November 2009 Archives

By Landon Blackhall While overseas visitors are able to easily identify the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, few (if any) would be able to tell you what or where Martin Place is - though many have already seen it. Reality show fans might remember Martin Place in...more

By Landon Blackhall A starting stack of 30,000, relaxed structure, AUD $1 million first prize ... no need to rush. Right? God bless poker players and their insatiable desire for action! The combatants were Aussies Ricky Kroesen and Con Angelakis. On a flop that read 9♦ 4♣ 7♣, Angelakis...more

Openings don't come much smoother - we're quickly down to business on day 1A of the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final at Star City Casino in Sydney. After speeches from Star City's Michael Aherne and APPT President Jeffrey Haas, the order to "shuffle up and deal" was given by PokerStars.net...more

"Andy, did you here about this one?" Yes, Michael Stipe, we've indeed heard that this is the biggest week of sport in Sydney since the 2000 Olympic Games. Welcome to Star City Casino on the shores of Darling Harbour for day 1A of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final....more

The Russian Poker is back and has crowned a brand new champion. This weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine, 123 players sat down for the Main Event and played for the $220,720 prize pool. Some of the biggest names in Russian poker showed up to play, including Alex Kravchenko, Ivan Demidov, Alexander...more

We love of a good game of What Does Johnny Lodden Think (although, we prefer a game of What Does (French EPT Commentator) Benjo Think?. So, after last night's Sunday Million, we would love to sit around and ruminate on what Lodden thinks about making the final table of the...more

Each stop on season three of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has delivered something new for players. In Macau, it was a superb new venue at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino; in Auckland, a permanent home in New Zealand's largest poker room while the move from...more

There is no disputing that the Sunday Million can be construed as a popular tournament. Its $1.5 million guarantee attracts thousands of players from around the world each week. But there seems to be a trend that it is becoming even more popular than ever. Evidence? A nearly 500-player increase...more

After a few months off the $1 million Turbo Takedown is back and bigger than ever. As you may have read earlier in the week from Otis first prize tonight for one of the 21,423 runners is not only $60,000.00 but this shiny brand new Audi TT RS (I'll repost...more

The Sunday Warm-Up continued to blaze hotter and hotter as the weather got colder this November weekend, with a whopping $925,600 in the prize pool. 4,628 players bellied up to the virtual felt to take their shot at the massive payout, and the top 675 finishers got paid for...more

November was a special month for the Battle of the Planets promotion. From November 8th-21st PokerStars handed a challenge to all the SnG players out there to break the current point records (read here for details on point distribution). The two week celebration of paying out over $5 million since...more

Have you heard? Have you been living under a rock? Are you ready to win something for nothing this weekend? After a brief hiatus, the PokerStars Turbo Takedown is returning to its slot on the last Sunday of the month. That gives you and whoever else makes it in a...more

Think about how many hands of poker you'd play in one session of a live game. We'll be generous and give the dealer 30 hands per hour. We'll be generous again and figure you can sit still for ten hours. That means you saw around 300 hands between the time...more

The PCA is about to get a lot prettier. It's also about to experience the wrath of some of the best female poker players in the world. In both cases, it sounds like an improvement. PokerStars has announced that the 2010 PCA will include a Ladies Weekend and satellites are...more

It was a regular Sunday and a regular Sunday Million on November 22. As compared to last week's unbelievable Sunday Million, with its $2.5 million guarantee that led to 18,283 players registered to play and a $3,656,600 prize pool, this week brought the internet's biggest online tournament back to normal....more

Watching "The Next Iron Chef" on the Food Network with final two chefs battling it out in the kitchen for the right to become the next Food Network personality, had me amazed at their ability to perform under pressure. Basically, the show takes place over several weeks while already...more

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When Amer Sulaiman boarded an airplane from Toronto to Costa Rica, he never expected to return home with an extra $172,095 in his pocket, let alone an LAPT title. The 45-year old Iraqi-born Canadian resident came to Playa Conchal for a vacation with his girlfriend, but at the last...more

Updates from level 25 and 26 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is...more

There was a story waiting to be written in Vilamoura tonight, one of a child chess prodigy turned poker player winning an EPT event and rocking the poker world after he'd only narrowly missed out three weeks ago in Warsaw. But as anyone who has played this game will...more

