May 2009 Archives

PokerStars is home to the world champions. So when the WSOP introduced a Champions Invitational to this year's Las Vegas schedule, it was always going to be rammed with members of our team. Fighting for bragging rights, a shiny 1970 red Corvette, and the Binions Cup are five of our...more

The final Sunday Warm-Up of may drew a whopping 4095 entrants and built a prize pool of $819,000. The action was fast-paced throughout, but the sun had still well set on the east coast when the final nine players settled in after a very brief final table bubble. Hatchi was...more

PokerStars player Isaac Haxton, the young New Yorker, has retaken the chip lead after busting Justin Bonomo in fifth place. We're now down to four-handed, with both Haxton and Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer fighting with Vitaly Lunkin and Daniel Stern for the bracelet - and nearly $1.9 million. Haxton...more

Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex Veldhuis has been busted by Greg Raymer, but at least he has the consolation of a $277,940 - and the comforting shoulder of Evelyn Ng. While Lex sloped off after his thrilling run at the $40,000 no limit title, Raymer has shot into the clear...more

If there's one person you can count on to talk the hind legs off a donkey at the poker table (and that's just an expression, folks, not a dig at the players in this event), it's Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. He's rarely quiet, except when he's having an at-seat...more

While most PokerStars fan's eyes today will be on Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer and Lex Veldhuis at the final table of the $40,000 NLHE WSOP Event #2, we have big things going down at home today with PokerStars' monthly promotions. First up was the final table of the monthly...more

We've lost Ted Forrest and Noah Schwartz already (Forrest out to Schwartz who then busted himself against Justin Bonomo), but the big news is Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer, a huge crowd favourite, has taken the chip lead from Isaac Haxton after a monster all-in pot. Raymer had just lost...more

Under the lights of a sparkling television set, our nine final table players chat nervously together as they are introduced to a packed crowd filling every available space to catch the first major final of this year's WSOP. The finalists have carved through a 201-player field to get here, and...more

While we wait for the beginning of the final table of the $40K, featuring PokerStars players Greg Raymer, Lex Veldhuis and Isaac Haxton, day 1B of the mammoth-like $1,000 no limit event is in full-blooded swing. With such a huge field - 6,008 over two starting days and rising -...more

The final table bubble took a long time to burst - over an hour of play, plus one more for dinner as Tony G insisted on taking the break rather than play on. But while he came back with his stomach full, he left again with his wallet half empty...more

Getting dealt pocket aces and then losing to an all-in push from a short stack is a bit unlucky. Getting dealt the rockets twice and losing again to a short stack push, all within just a few table orbits, could be considered downright nasty. Well, Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer...more

While all the roller-coaster no limit excitement bounces off the Amazon Room's walls, there's a quieter bunch of players crafting away in one corner. This is the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Low 8 or Better crowd who, with only a few exceptions, tend to go about their business in a more controlled...more

As bad hair days go, this one is a bit of a shocker. Now I'm no expert on the male hairstyle, but I'm told Ivan Demidov has quite a nice head of hair - long and flowing, the ladies call it. But today he has pitched up for the $1,000...more

He's made quite a name for himself in the online poker battleground - 'RaSZi', for the record - but Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex Veldhuis has yet to chalk up a bumper score in a live event. All that has changed in the $40,000 No Limit Hold'em event, where he...more

After the casino staff played event #1, the high rollers coughed up $40,000 for event #2, and folk who play tricky games like Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better played event #3, the seething masses today got what they wanted to kick off their WSOP - the $1,000 no limit hold'em...more

Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer is in familiar territory. The Fossilman is very much at home in the Rio as his WSOP record testifies: the world championship in 2004 and an amazing run one year later that so nearly saw him reach the final table again. And there's been other...more

There was never any doubt that players in the elite Team PokerStars Pro were awash with talent, but just to emphasise the point they are currently taking the $40,000 No Limit Hold'em event by storm. With just 40 players left from the 201 who sat down yesterday, two of our...more

Johannes Strassmann has become a force to be reckoned with in tournament poker, but he ran into the wrong man at the wrong time costing him his place in the $40,000 No Limit event. That man was Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker, who soars close to the one million chip...more

Sandra Naujoks proved her poker prowess by winning her home EPT in Dortmund back in March, a spectacular performance that also happened to net her $1.3 million. So what's a girl to do with all that money? Head to Vegas and try and make some more, obviously. But her mission...more

There's nothing worse than being card dead, particularly in a tournament such as this. When your stack is trickling away and the blinds are moving north, you're praying for the type of hand that can double you up and get you going once more. When all you are dealt is...more

Chris Moneymaker's superb run during day one of the $40,000 no limit yesterday impressed not just because of his chip count (805,000), but for the manner in which he got there. Since we watched in awe when he won the WSOP main event in 2003, he'll be the first to...more

While yesterday's $40,000 no limit event was a day for the high rollers and the elite of the modern game, today the action opens up for the masses with the start of the $1,500 Omaha Hi/low 8 or Better tournament. The buy-in may be considerably smaller, but the end result...more

"There are people counting on me." I remember Barry Greenstein saying that to me a few years back. It was so antithetical to the well-established poker mindset, it was hard to fit in my head. If you ask most poker players to go out of their way during the most...more

by Adam STUDSTOOD Roberts With the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) just around the corner, I thought that I would continue discussing various aspects of tournaments. This blog will concentrate more on aspects of "deal making" in tournaments, as opposed to actual hand strategy or deciding which events to...more

