads up event?...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #19 $25,000 Heads-Up NLHE is brought to you by bloggers April Kyle, C.J Hoyt, Brad Willis, and Carol Kline. The event began with 64 players and will play down to the $560,000 first prize winner. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click...more
We're now into level 28, with new blinds set at 30,000-60,000 with a running ante of 5,000. Click here for the latest prize winners, and for non-stop coverage of the final table don't forget you can see it all on PokerStars.tv. 10.50pm -- Players have returned and play resumes. 10.35pm...more
We are getting ready to kick off the biggest WCOOP buy-in event in history (not to mention one of the biggest poker buy-ins anywhere). The $25,000 Head-Up No-Limit Hold'em event is going to be, as the kids are saying these days, sick. With that in mind, this is not the...more
We're now in to level 27, with new blinds set at 25,000/50,000 with a running ante of 5,000. Click here for the latest prize winners, and for non-stop coverage of the final table don't forget you can see it all on PokerStars.tv. 8pm: After Mazzai's double up, he's still...more
We're now in to level 26, with new blinds set at 20,000/40,000 with a running ante of 4,000. Click here for the latest prize winners, and for non-stop coverage of the final table don't forget you can see it all on PokerStars.tv. 6.15pm - Samuel Chartier, PokerStars qualifier from...more
Play started today in level 25 after the tournament director Thomas Kremser altered the structure to give more play today. The blinds were pegged back slightly to 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 running ante. We play today until we have a new EPT Barcelona champion. Updates will be posted here...more
Event #13, the $215 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys in the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker drew a stacked field, with a monstrous final table including 2007 WCOOP Main Event final tablist nitbuster and online superstar Kevin “BeLOWaBOVe” Saul. When the dust settled, the last man standing was lrdvoldemort,...more
A horse is a horse, of course of course. That is, of course, unless that horse is a $215 poker tournament in which five separate variants of poker are rotated every twelve minutes. Mixed games have become extremely popular over the course of the last year as interest in no-limit...more
Alexander Stevic, Jan Boubli, Bjorn Erik Glenne, Sander Lylloff. No prizes for recognising the names of the first four champions at EPT Barcelona, the now-traditional venue for the opening event on each season of the EPT. But how about this similar list: Luca Pagano, Christer Johansson, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen,...more
The final table of the EPT Barcelona, the first event of fifth season of the tour, is just a few hours away, starting at 4pm local time. Among the last eight are familiar and not so familiar names. Full details of each of them is below. Seat 1: Martin...more
It’s happened so many times before. It will happen so many times in the future. The rapid fall from grace is the poker player’s tragic occupational hazard. So many talented individuals have experienced the rapid crash and burn. It’s painful. It’s disappointing. It happens at the blink of an...more
We have our final. After four days of play, 619 competitors and 56 of 64 places paid so far, just eight players remain. It was a day of heroic effort and tragic defeat, and at the end of play there exists the possibility of a remarkable record being broken,...more
Play has now extended into level 26 on day three, where the blinds are 20,000-40,000 with a 4,000 running ante. They are playing down to a final eight tonight, come what may, and we will be here until the end too. 3.35pm: Mikael Lundell, Sweden, eliminated in 9th place, earning...more
The players have moved into level 25, with the blinds at 15,000-30,000, with a 3,000 ante. 3.10am: Findan Gavin wields his short stack and forces a fold from Daniele Mazzia on an innocuous jack-high flop. He then moves all in from the button on the final hand before the level...more
We are playing level 24 at EPT Barcelona, although the tournament director Thomas Kremser has announced a slight change to the blind structure and we'll stay with blinds of 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante. We play until eight players remain this evening. 1.40am: Double up for Davidi Kitai, which gets...more
They're into level 23 at EPT Barcelona, where the blinds are 10,000 and 20,000, with an ante of 2,000. We'll go blow-by-blow until the final table of eight. 12.30am: Full chip counts with nine players remaining: Seat 1 - Martin Nielsen, Denmark, 398,000 Seat 2 - Davidi Kitai, Belgium, 365,000...more
Randall Flowers's reputation in EPT events took another step forward today but has ended in a 13th place finish. Flowers, who has been fitting in with the locals today by wearing a Barcelona football shirt (pretty famous in these parts), narrowly feel short of his 10th place finish in...more
Sebastian Ruthenberg's lucky stars have heard a lot of thanking today, and they were just the recipient again of a heartfelt danke schoen from the German PokerStars player when he eliminated the serial EPT casher Jonas Molander. Jonas Molander, out Sebastian Ruthenberg The money was all in pre-flop and Ruthenberg...more
Supernova Elite Stephen Chidwick, one of the most feared players coming into today, is out. He pushed in with Kc-Td in late position but was called by Samuel Chartier who held an enviable pair of black aces. The flop brought him some hope in the form of a ten...more