Updates from level 25 and 26 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is...more

Updates from level 28 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 21 and 22 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is...more

Updates from level 24 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 21 and 22 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is...more

Updates from level 26 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Below are the biographies of the final table players from LAPT Playa Conchal. Five of the players hail from Canada, two are form Latin America, and one is from the Netherlands. Chip leader is Sol Bergren from Canada currently leads the field with 1,327,000 in chips. A total of 32...more

Updates from level 25 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

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Updates from level 24 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 23 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

The final table is set for the Main Event of EPT Vilamoura, with the following players gunning for the €404,793 first prize. For a full list of prizewinners to date, see the prizewinners page. There's also a full prize structure there. Stay tuned to PokerStars Blog throughout the day for...more

Envy isn't a productive emotion and we try to avoid it as often as we can. That said, after talking with Sol Bergren, we're finding it hard to cage the green monster. Bergren is young, relaxed, leading the life of many people's dreams, and holds the chip lead going into...more

Updates from levels 21 and 22 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from levels 17 and 18 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from levels 17 and 18 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Day four of the inaugural EPT event in Vilamoura was not for the faint-hearted. This year's tournament structure is one of the best in the world, but remarkably even a stack of more than a million chips going into the penultimate day doesn't guarantee a thing. Just ask Antony Lellouche....more

Updates from level 22 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey and Howard Swains. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from levels 15 and 16 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from level 21 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 20 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

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Updates from level 19 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 18 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

There's a list of 24 poker players below this introduction and our simple target for the end of today is that only eight remain. Yep, it's the penultimate day at an EPT Main Event meaning our intention is to squeeze the inhabitants of three tables into one. The list of...more

Rob Woodcock probably went to bed last night dreaming of a repeat final table appearance here in Costa Rica, and going into Day 2 with 147,600 in chips, it wasn't too remote a fantasy. Woodcock pulled off the rare feat of ending Day 1 as the chip leader here in...more

Updates from levels 15 and 16 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from levels 9 and 10 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from levels 9 and 10 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Yesterday we reported how Antony Lellouche and Jeff Sarwer were once again setting the benchmark for a successful day on an EPT, just as they had a few weeks earlier in Warsaw. Well, not a lot has changed since then. Tonight those two are still the leaders - all...more

Updates from levels 9 and 10 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure...more

Updates from level 17 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

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Updates from level 15 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 15 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level 14 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Rob Woodcock has history here in Costa Rica. It was just last year that the British PokerStars Supernova came to San Jose and ended Day 1 as the chip leader. He went on to finish in 9th place for $17,098. While a good finish, he certainly hoped for more. Now,...more

Eric Brenes has been eliminated and his son Eric Jr. departed shortly thereafter, leaving us with three Breneses among the 143 remaining players. It was only a matter of time before two of them ended up at the same table. Sure enough, Roberto Brenes ended up moving to the two...more

Earlier today, we were remarking on how nice it would be to be Icelander Daniel Mar Palsson. That guy came down here from Iceland and spent the first few levels quintupling his stack. Since then, the ice has melted a bit and he's back down below 100,000. And so we...more

Alex Gomes spent much of the afternoon with a frown on his face. Though his chip count never reached the critical level, Gomes is a man who loves playing an aggressive style with a deep stack. So when he found his first double-up, taking him north of 50,000 in chips,...more

The LAPT fields are still what we like to call "manageable." With 259 players in the field, it's easy to see a lot of familiar faces. What makes them all the more familiar is the fact we have seen a number of today's players on the final table of other...more

With the early exits of Maria Stern and former Costa Rican first lady Doris Yankelwitz, five women remain among the 171 players still in contention for the LAPT Playa Conchal title. Two of those five are South American-based Team PokerStars Pros and one is 3,000 miles from home, exchanging the...more

At this moment in Iceland, the temperature is coming in at a balmy 6° Celsius (42.8º F). Meanwhile, here on Costa Rica's Gold Coast, we're shivering through a 30° day. For those of you who read a thermometer like me, that's 86º. We literally broke a sweat on our five-minute...more

The board read J♥2♠8♦9♣4♣ on the river, more than 10,000 already in the pot. The young man in the big blind confidently led into Humberto Brenes for 11,000, only to watch the Godfather of Costa Rican poker remove the plastic shark from the top of his stack and ship it...more