Chris Moneymaker was the guy who did more than any other player to set off the online poker boom, winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event after qualifying for just $39 on PokerStars. Since then he has been desperate for another big WSOP win, and this might just be his time....more

The last level was not a good one for Team PokerStars Pro. Ivan Demidov went, then Gavin Griffin, followed by Joe Hachem and finally Dennis Phillips. Thank goodness, then, for Vanessa Rousso who is ducking and diving to keep her stack healthy. Only a few weeks ago in Monte Carlo,...more

Chris Moneymaker has the look of a man who means business. In fairness, he's had that look from the moment he sat down on the WSOP main event final table six years ago before going on to take the $2.5 million title, all for an initial outlay of just $39...more

Poker in Holland is on something of a roll at the moment. First Constant Rijkenberg won the PokerStars EPT San Remo event in April, then a week later Pieter de Korver won the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Now countryman Lex Veldhuis, a member of Team PokerStars Holland Pro,...more

WSOP bosses wanted a headline event to kickstart the 40th year, and with the $40,000 No Limit tournament they've got it. In all 201 players paid up generating a prize pool of $7,718,400. The top 27 will walk away with cash - and the winner will need a wheelbarrow to...more

John Duthie is a wiley old fox. Not content with having a successful TV career, he went on to create the hugely impressive PokerStars European Poker Tour. The only problem with that is he can not play in his own events, so has to watch jealously from the sidelines as...more

Back in 1971, when Johnny Moss won the World Series of Poker, few could have imagined how the annual showcase would develop. Moss won $30,000 for his efforts, a nice chunk in change in those days but peanuts in comparison to the modern day. This is the 40th WSOP, and...more

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This kind of thing happens to us all the time. It starts off with us hanging out in an airplane hanger with Snoop Dogg, an international billionaire wanted by Interpol, and a Russian rapper. You know, like any other Saturday night. We start off with a little champagne, talk international...more

The history of Aussie poker is intrinsically linked with Crown Casino. The nation's largest gaming property has been the backdrop for some of the pivotal moments in local poker folklore. From the first Australasian Championships back in 1998 (played as a $1000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event) to the first...more

There is a live version of the Eagles' Take It to the Limit that ends with the former bassist Randy Meisner hitting every high note with perfect pitch and then mellowing out to the crowd's cheers. As the instruments go silent, one of Meisner's bandmates pulls out his best John...more

Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (ante 3000): It must have been the chilli - things have moved at an incredible pace since players returned from the dinner break with three players hitting the rail during level 23 of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. In a mad start to the evening session,...more

Level 22: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000): Like a heavyweight title fight, there have been plenty of body shots and just one KO blow during the final level before the dinner break on the final table of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne at Crown. Heath Chick made a significant move when he...more

Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (ante 2000): Chris Levick seems firmly saddled on a horse called destiny after taking his stack back above one million thanks to two pivotal hands at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table. Shortly after the first break of the day, Levick found himself in a big...more

Level 20: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000): One Tasmanian may have tumbled, but the other Apple Islander is ensuring he has a big say in the outcome of today's PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table. In the biggest hand of the day so far, Heath Chick raised to 28k in middle position,...more

Level 19: 6000/12,000 (ante 1000): After losing the first hand of the final table to Ben Savage, Chris Levick quickly made amends by claiming the first scalp of the day in the chase for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title. Nursing the short stack, Rodney Burles raised to 30,000, Levick...more

Seat 1: Heath Chick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier (283,000 in chips): His role in the local poker media has meant this Tasmanian has had little time to ply his trade on the felt. But given this opportunity, the "Tassie Devil" has rarely been out of the top 10 stacks in...more

The office crowd may be kicking back for a leisurely lunch - you know, sushi rolls, a couple of soy decaf lattes - but it's peak-hour in the Crown poker room in the half-hour before the start of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table. A handful of the contenders...more

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As I type, people are walking into the Rio's Amazon Ballroom to kick off the live action. The World Series of Poker officially begins today. What? You're not there? Well, we're not either quite yet (though we will be soon). If you're following Twitter or any of the other online...more

What we thought might be a short and sharp sprint to the final table turned into a marathon battle of wit and will before the final table was decided for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne tournament. More than 13 hours after the first hand was dealt to the 69 players...more

We're in the money at Crown where John Joannou has earned the unwanted title of bubble boy in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. The last of his dwindling stack went in with A♦ 8♠, Jie Gao slammed over the top all-in with A♠ Q♠. Sam Khouiss thought before folding...more

Having devoured our body weight in risotto, we're back for what promises to be a dramatic evening session on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. After an extremely tense level 15 in which only two players were eliminated, the moves are now coming thick and fast with...more

By Landon Blackhall The inaugural season of the PokerStars.net ANZPT has already produced some fantastic stories - Karl Krautschneider's first major tournament victory from out of the shadows of the poker giants who shared the final table; and Paren Arzoomanian's triumph in Sydney in the wake of his cancer...more

Much is made of the rivalry between Australia's biggest cities Melbourne and Sydney. Nowhere more is the difference between the cities reflected than in Australia's two most popular soap operas. Home and Away is archetypically Sydney - set in the idyllic Summer Bay where the sun shines everyday, the...more

