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Cr122

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Talk about or post any Poker news in this thread.


Toby Lewis wins EPT Vilamoura

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By Andrew Feldman


The European Poker Tour stop in Vilamoura, Portugal, attracted 384 players and Toby Lewis became the biggest benefactor of that group, taking first place and 467,835 Euros. The 20-year-old from Southampton, United Kingdom, defeated Martin Jacobson to claim his first major title.

Toby Lewis
Neil Stoddart/European Poker Tour 20-year-old Toby Lewis won the main event at EPT Vilamoura

Despite his age, Lewis has had numerous successes overseas including two previous cashes on the EPT and a final table on the Italian Poker Tour. He has $766,237 in tournament winnings in his career, including $662,246 in 2010 coming from seven cashes.

"I'm pretty happy," said Lewis to PokerNews.com after his win. "400,000 Euros is a lot of money. I'll look after it."

Lewis, who was surrounded and supported by his friends at the final table, plans to head back to England where action is or will be taking place on the World Poker Tour, WSOP Europe and the EPT. While he thrived on Thursday, the sympathy factor was in full effect for Sam Trickett who just had an extremely tough day at the most inopportune time. Entering the final table in a virtual tie with Lewis for first place in chips, Trickett would finish in fourth place after an unfathomable string of bad luck, or more specifically, a cold deck. Here's a broad (and biased) recap of Trickett's day:

• A-8 loses to K-7 all-in preflop
• J-J loses to Q-Q all-in preflop
• Q-Q loses to K-K on a board of 8-9-10-A-7
• 10-5 loses to 4-4 on a board of 10-10-4-9-K
• J-J loses to Q-J all-in preflop
• A-K loses to A-2 all-in preflop
• He was eliminated when his 2-2 lost to Q-J all-in preflop

Ouch.

Trickett collected 139,680 Euros for his efforts to continue a year that has been downright impressive. The British pro cashed six times at the WSOP including a runner-up finish in the $5,000 no-limit hold 'em Event 17 (for $505,725) and seventh place in the $25,000 six-handed Event 52 (for $141.168).

Here are the complete results from the final table:

1. Toby Lewis (467,835 Euros)
2. Martin Jacobson (297,984 Euros)
3. Jason Lee (186,240 Euros)
4. Sam Trickett (139,680 Euros)
5. Teddy Sheringham (93,120 Euros)
6. Frederik Jensen (74,496 Euros)
7. Rob Hollink (55,872 Euros)
8. Sergio Coutinho (37,248 Euros)

WPT London down to the final table

In less than five hours Day 4 was complete at the first World Poker Tour stop in London as the field was quickly whittled from 18 to 8. Leading the final table is Party Poker Pro Giovanni Safina, who finished third in the Party Poker Premier League this year. He's followed by Kristoffer Thorsson, the champion of the 2009 Lido International Dutch Open who is looking to pad his $1.1 million in career earnings with another big finish here. Also in the mix is Jake Cody, the 2010 EPT Deauville champion, and British poker legend Bruce Atkinson.

Here's a look at the final table chip counts for when the final eight return Saturday to play for the 273,783 Euro first-place prize:

1. Giovanni Safina (1.5 million in chips)
2. Kristoffer Thorsson (1.3 million)
3. Fabian Quoss (1.0 million)
4. Saarisilta Mattsson (805,000)
5. Jake Cody (786,000)
6. Bruce Atkinson (535,000)
7. Sandiep Khosa (397,000)
8. Gareth Teatum (387,000)

Small blinds: Action is underway at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, France. According to poker blogger Benjo DiMeo, many of the top names in the poker world are in attendance including the Mizrachi brothers, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Jean-Robert Bellande and David Benyamine. … The World Series of Poker announced a new circuit stop. From January 6-25, the WSOP Circuit will be stopping at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Okla., for 10 ring events. … The International Poker Players Association championship in Monte Carlo will feature a $250,000 buy-in. The event is scheduled to be televised and will feature 48 players. Already registered -- you guessed it -- Phil Ivey. … WCOOP begins Sunday with the first three no-limit hold 'em events. Two of the three are $200 events and the third offers a $10,000 buy-in.
 
