June 2009 Archives

It was not to be, apparently, for Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown. Seeking his first-ever WSOP bracelet to mix with his more than $2.3 million in lifetime tournament winnings, Brown came into Day 3 of the $1,500 Stud-8 event with the chip lead and a plan to take it down....more

Ouch. That one had to hurt. We're keeping close eye on the $1,500 Stud-8 final table where Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown is now fighting seven-handed for his first WSOP bracelet. Involved in a three-way pot with famed tourney TD Matt Savage and chip leader William Kohler, Brown was showing...more

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Challenge! Find Macedonia on a map. Go on, try. We'll wait. Back now? Do it? If you had any trouble, you need to come to Vegas and talk to Dragan Chuchuk. If all else fails you can follow him home. But don't expect him to leave any time soon. He's...more

Team PokerStars Pro announced today that it has signed to its stable two rock stars of the modern poker world. In one fell swoop, Team PokerStars Pro pulled in longtime tournament veteran Marcel Luske and prolific young gun Jason Mercier. Known around the world as 'The Flying Dutchman,' Luske is...more

Today is Chad Brown's chance. After more than a decade of playing tournament poker and amassing more than $2.3 million in tournament winnings, Brown has a chance to make something happen that will be brand new. Chad Brown could win his first WSOP bracelet today. Brown finished Day 2 of...more

There's this little thing called Rule 96. It's a piece of genius and everybody seems to approve of it. However, when the rule comes into play, you know it's going to be a late night. The rule states that if a tournament has not reached the final table on Day...more

Daniel Negreanu may be a lot of things, but a tragic figure he is not. Shakespeare would have a field day in building full of tragic tales. They may not end with star-crossed lovers offing themselves or a crazed prince speaking to a skull, but they often end with as...more

The rail at the $1,500 is the thicker than you'd expect for a limit, split pot Stud game. Normally at a rail for that kind of event, you'd have two people watching and one of them would only be there because he thought they were giving out free soup. Today,...more

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You might have heard about a little game PokerStars threw for charity this past weekend. It featured the top two finishers in last year's World Series of Poker Main Event, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov. PokerStars set up the game to replicate the exact circumstances of last year's heads up...more

If you are a frequent reader of the PokerStars Blog, you might have noticed we have started referring to a more people as Team PokerStars Pro than we used to. That's because many countries have started forming their own regional Team Pro chapters. I like to think of it like...more

It has to be a little like driving a car the day after piloting the space shuttle. There's an accelerator, a way to steer, and a seat, but the experience is something a little less satisfying. Team PokerStars Pros Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu are all still washing...more

He who has not been happy with his World Series of Poker results has one week to correct, otherwise, it's all over until next year. Today begins the last week of bracelet events. There are just a few more opportunities to pick up a bracelet, or, if you're still looking,...more

Bill Chen needed a miracle. He needed a rush of cards. He needed something other than a chop. The man needed some cards and he didn't get them. Only a few players off the money, Chen was down to his last few bets.He knew there was no such thing as...more

After nine and a half hours, the last few survivors of the Sunday Million saw a welcome message in the chat box from Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano welcoming them to the final table, and the big money. 8,055 players built a humongous $1.6 Million prize pool, and the...more

Among poker's most elite players, there is a new hot spot in Las Vegas. It's an exclusive club with only a few seats. It's called "Bill Chen's Left." With twenty-six players left in the $50,000 HORSE event, there are no soft tables left, but the murderer's row four seats on...more

Since the buy-in for the monthly $1 Million Turbo Takedown was lowered from 5,000 FPPs to just 2,000 Frequent Players Points (FPPs) players have flocked to take advantage of this no cash buy-in tournament. Last month we gave away an extra bonus in the form of four wheels when bigjbecker...more

It was not the day to be a Team Pokerstars Pro at the final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout. As we reported earlier, Team PokerStars Argentina Pro Jose Barbero was the first player to bust off the final table. While not a happy ending, it still left us...more

The last Sunday Warm-Up of June saw a huge 4,203-player field build a prize pool of over $840,000. With such huge stakes, the pace of play was steady throughout, and it took just under nine hours to reach the final table. Hobbes200 took a massive chip lead into the final...more

Not many people can say this about entering a $50,000 HORSE tournament: "I just decided to play." That's what Friend of PokerStars Bill Chen said offhandedly during the last break. In a tournament that for most people requires sponsorship, a ton of backers, or a huge bankroll, Chen simple made...more

It was a shot at realizing a dream for Jose Barbero. The Team PokerStars Argentina Pro has had no small amount of success in the poker world. He's posted big wins on the EPT, the WSOP, and at the PCA. One thing he hadn't done was make the final table...more

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No man or woman left their freeroll tickets behind today as 673 players cashed in their freeroll tickets for today's Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout. As compared to last month's much smaller 466 player field, these players today still had the same walls of two sit and go's...more

It's a pretty rough day here at the WSOP. Barry Greenstein's out. Alenander Kravchenko's out. The two Team Pros at the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout final table are having what you might call a pretty bad day. We thought it was time for a palate cleanser. We need something that...more

We suppose it had to come to an end at some point. We were just hoping Barry Greenstein's winning streak in the $50,000 HORSE event wouldn't end today. As we've mentioned a few times over the last few days, Barry Greenstein came into this big events as the only player...more