As previously mentioned, we're down to just two tables in Barcelona, and while one is under studio lights, the other is the prime focus of a scrum of press representatives unable to rely on a live televised feed. Italy has been spectacularly well represented here, both in terms of players...more
A few minutes back from the break and it's Jonas Klausen raising. It's folded to German player Dren Ukella sitting with a big stack of red chips. He signals his intention to move all-in, the stack is bigger than it looks making this a raise of 445,000, making for...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #18 $215 HORSE is brought to you by bloggers Jason Kirk, C.J Hoyt, Dave Behr, and David Aydt. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 9:25am-- Split Aces doesn’t mean split pot, Sensor wins Event #18...more
Players are now on a dinner break after four levels of play. We started today with 37, we're now down to just 16 players, each with an eye on the final table and that first prize of €1,361,000. At the front of the pack is Dren Ukella on 741,000,...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #17 $530 Pot-Limit Hold'em Six-Max is brought to you by bloggers Martin Harris, April Kyle, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 5:15am--poker1O1 schools YanniYankiev, wins WCOOP Event #17! The heads-up...more
There's been a pause in play as the redraw kicks in and players are guided to new seats, those switching to the feature table being fused with microphones, those come off it being de-wired at the same time. This follows the recent eliminations that took us down to just...more
WCOOP event #13 was a star-studded event and had a final table to match. With names like BeL0WaB0Ve, nitbuster, and ACESEDAI, it was sure to be a great final. PokerStars.tv has once again put together a bang-up highlight show with expert analysis, exposed hole cards, and insightful commentary. Check it...more
Another 10 minutes pass, another five players depart. The departed four are Jose Vazquez Ortega, Allesandro Longbordi, Cornelius Alblas, Malte Strothmann and Ramzi Jelassi, representing, in order, Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany and Sweden, the diversity of the EPT shown right there. Ramzi Jelassi - 20th place finisher Strothmann was a...more
Mikael Lundell had been an early chip leader this week and despite a downturn in his fortunes yesterday, he's now headed back in the right direction, eliminating another player. With blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante, Cornelis Alblas had raised to 32,000 pre-flop and Lundell re-raised, the second...more
They're now down to three tables for the final 24 players. The final person out was the German Michael Keiner, who had been up to the chip lead on day one, dropped back early on day two, bounced back later that same day, and is now out. He was the...more
Being so close to the action and spending large parts of your day in the tournament surrounded by poker players, you tend speak to the same players, particularly those who seem to be back every day - a sure fire sign that their week is going well. One of...more
They're approaching the end of level 19, at which point there will be a 15-minute break and a full chip count, which will appear on our chip count page. It makes sense. In level 20, the blinds are 5,000-10,000 (1,000 ante), and there will probably be 27 players. They're playing...more
"Yes! Yes!" You may remember yesterday how we mentioned that the English exclamation is the version chosen by most, regardless of nationality, in those seconds after finding a miracle cure for short stack-itis, usually on the turn or river. Well, it's no different today. One play stood, arms raised...more
If you're watching the action over at EPT Live (and if you're not, then you should be), you're probably seeing more of the tournament than we are. The EPT has become something of a victim of its own success, at least from a reporter's point of view, as hundreds more...more
Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown has stared misfortunate in the face today, and it was pocket jacks looking back at him, a hand he's had twice today and lost with both times. Brown moved in with the hooks, with Daniele Mazzia calling with K-Q for a pre-flop 400K battle...more
by Noah Boeken Winning WCOOP Heads-up tournaments has always been a huge goal of mine. Having watched fellow Dutchman Rob Hollink win the Heads-up in the first WCOOP ever, I was eager to follow in his footsteps and take this tournament down. Unluckily for me I was met with my...more
Online pro jonasof87 was one of two Norwegians to make the final table of WCOOP Event #9, sharing that distinction with EirikS, who he said was the “only guy I did have trouble with.” When he crippled EirikS after nearly two hours at the final table, the floodgates opened for...more
There's always something exciting about any EPT day. And as we get closer to the final, it can only increase. And so, welcome to day three where we're approaching the very serious end of this tournament: just 37 of the original 619 players return today, some riding a tidal wave...more
No-limit hold'em is the first type of poker that many of today's younger players ever played. They saw Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker parlay $39 into $2,500,000 by winning first place in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event after winning his entry via a PokerStars satellite tournament. That...more
Just the two of us… No, that old R&B song has no relevance here with the exception of the words alone, as there is no love between heads-up opponents. Two players, face-to-face (or avatar to avatar), competing for top honors is what the game of poker is all about. Every...more
By the end of day two in any major tournament, we have usually separated the men from the boys. We have watched the cream rise to the top, others depart into the sunset; survivors battle back from just a chip and a chair, other self implode under the strain. Yes,...more