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Don't watch nearly as much poker as I used to, but I have started re-watching some High Stakes Poker.

Is it me . . . or does Antonio Esfandiari just scream scared money? I've never seen him actually out play anyone at the table. He plays very meek until he has a strong hand. I sometimes wonder how some of these guys acquired such a large bankroll.
 

Sheik

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You know, we could get a real money poker game going. A weekly or monthly thing. Very easy.
 
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Cr122

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You know, we could get a real money poker game going. A weekly or monthly thing. Very easy.

We would have to set it through paypal or something, but I would have to send my goons out for Middie though.
 

Sheik

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You wouldn't have to go through paypal.

Pick an online poker room, register, deposit money, then set up a private room. I wouldn't mind playing for real money, but I'd participate if it was fake cash too.
 
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Cr122

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You wouldn't have to go through paypal.

Pick an online poker room, register, deposit money, then set up a private room. I wouldn't mind playing for real money, but I'd participate if it was fake cash too.

I'd probably do it either way.
 
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You wouldn't have to go through paypal.

Pick an online poker room, register, deposit money, then set up a private room. I wouldn't mind playing for real money, but I'd participate if it was fake cash too.

Two years ago . . . I'd be all about it. But I've sworn off on line poker. Even fake money. I'm a guy that lost approximately 18k online - and that was just my poker losses.


I'd probably do it either way.

Yeah . . . I heard you go both ways.
 
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Cr122

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Updated: September 16, 2010, 5:58 PM ET
Phil Laak wins Event 1 at 2010 WSOPE
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By Andrew Feldman
ESPN.com
The 2010 World Series of Poker Europe began on Sept. 14 with a capacity field of 244 in Event 1, six-handed no-limit hold 'em. The buy-in wasn't the biggest we'll see in London (£2,650), but the field was one of the most impressive we've seen with the true stars of the game coming out to play. One of those stars, Phil Laak, was able to finish the job to finally earn the title he's been chasing and finally become a WSOP bracelet winner.

poker_e_feldman11_65.jpg


Laak faced off heads-up against Canadian Andrew Pantling, who entered the six-handed final table with a significant chip lead. Pantling, who won the 5,000 euro buy-in heads-up event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, played an amazing tournament and at one point amassed more than half the chips in play, but Laak was focused and came from behind to emerge victorious. The matchup came down to two key hands at the end when Laak doubled up while holding two pair to Pantling's bottom pair and monster draw (with straight and flush outs, which Laak avoided). Laak finally knocked Pantling out with K-5 to A-9.

The victory earned Laak £170,802 and his first bracelet just months after an ATV accident that left him in the hospital. This was Laak's third final table and ninth WSOP cash. It was Laak's third cash in September, which has made this a month to remember. It is also his second-largest tournament cash in his career. Of course, with the bracelet on his wrist, it'll be his most memorable.

The final table included two other bracelet winners, Chris Bjorin and Willie Tann. Bjorin, a two-time bracelet winner, was eliminated in third place after running his pocket queens into the pocket kings of Laak. This was Bjorin's seventh WSOP cash of the year and his second final table. He has cashed in five WSOPE events out of the 12 that have been offered since the stop's inception. Out of those five cashes, he has three final tables. His legendary career has included $4.7 million in earnings and at least six-figures in tournament winnings in 17 of the past 22 years.

Laak kept his fans up to speed with constant posts during the action on Twitter, which included photos of his chips or the felt. After his win, in true Laak terminology, he only had one thing to say:

"Maximum cheeze shippage. £170,802 ($267,010). Plus some gold! Holla!! http://twitpic.com/2p1mpp."

Other notable finishers included Praz Bansi (11th), Chris Moorman (12th) and Liv Boeree (19th).