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We're going to need a bigger boat, some reinforcements, or, at the very least, a track suit. Today is one of those days that's going to require some quick moving on the part of the PokerStars blog. In one corner, we have Team PokerStars Holland Pro Josephus Van Den Bijgaart...more

If today's $50,000 HORSE event had been a thoroughbred race, you would have heard a lot of gunfire at the end and seen a lot of trucks heading for the glue factory. You could get a feel for how things were going simply by reading some of the Team PokerStars...more

Jose Barbero, the Team PokerStars Argentina Pro, came to the World Series with high expectations. He knows he plays well. He even knows how to make big money at the World Series. He just couldn't do it this year. "I played 16 events and I didn't cash once. I was...more

No one can really pick their time to run good, but if Josephus Van Den Bijgaart could've picked a time, it would've been right now. Instead of being able to choose, he had to settle for it happening on its own. He just made the final table of the $1,500...more

This is one of those posts that's going to have to happen fast, because its subject is happening so fast, it could change before we his publish. At this hour, all three Team PokerStars Pros who made it through to Day 2 of the $1,500 Limit Shootout are on the...more

There may be no greater grind than the World Series of Poker. The seven weeks of ridiculous beats, 15-hour days, and unplumbed depths of degeneracy can take its toll on the toughest of souls. And that's just for the poker media. For the players, it's almost impossible to comprehend. People...more

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I hadn't yet found a chance to congratulate Greg Raymer on his $700,000 finish in the $40,000 event at the beginning of the World Series. I picked the wrong time. On break from the $50,000 HORSE event, I found Raymer sitting in the Poker Kitchen, his trademark duffel bag sitting...more

"Win three sit and gos, win a bracelet!" That was the cattle call yesterday as nearly 600 people made their way into WSOP Event #50, a $1,500 Limit Hold'em shootout. The public address system advertisement made it sound almost too easy. We've all won a couple in a row before,...more

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The announcement came late last night. The $50,000 HORSE event's Day 2 would be delayed by two hours. The reason? A $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em bracelet event was sold out and was going to fill 3,000 seats. There wouldn't be room for the big one. Among the World Series regulars, this...more

It's hard to fully define what Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE means. It takes an incredible amount of Run Bad or some equally terrible play to get eliminated. It's not that Day 1 means nothing, but nobody will be hitting the Dom to celebrate making it to Day 2....more

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Poker players are just different. Some of them can drop tens of thousands of dollars into a tournament and complain if they don't get their $10 food comp. They can stay awake for days on end and still manage to calculate implied odds with the same effort as blinking. In...more

The $50,000 HORSE event that began today does not have a long history, but in just four years it has established itself as one of the most prized championships in all of poker. Over the past three years, several big name players have put together double cashes in the event....more

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The day began with lowered expectations. Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein and Ylon Schwartz both managed to make the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em final table, but neither had much of a stack at the start of play. Then, hope, as is its wont, sprung. Over the course of the next five...more

Surviving the World Series of Poker takes more than nursing your bankroll. It takes more than running well and popping antidepressants like they were Pez. It takes a surprising amount of physical strength and discipline. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier knows about getting in shape. Five years ago he...more

After an initial slow start during which time we couldn't tell exactly who was playing the $50,000 HORSE World Championship and who was not, we now have a clearer picture of the event. When registration closed this afternoon, 95 total players had signed up for the event. While not quite...more

Ylon Schwartz is in a conversation and it's clear he's a good listener. His eyebrows rise with sincere amazement. He offers a measured nod, sympathetic wince, and a rueful shake of the head. Even at a distance of 40 feet, there's no doubt he's listening to a bad beat story....more

Barry Greenstein does not have a reputation as an unconventional player. That is, while his style and game are by no means rote and predictable, he doesn't play the Gus Hansen or Tom Dwan style of poker. He will gamble when he needs to, but you won't see him getting...more

The rematch. Last November, Peter Eastgate defeated Ivan Demidov heads up to become the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion ever. Demidov claimed his own piece of poker history, becoming the first player to ever make the final tables of both the WSOP and the WSOP-Europe, and he...more

If we were the type of people to hit the equine references early and often, we would use this opportunity to say something about the big HORSE stumbling out of the gates. But since we've sworn off such writing for this event, we'll just let it rest like this: The...more

This is going to be an odd day. Let's be honest. Today, the kickoff of the $50,000 HORSE event, has been one of the most anticipated days of the year. Who will show up? How many will enter? How many bad equine references will the PokerStars Blog make? To be...more

JC Alvarado has narrowly missed out on winning a WSOP bracelet like his fellow Team PokerStars Mexico Pro Angel Guillen. Alvarado made it to the last five in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em, but despite a temporary comeback from the jaws of defeat, he fell in a huge coin flip...more

You need your fair share of luck to win any tournament, and Team PokerStars Mexico Pro JC Alvarado is getting just the help he needs on the final table of the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em. Twice he has been all-in, and twice he has been called by a better hand...more

Things had not been going so well for JC Alvarado on the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em final table. He had not really got into his stride and then he doubled up Jason Lester. It was a battle of the blinds - and the two had history as when they were...more

We started with 14 and now we are already down to our final table of nine in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em. Among them is Team PokerStars Mexico Pro JC Alvarado, who survived a few early mishaps to take a place at his first WSOP final. While still at two...more