We're getting down to the business end of things here at Crown Casino with only 33 players in contention of the 218 who started the chase for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title. In the last level, we saw Andy Meldrum, Michael Guzzardi, Sam Youssef, John Apostolidis, Mario Doria, Jimmy...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander The PokerStars.net Team Australia challenge is down to one after the elimination of 2007 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy from the ANZPT Melbourne field. Levy's 4♠ 4♥ was counterfeited when Tino Lechich's A♠ J♠ played on a board of Q♦ 5♦ 9♣...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander We're used to hearing crap from poker players, but the smell from a burst sewerage pipe that is wafting through the Crown poker room is adding a whole new challenge for the remaining 52 players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. But our...more

Players are beginning to file into the Crown poker room for the start of day two in the battle for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title. Sparked by a latte or two and hearty breakfast at one of the many riverside restaurants here at Crown, the 69 remaining players...more

I was somewhere on the Oregon coast and in bed with my wife. It was a fifth anniversary vacation up the Pacific coast and, I'll be honest, at that particular moment, the last thing on my mind was the World Series of Poker. "I think you should come back to...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander It was a day of firsts at Crown - the first time a PokerStars.net tour event was played in Melbourne; a rare Monday tournament start and a player came from the clouds to snatch the chip lead in the final two hands. The...more

By Landon Blackhall Things are never predictable in poker. Chatting with two of the PokerStars qualifiers in today's ANZPT Melbourne field (whose names we didn't immediately recognise), we expected to find a couple of tournament poker greenhorns. Instead, we found genuine players with plenty of online experience under their...more

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," was a piece of sage advice passed from Vito Corleone to his youngest son Michael. It could have also been written for PokerStars.net Team Australia duo Eric Assadourian and Emad Tahtouh, who'd spent much of the day seated next to each...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander As we tick down to the dinner break on day one of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event with 144 of the 218 starters still in contention, players are starting to make their dinner plans. Readers of this blog will recall our fondness for...more

7,177 players lined up their $215 to join the $1.5 Sunday Million Guarantee tournament tonight, meaning PokerStars would be footing the bill to assure our final nine tonight would be playing for a $225,000.00 first place prize. After 7,167 eliminations, one of the final table players could be found on...more

We're going to resist the temptation to make a lousy gag about the luck of the Irish at the expense of Sean O'Reilly. Instead, let's give credit where credit is due for the guy who has smashed the field in the early going on day one of the PokerStars.net...more

Crown has played a pivotal role in establishing such a strong poker presence in Australia. Well before Crown signed Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem as its poker ambassador in the wake of his 2005 WSOP Main Event triumph, poker has been played at Australia's largest casino. Today's players can...more

The field for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event has been confirmed at 218, and already 12 of those players have been sent to the rail after the opening two levels of play. The top 18 players will share a slice of the AUD $545,000 prizepool, with the winner...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander PokerStars.net ANZPT points leader and Team Australia member Tony Hachem has just given the order to shuffle up and deal for day one of the AUD $2700 ANZPT Melbourne event. There are a few cases of 'Mondayitis' in the Crown poker room today...more

Despite the national holiday weekend for the American rounders, 3,780 players were near a computer to put down $215 for the $750,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up thus pumping up the prize pool to $756,000. Team PokerStars Pro Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan was going strong after getting into the money and got his...more

We all have fond memories of the Bahamas. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is rife with fantastic stories that we'll re-tell time and again. The memories will only fade with time. Some people aren't satisfied with merely swapping tales. Some people need a little something there to remind them. We've seen...more

Melbourne, Australia - it's one of the great sporting cities; it's home to Crown, one of the world's premier casinos; and it's the hometown of 2005 WSOP Main Event winner and Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem. Throw those elements into the blender and it's hardly surprising to find that...more

It was 2005 when the PokerStars Blog first dipped its toes in the Amazon Ballroom madness. For the first several weeks, PokerStars Team Blog consisted of...well...me. I sat with a scattering of people in a small closet at the end of the longest hallway in the Rio. Final table coverage...more

by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts I hope all of you had an enjoyable SCOOP tournament, and congratulations to those of you who made a profit in the events. With the recent advent of so many tournament events both live and online, it seems that every day or week there is a...more

"Not too much has changed." That's what PokerStars Supernova Elite marchinvest2 said when we asked him what's been going on since we profiled him back in 2007. Not too much has changed? He's both right and wrong, and he's happy to admit it. Marchinvest2 is still playing 10/20 and 15/30...more

It seems like it could happen to anybody on any day. You walk into the office, are called into a meeting, and told your job doesn't exist anymore. Like a 21st century bogeyman, the threat of a layoff lurks in the minds of even the most stable worker bees. Just...more

Captain Wes Deaver blows stuff up. He pilots one of the most famous aircraft in the world. He's flown more than 100 combat missions in Iraq. He's done two wartime tours of duty. Captain Wes Deaver does not monkey around. Except for when he does. Born and raised in Bucyrus,...more

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There was a time when you couldn't do much after your Tivo ran out of poker shows and PokerStars Sunday majors had passed by for another week. Now, thanks to PokerStars.tv, you never have to worry about that again. The Online Poker Show hits the PokerStars.tv screens every week with...more