Victor Ramdin looks different. When he's sitting behind a table, it's sort of difficult to tell what's making the difference. And if I hadn't ridden in from the airport with him, I might still be wondering what's making him so happy. Fortunately, we had 45 minutes to chat during the...more

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From a distance, it appeared that Maria Stern had tripled up early, a stack of dark-colored checks beneath her four orange 1,000-denomination chips. Alas, it was only a trick of the light, the stack in question actually comprised of black 100-denomination chips rather than the navy 5,000s, Stern's stack down...more

Within the first 71 minutes of the tournament, Alex Brenes experienced quite the roller-coaster ride when it comes to his chip count. Starting with the standard 20,000 in chips, Alex's stack dipped to 5,200 within the first five minutes of play. Then he snatched up a huge pot, taking his...more

We've definitely been here before. Late last month in Warsaw, the chip leaders on days 1b and then day three were Antony Lellouche and Jeff Sarwer respectively. Today on the Algarve, on day two of the inaugural EPT Vilamoura, the chip leaders are Jeff Sarwer and Antony Lellouche respectively. It's...more

Hank Sitton waved his hand around the well-appointed resort. "This is my old stomping grounds," he said, the memory obviously still clear in his mind. "I used to be a surfer. Sitton, known as "Hardway Hank" on PokerStars, is a serial qualifier for PokerStars events. We've seen him just about...more

Updates from level 13 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

They called "Shuffle up and deal" at the stroke of noon, with many Team Pros, qualifiers, and local players still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and shaking off the effects of last night's welcome party. The registration line winds out the door of the convention center of...more

When the sky above Playa Conchal exploded, we knew the LAPT's third season was underway. We stood above the water of a small lagoon and underneath a blanket of red light and the steady buzz of Costa Rican Imperial. Men with the name Brenes surrounded us. It was like a...more

Updates from level 12 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

by Joe Hachem The courage of a sportsman takes him through some of the most difficult moments a person can face, and he needs to face them again and again. The courage to get back out on the field or the floor after you've taken a hard knock. The courage...more

Updates from level 11 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

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Updates from level 10 of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Updates from level nine of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. The full...more

Good afternoon all and welcome back to Portugal. There may be another poker tournament going on in Costa Rica somewhere, but I think we all know where the real action is. It's day two of the inaugural EPT Vilamoura, Portugal, and typically this is where it gets really interesting. Ljubomir...more

Thousands of feet above the dark green canopy that makes up most of Costa Rica, it's impossible to get a sense for the place. It looks fake, like something Universal Studios might create for an American tourist or a film producer might doctor to make his movie look like paradise....more

Yesterday things were much easier as the close of play loomed. A couple of guys had mighty stacks, easily distinguished from the rest, with Ljubomir Josipovic on top with close to 200,000. Today has been a different story. Put it down to the larger field, bigger names, fatigue or...more

Updates from levels seven and eight of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

Updates from levels five and six of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

Updates from levels three and four of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

Updates from levels one and two of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

This may be the first time the European Poker Tour has steamed into Portugal, but the players in Vilamoura - both local and visitors from far afield - have learned already how to approach a two-tier first-day poker tournament. In short, play day 1B. No one can really explain the...more

Six months after most of you turned 21 years old, you were still trying to figure out how to kick the birthday night hangover. You're different than Joe Cada, because just a few months removed from his step into adulthood, he's a millionaire WSOP champion and the envy of just...more

We didn't know much about Vilamoura before we jumped on the EPT bandwagon and rolled it into town. It was a region on the Algarve in Portugal, it was warm even in November and you couldn't take photos in the casino. That was about it. In truth, we don't know...more

Updates from levels seven and eight of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

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Updates from levels five and six of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

Vilamoura is the 16th destination the European Poker Tour has made its own. Back in season one a full season was made up of just seven events making familiar the sights of Barcelona, London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Deauville and Monte Carlo. While some places dropped off the calendar new ones...more

by Chris Moneymaker As part of Team Pokerstars Pro I get the opportunity to travel the world and play poker. I have been to many countries as an ambassador to PokerStars, but never to Romania. I was first asked to go to Romania instead of going to my original destination...more