Whatever happens for the remainder of the WSOP, this year's Series will be remembered as a great one for Team PokerStars Mexico Pro. Angel Guillen became only the second Mexican ever to win a bracelet in the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em, and that coming just weeks after he finished runner-up...more

When we revealed a tentative schedule for this year's WCOOP series, we asked for feedback so we could make tweaks to ensure it is the best possible for our players. Thanks to your excellent response, our poker room management have worked hard over the last few days to take your...more

After being all-in for her last 30,000 or so not too long ago, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has gone on a monumental tear-up around her $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em table - and shot above 300,000! It all happened in four quick hands just before the dinner break, which will...more

It's always good to be dealt pocket aces, but it's much better when you have an opponent willing to get in a pre-flop raising war with you. Team PokerStars Mexico Pro JC Alvarado was in that happy position a few moments ago when Chino Rheem could not let go of...more

Vanessa Rousso sits silently in the small blind. Wearing dark glasses, she doesn't move a muscle. It's folded around to her and she counts out 7,200 and pushes them out to the middle in place of her 1,200 blind. It amounts to a 4,800 raise of Kathy Liebert's big blind....more

We've seen many a player at this WSOP juggling two tournaments at once - playing one, then nipping over to the other during a break to try and keep their stack alive. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is doing that in today's day two of the $2,500 Razz and the...more

Ali vs. Frazier. Holyfield vs. Tyson. Eastgate vs. Demidov. The latter may not be the most famous rematch of all time, but it stands to be exceptionally entertaining. We all know how it ended the first time. In November 2008, Peter Eastgate defeated Ivan Demidov at the World Series Main...more

Dario Minieri is enoying himself over on table 159. He's sitting as one of three Team Pros in a row, with Alex Kravchenko on his left and Jose Barbero one place further along, and finding that Razz is very much to his liking. We're more used to him tearing up...more

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After a week off to give away more than 200 World Series packages, the Sunday Million made it back this weekend. That means, The Online Poker Show is back with another fantastic episode. Now, we already know who won, and if you'd like to follow along with the show (or...more

The pay day will come as little compensation to Barry Greenstein. After three days juggling the extreme swings this game brings, he arrived at the final table of the WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha with high hopes of securing his fourth bracelet and, of course, the bumper $679,379 first prize....more

After all the raising frenzy and wild swings earlier, it is perhaps not too surprising that the final table of the WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha has got off to a slow start. Not that any of these nine finalists are prepared to sit back and climb the money positions,...more

If you've been following our updates today you'll appreciate the road to the WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha final table has been a twisty and dangerous one. Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein has driven down this particularly treacherous stretch of tarmac at death-defying speed, often cornering so fast I swear...more

We keep saying it, and we keep being proved right: play Pot Limit Omaha and expect swings that will make you dizzy. This WSOP $10,000 PLO World Championship is no exception, and Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein is on a rollercoaster. Having started nicely chipped up he lost half his...more

When he sat down a short while ago to begin day three of the WSOP $10K Pot Limit Omaha World Championship, Barry Greenstein was in confident mood. He had a good stack of chips with just 25 players left, and was looking to make the moves that can quickly propel...more

It's only be a couple of years since we first talked about a little poker tour. The Asia Pacific Poker tour was in its infancy. No one knew exactly what would happen with it. PokerStars had a pretty good idea, though, and it predicted the APPT would become poker's biggest...more

A high buy-in pot limit omaha tournament has enough swings and controversies at the best of times, but day two of the WSOP $10,000 PLO gave an unexpected dramatic twist. As the players came back from their dinner break, one or two quickly noticed something was odd: their stacks looked...more

We know. It's hard to pay attention to everything at once. We sometimes have a hard time using a knife and fork together, so we'd forgive you if your attention was focused elsewhere. We know there's a little event taking place in Las Vegas right now and it's sort of...more

We didn't quite get to the normal 7,000+ player crowd tonight for the $1.5 Million Guarantee Sunday Million, but considering most of the higher roller crowd is battling it out in Las Vegas for bracelets at the WSOP, 6,990 runners is better than can be expected. Of course without reaching...more

As expected with the crush of PokerStars players sitting in the Amazon Room at the Rio playing the 40th edition of the World Series of Poker, the numbers at today's $750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up were down. But, not by much as 3,690 players ponied up the $215 buy-in leaving the...more

The headline just about says it all, but to leave it at that would perhaps be a dereliction of duty. It would also be a little unkind on William Thorson not to expand a bit on his rise to power in this WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship. The...more

He finished on a high last night, and today Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein got off to a flyer in day two of the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha. Holding 4♦4♣A♣K♠ he got all his chips in the middle on a 9♥4♠5♠ flop, called by Jonas Entin who had the flush...more

We've all been there - you're involved in a key hand playing on PokerStars and someone tries to interrupt just at the wrong time. You get a little grumpy, right? That's exactly what happened to Joe Hachem during his time as a motel operator and some guests arrived to check...more

There's nothing like a Pot Limit Omaha event to shake things up a bit - big pots with two, three, even six all-in players (as was the case in one hand yesterday). Add the critical element of a $10,000 buy-in and this tournament becomes a big boys' playground. This is...more

Before today they each had four 2009 WSOP cashes behind them, and now Team PokerStars Pros Alexander Kravchenko and Daniel Negreanu have both done it again. They have eased into the money spots in the $2,000 Limit, with the $3,953 they're guaranteed adding to WSOP winnings of $310,000 for Negreanu,...more