Below are the complete results of WSOPE Event 1:

Event 1: Six-handed no-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: £2,650
Entries: 244
Prize pool: £610,000
Players in the money: 24

1. Phil Laak (£170,802)
2. Andrew Pantling (£105,506)
3. Chris Bjorin (£70,473)
4. David Peters (£48,202)
5. Ilan Rouah (£33,617)
6. Willie Tann (£23,900)
7. John Tabatabai (£17,318)
8. Vincent Dalet (£17,318)
9. Manig Loeser (£12,902)
10. Lawrie Inman (£12,902)
11. Praz Bansi (£9,608)
12. Chris Moorman (£9,608)
13. Peter Wood (£7,350)
14. Daniel Colman (£7,350)
15. Nathan Lee (£7,350)
16. Tai Tran (£7,350)
17. Nicola Pero (£7,350)
18. Eli Heath (£7,350)
19. Liv Boeree (£5,624)
20. Arto Loikkanen (£5,624)
21. Ilari Tahkokallio (£5,624)
22. Francois de Quidt (£5,624)
23. Kayvan Payman (£5,624)
24. Thorsten Schafer (£5,624)
 
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Phil Laak is another guy who I don't know how or where he got his bankroll to play in all these high stakes games. I've never been impressed with his play.
 
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Cr122

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Updated: September 21, 2010, 12:00 PM ET
ESPN3 to broadcast WSOPE main event

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Feldman By Andrew Feldman
ESPN.com
Archive

For the first time in the four-year history of the World Series of Poker Europe, the final two days of the main event will be broadcast on ESPN3.com with hole cards displayed. Starting at noon ET on Monday, Sept. 27 and Tuesday, Sept. 28, the most prestigious event on the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe schedule will be streamed on a five-hour delay on ESPN3.com, ESPN's 24/7 sports broadband network.

"ESPN is committed to delivering the best poker content to fans, and ESPN3 is the ideal format to showcase this great event as it happens," said Doug White, senior director of programming and acquisitions for ESPN.

Coverage of the event, being held at the Casino at the Empire in London, will begin with 27 players on Sept. 27. Action on Monday will continue until the final table of nine players is reached. On Tuesday, fans will be able to watch the final table in its duration on ESPN3.com until a winner is crowned.

Hole cards will be displayed anytime a hand reaches a flop or if a preflop decision takes more than one minute. The five-hour delay is in place as a consideration for that aspect. Veteran poker insider Dave Tuchman and Bart Hanson will call the action and will be joined by a variety of poker players throughout the broadcast.

Since its inception, the WSOPE main event has been won by some of the most recognized individuals in the game including Annette Obrestad, John Juanda and Barry Shulman. The WSOP Europe main event field is typically one of the toughest throughout the year given the high buy-in of £10,000. The tournament will begin on Sept. 23 with the first of two starting days and conclude on Sept. 28.

Four original hours of the World Series of Poker Europe main event will be broadcast on ESPN2 in 2011.
 
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Dan Fleyshman leads WSOPE final table
September, 27, 2010
SEP 27
8:18
PM ET
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By Andrew Feldman


poker_e_fleyshman01_300.jpg

The final table is set at the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe main event and Dan Fleyshman, CEO of Victory Poker, will bring in the chip lead when the nine players take their seats on Tuesday. Fleyshman isn't a pro, but he is about as enveloped in the poker industry as you can get, leading Victory Poker with hopes of building the site into one of the industry's best. On the felt, Fleyshman has had some notable results, but this is by far his greatest poker accomplishment to date. His excitement was clear as he posted to his followers on Twitter after play had ended: "For 3 days I told friends that I envisioned ending up at final table w/Ivey & Isildur… scratch that, I'm so glad they're freaking gone …"


Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman enters the final table with the chip lead.
The poker world was filled with optimism when play began on Monday with Viktor Blom, Phil Ivey and Hoyt Corkins occupying the fifth, sixth and seventh spot in the chip counts. However, one-by-one the biggest names fell leaving fans searching for and finding a familiar face in Roland de Wolfe. The British pro will enter play fourth in chips. De Wolfe first put himself on the map of the industry with a win on the World Poker Tour in 2005. He followed that up with a win on the European Poler Tour in 2006, a WSOP bracelet in 2009 and thrived in between. He's earned $4.8 million in prize money since he transitioned from his job as a journalist to that of a poker player and will try to dramatically increase that number on Tuesday. De Wolfe was also everyone's favorite player in the room when he eliminated David Peters in 10th place holding A-5 to Peter's A-7 to conclude play for the night.

