L.A. Poker Classic: Chris Moore Defeats Vivek Rajkumar in Rematch
History repeated itself at the Commerce Casino’s L.A. Poker Classic (LAPC). In the event’s $10,000 Heads-Up tournament, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar and Chris Moore found themselves playing heads-up for the championship for a second consecutive year. The occurrence seemed all too familiar for those in attendance, until the end result.
Last year, Rajkumar ousted Moore for the title and $350,000 prize. The outcome was different on Wednesday, as Moore got his revenge against Rajkumar in a relatively short match when his diamond flush topped Rajkumar’s two pair on the final hand. Moore earned $147,200 plus a $10,000 LAPC Main Event Seat for the victory. The Main Event got underway on Friday and is part of Season 8 of the World Poker Tour (WPT).
“Winning was just very relieving,” said the 26-year-old Moore. “There was a lot of pressure on me. I’d have lost a lot of respect for myself if I had lost again. I’m glad it didn’t take too long so the pressure didn’t mount too much. But sitting in my hotel room as I saw how Vivek worked his way through the loser’s bracket, I had a feeling we’d be meeting up again.”
This year’s $10,000 Heads-Up event drew only 39 entrants compared to 111 in 2009, but the accomplishment by Moore and Rajkumar was nevertheless astonishing. Moore defeated Erick Lindgren, Scott Fischman, Frank Kassela, and Anthony Guetti en route to the final table, while Rajkumar had to battle his way back to the championship match by sweeping through the loser’s bracket. After an early loss, Rajkumar bested Eugene Katchalov, Thomas Gabriel, Guetti, Michael Binger, and Aaron “aejones” Jones before facing off against Moore in the final.
2010 LAPC $10K Heads-Up results:
1. Chris Moore – $147,200 + $10,000 Main Event Seat
2. Vivek Rajkumar – $78,600
3. Aaron “aejones” Jones – $47,160
4. Michael Binger – 31,440
In the LAPC Ironman Event earlier this week, Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri was the last man standing, capturing his third win of the 51-tournament series to collect $59,036. Barbieri won the winner-take-all Ironman tournament after 19 hours of play by defeating “Karate” Mike Santoro heads-up. The event went non-stop without breaks until a champion was crowned.
“I could have gone another 10 hours with the adrenalin rush of playing at the final table,” said Barbieri, 51.”My heads-up partner was fading fast, but I could have kept going.”
Barbieri took only one bathroom run during the tournament and didn’t bother eating, telling Tournament Director Matt Savage that he likes playing on an empty stomach. He also noted that he is in great shape, which helps in an Ironman format.
The Ironman victory brought Barbieri’s 2010 LAPC winnings to $136,100. Earlier in the series, he won the $545 No Limit Hold’em $200,000 Guaranteed for $54,700 and the $335 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo event for $12,970. He also took second in the $335 Seven-Card Stud tournament for $8,500 on January 25.
The L.A. Poker Classic concludes with the Main Event, which began Friday, and the $25,100 High Roller tournament, which gets underway on Sunday.
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Gavin Smith Wins Face Tattoo Prop Bet over Jeff Madsen, Joe Sebok
Why tattoo the face of one fellow poker player on your body when you can tattoo two? UB.com pro Joe Sebok will ask himself that question after losing a last longer prop bet during the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic on Friday.
The three-way prop bet featured Sebok, Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith, and young gun Jeff Madsen. Whoever was eliminated first from the $10,000 buy-in L.A. Poker Classic would tattoo the faces of the other two players on his body. That honor went to Sebok, whose aces were cracked during the third level of play on Friday to come out on the short end of the bet. On the wager, Sebok told new WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “It is so stupid. I am so embarrassed to even admit it. I feel like one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project and now I’ve done something so awful that it’s going to torment the world for so long.”
Madsen was the next player out and now must tattoo Smith’s face on his body. Smith, meanwhile, reached Day 2 of the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino, but sits with the second smallest stack in the room as play begins. Sebok’s Twitter feed was full of prop bet-related 140-character outbursts on Friday. He honorably admitted defeat, saying, “fair victory for @olegsmith, w/ @jeffmadsenobv’s bust. 1 thing is certain; i shall never drink alcohol w/ EITHER of these clowns again…”
The rumor mill at the WPT tournament indicated that Smith would accept a $20,000 buyout of the bet, while Madsen may take $15,000. However, Sebok stated on Twitter that buying out of the unique bet was not an option: “btw all, the ONLY thing worse than losing this bet and getting these fool’s ugly faces on my body is PAYING them to not do it. hell no…” Sebok let Madsen buy out of a prop bet during a previous running of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $15,000, hence Madsen’s offer.