Updates from levels three and four of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

There are some notable sights and sounds as we press on through level two. As you'd expect at a large event like this all you can hear are the riffle of chips and the occasional rumble of Shaun Deeb laughing. In the corner of the room some people have...more

Updates from levels one and two of EPT Vilamoura, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page....more

Welcome all to Portugal for the first time Europe's premiere poker tour has made it to the Algarve. The surroundings are unfamiliar, but for many of us the drill is exactly the same. We'll be playing the same structure, the same game, and for the same amount of time as...more

Arriving anywhere late, and in total darkness, and it's not easy to get the lay of the local land, to get your bearings. Touching down last night in Portugal and all you could see from the windows of 90-mph taxis, for the moments you don't have your eyes closed,...more

PokerStars likes to break records. It's just one of those things that makes the people behind the scenes happy. Sometimes it happens when no one is really expecting it. This weekend, PokerStars added a million bucks to the regular $1.5 million guarantee and, oh boy, did people show up. As...more

The PokerStars Sunday Million is exciting each week as the $1.5 million guarantee is the biggest in the business and draws some of the best players in the world to its virtual tables. But every once in awhile, the Stars team throws a curve ball to the online poker community...more

This week's edition of the Sunday Warm-Up drew a whopping 4,763 entrants to build a prize pool of a massive $952,600, more than $200,000 over the guarantee! By the time the final table was set, it was fully dark on the east coast, and the late NFL game was almost...more

Sitting at breakfast this morning, a couple of PokerStars Qualifiers stood nearby awaiting their freshly cooked omelettes. We chatted about this and that for a minute or so, before they turned and asked, "see you next year?" That seems to be the sentiment as players start to say their...more

Live updates from the final table, level 26 (blinds 30,000-60,000, ante 5000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

Live updates from the final table, level 25 (blinds 25,000-50,000, ante 5000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

by John Duthie I've had a fairly hectic couple of weeks traveling around the globe; part pleasure, part business. I arrived back on Wednesday last week from a family holiday to India having flown London-Delhi, Delhi-Calcutta, Calcutta-Bagdogra, Bagdogra-Delhi then Delhi-London. It was an amazing trip and if you've never been...more

Live updates from the final table, level 24 (blinds 20,000-40,000, ante 4000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

Live updates from the final table, level 23 (blinds 15,000-30,000, ante 3000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

Live updates from the final table, level 22 (blinds 12,000-24,000, ante 2000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

Live updates from the final table, level 21 (blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

Live updates from the final table, level 20 (blinds 8000-16,000, ante 2000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected...more

The citizens of the Philippines awoke this morning with a dilemma. Church or Pacquiao? Pacquiao or church? In this highly religious country, church is part of the weekly ritual. But this is different, this is the Philippines' favourite son - Manny "The Pacman" Pacquiao. Judging from the hundreds packed...more

Seat 1: Mark Pagsuyuin, Manila, Philippines (497,000 in chips): Despite being one of the short stacks on the final table, there's no doubt that this PokerStars Cebu Satellite winner will go down fighting and have the crowd cheering him on along with his wife of 18 years. The 43-year-old...more

Live updates from day 3, level 21 (blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 20 (blinds 8000-16000, ante 2000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 19 (blinds 6000-12,000, ante 100) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 18 (blinds 5000-10,000, ante 1000) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 17 (blinds 4000-8000, ante 500) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 16 (blinds 3000-6000, ante 500) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 3, level 15 (blinds 2500-5000, ante 500) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Yep, sunny and warm again here today in the countdown to day three of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in the southern Philippines. There are more than a few sore heads this morning after last night's Metro Card Club APPT Cebu Party...more

PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event day 3 seat draw Table 1 Seat 1: Mike Gaertner (Cambodia) PokerStars Player 257,000 Seat 2: Danny Sangwook Byun (Korea) 124,000 Seat 3: Mark Pagsuyuin (Philippines) 61,500 Seat 4: Dustin Dorrance-Bowman (USA) PokerStars Player 260,000 Seat 5: Allih (Yoyong) Bansuan (Philippines) 299,500 Seat 6:...more