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has been on a chip-rebuilding mission as he nears the money in the $2,000 Limit event. He's now up to 71,000, nicely above average with about ten bust-outs to go to the cash. A chunk of that came when he made a flush on the...more

The hand: Day two of the WSOP $1,500 NL and there are 270 left. We're in the money, average is around 45,000 and I have 11,100 after losing a flip on the bubble the night before. Dustin Dirksen opens under the gun to 3,000 at 600-1,200 (100), I'm the cut-off...more

Marcel Luske has seen it all at the poker table; nothing would surprise him, and nothing really phases him any more. So in day two of the $2,000 Limit event, he knew that being down to 10,000 chips - mostly in the small 100 chip denominations - was not ideal,...more

We know all about Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri's No Limit Hold'em ability: he's been a tiny terror at the WSOP and EPT for a few years now, and his tournament play online at PokerStars is more than impressive. What we didn't know is that he's become a bit handy...more

The World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas decided to celebrate the 40th year of the WSOP with a special tournament. The 25 living main event champions were all invited to compete for the title of 'Champion of Champions', with the winner receiving a vintage 1971 bright,...more

by Adam STUDSTOOD Roberts Now that the annual WSOP has begun, I am going to continue on with tournament strategy. Although having a "game plan" is usually harder to do in tournaments than cash games, I think you should have one. Among the items to think about is which events...more

It seemed like just another day at the WSOP. Four tournaments were winding their way towards conclusion, generating the usual large crowds of railbirds and the just plain curious. But while four bracelets were on the line, focus was beginning to centre on the corner of the Rio's Amazon room,...more

We've seen him tear up tables in the European Poker Tour, the PCA and at the WPT. Now Team PokerStars Pro ElkY is poised menacingly at the top of the WSOP $1,500 No Limit leaderboard. When the 2,095 starters sat down two days ago, ElkY stood out as a name...more

Nearly every country has its own revolutionary hero. Anymore, nearly every country has its own poker revolutionary, someone who has changed the face of the game so dramatically that the country's players will never forget him. Angel Guillen may just be that man in Mexico. Late last night, after a...more

Angel Guillen will remember this day for the rest of his life. The Team PokerStars Mexico player had already enjoyed a dream start to his live poker career, which began only at the New Year, and now he has topped it by winning a WSOP bracelet. The 26-year-old Mexican proved...more

He came agonisingly close to a WSOP bracelet, but Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown has just busted in third place in the $10,000 Limit event. He collects $188,855 for his three days work. Brown had been a force at the final table all day, racing to the top of the...more

The Amazon room is quiter than normal tonight. No big-field tournaments are being played out. Instead, we have the latter stages of four, plus the PokerStars.net NHL Charity Shootout (which we'll file a report on later). Of the events that are nearing completion, two see PokerStars players in the hunt...more

In what was an extraordinary level after the dinner break, we lost three players to get to heads-up, two of them at the hands of Team PokerStars Mexico player Angel Guillen. At one point, with just three of them left, he had 5.4 million of the 9.2 million in play,...more

In what may be one of the understatements of the month, Team PokerStars Mexico player Angel Guillen describes his second final table of the WSOP as "good for me". Good? It's fairly spectacular, given that he has only been playing on the live circuit since January. Runner-up in the $2,500...more

After a dodgy period when he dropped down the leaderboard, Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown is right back in the thick of things in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em event. He's now back up to 1,065,000, putting him second in chips behind Pat Pezzin on 1,200,000. Blinds are now shooting up...more

We have a second PokerStars player on a final table: Team PokerStars Mexico Angel Guillen has made the last nine of the $2,000 No Limit, and is already guaranteed a $55,279 pay day. He sat eighth out of nine in chips as the table gets under way - one that...more

It would have taken a monumental blow-up for Chad Brown to miss out on the final table of the WSOP $10,000 Limit Hold'em. Starting healthy in chips, he had to last two bustouts before the "unofficial" final of ten got under way. Mission accomplished. I say "unoffical" final table as...more

There's something a little different happening in the Rio Amazon room today - the PokerStars.net-sponsored NHL Charity Shootout featuring some of the biggest names in the game, Team PokerStars Pros and some of our own very lucky qualifiers. We'll bring you more of this glittering event a little later, but...more

His yell literally startled us from our seats. This was Latin America. People celebrate over a good cup of coffee or getting a walk in the big blind. It's nothing after a bad beat to hear someone rattle off a machine gun clip of Spanish profanity, scream to the gods,...more

What a day: eight hours of gruelling, energy-sapping heads-up play to determine who would take the coveted WSOP bracelet for topping the $10,000 World Heads-up Championship. If those of us on media row covering the best-of-three final were running on empty by the end, imagine how the players felt. Team...more

After a long, long first match, which Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie came from behind to win, the second was over quickly in favour of Leo Wolpert. There was not much Duthie could do, after a bout of pre-flop raising they saw an ace-high flop - Duthie had A-K but...more

Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie is needing to dig deep into his years of experience in this final of the WSOP $10,000 World Heads-up Championship. He's just won the first of the best of three matches, but he had to give a masterclass in skill and above all patience. The...more

Hold onto your shorts, folks. Holding? Okay. Here you go. Forty million bucks guaranteed over 42 events. That's the first word we're getting on the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker. It probably comes as no surprise that the people who plan WCOOP just don't whip up a schedule in...more