Ronald Lee played extremely well and will enter play in second. He eliminated Ivey in 19th place when all of Ivey's chips went in preflop holding A-10 while Lee had A-K. A king on the turn ended Ivey's day and would really just continue Lee's run. Hours later, Lee played a hand incredibly well against Blom holding aces and slowplaying them in order to receive maximum value. Out of all the players on ESPN3's coverage on Monday, I felt Lee played consistently throughout the lengthy session and should be one of the favorites heading into Tuesday's action.

The rest of the table is filled with players who have done impressive things on the felt, but have never had their major victory. Danny Steinberg, third in chips, cashed in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas finishing in 395th place. This is his third WSOP cash of the year and will be the biggest of his live career. James Bord, fifth, made his sixth WSOP cash in this event, Brian Powell, sixth, made his fifth WSOP cash.

Monaco's Fabrizio Baldassari is making his first WSOP cash, but has had some notable success across Europe and on the Italian Poker Tour. Frenchman Nicolas Levi has $765,805 in career tournament earnings including a final table at EPT Dortmund in 2007. Besides de Wolfe, he has the most experience out of the final nine. Sitting on the short stack is Marc Inizan who took third at EPT Germany earlier this year for nearly half a million dollars. He'll be looking for an early double up and if he's able to make it happen, the Frenchman could be in for a great day in London.

ESPN3.com's broadcast of the final table will begin Tuesday at noon ET.

Here's a look at the final table chip counts: Dan Fleyshman (1.9 million in chips)
Ronald Lee (1.8 million)
Danny Steinberg (1.5 million)
Roland de Wolfe (1.3 million))
James Bord (1.3 million)
Brian Powell (842,000)
Fabrizio Baldassari (677,000)
Nicolas Levi (428,000)
Marc Inizan (349,000)
 
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This article is a few days old, but still wanted to post it.


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By Andrew Feldman
Sept. 30, 2010, will be a day to remember in the poker industry in the United States. For the first time, an online site is preventing players from a specific state from accessing their real-money poker environments. PokerStars announced on Thursday that players from Washington would no longer be allowed to play on PokerStars because of a recent ruling in the state's Supreme Court.

A post on their website explains their rationale for this decision:

"To date, PokerStars has operated in Washington on the basis of legal opinions where the central advice was that the state could not constitutionally regulate Internet poker, or at least could not discriminate in favor of local cardrooms and against online sites. Last week, however, the Washington Supreme Court for the first time rejected that position and upheld the state's Internet gaming prohibition.

"In light of this decision, following extensive consultation with our legal advisors, we believe that the right course of action is to now block real money play by Washington residents on the PokerStars.com site. This policy will remain in effect until the law changes or subsequent legal challenges succeed.… We regret this decision, which will no doubt disappoint our customers in Washington State. However, in all of the jurisdictions where we operate, we are committed to making responsible decisions that are based on a full and considered understanding of the most up-to-date legal advice."

Players from the state of Washington will have access to their accounts, and money can be withdrawn or transferred to another player. The play-for-free offering, PokerStars.net, will remain open to Washington residents. The site continues to operate with hopes of eventual legalization and regulation, and in its statement the site said it will continue to stand behind legislation that will remedy the issue.

It's a tough blow to the poker industry, and the Poker Players Alliance is asking its members for support with hopes of overturning the court ruling that created this situation.

"By no means is the fight over," PPA Chairman Alfonse D'Amato said. "The PPA will pursue other legal and legislative efforts to overturn this law and will continue to work with lawmakers in Washington state and Washington, D.C., to pass legislation to license and regulate online poker and protect the rights of poker players to enjoy the game they love wherever they chose to play it."