Here's a few things you may not know about Portugal. It's the westernmost country of mainland Europe. Its name comes from the Roman Portus Cale which means the Port of the Celts. It turns out some out some pretty darned good poker players. You can learn the first two of...more

Let's define a good day, shall we? Let's go with something really obvious. Let's say, making the final table of PokerStars $109 rebuy tournament and winning nearly $30,000. In my book, that constitutes a decent day. Now's let's go ourselves one better and define a really good day. That, I...more

If you happened to be a patriotic Russian looking to support a local player at a big poker tournament, then Moscow yesterday was the place to be. All nine players at the successful PokerStars Russian Poker Tour final table in Moscow were from the home country. And two of them...more

The mid-May Sunday was unremarkable by most accounts, as conflicts with major live tournaments and holidays were reduced to a minimum. It was the weekend before Memorial Day in the United States, and it was two weeks prior to the start of the 2009 World Series of Poker in Las...more

Another Sunday, another couple million dollars on the line in the PokerStars Sunday Guaranteed Tournaments. This Sunday saw a lengthy final table bubble in the warm up turn into a quick final table, and a four-way deal among the last players standing locked up a healthy payday for everybody. Then,...more

Each year in Europe there is a musical spectacular in which countries fight it out to become winners of the Eurovision Song Contest. Some take it more seriously than others, but it involves a glittering show in which 25 nations perform their song, and then the population of 42 countries...more

It's fair to say that Team PokerStars Pro covers the globe. It has world champions in the US, Australia and Denmark, and a selection of the highest quality performers from all continents in between. At day two of the PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow, it was fitting that...more

PokerStars is involved in many quality live tours around the world. The European Poker Tour continues to break new ground, while the LAPT and APPT have both established themselves nicely in recent years. This year the ANZPT tour kicked off, and in January the first ever PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour...more

Way back in the day (well, February 2007), Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri picked up the keys to a Porsche for free courtesy of his phenomenal play at PokerStars. He was the first of our players to drive off (not too fast, we hope) with a supercar, just for playing...more

With our satellites for this summer's World Series of Poker in full swing (see here for details), those already bagging one of PokerStars' brilliant main event packages might be looking for a little advice on how to play the "Big One". Handy, then, that on Team PokerStars Pro we have...more

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Ever looked at the PokerStars Sunday Million results and thought: "I wonder what it takes to win one of those things?" Well, thanks to the wonders of modern technology - and no little amount of hard work from our friends over at pokerstars.tv (we keep them locked up in a...more

Mama mia...what a Mother's Day. Sure, we recognize that not everybody celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, but most of America was involved in something involving their mom. That meant the tables weren't quite as packed as they normally are. Nonetheless, the Sunday majors were putting out some major cash this weekend....more

Apparently, more than a few poker players spent this Sunday with their moms, as a lighter-than-usual (yet still massive) field of 6,947 players took to the virtual felt for this Mothers' Day edition of the Sunday Million. The $1.5 million prize pool contained a $110,600 overlay and 990 places were...more

We're sure the final nine people playing the Sunday Warm-up tonight got their good luck kisses from mom before sitting down for over eight hours to get to the big money. With first prize sitting at $117,750.00 it would a long way towards giving mom a Mother's Day present aside...more

Chris Moneymaker rolled his carry-on down the aisle and slipped into the last seat in the Business Class section of the Delta plane. Within minutes, he would have his choice of filet mignon with shrimp scampi, crab cakes, or pasta on the ten-hour flight to Argentina. His seat would recline...more

You probably know a lot about Team PokerStars Pro. You know about the members' wins, bad beats, and records. You probably think you know everything about them. Chances are, though, you do not. Do you know which member of Team Pro could likely destroy you in a game of racquetball?...more

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As usually happens with a big tournament like the EPT Grand Final, we've picked up a number of new readers here at the PokerStars Blog. To all our new friends, we say, 'Howdy!' If you are new 'round these parts, you might not be familiar with our regular Tuesday feature,...more

I used to cry like a baby when "Peanuts" cartoons ended. True story. Once the final credits rolled on the "Great Pumpkin," I knew it would be another year before I got to see Charlie Brown again. And so I wept for lost Peanuts. Of course, I was five years...more

The first Sunday in May brought a sizable field to the virtual tables, larger than had shown themselves in the Sunday Million in past weeks. With the live tournament circuit winding down in preparation for the World Series of Poker and players looking to hone their skills, it was no...more

The Sunday Warm-Up continued the streak of exploded guarantees this week as 4,176 players created a whopping $835,200 prize pool. No overlays here, folks! The field thinned pretty quickly as well, with the last nine standing locking up their final table spots barely more than eight hours after the...more

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso already had more than $1.3 million in tournament winnings when she arrived in Monte Carlo. She hardly needed to prove her ability to the poker world, but if there's one thing that cements a place among the game's great and the good, then winning a...more

Live updates from level 23 of the EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise...more

We have clocked more than 13,000 miles on the European Poker Tour this season, crowning 11 champions in cities from Barcelona to the Bahamas, Deauville to Dortmund. And as the curtain comes down tonight on a season that shattered all previous records, the man with the widest smile and the...more

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Live updates from level 22 of the EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise...more

Live updates from level 32 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

Live updates from level 21 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your...more

Live updates from level 32 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

Live updates from level 20 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your...more