The bubble bursting has precipitated some dramatic chip swings, with, finally, some dominant chip leaders beginning to show their might. Our German bloggers are getting very excited about who they consider to be the new chip leader, Michael Keiner, who doubled up with aces and then ace-king to take him...more
No-limit hold'em je prva poker igra, ki so jo mnogi današnji mladi igralci pokra sploh igrali. Videli so Team PokerStars Proja Chrisa Moneymakerja kako je uspel pretvoriti $39 v $2.500.000, ko je osvojil prvo mesto na 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event potem, ko si je priboril svoj nastop...more
When you double up, saving your skin and your tournament chances for a few more hands, it's incredible how quickly you resort to the English even if it's not your native tongue. "Yes!" is as common an exclamation in the poker room as the call of "floor!" might be,...more
They're on the bubble out on the tournament floor, and while we wait through the hand-to-hand torture, here are some videos for your delectation. First up, EPT San Remo champion Jason Mercier, who is still in the mix, talked about his strategy for the day: Watch EPT Barcelona 2008 Day...more
It's slow going at the moment here in Barcelona, where the short stacks are becoming progressively more scarce, but monstrous chip leaders are not necessarily emerging. There are plenty of players nursing comfortable towers amounting to something between 100,000 and 200,000, yet no one has yet managed to push on...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #16 $215 pot-limit Omaha (one rebuy/one add-on) is brought to you by bloggers Jason Kirk, Martin Harris, Dave Behr, and Carol Kline. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 7:39am--Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron eliminated in 2nd place;...more
The final Team PokerStars Pro in the field in Barcelona, Chad Brown, is amid what seems to be a long-running battle with the German player Benjamin Mirsaidi. Passing his table moments ago, the two players were involved in a battle of the blinds, with Brown raising Mirsaidi's small bet on...more
The players have returned from the dinner break and with 80 players remaining the ordeal of securing a cash finish has, for some, well and truly started. Of those left 64 will be paid for their efforts whilst the other 18 will have nothing but painful memories to accompany...more
It's getting deep into the night on day two of EPT Barcelona. The players have had their dinner and are now back to play down to the final 32 - or the more snappy "September (four multiplied by) Eight". Here's a run down of the tournament right now in bullet...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #15 $320 NLHE Heads-Up is brought to you by bloggers David Aydt, Johnny Kampis, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Also, check out the Event #16 Pot Limit Omaha live...more
A late-afternoon decision to play in Event #6 of the World Championship of Online Poker because “the Vikings were not going to be playing on TV until Monday night” worked out $452,086.50 to the good for 46-year-old Tim “Calvin32” Sullivan. The Sioux Falls construction company CFO bought into the WCOOP...more
What was all that about the possibility of going from a massive amount of chips down to nothing? That's exactly what happened to former chip leader Brice Cournut from France, who started with 130,000 but was on the rail within an hour after a series of drastic hands that...more
The EPT Barcelona has been made up of 28 different nationalities and Italy had the most, a total of 71. Two of them were Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano and EPT Prague runner-up Gino Alacqua. Both spoke with the video blog team earlier this week... Watch EPT Barcelona 2008...more
You missed the end of WCOOP Event #12? How could you? Oh, sure, you were sleeping. We're not sure that's a great excuse to miss yet another great final table in the World Championship of Online Poker. That said, we don't hold grudges and we're here to serve. PokerStars.tv has...more
Poker's reputation as a volatile game is a given. Chip leaders can become the latest name on the list of bust outs in a flash, just as the tail end Charlie of the day can vault dozens to take an unexpected lead. Step forward Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari....more
There's a familiar surge in activity here in the Gran Casino. As the number of main tournament tables is reduced, the cash game area becomes ever more populated, and seemingly hundreds of players are currently in a throng around the sign-up board, as though traders on the stock market floor...more
Before most players touched down in Barcelona this week a select bunch were already in position for some intense and hopefully profitable poker training courtesy of the PokerStars Poker Camp. These exclusive poker lessons, headed by Team PokerStars Pros William Thorson, Greg Raymer and EPT Player of the Year...more
Jason Mercier just had some renovation work done to his three-tiered stack. On a flop of Ad-7h-Ac Jason led out from the small blind making it 1,700 to Axel Marten Albertsson of Sweden in the big blind. He called to see the turn card 5c. This time Mercier checked...more
You don't win 102 seats to the World Series main event without knowing a little bit about poker. And you also don't do it without indulging in the odd spell of multi-tabling. The problem for some of the very best online professionals when they enter the live environment, however, is...more
Julian Thew played his part in a ferocious first half hour, busting out when he ran headlong into aces. With the small blind player Frank Stumpf making a minimum raise Julian, in the big blind, looked down to find A-K and pushed all-in. Frank called immediately turning over a...more