Live updates from day 2, level 14 (blinds 2000-4000, ante 400) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 13 (blinds 1500-3000, ante 300) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 12 (blinds 1200-2400, ante 300) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 11 (blinds 1000-2000, ante 200) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 10 (blinds 800-1600, ante 200) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 9 (blinds 600-1200, ante 100) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Live updates from day 2, level 8 (blinds 500-1000, ante 100) of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event brought to you by Sean Callander and Landon Blackhall from Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip...more

Welcome to another perfect Philippines morning for day two of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. Players are grabbing a quick bite to eat at the Tides buffet or taking a dip in the pool before heading across to The Marquee for the race to a spot in the...more

PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event day 2 seat allocation Table 1 Seat 1: TBC (Taipei) 28900 Seat 2: Un Jung Yum (Korea) 47500 Seat 3: Lester Edoc (Philippines) 66700 Seat 4: Frank Salvador (Philippines) PokerStars Qualifier 40400 Seat 5: Raul Fernandez (Philippines) 31000 Seat 6: Ender Ozkan (USA) 10800...more

The line-up for day two has been finalised in the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event after two day one flights under the big top here at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa. The Marquee has been packed to capacity all day with side events, cash games and a day 1B...more

By Landon Blackhall Most poker players love following some form of sport, and visitors don't have to go far to get their dose in the Philippines. However, the domestic sporting scene is dominated by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The competition was launched in 1975, making it the oldest...more

The 2007 Macau High Roller event was the first of its kind on the PokerStars.net APPT, and is proving a handy formguide for today's play in the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. The sun may have sunk below the horizon for another evening at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa,...more

By Landon Blackhall Day 1B in the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event is starting to take shape, with more big names hitting the rail and an outright chip leader emerging. PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro Tony Hachem has enjoyed phenomenal success this year, having secured the PokerStars.net ANZPT Player of...more

Who is Toto, the famed Malapascua dive guide, kidding? "The shark is more scared of you," he laughs as members of the dive party start to slip below the waves. "But Toto, who told the shark?" That's one of the questions to pops into the minds of divers as...more

With a loaded field and scores of locals determined to claim one of the big scalps, it's hardly surprising that the rate of eliminations has been higher than yesterday after the opening three levels in the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro Eric Assadourian was...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander The records are tumbling in The Marquee at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa where more than 200 players have taken their seats for day 1B of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. That means the Main Event field has been confirmed at 319...more

Tournament venues tend to be fairly quiet in the AM hours as players charge up their batteries for a long day's play or sleep off a long night on the tables. Not here at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa. Players and their guests are hitting the brekky buffet early...more

Less than half of the day 1A field will return for Friday's day 2 after the opening session of play in the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. They include nine PokerStars Qualifiers and four PokerStars Cebu Satellite winners. Players from across the world converged on the idyllic Shangri-La's...more

By Landon Blackhall It's no big secret that poker has caught the world by storm, but throughout the Great Poker Boom in the last few years, there's one country that hasn't popped in poker-related conversations too often: Mongolia. Landlocked between mainland China and Russia, Mongolia is the world's most...more

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander There's been a running gag in the past couple of days at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa - with the sun shining and so much to do, no-one's going to be too disappointed if they're eliminated in the early stages of the PokerStars.net...more

One of the joys of travelling with the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour is experiencing different countries and cultures. We've visited countries like Korea, where conformity is an obsession, and countries like the Philippines, where parents will go to extraordinary lengths to make their children stand out from the...more

By Landon Blackhall The Philippines is an intriguing mish-mash of Eastern and Western. The locals are proud of their traditions, but at the same time, they have a unique ability to adapt to a changing world without it affecting them. It could also be said that those endearing qualities...more

It's tough to keep a good man down, as we discovered when Filipino poker icon Wally "The Dream" Sombero walked through the door into the Marquee to take his seat on day 1A of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event. Less than two months ago, a van in which...more

By Landon Blackhall The cards are in the air on day 1A of the PokerStars.net APPT Cebu Main Event, and as is tradition on the tour, players were treated to a taste of local culture. Today we welcomed performers who treated the players to a display of the Sinulog...more

With respect to previous welcome parties held on the PokerStars.net APPT, this one is going to take some topping ... APPT Cebu kicked off with a bang last night at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa. The weather was warm, the beach meticulously groomed, the drinks cold and plentiful...more