Live updates from level 31 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

The title of Australian poker capital has been shipped around numerous cities over the past 30 years. It started at Australia's first casino in Hobart, Tasmania, then settled in Adelaide during the late 1980s and 1990s, briefly adopted Canberra before setting up shop in Melbourne. However, a new challenger...more

We're down to the final two in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, with Lisa Walsh narrowly trailing Paren Arzoomanian for the title. Chris Kittos busted in fourth spot after he came out on the wrong end of a race against Walsh. It was 3♣ 3♥ against A♥ K♠...more

Live updates from level 19 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your...more

Live updates from level 30 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

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Players have just returned from a 10-minute break (with the exception of Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian, who obviously needed 15) for the final sprint to the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. That extra rest just proved beneficial as he just doubled through Lisa Walsh to reignite his failing challenge. It...more

Live updates from level 18 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller final table are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your...more

Live updates from level 28 and 29 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on...more

Lisa Walsh was poised to write a slice of Aussie poker history after taking a stranglehold on the final table at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. But as quick as she wins 'em, back they go! Departures have been rapid since the dinner break, with the latest elimination...more

And then there were six. Lisa Walsh looks to be a hurry to get home after claiming the two players to fall since the dinner break on the final day of the PokerStars.net AN ZPT Sydney Main Event. In the first elimination, Walsh started the action with a raise...more

The final table is set for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, with the following players sitting down today to play for the €2,300,000 first prize. As ever, we'll have full coverage of every hand played and every major pot here on PokerStars Blog, and you can see all...more

Live updates from level 17 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

The final table of the €25,000 high roller event will kick off in about half an hour with Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso leading the way with over a million in chips. She is joined on the table by fellow Team Pro William Thorson, who is the short stack, and...more

All the effort this week and this year, has come to this, the last eight of the PokerStars EPT Grand Final. Already there are a few signs that this will be another fitting send off. Dealers are bunched in the corner, being briefed on their orders for the day,...more

The eight remaining players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have headed off on their dinner break. For some, it will be their last supper at the Garden Buffet. And if any of the players choose to launch an attack on the world oyster eating record set by...more

Lisa Walsh Seat 1: Lisa Walsh, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia (1,481,000 in chips): She might be making her first final table tournament appearance, but this 49-year-old mother of six (with her first grandchild on the way) brings plenty of big game experience to the table despite only three years'...more

The final table has been decided for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. The road was paved for the final nine throughout level 24, with the elimination of Marcial Dias setting the tone for a swift reduction in the field. Dias committed his last 125,000 in chips with...more

By Landon Blackhall With little action to report in the past level, we caught up with the man who represented the rest of the world against the Aussie charge. Canadian PokerStars qualifier Robert Acton can take pride in being the last international in the tournament, with his 20th place...more

We're down to two tables in the battle for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and players continue to steadily stream from the tournament area. Eight of the 26 players who started the final day were eliminated during the opening level of the day, with Michael Marvenak out in...more

With such an even spread of chips, it's hardly surprising that the progress has been slow and steady in the early going on the final day of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Only two players were KOed in the first 30 minutes, with Phi L Luu first out...more

Like most other parts of the world, poker has become a younger man's (and woman's) game in Australia. Over the past three years, names like PokerStars.net Team Australia players Grant Levy and Eric Assadourian, James Broom, Dory Zayneh, Stewart Scott, Haibo Chu, Daniel Botta and Luke Santo have topped...more

We started with 37 on day 2, we finished with eight. All are in the money, guaranteed at least €60,000, and looking to win big. Very big. The last player standing for the final table will take home €720,000, and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is leading the way. She...more

Live updates from level 17 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 16 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

From Miami John Cernuto to Chris Rossiter - they fell one-by-one on the penultimate day of season five of the EPT. It left us eventually with eight, but nothing today was ever set in stone. Chip leaders became early fallers, while those previously with little hope become giants in short...more

Live updates from level 15 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 28 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

Live updates from level 14 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 27 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

Live updates from level 13 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 26 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

The stage is set for a gripping finale to the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event with 26 players still in contention for the title and the AUD $246,500 first prize. After starting day two with 185 hopefuls, eliminations continued steadily throughout the day until play stonewalled on the...more

Team PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent has been reduced to one - Tony Hachem - after the elimination of Eric Assadourian. With a big rail of friends and family following his progress, Assadourian looked in great shape with pocket aces against the pocket jacks of Chris Kittos, until a heart-breaking...more

Live updates from level 12 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 25 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

Let the carnage begin! A long bubble period is usually followed by some quickfire eliminations, and that's certainly been the case late on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Terry Tserdamis, Taner Durust, Monica Nguyen, Milan Gurung wasted little time collecting their $4437 cheques, while Alexander...more

Live updates from level 11 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Live updates from level 24 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

The never-ending bubble has finally burst and the top 45 players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have been decided. It took 12 hands for Sydney-based South African Mark Lasarow to commit his last remaining 1000 chip with K-7, only to find Robert Acton poised with K-Q, and...more

Live updates from level 10 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here. The latest chip counts will be placed here as we get them, while you'll have to exercise your index finger to click...more

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein is one of the latest casualties in high roller event. He was all-in with A♥Q♥ against K♣7♦ but was outdrawn when the first card was a king. Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz has also been eliminated, Dave Ulliot raising UTG to 5,300 and Schwartz reraising all-in for...more

