Latest 2009 Post

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

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

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

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 sort of feels like we just left the Amazon Room. We can still smell the burgers from the Poker Kitchen, see the thousands of players, and hear the countless bad beat stories. It feels like yesterday (instead of a couple of weeks ago). Well, now it's time to go...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

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

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

In the climax of the Hollywood film "The Thomas Crowne Affair," the protagonist, a lovable yet mischievous super thief, avoids the authorities by dressing up dozens of people in a museum exactly as he is--a bowler hat and finely-tailored black suit. The gambit works and Crowne escapes. The scene in...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

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