We're into the final day of the WSOP $1,500 HORSE event - and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is still going strong with 23 runners left. She has 131,000 chips, nestled half-way through the pack chasing chip leader Fabrice Soulier with 351,000. Rousso is enoying a fanstastic year, and this...more

Today could be momentous for John Duthie, and a pretty good one for PokerStars, too. All that stands between the Team PokerStars Pro and his first WSOP gold bracelet is Leo Wolpert and the best of three gruelling heads-up matches. Welcome to the final of the WSOP $10,000 World Heads-up...more

If this had been a boxing match the referee would have stepped in long ago and stopped the fight. If it had been a bar brawl John Duthie would have been carted off by the law and thrown in the cells. Of course this was only a game of poker,...more

While we wait for the final two matches in the $10,000 World Heads-up Championship to begin, which sees Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie take on Nathan Doudney, we had a quick peek at day two of the $1,500 HORSE. There we found Vanessa Rousso near the top of the leaderboard...more

Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie has won his latest match and is now through to the last four of the WSOP $10,000 World Heads-up Championships. He's now already guaranteed $214,289, but is just two wins away from a WSOP gold bracelet and the $625,682 first prize. Duthie's last match against...more

John Duthie is normally one of the more articulate interview subjects. He knows his stuff, is well spoken and is always willing to oil the wordsmiths' writing machinery. Today, though, as he arrived to take his place in the last eight of the $10,000 World Heads-up Championship he had only...more

For the first time ever, Queens;and, Australia will play host to a major poker tournament. The first season of the PokerStars.net Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour has been running for the past several months and the action will come to a head in less than two months. August 5-9,...more

Days without the Sunday Million are like wedding days without sunshine. Days with mega World Series qualifiers are like the day you forgot to get married and realized you have a life of freedom and debauchery still in front of you. This Sunday was one of the latter (although most...more

Somehow it seems fitting that on the day we reveal details of an action-packed new PokerStars EPT season, its founder John Duthie is proving once again he is a master of the game. His talent has never really been in question, it's just that we rarely get to see it...more

The European Poker Tour is rarely without a surprise or two. From one year to the next, the new schedule almost always contains some sort of happy revelation. This year, the entire schedule is a surprise, and it's spectacular by just about any definition. We have just seen a document...more

With the monster 200-seat Guarantee WSOP Main Event Qualifier running this week, the Sunday Warm-Up became the biggest prize of the Sunday Night fights. 4,320 players signed up, building a massive $864,000 prize pool. It was still a relatively quick affair, as it only took a little over eight hours...more

So close yet so far for Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko. Having tasted the sweetness of bagging a WSOP bracelet two years ago, he was back today hungry for more. But he fell short on the final table of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better, busting in...more

Alex Kravchenko is a fighter at the poker table (and to be clear, I'm not sure many would want to take him on away from the table) and sticks around when the going gets tough. In the final of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better he found...more

The heads-up championship makes for a much quieter atmosphere than the hullabaloo generated by the massed ranks playing more popular events. This $10,000 championship is nicely tucked away in the Miranda room, far from (well, about two minutes walk) the Amazon where the noise and action is frenetic. Heads-up is...more

Alex Kravchenko was in positive mood as he unbagged and stacked up his 267,000 chips for the final of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. He's a man of few expressions, but he cracked a smile when Roland de Wolfe sat down on his right, and Andy...more

It would be fair to say poker in Russia is experiencing something of a boom right now. The PokerStars Russian Poker Tour, which began in January, ended last month in Moscow with a packed field - and final table made up of local players only. That event was won by...more

It's seen by many as the purest form of poker: one to one; kill or be killed. Many excel in this format but others, perhaps unable or unwilling to invest in the necessary concentration and patience, can not cut it. Team PokerStars Pro has many who belong to the "excel"...more

It has been at least a couple of days since we reported a deep run by Daniel Negreanu, so we're long overdue a Kid Poker appearance on a tournament leaderboard. Handy, then, that the Team PokerStars Pro is looking to chip up once more and is chirping away at the...more

Brazilian motor racing team boss Gualter Salles had been in overdrive for the last two days, roaring up the leaderboard in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. But unfortunately he's just done the poker equivalent of running out of fuel on the last lap, falling in 12th place, just short...more

Even though we're well over two weeks into the WSOP, we're still finding Team PokerStars Pros who have just arrived in town and are settling down to their first event. While folks like Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu have been popping up all over the place (sometimes multi-tabling events in...more

Chad Brown has built a reputation as a prolific tournament earner, and that's no great surprise as he has more than $2 million under his belt already. What also impresses, however, is his ability to make serious money in all poker disciplines. Over the years, the Team PokerStars Pro, who...more

Gualter Salles is a man used to high-pressure situations, able to make the right decisions and call on bravery when it is required most. Above all, he knows how to win races - both at and away from the table. The Friend of PokerStars, one of the most famous racing...more

Life's come a long way for Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari. Not so many years ago he pitched up in Vegas with nothing more than a few bucks in his pocket and a head full of dreams. Now he's back as one of Brazil's best known players, and having the...more

We on the PokerStars Blog are big supporters of Kara Scott. We work alongside her on the PokerStars EPT circuit, where she presents the television shows, and so are always pleased to see her do well when she's playing at the tables herself. Of late, that is happening more often...more