The tension creeps up another notch with blinds up to 4000/8000 with an ante of 500, and we're just four players short of the money in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event. Surprisingly, the action is still running thick and fast with the short stacks forced to make a stand...more

Live updates from level 23 of EPT Monte Carlo are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the featured table. The latest chip counts are available on the chip...more

These are the full official chip counts for the final table of the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. We'll be retiring this page at the end of today, but you'll be able to get regularly updated chip counts throughout final table play tomorrow by clicking that blinking red link...more

It's been a fast-paced 15 minutes so far for day two of the high roller event. Just after the players settled down we lost Jean-Noel Thorel going out holding K♣T♣ having missed on a J♦A♣9♣A♠A♥ board - slightly behind Lev Myrmsky's quads holding A♦3♦. Also busted are Shaun Deeb and...more

The talk over dinner centred around a bizarre hand late in level 15 that had the entire field crowded around table 22. It's not to explain, but we'll do our best! A player under the gun raised all-in pre-flop holding pocket queens. Another player in late position announced raise,...more

Just 37 players from the initial 79 return today for day two of the wallet-melting €25,000 high roller event. Daniel Alaei leads the way ahead of PokerStars ShootingStar Florian Langmann, and with Johannes Strassmann and George Danzer still in the main event, the German PokerStars players are proving to be...more

The Salle des Etoire at the Sporting Club in Monaco has undergone countless transformations during its week as the home of the EPT Grand Final. On Tuesday, it was part iconic nightspot and part charity office as the stars turned out to Ante Up for Africa, then through the past...more

By Landon Blackhall Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian started day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event with just 27,000 in chips, well below the average of 53,000. He's now a massive chip leader after the biggest pot of the tournament. And his unfortunate victim was PokerStars qualifier and former chip...more

The Star City poker room has taken on a surreal atmosphere this afternoon as the race for the money heats-up in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Over the past few days, a bevy of stunning swimwear models have been staying at Star City, culminating in last night's salubrious...more

We're about to tick over the three-hour mark on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and already the field has been slashed from 185 to 108 - 53 spots short of the money. In what is set to be a battle of the ages, Eric Assadourian...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander Monica Nguyen is one of the most popular on the local poker circuit, so it was hardly surprising that her recent double-up in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney was greeted with roars of approval from the rail. At the recent Joe Hachem Deep Stack...more

Working at a poker tournament isn't normally the healthiest environment - lots of late nights, too much junk food and very little exercise. Thankfully, the day-two field in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have put that last one right, as we've been bolting from one end of the...more

Saturday morning in Sydney - the Darling Harbour craft market is packed, yachts are popping up on Sydney Harbour like a disjointed pattern of cheesecake slices and the sun is bright enough to give a hungover poker player a nasty reminder of Friday night's festivities. Welcome back to Star...more

There's always something special about a High Roller event. It's not just the inflated buy-in - €25,000 in this case - it's the banter and ribbing that goes with it. When huge fields converge for the main events, tables are packed with players who know nothing about each other. But...more

Monte Carlo might as well be a million miles from anywhere. Its laws, luxury and extravagance sets it apart even from Luton, and this poker festival at the end of the EPT calendar is like nothing ever seen on the continent. By the strictest rules of geography, however, Monaco is...more

Play has finished for the day. In an about turn tournament director Thomas Kremser drew a close to today's proceedings when we reached 31 players in level 22. A level early players bagged and tagged before heading out into the Monte Carlo night a level earlier than planned. So...more

Much action on Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate's table where there was already 40,000 in the pot with the board reading J♠6♠7♣4♣. Eastgate bet 25,800 with about 6,000 behind and Sandor Demjan just flat-called. Andrew Feldman now went into the tank before pushing for 27,000 total. Eastgate and Demjan called...more

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We're into the last level of the €25,000 High Roller event here at EPT Monte Carlo. From the dazzling starting field of 79, 43 remain, all dreaming of the €720,000 first prize. And who could blame them. SELECTED CHIP COUNTS: End of level 8 Blinds 600/1,200/100 Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars...more

Sebastian Ruthenberg has become the second ShootingStar to fizzle out within about ten minutes of the departure of Sandra Naujoks. He lost a big pot to Steven Silverman, when Silverman had aces to Ruthenberg's 8-5 on an eight-high flop. "I think he tried some kind of move," understated our German...more

PokerStars sponsored player Johan 'Busto_soon' Van Til just picked off a big bluff from David Eldar next to him. He called 8,000 on the J♦3♦8♣K♦ board before calling an additional 17,000 on the 5♣ river. Eldar tapped the table and showed a complete miss with 7♥6♥ while Van Til's...more

Rumours of Annette Obrestad's demise are wildly exagerated. Despite losing a massive pot, one that left her nursing a stack of just 150,000 (down from close to a million), the Norwegian killer queen is back up after a spell of nothing more than her A-game. Most of it didn't...more

Sandra Naujoks had a remorseless glint in her eye for much of today, the kind of glint she wore all the way to the EPT title in Dortmund. Sorry to say, it's been extinguished now. Naujoks raised from late position to 51,000 and Matt Woodward, who had the button and...more

Under-the-gun is the new button, at least according to the denizens of table three this evening, where Jason Somerville, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Ami Barer all raised from there within a single orbit, with mixed fortunes. When Somerville tried it, making it 40,000 to go - slightly more than a min-raise...more