The concept of Shangri-La was first described by British author James Hilton in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon (subsequently made into movies of the same name in 1937 and 1973); a place that defined the concept of paradise, isolated from the outside world, utopian, harmonious and mystical. Those words...more

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At close to 1.45am Tuesday, in the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Joe Cada, from Shelby Township, MI, was crowned the youngest World Series of Poker champion in the event's 40-year history. Once the bracelet was wrapped around his wrist and the whooping...more

There are people who cannot succeed without adversity. They need pressure. They require potential disaster to force them beyond even their own expectations. The poker world is just getting to know Joe Cada, but it's clear the new World Series of Poker champion thrives on the edge. In a heads-up...more

This hour began shortly after a 20-minute break, and Darvin Moon seemed by far the more refreshed. He was the aggressor in all of the early pots and took most of them down, regularly making reraises of about five million, which was consistently too rich for Cada. The Team...more

The last hour of heads-up play did not contain any huge, huge pots. That said, at the end of the second hour of play, Darvin Moon held the chip lead. They started play with blinds of 600,000/1.2 million and a 200,000 ante. Here is a hand-by-hand account of the past...more

The opening hour of final table play was certainly tense but it was anything but tight. There was a huge pot on the very first hand, won by Moon, and the Maryland man ended up taking the chip lead after winning the first few. But Cada won two decisive big...more

What's the big deal about $8.5m? I don't know*, but the bundle of money that currently sits between Joe Cada and Darvin Moon in the Penn and Teller Theater is certainly attracting a good deal of attention. It was around 10pm yesterday that it made its first appearance, tipped out...more

After losing almost everything he had in front of him in the biggest game he'd ever played, PokerStars player Joe Cada figured he was destined to finish in seventh place and become just another asterisk in the World Series of Poker history book. Tonight, Cada has to beat one more...more

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As many players logged in tonight there was a message the PokerStars' brass concerning next week's Sunday Million. No, the buy-in hasn't been raised; it will still be $215 much like the 7,887 players paid tonight. Likewise the tournament will start at 3:30 Eastern Standard Time as normal. But next...more

While those of us at home wait patiently for the ESPN rebroadcast of yesterday's World Series of Poker Main Event final table, you could click a few links here at the PokerStarsBlog as the live crew traveled back to Vegas and chronicled shrinking the November nine from nine to two...more

While the WSOP Main Event final table was the center of attention for the poker community on Saturday, PokerStars ensured that rugby fans across the Atlantic were getting their own little taste of poker. Twickenham, the home of English rugby, generates raw passion whenever the home nation play - and...more

There are some poker commentators on World Series final table day who end up sounding like an little league soccer coach. "You're all winners!" they insist, citing the fact that each of the November Nine, who reconvened at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, today was guaranteed at least...more

One would think with America's longstanding relationship with France that this sort of thing wouldn't happen. After all, the French gave America--and, specifically, Eric Buchman's home state of New York--the Statue of Liberty. It's a gift-giving relationship, for the love of Pete. But in the last couple of hours, Buchman...more

We're not going to lie to you, but as the clock ticks towards 4.30 a.m. Vegas time, and with four players still remaining, we're thinking less about bed and not even breakfast. Where do you fancy meeting for lunch? At this witching hour, things get a little deranged in the...more

Jeff Shulman is known as a lot of things, among them "Happy." Today, he was on a mission to win a WSOP bracelet, something his father Barry did at the WSOPE just last month. If the younger Shulman had succeeded, the father-son team would've been only the second to score...more

At around the mid-point of the past hour, there was a discussion between us PokerStars Blog folk about the angle we should adopt for our next post -- this post, that is. After some um-ing and ah-ing (we go to all those lengths) we realised that the story is is...more

Poker is a game of skill. We all understand that, yeah? We all preach it from the pulpit, shout it from the rooftops, and write it in as big of font as we can. Poker is a game of skill. With that said, we have three hands to report. Steven...more

Las Vegas is widely acknowledged to be the home of poker, and in the past 50 years it has also grown into the de facto home of boxing. The biggest fights are usually here, with the biggest purses. But last night, the eyes of the boxing world turned to Germany,...more

In the past hour, we have not only witnessed vast and irresponsible consumption of Jack's Links beef jerky and several people looking at their watches and checking to see if they had time for a nap, but we have also seen the the richest action of the tournament so far....more