EPT London

Players are in the money at the record-setting 848-player field at EPT London. The £5,000 buy-in event has become one of the most popular tour stops over the past few years, and with this year's turnout it became the largest live poker tournament in British history. The lucky individual who is able to bring home the title will earn £900,000, more than the champion of the WSOP Europe main event, a £10,000 buy-in.

In an event like this, PokerStars brings out its full roster, and if you look at the leaderboard it's basically a list of Team PokerStars Pros. Among the top chip leaders are Thomas Bichon, JP Kelly, Alex Kravchenko, Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer. It isn't all about PokerStars, however. Mixed among those names are notables John Juanda, Sam Stein, Phil Ivey and Jamie Brown.

Day 3 will kick off with David Vamplew leading the remaining 128 players, who have each earned themselves a minimum payday of £7,500. Action will conclude in this event at the final table on Monday and the £20,000 buy-in, high roller event will begin on Tuesday.

Small blinds: Liv Boeree became a free agent a few months ago, but it didn't take long before she found a new site to call home. The EPT San Remo champion signed with PokerStars this week. … Annette Obrestad won the heads-up event at EPT London for £120,000. … Recent EPT Vilamoura champion Toby Lewis won the £1,000 buy-in, side event at EPT London. … "POTTERPOKER" won the $5,200 buy-in, WCOOP main event for $2.2 million. … In other WCOOP news, Ryan "g0lfa" D'Angelo won his third WCOOP event and is the only player to have accomplished that feat. … All WSOP Hall of Fame ballots were due Friday, Oct. 1. We'll find out shortly who gets the nod for induction. …
 
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I'm glad they made it harder for US players to play online.

Saved me a lot of money.
 
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ESPN Poker Club to award free main event seat
March, 22, 2011

3:08
PM ET
By Andrew Feldman


Ever dream of playing in the world's biggest tournament? Ever dream of making it through a field of thousands of the world's best players and making your way to the biggest final table? Ever dream of battling through eight other superstars at the final table and in front of all the lights and cameras, bringing home the world's most coveted title? Ever dream of getting there for free?

Well, the ESPN Poker Club can help make your dreams a reality with its annual Main Event promotion. One lucky ESPN.com user will be heading to Las Vegas to play in the biggest tournament of the year with the buy-in, flight and hotel taken care of. That's right, it's all free. All you need to do is make it through the field and focus on your poker game and you could be the next poker superstar and bring home millions in winnings.

Now that you know what's up for grabs, here's how you get there:

The first step is becoming a player at the ESPN Poker Club by downloading the game client and logging in (note: you must be an ESPN.com registered user to participate). Head to the "ESPN Poker Club" tab and find the "Weekly Qualifier" tournaments which are offered at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday. Finish in one of the top five spots and you've earned your seat into the final tournament.

On Sundays you have three chances to make your way into the final tournament at 12 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET. Finish in the top 25 in any of those tournaments and you've locked up your seat as well.

The final tournament will take place on May 15 at 8 p.m. ET. Win that tournament and the seat and trip to Las Vegas, NV is all yours.

So head on over to the ESPN Poker Club and start practicing for your big moment. After all, you'll need all the experience you can get if you're going to be the one in Vegas to succeed when someone like Daniel Negreanu or Phil Ivey sits down at your table …
 
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Sternberg stops Sexton, Matusow on WPT
March, 21, 2011
12:54 PM ET
By Andrew Feldman


poker_e_sternberg01_300.jpg

Bay101/WorldPokerTour
Alan Sternberg battled back from a short stack with four players to go to win Bay 101.

For one night, Mike Sexton was not in the broadcast booth during a World Poker Tour final table. Instead, he was fending for the $1 million top prize at the Bay 101 Shooting Star final table and making the WPT debut he was waiting years for. Tony Dunst picked up the commentating duties Sexton did his best and got his money in good. The cards did not cooperate for Sexton and instead, Alan Sternberg, playing in his fourth WPT event, turned a satellite entry into a seven-figure score and major title.