The chips are flying in every direction in the high roller event at the moment as there seems to be no reduction in the aggression factor at any of the tables. Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes has just doubled up through James 'Mig.com' Mackey with Q♣Q♠ against A♠J♥, while...more

Sandra Naujoks again, only this time the outcome has broken with tradition and gone against her. Naujoks started things with a pre-flop 41,000 which Dag Martin Mikkelsen called from the button. Together they saw the flop, 7♣5♠3♥. Now Naujoks put 53,000 into the middle before Mikkelsen re-raised to 125,000,...more

At the mid point of level 21, and with 43 players remaining posting blinds of 8,000-16,000, there were pots occurring simultaneously on five of the final six tables. This is the kind of poker being played here in Monte Carlo, where the stacks are big, the egos bigger, and the...more

Sandor Demjan (at least that is how he spelt his name on my notepad) is the current chip leader of the high roller, he just extracted around 32,000 chips from Michael Binger. He limped for 600 before calling Binger's raise and then proceeding to bet 6,000, 8,000 and 16,000 on...more

Johannes Strassmann just came out worst in a battle of the blinds built a biggish one with Gijsbertus Spijkers. After some pre-flop betting and a flop of 8♦9♣A♦ Strassmann made it 22,000 which Spijkers called. They both checked the Q♦ on the turn and the river card 2♣. Strassmann...more

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The 61 remaining players in the €25,000 high rollers event have gone on a 90 minute dinner break, with a few names missing such as Erik Seidel and Sammy George, both eliminated. Meanwhile Andy Bloch, Tony G and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso look to be our current chip...more

Players have gone on a 90-minute dinner break, allowing us to catch up with the full list of prizewinners to date and also the accurate chip counts of the 43 remaining. They will appear on the chip count page as soon as we know them. On a quick trot around...more

Daniel Alaei has been getting a good run of the cards so far today in the high stakes tournament. A runner runner against PokerStars sponsored player Lex Veidhuis managed to scoop him one pot, while he picked up more good luck soon after. Against the Dutchman, Alaei flat-called a 4,425...more

Steven Silverman is one of a handful of players now to pass the one million mark, and he did it in fantastically bombastic style. The hand featured cracked aces, rivered quads, the deployment of a PokerStars Blog One-Time Chip™ and a double bust out: the poker equivalent of a soccer...more

Luca Pagano's tournament just crashed to an end in spectacular fashion. The Team PokerStars Pro, who already has an final table under his belt this season as well as ten prior cashes on th tour, found pocket kings and shoved his stack into the middle. Frenchman Ludovic Lacay, who...more

Johannes Strassmann is demonstrating once more his ability to finesse his way to EPT success. He's had it in London this year, Dortmund the year before that and now is in good position to make a run on the grand final. Strassmann plays with a steely look of determination...more

The Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has managed to double up just before the end of level 4. The board was reading K♦3♠4♠ and Roberto Romanello had raised her 4,000 bet to 26,500 effectively setting her all-in. She sat there thinking, taking off her sunglasses and sighed saying, "That's just...more

Dag Palovic's day is done - and he's not happy. "How could you call 80,000?" he said, referring to some pre-flop action in a battle of the blinds. It went like this: Mikhail Tulchinskiy opened from the button - 30,000 to go, with blinds at 5,000-10,000. Palovic, in the small...more

With that knockout of Andreas Hoivold, the French player Ludovic Lacay has assumed the chip lead. On the latest official counts, Lacay has 1,275,000 and leads the Hungarian PokerStars qualifier Peter Traply by a single gold chip. Those things used to be the only chip that mattered, and yet they're...more

Barry Greenstein had been in a tough few spots, dwindling down to 16,000 from the 50,000 these high rollers sat down with. It's a three-day event, though, and with blinds at 150-300 there would be plenty of time to rebuild patiently. Or just double up - that would be quicker....more

His is a tough table, featuring compatriots Johannes Strassmann and Sandra Naujoks as well as JJ Liu. But Sebastian Ruthenberg just became the latest player to hit the million mark. On a board reading Q♦6♥T♦8♠ Diaz Gilber in seat nine pushed 100,000 into the middle. Ruthenberg was thinking, but...more

PokerStars player Johan Van Til, known to most online as the fearsome 'Busto_soon' is currently deep in thought, hand on mouth and facing a 7,425 bet from Ilari Sahamies on a 5♠3♠5♦2♣ board. It takes a few minutes, but eventually he folds. However, Van Til still has about 70,000 from...more

And the beat goes on. All-ins, double ups, bitter sweet eliminations, sweet because at least they take something away with them. Bitter because it's only a "min-cash" being one of the first to leave. But like we said, some are happier than others, like Michael Greco, who when the...more

Luca Pagano has now moved to table Annette, where he's found, well, Annette Obrestad. Pagano made it 24,000 from under-the-gun and Obrestad, in the small blind, asked for a count. He had about 300,000 behind. Obrestad elected to call and they saw a flop of 3♠7♥5♣. Both players checked and...more

Just before the break, Phil Ivey came in and joined the Luke Schwartz, Gus Hansen and Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu table. Schwartz wanted to play Ivey heads-up no-limit cash but Ivey said he didn't really play it that much. "You play HA vs Lars(Lusaak) though..." "That's pot-limit," replied Ivey....more