Right now, the WSOP final table is getting in about 25 hands per hour. In an effort to stave off the post-dinner sleepies, we decided to pay as close attention as we possibly could and record every detail in one hour of play. This proved to be a story about...more

The high-brow credentials of PokerStars Blog have long been established. This is, after all, the place you've seen action from the PCA reimagined as a Samuel Beckett tragi-comedy, and it's home, of course, to the PokerStars Blog One Time Chip™, which has rapidly become the poker accessory for the ages....more

First you want to vomit. That's the honest initial physical response--that slight push in the belly, a rising gorge that, if you weren't a man, you'd just puke all over the felt, a final expulsion of all the pure disgust left among the bile. At least, that's how we imagined...more

Kevin Schaffel had pocket aces twice at the 2009 World Series Main Event final table, and both times his opponent had pocket kings. While this is ordinarily the stuff of poker players' dreams, Schaffel will have this down as a nightmare. The big news from the past hour is that...more

It took a few hours, but the 2009 WSOP final table has lost it's first player. That dubious honor goes to the UK's James Akenhead. It was two big hands against PokerStars qualifier Kevin Schaffel that sent Akenhead to the rail. In the first, Schaffel came in for a raise...more

Let's go back to the end of the last post, and remember what Daniel Negreanu said during the break: "Expect this level to be really nuts," said the Team PokerStars Pro. He knows a thing or two about the game does Kid Poker. The Penn and Teller Theater did indeed...more

There were two ways these opening exchanges were going to go: cautious or very cautious. "Have we seen a turn yet?" asked a colleague in the press box, approaching an hour into play. "No," was the answer to that, hinting at the trepidation among these nine, none of which could...more

"Welcome to the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event!" Those words from WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack ushered us into what will surely be the next 12 hours of World Series final table play. Tonight we will play down to two players. First, we have nine sitting around...more

For 10 months of the year, servers in the various restaurants of the Rio Hotel and Casino overhear the same kind of conversations as any other in Las Vegas. "Damn, she was smokin'", "I was up, like, four hundred and then the dealer hit, like, 12 blackjacks" and "I've changed...more

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We're not even sure people look at wall calendars anymore. Back in the day, you could walk into auto repair shop, look at the wall calendar, and not only see a photo of a scantily clad woman, but also what day it was. It was very handy. These days, the...more

A week from this very morning, the poker world will be celebrating its newest champion. 2008 WSOP champ Peter Eastgate will have given up his year-long reign in favor of the 2009 victor and it very well could be that Eastgate will be awarding the bracelet to a fellow PokerStars...more

It was only a matter of time before the PokerStars European Poker Tour released the second half of its Season 6 schedule, and now that we've seen it, we don't mind having waited. As of this time yesterday, you knew the EPT had been to Kyiv, Barcelona, London and Warsaw,...more

On most days, I want to be Daniel Negreanu. However, when I see the type of people he may have to face in the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, I suddenly don't feel nearly as envious. See, there are a lot of people who get a chance to submit casting videos...more

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On the Czech-Slovak Poker Tour, they need a lot of chips, a fair amount of tables and chairs, and the requisite number of cards to make sure every table has 52 apiece. What they don't need, we have found, are very many vowels. Witness the latest event on the tour...the...more

During the EPT London event, the Americans among us were talking to the Brits among us about drive-times across their respective countries. For instance, one American's parents live 13-hours away from him by car. "It doesn't take that long to drive across our entire country!" said one Brit. That's a...more

For some people, it's about saying they won the PokerStars Sunday Million. For some people, it's only about the money. It's always interesting to see how people approach the final table after spending half a day to get to the final nine of the world's biggest weekly tournament. Some people...more

On the first day of November, the Sunday Million awaited players with its always exciting $1.5 million guarantee... Wait. It's November? Evidently it is because the PokerStars calendar tells us so. (Generally, it's annoying when people ask where the year went, but some of us would really like to know.)...more

The first Sunday Warm-Up of November brought out 4,747 players, creating a total prize pool of $949,000, easily exceeding the $750K guarantee and flirting once again with that possible million-dollar prize pool -- something we're likely destined to see happen in the Warm-Up in the near future. While NFL football,...more