There's never a dull moment watching Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes at the table. If he's not acting up, he's busy with his cards. It's the latter today as he's had a hectic few moments. Soon after starting day two of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event with 47,000, he...more

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So you saw the Snoop Dogg and Timati video that featured PokerStars, right? And what about the Katy Perry video You got that, too? Alright, well, we have something new. PokerStars has recently been spending a lot of time on its acting career and showing up in a lot of...more

Greg Raymer's day is over. Playing in day two of the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball, he was never able to get his challenge moving, despite ducking and diving in pots. In the end, the final damage was done by Team PokerStars Germany Pro Anton Allemann, who found 8-6-5-4-3, good...more

Some may think that 2-7 single draw is an easy enough game. After all, you get to draw just once and only have to make a low hand (aces are high), right? Well, yes, but there's a lot more to it than that, which explains why - along with the...more

Today was not a good day at the office for Team PokerStars Pro Ylon Schwartz. Starting day three of the $3,000 HORSE, he was well placed in chips with 186,000 in the remaining field of 21, and had high hopes of closing in on a WSOP final table so soon...more

After a prolific day at the tables yesterday, Team PokerStars Pro Ylon Schwartz was looking forward to chasing down the chip lead in today's third start of the $3,000 HORSE. Starting with 186,000, he was in confident mood as he sat down a little late at the table, but before...more

It's enough to strike dread in the hearts of thousands. It's as if Christmas was canceled. It is, in fact, a pretty sad scene. This week's Sunday Million has been canceled. Sorry. Oh, but wait. If you're sad, there is this little tournament going on at the very same time....more

Such has been his run at the WSOP so far that Daniel Negreanu exiting an event without cashing is newsworthy in itself. He busted a short while ago from the $3,000 HORSE, missing out on improving a fantastic series in which he has enoyed two final tables and one tenth-place...more

While we're not really sure if Ylon Schwartz likes riding horses, we feel confident enough to suggest that he doesn't. Instead, poker and chess are the passions in which he has enjoyed considerable success. Before finishing fourth behind fellow Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate in last year's WSOP Main Event...more

Many of our PokerStars players coming over to Las Vegas for the WSOP will be playing live tournaments for the first time. While the rules of the game are the same, playing online and live are two very different animals. So who better to ask for some sound advice on...more

Daniel Negreanu must be wondering when he'll ever get hold of his fifth WSOP bracelet. Despite riding high from a breathtaking start to this World Series, he's now missed out on a title by a whisker not once, but twice. First he lost heads-up in the $2,500 Six-handed Limit event,...more

We're down to just four in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low and Daniel Negreanu is clinging on to his dreams of securing his fifth bracelet. After riding high in chips for much of the final table, it's got tough for the Team PokerStars Pro, and since we got down to four...more

No one can say Daniel Negreanu is not competitive. You see it at the poker table and on the golf fairways, of course, but just now we saw it between the stage and the restroom. As tournament staff announced a short three-minute halt in proceedings to the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low...more

After a prolonged lull in bust outs, when Annie Duke was all-in three times but survived each one, we've made it down to the final table in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low. Still there, and now on a comfortable 505,000 chips, is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. It is Negreanu's second...more

You know what it's like when you hear a song and it sticks in your head for the rest of the day? Daniel Negreanu does. The Temptations' Get Ready is stuck in his head, and he keeps singing it out as he fights to reach his second final table of...more

There's a lot of early action in the final day of the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low, and Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko is on the receiving end. Within 30 minutes of the final 17 sitting down to battle for the final table, we lost Toto Leonidas, and then Kravchenko...more

Another day at the WSOP, and another final table in sight for Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Without wishing to sound repetitive, the Canadian is on his 'A' game and is clocking up the cashes in Las Vegas for fun. He just missed the final of the $10,000 7-card Stud...more

Stefano Puccilli, a 37-year old banker, has become the first PokerStars Italian Poker Tour (IPT) champion after fighting through more than 250 people and winning the inaugural event event in San Remo. Twenty-two players made it to Day 3 to fight for the lion's share of the nearly 500,000 Euro...more

Now, we know the World Series is in full swing and everybody is all giddy about who is winning bracelets and who is stuck a ton of money and who is going to play in the big HORSE event. But, there is another world out there. Trust us. We've seen...more

If it's Tuesday, it must mean another episode of the internet's best online tournament recap show. Today, the good folks at PokerStars.tv bring us a fresh edition of The Online Poker Show. This week's episode features the biggest weekly tournament in the world, the PokerStars Sunday Million. If you're the...more

While the ladies continue their progress in the $1,000 Ladies World Championship (now 59 left there)* the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low is going along nicely in the neighbouring orange section of the Amazon room. There are 70 left from the 179 startes, and 18 will get paid, so there's still a...more

We like to have the occasional guest writer on the PokerStars Blog. Over recent months alone we've had some fine names, including Vanessa Rousso, ElkY and current world champion Peter Eastgate to name just three, gracing these pages with their thoughts and strategy advice. But today's special guest correspondent really...more

You'd think that selling tanning machines would be tough in Las Vegas, a bit like trying to sell ice to eskimos. You'd be wrong: a tanning expo has just kicked off here in the Rio - I kid you not. It's doing a busy trade by the looks of it,...more