The tournament director Thomas Kremser just got day two under way by running through the stats of the tournament so far, and telling us what we can expect from the coming few days. Firstly, in his characteristically understated Austrian lilt, Kremser told us of a prize pool of €4,952,000, of...more
WCOOP Event #13 went just like most expected. There was a big field (2,234 players), tons of re-buys (2,635) and almost as many add-ons (1,524). This is the kind of action that builds quite a prize pool. In this case, the total was $1.278 million, eclipsing the $1 million guarantee....more
It would be easy to make a tenuous link between the rising temperatures outside here in sunny Barcelona this afternoon, and the rising temperature inside the casino as day two prepares to start. I won't make that reference, but it's all true. The 102 survivors from day 1a now...more
Many players would say that no-limit hold'em is a game of patience and cunning. Of those that have also played seven-card stud for any appreciable amount of time (and given the relative disdain that most players have for stud, you might have difficulty finding players who admit to playing both),...more
Day 1B has now wrapped in Barcelona. What can we tell you about it? Well, we'll start at the top, where there's a familiar face riding very high indeed. As long as you're a fan of Swedish reality TV, that is. Mikael Lundell became a household name in the living...more
The last flag bearer for Team PokerStars has fallen. Dario Minieri, who flashed his aggression around today as easily as he did his World Series bracelet, finally succumbed to a lack of chips, finding himself short stacked on a table that featured the two chip leaders, Sebastian Ruthenberg and...more
With a level and a half to go the tournament area has shrunk considerably, the rail edging its way towards the far end of the room. All but one of the Team PokerStars Pros has been eliminated today, the exception being Dario Minieri, who still shares his table with...more
The tournament is currently in a 15 minute break before level seven begins. As yesterday, we're playing eight levels which means two more hours of play, taking us to about 1.15am. As the alarm sounded to signal the end of the level, there were 174 players remaining. The chip leader,...more
The last time Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri and Slovakian Dag Palovic met it was on the final table of the EPT San Remo in the spring of season four. It was perhaps the quickest final table in EPT, lasting less than three hours despite being a finale laden...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #14 $320 Stud is brought to you by bloggers Jason Kirk, Martin Harris, Kaelaine Minton, and Dave Behr. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Want to see Event #13 action? See the WCOOP Event #13...more
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right? If you've found your niche, exploit it. Why not? Stevie Chidwick, from Kent, England, is pretty good at PokerStars satellites. How good? Well, while most people would probably be happy with winning one seat for the World Series main event, Chidwick saw...more
If there's a table today to counter the feature table-elect of yesterday (EPT winners Mike McDonald and Jason Mercier) it would be along the far wall and features two WSOP bracelet winners in PokerStars Sponsored player Sebastian Ruthenberg and Irish pro Alan Smurfit. Also here is pot-limit Omaha specialist...more
With his half of the playing field returned from the dinner break Luca Pagano was no doubt aware that time was running out for a climb out of the cellar and back into fighting shape. Equipped with a little more than 3,000 it was only a matter of time....more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #13 $215 NLHE Rebuy is brought to you by bloggers April Kyle, Johnny Kampis, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 8:15am--lrdvoldemort's winning hand Here is what the lrdvoldemort's winning hand...more
by Steve Paul-Ambrose Mixed holdem has quickly gone from an experiment at the 2007 WSOP, to a very popular format for tournament poker. In Event 12, nearly 1,500 players put up the $320 buyin to compete for a first prize of more than $73,000. My tournament came to an...more
Amidst the blur of tournament action it's not always possible to keep track of everyone. A combination of players moved, sudden changes in circumstances or just a bad hand can send a player out regardless of any high flying earlier. Unfortunately Raymond Rahme is the next to be banished...more
The numbers are in, the abacuses have been out, and here are the prizes for EPT Barcelona, season five: Total runners: 619 Buy-in: €8,000 Prizes 1 - €1,361,000 2 - €792,000 3 - €455,000 4 - €351,000 5 - €292,000 6 - €227,000 7 - €178,000 8 - €119,000 9-10...more
We write it every time and surely one day it will no longer be true. But for the time being at least, no one has ever won two EPT events. The players who have come closer than all others are Brandon Schaefer and Mark Teltscher, both of whom have won...more
Daniel Negreanu's hopes for a first EPT win (and a Triple Crown) have ended. The first indication of something amiss was the loud thumping noise as a player began hitting the table with his hand in an audible victory ceremony. Daniel had min-raised from under-the-gun plus one to 300...more
Raymond Rahme saw off the end of season four with two cashes in succession in San Remo and Monte Carlo making his trip from South Africa a profitable one. He just made an early first step toward making the start of season five as equally profitable. It didn't take...more