[+] Enlarge
Bay101/WorldPokerTour
Alan Sternberg battled back from a short stack with four players to go to win Bay 101.
Sexton, sitting on the very short stack to enter the final table, was the first player eliminated at the 27th hand of play by Mike Matusow. Sexton looked to be in great shape with K-Q against Matusow's K-J, but Matusow hit a J on the river to knock out poker's ambassador and not only shrink the final table to five players, but also collected the $5,000 bounty on Sexton's head as he was a Shooting Star during the event.

Just three hands later, Steven Kelly knocked out Casey McCarrel (J-10 over A-Q) and it was a four way race with Kelly at the top and Vivek Rajkumar at the bottom. Rajkumar, hoping to improve on his runner-up finish at the LAPC last month, then was involved with Sternberg in one of the craziest hands of the night. Sternberg opened, Rajkumar three-bet and Sternberg called. After a flop of A-6-5, Sternberg checked, Rajkumar bet, Sternberg raised and Rajkumar called. A turn Q sparked a bet from Sternberg and a cal from Rajkumar and another Q on the river enticed Sternberg to move all-in. Rajkumar called quickly and showed quads while Sternberg dejectedly had a full house with 6-6.

"I was feeling really frustrated," Sternberg said of his emotions after the hand to the World Poker Tour. "I could've very easily lost all my chips, but I got a couple hands after that and I was able to build some chips back up and I was able to make a couple plays …"

Despite being the short stack at that point, Sternberg wasn't fazed and continued to battle. He took a nice pot off of Matusow to jump back into the chip lead then solidified that chip lead after a hand with Kelly. From that point on, Sternberg was in control.

Nearly 100 hands took placed between the elimination of McCarrel and the fourth-place elimination of Rajkumar. Kelly's K-Q held against Rajkumar's K-J and earning $295,800, Rajkumar has a two-month WPT earnings total of $1.2 million. He also collected bounties during the tournament by elimination Jennifer Harman and Phil Hellmuth.

Three-handed, Sternberg's lead over Kelly and Matusow dwindled and eventually, gave up the lead to Kelly. He was able to start heads-up play at basically even stacks after he eliminated Mike Matusow who three-bet all-in with 9-2 after a button raise by Sternberg with K-Q. Sternberg eliminated Matusow, picked up his $5,000 bounty and once again, made Matusow come up short at a WPT final table. This was his fifth WPT final table and he has no wins, but two thirds, two sixths and a second. He earned $369,800.

Stenberg extended his lead to over 7 million chips after the first few hands of heads-up play. The two played few flops with the opening raiser taking the pot, but one final confrontation ended the tournament and gave the New Yorker the title. Kelly opened the pot, putting in about a 10th of his stack. Sternberg three-bet all-in and Kelly called with A-Q, ahead over Sternberg's 10-8. The flop came Q-8-7 and Kelly had a stranglehold on the hand. Another 7 on the turn left Sternberg with only two outs and he'd hit one of them, the 8c, on the river to win the title.

Here are the final table results from Bay 101:

1. Alan Sternberg ($1,039,000)
2. Steven Kelly ($595,300)
3. Mike Matusow ($369,800)
4. Vivek Rajkumar ($295,800)
5. Casey McCarrel ($221,800)
6. Mike Sexton ($148,000)
Poker contributing to charity:

It's unfortunate that I remember writing a paragraph similar to this one not too long ago, but it is fortunate that I can write it again. With the devastation in Japan after the latest earthquake and tsunami, relief efforts and underway and money is being raised to support those efforts. Both PokerStars and Full Tilt have joined the efforts and are encouraging their players to donate.

PokerStars has implemented "dummy tournaments" which have buy-ins ranging from $1 to $1,000. Based on what they would like to donate, players can enter into these tournaments and the money will be deducted from their accounts.

Full Tilt has offered "Aid for Japan" tournaments which are ongoing. They are all multi-entry, turbo tournaments of different denominations where the buy-in is equal to the fee. Additionally, they also have donation tournaments, like PokerStars, where players can "enter" to donate money.