After last year's tortuous, two-hour bubble epic, this year's lasted two hands. The player to sacrifice his own tournament future for the sake of our well-being was the Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske, who perished at the hands of Sebastian Ruthenberg. Ruthenberg flopped a set of deuces on a 2♥T♥3♦ board...more

For some the bubble is an excruciating white knuckle ride, a fight to hold on to whatever hope there is of a pay off after three hard days. For others, not so worrying. Like Annette Obrestad, the first player into seven figures who was the cause of so many...more

Just two days ago, Jai Kemp celebrated victory in the $550 six-handed event as part of the preliminary schedule for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney. It's said that winning form is good form, and Kemp took that saying to heart on day 1B of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Just...more

Annette, Annette, Annette. Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette. Annette. Annette. Annette. Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette. Annette, Annette, Annette. Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette, Annette. Such has been the story of the day so far, with the Norwegian stacking close to 900,000 at the first break. Annette Obrestad...more

Watch EPT Monte Carlo S5: Introduction to Day 3 on PokerStars.tv...more

With the introduction of a few extra players, they've opened a brand new table now featuring the Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu alongside Juha Helppi, Gus Hansen and Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz, who is having some banter with the Canadian pro. They have been chatting about Schwartz's recent good run and...more

Joe Hachem's search for the triple crown will have to continue into another year. The WSOP Main Event champion and WPT champion won't, unfortunately, be adding victory at the EPT Grand Final to his glittering resume - and he's got his Team PokerStars Pro colleague Luca Pagano to curse for...more

EPT Dortmund winner Sandra Naujoks is riding the crest of a long wave of cards, and more importantly, making opponents pay for it. It started with a pair of queens. Naujoks went on the rampage which when the smoke cleared left two players dazed and confused and on the...more

There are some mighty fearsome tables out there today, seating some mighty fearsome players. Joe Ebanks is sitting next to Michael Watson, three along from Annette Obrestad. That's ender555, SirWatts, annette_15 for the uninitiated. And with those on the table, there's always likely to be action: they both give it...more

Walking between the eight tables or so, I bumped into a shaven-headed Roland De Wolfe, who was wandering around chatting to some of the players he knew. "Are you playing this event?" He replied to the negative. "I can't find three worse players than me in the tournament! Seriously,...more

It's been a horror session for the PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent, with Tony Hachem left to wave the flag late into the evening on day 1B of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Emad Tahtouh's stoic battle to survive into day two is over after he disappeared from the chip...more

What a day already for Sandra Naujoks, the EPT Dortmund champion, who has bust three players on her way to a stack of 650,000. There are so many ShootingStars going great guns at the Grand Final this week that it's very difficult to keep track of them. But the word...more

More typical high speed action with ten eliminations in the first half an hour. Henri Kasper just boosted his chances of surviving a table that features Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem, Maria Ho and EPT winner Andreas Hoivold, doubling up after pushing in with pocket aces and running them...more

Like panning for gold in the river, the €25,000 buy-in means only the very elite can be distilled through. No table here is easy, in fact most are downright scary as I see the Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein and Vanessa Rousso sitting next to each other, while Alexandre Gomes...more

How much is enough? Players at table 14 clearly have a different concept of "time" as judged by the unusual incident that played out just after the dinner break on day 1B of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. The stragglers were still making their way back to the...more

This day has started in a hurry, with two players getting knocked out with aces on the opening orbit. The first of those lasted no more than one or two hands: Ilan Rouah's 6♦4♦ making a straight to beat Clyde Foe's black aces. The second player to take the walk...more

As the chips were bagged up yesterday, after a day of carnage and capitulation, two names stood out, sneaking in under the radar as the big guns ceased fire for the night. They were PokerStars qualifiers Stephen Haughey and Peter Traply. There's nothing new to the story of a...more

Monte Carlo is founded on money - it's a tax haven, a billionaire's playground and one of the most charming spots in the whole of the world to spend €10 on a bottle of water. Its marriage to the European Poker Tour is beautiful: poker is about a lot of...more

Following the great success of similar events at the EPT London and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Monte Carlo today hosts the first ever high roller event at the EPT Grand Final. Jason Mercier won the inaugural event at the London EPT for £516,000 ahead of the WSOPE champion John...more

With less than 30 minutes remaining in level six, poker players start asking themselves the important question - "how in Heaven am I going to push through the Friday night crowd to make it to the free oysters at the Garden Buffet?" We concur; it's going to be elbows...more

By Landon Blackhall The PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event has brought together some of the biggest and best names in poker from Australia and New Zealand. But there is a small contingent of international players who have qualified online and have made their way to Australia in an attempt...more

The shackles are off after a sedate start to day 1B in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event at Star City Casino in Sydney. Less than 30 players had been eliminated in the first three levels, but the cry of "all-in, call" is emanating around the room. The sun is...more

By Landon Blackhall There are lot of animal references in poker - tough players are called sharks, timid players are known as fish and the inexperienced players who get lucky are labelled donkeys. If you hold K-9 off suit, you've got the dog hand, pocket threes are called crabs...more

Matthew Pearson is running hot. The online player known as onmyVplates took down the biggest online tournament win by an Aussie so far in 2009, and has brought similar form to day 1B of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Like so many of Australia's emerging online stars -...more