No-Limit Hold’Em is the game that inspired and carried the poker boom throughout the past decade, but it has been the poker variations, even within the game of hold’em, that have kept players intrigued. Most poker players thrive on the challenge of the game, and sometimes that includes learning new...more
There's been a typically frenetic start to proceedings today, with players busting at a chaotic rate. Passing by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier's table about 40 minutes into level one, I noticed that he was already tapping the table in the manner of the defeated, nodding his head and drifting away. He...more
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has ditched the joker regalia he fashioned in Macau but still has a metallic veneer, his silver blond hair making him look like he was designed and built in a virtual reality machine. It's a level of flash that suits his effective style...more
We won't know the full number of runners until we're well into level two, but if it's any indication, the tournament director Thomas Kremser just made an announcement that went something like this: "Anyone on the list of alternates with a number up to 30, please come to the cash...more
Yesterday 292 players cut the ribbon on the fifth season of the European Poker Tour. Familiar faces previous years were in abundance and by the end of the day featured at each end of the official chip count list, from a season four winner Jason Mercier, second in chips...more
Day 1b of the Barcelona EPT will get under way at 3pm central European time. In the meantime, the full chip count from day 1a has now been made available to us, and you can see it HERE. Yesterday was a typically action-packed day, not only the beginning of another...more
It was a fitting mark of respect that on the day the European Poker Tour celebrated its fourth birthday and the start of its fifth season, the Casino Barcelona would be wall-to-wall with expectant poker players and the scene didn't change even after eight levels of play. Testament to...more
As the day draws to its close, there has been a rash of bustouts. Players are ambling to the rail seemingly every moment, with fewer than 120 left as I write, and probably about 110 when day is done. Among them are the World Series heroes David "Chino" Rheem and...more
In the shadow of its more eagerly watched feature table there forms another potential graveyard featuring Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari, sponsored player George Danzer, Steve Jelinek and Andreas Krause. It was a case of the two PokerStars players locking horns a short while ago, both players checking a...more
There are approximately 90 minutes of play left in this day, and at a conservative estimate, there will probably be about 120 players bagging up chips at the end. Unless something disastrous happens, Michael Keiner will be among them: the German player has recently rocketed into the chip lead with...more
What once was is now different. Gone from the table collider are Illari Sahamies to a different table and Mike McDonald to the rail, and in their place have arrived former WPT winner Christian Grundtvig and a final tablist from Barcelona twelve months ago Mika Paasonen. Paasonen has played...more
Deep in the heart of the tournament area crowds have gathered, craning their necks for a glimpse at something incredible. Two players, two poker forces, are being flung together and are about to collide in spectacular fashion, just to see what might happen, on a table that would be...more
Of the 292 players who started today, 180 remain as we enter level seven. The idea is to play eight levels today, eight levels tomorrow, and then see where we are for the remaining days once the field is all in one place at the same time. As I write,...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #11 Mixed Hold'em is brought to you by bloggers April Kyle, Jason Kirk, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 9:41am--Randers wins, Aaron "011180" Kanter finishes in 2nd place And we...more
The field is united after the buffet. It's now a three and a half hour scrap towards the end of play and already the signs of struggle are beginning to show. Two particular hands cost Greg Raymer his gallant start, sent to the rail by virtue of the wrong...more
Johannes Strassmann has put earlier set-backs aside and is now carving a path with his hands back to a stack around the 12K average mark. The solution it seems was to bet all the way. Johannes played a series of hands whereby any opponent would have to be content...more
The players took a staggered dinner break during today's action, with half the field wolfing down a sumptuous buffet while the others played level five, before the roles were reversed. Few kitchens can cope with a full EPT field descending on it in one go, and this is a sensible...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #11 $320 PLO8 is brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, Martin Harris, Kaelaine Minton, and Carol Kline. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 8:07am--Pot, re-pot, all-in, call . . . and we have a...more
There were many players who impressed on their first full year on the European Poker Tour last year, players like EPT Best Newcomer award winner Trond Eidsvig who featured on three final tables. But one player who blazed a particularly unique trail through season four was Annette Obrestad, the...more
The inaugural EPT San Remo champion Jason Mercier -- who is neither Canadian nor a maths teacher as someone may have once written on this very blog, I can't think who -- had built up a mighty stack during the first couple of levels here today. And now he's just...more