Both sites have generously stepped up and will match all donations made through these efforts.

On an individual note, Justin "BoostedJ" Smith said he would donate $1 for every person who retweeted the Red Cross text number and Maria Ho donated a seat into a major event on UB to the first person who sent her a picture of them donating to the Red Cross. It's great to see the industry step up and help in critical times and hopefully more entities will come forward and support these efforts.

Small blinds: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, defeated Daniel Negreanu in Round 1 of the latest SuperStar Showdown. Blom defeated Negreanu in 1,439 hands and earned $150,000. The two will face off once again on Sunday, March 27th for Round 2. … EPT Snowfest is underway with Day 1A on Sunday and Day 1B on Monday. Some Day 1A survivors include Alex Kravchenko and Casey Kastle. … "KOMIJENDO" won the Mini-FTOPS XIX main event and $396,578 after a chop with "Demon1531". … Congressmen Barney Frank and John Campbell have introduced poker legislation that would legalize online gaming called H.R. 1174, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. It is very similar to HR 2267, but without Frank as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, it will be interesting to see if the bill is ever addressed. … PokerNews is reporting that the World Poker Tour is going to be offering a $100,000 event in the coming months. … It's not poker, but Randy Couture is putting together a poker run for charity
 
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Heads-Up Rematches at 2011 WSOP

APR 6 3:17 PM ET

By Andrew Feldman

Let's go back in time for a second. Bring yourself back to 2003, during the summer. You're eight years younger and sitting on your couch or in your favorite chair and watching this weird thing on ESPN known as the World Series of Poker. You've gone through the roller-coaster ride and learned about the main event over the first few hours of coverage. You've met some major players and have started to learn that this Phil Ivey guy is pretty good. You've figured out that "The Professor" has an interesting story and Amir Vahedi loves chomping on those cigars.

As the tables dwindled you saw Ivey, Freddy Deeb and Scotty Nguyen hit the rail and finally, only nine players remained. It was an intense situation and one filled with characters that you could cheer for … and against. After Dan Harrington's elimination in third it was a battle between the amateur with the crazy name, Chris Moneymaker, and the dapper Sammy Farha, whose un-lit cigarette made him simply look the part of a poker icon. "That Farha," you thought. "Yeah, he's a real poker player. He must be loaded."

Then, it happened. Moneymaker moved all-in and put the pressure on Farha in what would forever be known as "the bluff of the century." Farha never recovered and this guy … this Moneymaker … earned the title in the biggest poker tournament in the world. Immediately, you were hooked to the game and you could picture yourself as Moneymaker and in the ultimate underdog situation with plenty of cash on the line. "Moneymaker," you say out loud to your buddies. "Man, I could be him one day."

And now we're here. It's been a long journey, but one that 99 percent of poker fans will remember started with one fateful hand and one excellently produced broadcast on ESPN. Every year that has passed we've waited for Moneymaker and Farha to go back at each other and face off heads-up for … something. Could the poker veteran really take down the amateur if they ever played again? Would Moneymaker ever pull off another bluff against Farha?

When the 2011 World Series of Poker begins, you'll finally get some fulfillment as Moneymaker and Farha will once again be sitting across the table from each other ready for a heads-up battle as part of the "WSOP Rematches."

In this made-for-TV event, Moneymaker and Farha will face off in a best-of-three series with the first match replayed with the exact same chip counts as they had in 2003. The second match will swap those stacks and give Farha the advantage and the third match, if necessary, will begin with even stacks.

"Winning the WSOP Main Event was a life altering moment," Moneymaker said in a press release. "Even though I'm agreeing to run it again against Sammy, I have been assured they can't take away my title if my bluffs don't work as well this time."

The broadcast, which will be aired on July 26, will feature not only Moneymaker versus Farha, but also a rematch from the heads-up battle at the 1989 WSOP main event between Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Back in 1989, Chan was looking for his third consecutive title while Hellmuth was just looking to put himself on the stage and win his first bracelet.