I've made a number of decisions in my life with the aim of living long enough to regret living so long. I stopped taunting big dogs in 1984. I gave up eating crayons in 2006. In 2007, I vowed never to cross Katja Thater. Let's be clear. Thater is a...more

It was a smaller than usual crowd for the Sunday Million this week, as 7,196 runners built up the $1.5 Million Guaranteed prize pool. Even so, it was well after midnight on the east coast of the US before the final table kicked off, with Dynamite 321 the final table...more

Daniel Negreanu has said he "loves" limit hold'em, and no wonder considering two of his four WSOP bracelets have come in limit tournaments. Today, he was within a whisker of make that three out of five. Despite holding the chip lead throughout the day, when the $2,500 Six-handed Limit event...more

Six months ago Angel Guillen played in his first ever live tournament and cashed. He went much better at the PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este tournament by finishing first - and tonight he so nearly capped it all with a coveted WSOP bracelet. Team PokerStars Mexico Pro Guillen had shot...more

Despite the poker madness at the Amazon Room in Las Vegas right now nearly 4,000 players sat down with their $215 buy-in for the $750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up tonight. If you do the hard math, no extra money was needed and a tidy $125,474.41 of the prize pool would go...more

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has just enjoyed a rush to send him clear chip leader with just three left in this final of the WSOP $2,500 Six-handed Limit event. Soon after the blinds went up to 13,000-25,000, he won the biggest pot of the event on after four betting...more

Barry Shulman was all in pre-flop and found two callers in Daniel Negreanu and Brock Parker: a chance for a triple up or two chances to be busted from the final table of this $2,500 Six-handed Limit event. Shulman had raised for his last chips, Team PokerStars Pro Negreanu -...more

While all this excitement is happening at the World Series, with two Team PokerStars Pros in with a shout at grabbing a bracelet, there's another important final going on in Italy. The final of the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour event in San Remo - home of the Italian leg of...more

It's starting to look like it could be an exceptional day for PokerStars players at the Rio in Las Vegas. While Daniel Negreanu continues to progress nicely in the six-handed limit final, Angel Guillen, who is playing only his first year of live poker tournaments, has made Team PokerStars' second...more

That's it, we're down to our final table of the $2,500 Six-handed Limit event, and PokerStars' very own Daniel Negreanu has the chip lead as he hunts down his fifth WSOP bracelet. Jim Buckley was the unlucky final table bubble boy... crushed when his K-K made a set on the...more

We started with 11 players on two tables, and now there's just the one table left. Not the final table, yet - we need to lose one more player for that. Early stages were brutal, with Jimmy Tran, Robert Como (busted when his K-10 was outrun by Negreanu's A-9) and...more

Angel Guillen is having a dream year. He played his first ever live tournament at the PCA in January and finished 51st, in March he came third in the PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este event, winning, $100,000, and he cashed again at the EPT Monte Carlo event last month. Now...more

Many will tell you that Limit Hold'em is Daniel Negreanu's best game - and with two of his four WSOP bracelets coming in this discipline, one of them last year, it would be hard to disagree. The argument is stronger than ever today, as the Team PokerStars Pro homes in...more

If you have never been to the Rio in Las Vegas for the WSOP, you could be forgiven for thinking there is a straightforward tournament each day. In fact, multiple events are being played out: day ones, twos and finals. Today, there are no few than six on the go...more

While the World Series dominates the world poker spotlight, the brand new PokerStars Italian Poker Tour is kicking off across the Atlantic. The first stop of the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour found players right back in San Remo, Italy. More than 250 players, including 37 Pokerstars qualifiers, settled in for...more

Another day at the office for Barry Greenstein, and he's not finding it to his liking. This is day two of the $2,500 Six-handed Limit Hold'em event, and the Team PokerStars Pro, who seems to be entering more tournaments than most, is on the slide. Up to 80,000 at one...more

Over in the blue section (as opposed to the red, orange and green flavours also available in the Amazon room) a hooded figure riffles his chips. He clearly has a decision to make, as with around 6,000 in the pot, he has to call another 2,350 on the river. Team...more

Here's an image you did not expect to come into your mind today: a five-year-old Tom McEvoy sitting in his shorts on his grandmother's knee learning how to play poker... the hard way. "She used to give me a dollar and we'd play penny ante poker. She won the dollar...more

Perhaps it was just never meant to be Hevad Khan's day. Down to two tables in the $2,500 PLHE/Omaha event he was held up on his way to the Rio and arrived a few minutes late in a bit of a fluster. He was low in chips, but after two...more

The eight-game mixed is one for the poker purists; only those with a thorough grasp of all disciplines need apply. Add to that a $10,000 buy-in and you're guaranteed a smaller field packed with the best in the business. A walk to the Miranda room in the Rio, therefore, is...more

The bags had been unpacked and the chips stacked up once more as day three of the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha event got under way. One man was missing, though - Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan. He couldn't really afford to be late, as with 18 players left he was...more

From the 453 who set out on the rocky road to the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha bracelet, just two tables remain. Of those 18, Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan is still at his seat. The larger-than-life Khan started the day healthily enough and has not looked back since. He currently...more

Benjamin Kang is possibly the tallest player anywhere in the Rio today. Taller even than Hevad Khan - and he's a bit of a giant himself. But while Khan has a high tower of chips in the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha, Kang found himelf short.... and now out. The Team...more