It's been a good start for Team PokerStars Pros in the mix today. Andre Akkari, Alex Gomes and Greg Raymer are tearing along nicely, so too Vanessa Rousso. And the other half of poker's first couple, Chad Brown, is gaining some momentum also. Brown limped into an un-raised pot...more
by Marcin Horecki Event #9 of PokerStars' 2008 WCOOP No-Limit 4-Max promised to be a fast and fierce tournament. With 1,100 players out of nearly 3300 participants departing in the first hour, those predictions came true. Actually, this proved that PokerStars players present high skill level and are not only...more
Moments ago, it was time to check in on Alexandre Gomes, one of the newest members of Team PokerStars Pro and hot from his bracelet-winning excursion to Las Vegas, followed neatly by a final table appearance on the Latin America Poker Tour. He's making his EPT debut here, and will...more
In the early stages of a tournament, there's always a quest to determine the so-called Table of Death, stacked with a disproportionate number of stars. Problem is, there are so many supremely talented players on the EPT these days that it's often more difficult these days to find a Table...more
You know, it's pretty fun to watch the final tables of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker as they happen. But you know what else is fun? Watching them happen with the hole cards exposed. PokerStars.tv is spending a lot of time putting together full highlight reels from the...more
There's a swarm of people gathering in the corner of the Casino Barcelona waiting to play right now. Not tournament players, just those waiting to play cash, struck by that sometimes tortuous affliction of having to wait to play on day 1b. But whilst they jostle for position in...more
There's a familiar melee in the lobby of the Gran Casino Barcelona, as the square pegs of 300-odd poker players attempt to funnel into the round hole that is the downtairs poker room. They first have to register as a member of the casino, then have their barcodes checked at...more
The numbers get more staggering every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s midweek or midnight, the players are entering WCOOP events at a staggering rate. For the $215 4-max No-Limit Hold ‘Em Event #9 there were an impressive 3,290 entries. Only three events in last year’s WCOOP had more players....more
This week, the European Poker Tour celebrates its fourth birthday. It came blinking and stumbling into the world in Barcelona in 2004, began with baby-steps that soon became a cocksure swagger, and yesterday there was a party in recognition of the start of its fifth year. People stood around the...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #10 $215 Razz is brought to you by bloggers Brad Willis, April Kyle, Kaelaine Minton, and Carol Kline. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Want to see action from Event #9? Visit the WCOOP Event...more
Scott “DorinVandy” Dorin was a 22-year-old recent college grad seated at a final table with an EPT Champion, a World Series MVP and a WSOP World Champion. To say the table was stacked might be considered an understatement. But when the dust settled and the last card was dealt, is...more
by John Duthie Having busted on level 4 of this tourney making a move with 4,6 suited it was great to watch the players whose patience, timing and skill managed to get them to the final 10. This looked like a very interesting line-up with our old friend ‘Money800’ (Chris...more
by Tom McEvoy A new world record was established the other day in PokerStars Pot Limit Omaha Tournament. It was the largest number of players to ever participate in an Omaha tournament in history. This is not a surprise. Every guarantee in the first 8 events of the WCOOP has...more
It was one of the best final tables in WCOOP history, featuring Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker and baseball great Orel Hershiser. Now PokerStars.tv has put together a fantastic highlight reel for you to watch with all the hole cards exposed. Take a look! Watch WCOOP Highlights: Event 5 -...more
It takes time to build tradition in any sporting event. Imagine if The Masters suddenly appeared on the PGA circuit a few years ago and the organisers started handing out green jackets to the winners. It would hardly be a big hit. But having established more than 80 years of...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #9 No-Limit Hold'em 4-Max is brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, Jason Kirk, Jordan Raanan and Jen Newell. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 6:17am--jonasof87 wins Event #9 ($95,410), emiwarg finishes in 2nd place...more
Full-time student ImBillMcNeal (yes, he’s a big NewsRadio fan, that’s where the name came from)went into the final table of WCOOP Event #2 second in chips, but after a tough final table and staying awake for almost 24 straight hours found himself $34,210.60 richer and the second winner in the...more
If you think Dorothy had it bad with lions and tigers and bears, try playing flop games and stud games and draw games sprinkled with a mix of limit, pot-limit and no-limit and then tossed with a little bit of high-hand, low-hand and hi/low split. If that combination doesn't...more
Omaha’s increased popularity has become evident the past couple years. As one player explained during the action, “Omaha is a sick game.” The increased popularity correlates directly to higher quality competition on the PokerStars tables. That was evident in WCOOP Event #7, a $200+$15 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament with a...more
2.05am: Andrew Scott eliminated in second position (HKD $2.1 million) Andrew Scott’s great run in the PokerStars.net APPT Macau high-roller tournament has come to an end at the hands of Nam Le. Scott began the heads-up battle with a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage, and saw that ratio only increase in his...more