The third featured match will be up to you, the fans, to select. Fans can vote (starting in a few weeks) for one of these four matches on the WSOP's Facebook page:

• 1988 WSOP: Johnny Chan versus Erik Seidel
• 2004 WSOP: Greg Raymer versus David Williams
• 2006 WSOP: Jamie Gold versus Paul Wasicka
• 2010 WSOP: Jonathan Duhamel versus John Racener
All the matches will take place on June 2 and will be open to the public. If you're in Las Vegas, you aren't going to want to miss the chance to watch these players battle once again.

Small blinds: Zynga Poker acquired Market Zero, the company that owns PokerTableRankings.com. It's an interesting play for a company that doesn't want to get into real money, but they've brought on a team that is expert in data manipulation -- something that their casual players might enjoy. … 773 players turned out to EPT Berlin, down from 945 in 2010. … Although not available to players from the United States, Chilipoker came out with an innovative twist to online poker that features social integration and the ability to create private last-longer wagers with your competitors. … UB's Mini-UBOC will begin on Sunday. … The Twitter Poker Tour Championship Series is currently underway on Full Tilt. … Did you know you could get trained to play poker by the 2004 WSOP main event champion? Fossilman Poker Training seems to be Greg Raymer's new endeavor. … The NAPT's second stop of the year begins on April 9 at Mohegan Sun, which happens to be the same day as the WPT's next stop in Indiana. I can't imagine either place will be happy with the turnout with two majors dividing the player base.
 
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Cr122

Guest
Updated: April 16, 2011, 11:33 AM ET
Sites charged with gambling offenses
By Andrew Feldman
ESPN.com

The poker world was shaken Friday as the owners of the three largest online poker sites -- PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker -- were charged with bank fraud, illegal gambling offenses and money laundering.

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney announced the indictments of those involved with the online poker sites as well as those who were responsible for the financial transactions. The 11 defendants are Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate (PokerStars), Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick (Full Tilt Poker), Scott Tom and Brent Beckley (Absolute Poker) and Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, Bradley Franzen, Chad Elie and John Campos (involved with payment processors).

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in the indictment: "As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits.

The companies are all based overseas. The indictment sought $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the defendants.

The charges are conspiracy to violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), violation of UIGEA, operation of illegal gambling business, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy . Maximum penalties from these charges range from five years in prison and a $250,000 fine to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine (or twice the gross gain or loss).

"These defendants, knowing full well that their business with U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck," said Janice Fedarcyk, FBI assistant director-in-charge. "They lied to banks about the true nature of their business. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to flout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that they could continue their scheme, and they lost."

The complaint also alleged that these companies used "fraudulent methods" to trick financial institutions into receiving payments.

"[The sites] arranged for the money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls."

"On behalf of the millions of poker players across the country, we are shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans' right to participate in the game they enjoy," said the Poker Players Alliance in a news release. "Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such. We are currently gathering all of the information around today's announcement and will offer detailed analysis when the full facts become available."

The past few years, there have been numerous seizures and indictments of payment processors in the United States who were handling the financial transactions of the online poker sites. As processors continued to be targeted and shut down by federal prosecutors, the sites turned to a new direction to the point that sites "purchased the principals of a few small, local banks" that were facing tough financial times "in return for multi-million dollar investments in the banks."

Campos and Elie were arrested Friday morning, and the Southern District of New York has stated it is working with Interpol to arrest those located abroad.

PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have prohibited online poker players in the United States from participating in real-money gaming. Absolute Poker is still offering American players access to their sites.

ESPN.com contacted Carolyn Sullivan of the U.S. Department of Justice, but she was unable to comment at this time. PokerStars did not reply to ESPN.com's interview request.

Full Tilt Poker released a statement regarding the charges.

"I am surprised and disappointed by the government's decision to bring these charges," Bitar said. "I look forward to Mr. Burtnick's and my exoneration."

Poker Stars and Full Tilt are sponsors of ESPN poker programming.

Andrew Feldman is the poker editor for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Andrew Feldman on Twitter: @espn_poker
 
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