Bill Chen's brain is whirring. You can almost hear it computing his every move, which it does with clinical precision because Chen is something of a math wizard. It's what makes his poker game so good - where others might call or fold at the wrong time, Chen knows when...more

The US national anthem rang out from the Amazon room to celebrate the fact three new champions, all from the US, were on the central podium to pick up their bracelets. Jason Mercier, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, Freddie Ellis, $10,000 7-card Stud, and Steve Sung, $1,000 No Limit Hold'em, stood...more

Most people in life don't have too many options. They're born into a life of cattle ranching, widget production, or animal husbandry. Brad Sweezey is all about options, however. In fact, he trades in them. Now, he's opted to drive a Porsche when he feels like it. After working for...more

PokerStars is fast. We've established that time and again. It's ridden alongside Aston Martin. It's backed Brazilian stock car racer Gualter Salles. It's even gotten involved in International Kart racing. Now, it's headed to the northern reaches of Europe to race on the water. Finland prides itself on its thousands...more

He may come from the US, but Jason Mercier is a well known heavyweight on the EPT circuit. A PokerStars quaifier, he found himself winning the first EPT San Remo in April 2008, then followed that by final tabling the Barcelona event a few months later. Just weeks further down...more

The second no limit event of the series, the $1,500, began yesterday with another huge field - 2,791 players packed into the Amazon and two other rooms for a shot at WSOP glory. Among the masses, we had a fair few Team PokerStars players, but only two survived to make...more

Things can change quickly in poker, even when the game is 7-card Stud, and Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu found that to his cost today. Starting with just 11 left in the $10,000 World Championship event, he has busted on the final table bubble in tenth, cashing for $36,267. Before...more

While looking at the starting stacks for day three of the $10,000 7-card Stud event, you could be forgiven for thinking Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, fighting for his fifth WSOP bracelet, is short. He sits ninth of the 11 coming back today with 191,000, a fair way behind chip...more

He already has four WSOP bracelets to his name, but now Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is homing in on number five after reaching the final 11 players of the $10,000 World Championship 7-card Stud. They say the greatest poker players are those that master a wide spread of games,...more

Chad Brown had been going quietly about his business for two days, keeping his stack intact as scores busted out from the $10,000 World Championship 7-card Stud. From the 142 starters, 16 would be paid, but the Team PokerStars Pro fell agonisingly short in 25th place. He'd been on a...more

The last time we sat at the Rio with Dennis Phillips he had an incredible 300 supporters, all decked out in his trademark white shirt and red St. Louis Cardinals cap, cheering his every move at the 2008 WSOP Main Event final table. Many carried hand fans bearing the face...more

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While the action is in full swing at the Rio in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, the online games at PokerStars continue to be rammed. This Sunday (May 31) a huge 8,766 players pitched up for the weekly Sunday Million, generating a first prize of $257,895.73. Nice!...more

Tucked away in one corner of the Amazon Room, far enough from the general madness of the $1,500 no limit event, you'll find day two of the $10,000 World Championship 7-card Stud. You'll also find Daniel Negreanu, who happens to be a happy man right now. Not so long ago...more

And still they come. Another day, a new event and another extraordinary turn out at the Rio. This time the masses have arrived for the start of the $1,500 No Limit - 2,793 of them. It may be considered one of the low-buy in events, but when the pros sniff...more

It may be 26 years since he won the WSOP Main Event, and the hair has grown grey (on head and beard), but Tom McEvoy today showed he has lost none of his shrewd poker ability. What makes this victory so sweet is the field he had to overcome -...more

We may have mentioned that Stud can be an action game. Well that's certainly true if you're in a hand with draws and options-a-plenty and the chance to bet all the way to seventh street. But if you're out of the hand it can get rather, well, slow. And, as...more

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein was waiting patiently for his tournament to get going, long after the rest of the $10,000 World Championship 7-card Stud event had started. Only six had turned up on his table - and two of them were husband and wife Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello....more

It was a classic heads-up battle. After busting Greg Raymer in third place, PokerStars player Isaac Haxton went head-to-head with Russia's Vitaly Lunkin with a 2:1 chip advantage. It sounds a lot, but these things change quickly. And that's exactly what happened - quite a number of times as the...more

This week's edition of the PokerStars Sunday Million was another mammoth draw, with 8,766 players blowing the roof off the guarantee on the way to a $1,753,200 prize pool. It was nearly ten hours into the tournament when rbeckwith bubbled off the final table, and almost two hours later when...more

We've seen it used in Europe, South America, and now here for the first time at the WSOP in Las Vegas - yes, the PokerStars Blog One Time Chip has made an appearance and done its work for PokerStars player Isaac Haxton, who used it to double up and stay...more

We're heads-up, and PokerStars player Isaac Haxton has more than a 2:1 chip lead after busting first Daniel Stern and then Greg Raymer in the biggest pot of the tournament so far. Stern went in fourth place for a $548,315 payout after getting on the wrong end of Haxton in...more

29,999 players in the $1 Million Turbo Takedown will go home tonight without a Porsche Cayman S. 29,999 players also will not go home with $40,000 in cash to put in a decent sound system into their new four-wheeled toy that can tear up the highway from 0-60 in 5.1...more

The $40,000 event is turning into a heavyweight boxing match with all four fighters slugging it out in the ring until the last man is left standing. First Daniel Stern found himself on the ropes, then PokerStars player Isaac Haxton, but no-one has suffered that knockout blow... yet While three...more