Erin McNaught tunes-up for the APPT Macau High Roller final table. 2pm: Players are completing their TV interviews, and there’s a real buzz around the TV final table studio ahead of the final day in the PokerStars.net APPT High Roller event. Watch APPT Macau 008: Final Table Intro on...more
Last year this event, the $530 no-limit hold'em event, ran for more than 20 hours, longer than any other tourney had ever run to that point in the history of the World Championship of Online Poker. Anticipating an even larger field this year, it was decided to divide the event...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #6 Day 2, $530 No-Limit Hold'em, is brought to you by bloggers Martin Harris and Brad Willis. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Looking for other events, check out the Event #7 Live Blog and...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #8 $320 8-Game Mixed is brought to you by bloggers Brad Willis, Jason Kirk, Jennifer Newell, and Carol Kline. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Want to see other events in action? Check out the...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #7, $215 PLO, is brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, April Kyle, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. 6:37am--Mary 717 wins Event #7 Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-up with a 5-to-1...more
Shane “shane147” Hellyer started off the month of September right. In addition to claiming the first WCOOP title of 2008 with his victory in Event #1, he became the first British player to claim WCOOP gold when he took out Austria’s pffwhatever heads-up in Event #1 – NLHE Six-Max....more
Watch APPT Macau 08: High Roller Day 2 on PokerStars.tv The final 10 finally became nine after a dramatic day two in the APPT High Roller. It’s a day that will go down in the annals of PokerStars.net APPT history. A day that the APPT came of age, and...more
We have now ticked past three-and-a-half hours of this 10 seated “imitation” final table. The larger stacks are no doubt regretting their decision to agree to redraw to a 10-handed game, when if the five-handed structure had been maintained, “on the balance of probabilities,” everyone would be tucked-up in bed...more
There is one heck of a lot at stake at this “unofficial” final table of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller tournament. The remaining 10 players have been foxing with each other for close to two hours; unwilling to put everything on the line, when the potential for much greater...more
Steven Silverman has joined the railbirds on the other side of the ropes here at the Grand Waldo Casino. The American held the shortest stack for the majority of the time since Mike McDonald’s departure, and only had one move; all-in. However, he had recently felt a bit more comfortable...more
The well-oiled machine that is David Steicke continues to hum, having just eliminated another player in Mike timex McDonald. Steicke, who continues to build a very long line of chips, that PokerStars Sponsored player Eric Assadourian calls the Great Wall of China, looked up timex’s all-in on a turned board...more
The last Team PokerStars Pro in the APPT Macau High Roller event field, Joe Hachem, has been eliminated in 13th place. Short stacked after losing a big pot to Andrew Scott, Hachem successfully committed his chips twice to scoop up the blinds and antes and was trying to make it...more
In last year’s APPT High Roller event in Macau, it took five hours to eliminate the last six players before the final table line-up was decided. The writing is also on the wall that the remaining 14 players are in no hurry to commit their chips as we tick into...more
After an early flurry of all-ins at the beginning of the day, the average stack size has increased to the point where most players are comfortable playing small-ball poker. Only a couple of players are occasionally being forced to put everything on the line with an all-in. Andrew Scott, prefers...more
Fifteen years ago, if you asked people to talk about their first experiences with poker, you would likely hear tales of stud or draw games of the limit variety. These days, an increasing number of people will describe a no-limit hold'em game. No-limit hold'em is often dubbed the "Cadillac...more
Chris Moneymaker, Orel Hershiser make final table by Brad Willis and Change100 If three-bets were fleas, WCOOP Event #5's players would never stop itching. The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker has always been the richest event in online poker and one of the biggest tournament series live or online....more
Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem was weeks away from becoming 2005 WSOP main event champion when Quinn Do saluted the judge in the $2500 Limit Hold’em event. Quinn Do, a silent assassin at the poker table. Like many of his contemporaries, Do was born in Vietnam and arrived in the...more
There is definitely an Australian flavour at the PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller event. Of the remaining 19 players left in the tournament, six of them hail from the land 'Down Under': Team PokerStars Pro and 2005 WSOP main event world champion, Joe Hachem; PokerStars sponsored players Eric Assadourian and...more
There are 21 players still in the APPT High Roller field at the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau: an appropriate figure given that former professional black jack player Andrew Scott has just taken out Roger Spets. "Go you good thing!" Andrew Scott rides quads to a nice pot. After Team...more
If you work regular hours, then 9.30am might be time for a coffee break; but the life of a Team PokerStars Pro player is a little different. This morning for example, at 9.30am Barry Greenstein was in the lobby of the Grand Waldo Hotel waiting for a van to take...more
It’s a quiet Monday afternoon in the Grand Waldo Casino, with the spotlight firmly on the four tables in the heart of the tournament floor for the opening level of the PokerStars.net APPT High Roller. It’s been a frenetic opening with the short stacks quickly getting their chips in looking...more
David Steicke and Eric Assadourian prepare for battle. The race for the HKD $3.7 million first prize in the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau High Roller event steps up a notch with the remaining 28 players eyeing a spot at tomorrow’s final table. David Steicke, the Australian now...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #6, the $3 million guaranteed no-limit hold'em event, is brought to you by bloggers Stephen Bartley, David Aydt, Jennifer Newell, and Carol Kline. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Want to see the Event #5 action? Check out the WCOOP Event #5...more
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #5, the historic $10,000 High-Roller No-Limit Hold'em Event, is brought to you by bloggers Martin Harris, Johnny Kampis, Change100, and Brad Willis. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Want to see Event #6 action? See...more
There are several ways to watch the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. You can watch the events play out on the PokerStars software. You can follow the action live here on the PokerStars Blog. Or, if you just want the highlights, you now have a whole new option. PokerStars.tv...more
"If I'm lucky that angel will fall on him": Barry Greenstein experienced the joy of David Saab's incessant chatter. There may not have been an abundance of big-name pros at the final table of the APPT Macau main event but that shouldn’t be a problem when the final nine...more
Limit hold’em is one of the more popular games in land-based casinos as well as online poker rooms, but the limit variation in tournaments is another story. Of course, it is still popular, but the length of time it takes to play out due to (obvious) betting limitations tests even...more
David "The Spider" Steicke If the PokerStars.net APPT had a “Rookie of the Year” award, it seems it would have to go to David Steicke. After only one year of tournament poker experience, the Australian-born trader continues to dominate the tournament floor here at the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau....more
It’s a guilty pleasure for many a poker player and a high-variance specialty for others, but deuce-to-seven triple draw never inspired lukewarm feelings in anyone. A true gambler’s game where position and deception rule the day and there are no exposed cards, poker players either love or loathe triple draw…...more
Johnny Chan, surrounded by intense hoods Over at Johnny Chan’s table, there are four players sitting around him wearing hoods and sunglasses. Chan must be thinking he’s in some type of fairy tale… we can just imagine him thinking: “You kids all play Red Riding Hood, and I’ll be the...more
The pace of eliminations has increased as players take their final break on day one of the PokerStars.net APPT High Roller event. And the main recipient has been David Steicke, who now leads the tournament with a stack of almost 80,000. The short-stacked Liz Lieu made her move with A-J...more
Xuan Nguyen, playing his table like a xylophone We have a new chip leader over at Andrew “I won a race!” Scott’s table. Xuan Ngyuen, a highly-successful online player, has been bossing Scott, PokerStars sponsored player Emad Tahtouh, and the rest of the table relentlessly with raise after raise. Even...more
The day-trippers are starting to make their way home after a big day on the tables here at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino, leaving the clatter of poker chips and the odd scream of ecstasy or agony from the craps’ pit or nearby baccarat tables as the backdrop for...more
Watch APPT Macau 08: High Roller Julien on PokerStars.tv We first met Julien Langvan on day 1C of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event. A Frenchman, Langvan was born with a birth defect limiting the use of his arms. However, he can still play poker without trouble, and is currently...more
The APPT Macau main event was a whitewash for the Team PokerStars Pros, but the empire has struck back in the early stages on the first day of the APPT High Roller event. The Joker outfit has been consigned to the back of ElkY's closet. Isabelle Mercier has just doubled...more
Although the PokerStars.net APPT Macau high-roller’s event has been underway for a couple of hours, tournament director Danny McDonagh was still taking late registrations until half-way through Level 2. The final registrant was a somewhat dusty-looking Charles “The Chuck Truck” Chua, who finished in second place in the APPT Macau...more
Andrew Scott is a good friend of David Steicke. Like David, Andrew has only recently started playing tournament poker and has been a great supporter of the APPT (in fact, he’s been one of a handful of players to enter every APPT event played so far). A steelier Andrew Scott...more
The life of a tournament pro on the road isn’t all wine and roses. Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier was the last player to arrive for today’s APPT High Roller event, having already run deep (37th in a field of 734) in this morning’s PokerStars WCOOP $215 2-7 Triple Draw...more
The assembled media here at the PokerStars.net APPT Macau, have made much of the presence of two particular players; Johhny “Not Terrence” Chan, and Terrence “Not Johnny” Chan, and we’re not about to stop now! In an interesting quirk of fate, or random chan-ce, both players have been drawn together...more