When Madsen busted from the L.A. Poker Classic, his Twitter feed was equally lively Madsen sought user suggestions for the pending tattoo: “Its ok, i will happily memorialize gavin forever… Any suggestions on the theme of the tat?” During play, he added, “I’m trying not to remind myself that I’m in the middle of the most retarded prop bet ever.” Madsen is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner. Smith already owns a tattoo immortalizing Sebok, as the initials “J.S.” appear on his back.
The poker community weighed in on the bet, which panned out at the Commerce Casino. Tournament Director Matt Savage chimed in, “@joesebok: @SavagePoker jeez, don’t sound so happy, jerkus… Not Happy but at least you can do radio shows this week?” Sebok co-anchors the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite” alongside Scott Huff. The series’ second season will kick off on Versus on Wednesday at 11:00pm ET. Meanwhile, Smith trumpeted his victory for all of cyberspace to see: “No tattie’s for ole GSmith, Madsen and Sebok can’t say the same!”
Upon hearing that Sebok had lost the bet and now has two new sets of ink coming his way, actress Shannon Elizabeth exclaimed via a Tweet, “@joesebok LOL-you LOST??? NO WAY! That’s huge! LOL-nice work! Haha 
” Poker publicist Lara Miller offered her own advice: “Can you get the tatts super super small? Like the head of a pin?” No indication has been given on the size of the tattoos.
Smith has been involved in some of the industry’s most memorable prop bets, including a wager with Allie Prescott during the 2006 WSOP Circuit Championship at Harrah’s New Orleans. Prescott could have been out $700,000 if Smith won the tournament, while Smith would have owed Prescott $1 million if Prescott won. In the end, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman defeated Smith heads-up in the $10,000 buy-in Circuit Championship; Prescott finished seventh.
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Mark Seif, Ben Zamani Among WPT L.A. Poker Classic Day 1 Leaders
Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif and online gamer Ben “xthesteinx” Zamani are among the leaders after one day of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. Day 2 takes place today at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.
A total of 745 players entered the $10,000 buy-in tournament, up a solid 7% from last year’s count of 696. A tent was set up outside the casino to accommodate the extra demand in a scene that was likely reminiscent of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. The top 72 players will finish in the money when the final cards are dealt on Thursday and first place will pocket $1.8 million. The minimum payout is over $18,000.
A field of 477 players will assemble on Saturday in Los Angeles. Defending champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan was one of the casualties of Friday’s action. Taking his place at a table featuring Full Tilt Poker pro Mike Matusow was none other than 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Upon the UB.com pro arriving at his new digs, Matusow welcomed him with the following line: “Welcome to the table. You’re now the worst player at the worst table in the room.”
The Commerce Casino spent the day buzzing about the now-infamous prop bet with Gavin Smith, “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, and Jeff Madsen. The trio agreed on a creative last longer bet in which the first player to bust from the L.A. Poker Classic had to adorn tattoos of the other two players’ faces. The second player to bust had to ink a tattoo of the remaining player’s face. Sebok saw his aces cracked during Level 3 play and was the first musketeer eliminated. Then, it was Madsen’s turn to go. Accordingly, Smith came out on top of one of the wildest prop bets ever conducted. Whether a buyout of the bet will occur remains to be seen.
Heading into Day 2, Masa Kagawa paces the field with a stack of 124,000 chips. He’ll head to Table 4 on Saturday and will be keeping a watchful eye out for Seif, who holds 122,000 chips. Seif, a sponsored pro of the CEREUS Network site Absolute Poker, is a two-time bracelet winner whose last piece of hardware came in 2005 in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s company will include Victory Poker pro Keith Gipson, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, Nick Binger, and 2009 WSOP Europe bracelet winner J.P. Kelly.
Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu, fresh off helping promote the site’s first ever North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop on U.S. soil at the Venetian, doubled up with pocket kings at the Commerce Casino on Day 1. His cowboys held against an opponent’s pocket jacks to move him to 40,000 in chips. Negreanu finished the day with a stack of 29,075, good for 223rd in the room. He appears on the leaderboard in elite company, however, as also holding around 29,000 chips are Erik Seidel, Gavin Griffin, Matt Glantz, Tuan Le, and NAPT High-Roller Bounty Shootout third place finisher Joe Cassidy.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic heading into Day 2:
1. Masa Kagawa – 124,575
2. Mark Seif – 122,025
3. Charles Dolan – 120,500
4. Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani – 115,000
5. Naoya Kihara – 104,100
6. Chansung Choi – 100,350
7. Shawn Buchanan – 100,225
8. Hieu Luu – 98,250
9. Cary Katz – 97,475
10. Eugene Katchalov – 95,675
Notable names that appear in the top 50 include:
21. David Singer – 73,525
24. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson – 72,125
31. Robert Mizrachi – 68,575
32. Darus Suharto – 68,275
39. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply – 64,200
40. Chau Giang – 63,250
41. Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke – 63,075
44. Keith Gipson – 61,175
45. Vanessa Rousso – 60,900
46. David “WhooooKidd” Baker – 60,725
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest L.A. Poker Classic coverage.
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Poker2Nite Moves to Versus for Season 2
The UB.com sponsored poker news show “Poker2Nite” has seen its final new episode air on cable station Fox Sports Net. Season 2 of the franchise will appear on Versus, according to a post on PokerRoad.
The new season will hit television airwaves on Wednesday, March 3rd, where it will appear in the 11:00pm ET time slot. The show stars poker pro Joe Sebok and PokerRoad personality Scott Huff, who break down the latest news and events from the industry. In addition, Dana Workman offers up a satirical look at the latest poker headlines in the Weekly Misdeal. The program runs for 30 minutes and aired an original season that lasted for 13 episodes.
Now, it’s on to Versus, although no official statement has been made by show sponsor UB.com on its future. Text found in an article posted on PokerRoad explains what viewers can expect on the show’s new home: “Versus, formerly OLN, is already a regular cable stop for fans of NHL hockey, cycling, and outdoor sports like hunting and fishing, but thus far hasn’t ventured far into the world of poker. However, with Poker2Nite now in their rotation, that may all change for the better.” OLN stands for the Outdoor Life Network.
Versus is owned by cable goliath Comcast and airs over 50 National Hockey League (NHL) games every season. In addition to smash mouth hockey, Versus airs cycling, hunting, fishing, Mixed Martial Arts, Indy Car racing, bull riding, and college football. According to the network’s schedule posted on its website, two episodes of “Sports Jobs with Junior Seau” will serve as the lead-in to “Poker2Nite” next Wednesday. Following the poker show is a 30-minute program called “Whacked Out Sports.” The channel airs in stunning high-definition.
November 18th marked the first episode of “Poker2Nite” on Fox Sports Net. The show welcomed ESPN World Series of Poker (WSOP) announcer Lon McEachern to the stage. McEachern, who was fresh off a trip to watch the WSOP Main Event final table unfold in Las Vegas, told Huff and Sebok, “It’s an event now. To have that many people watching nine guys sit and play cards was incredible. To come from the obscure beginnings to where it is now has been the ride of a lifetime.”
Initial reviews of the poker news series were favorable, although many critiqued Sebok’s nervousness in front of the cameras. By the time the show welcomed UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth on December 9th during its fourth episode, Sebok was in full stride. Hellmuth announced that he had taken a break for the remainder of a rough 2009 calendar year and noted, “There is some luck. That’s what people at home don’t understand. I just have to find a way to come back in 2010 and win one or two. That’s what it’s all about.” Hellmuth is an 11-time WSOP bracelet winner, which leads all players.
Besides Hellmuth and McEachern, other “Poker2Nite” guests have included 2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas, prop better extraordinaire Gavin Smith, 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, and tournament director Matt Savage. Its final new episode, which aired on February 3rd, featured “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander, who previewed the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Recurring contributors on “Poker2Nite” included Mike Matusow, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones.
Fox Sports Net continues to air Seasons 7 and 8 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Sunday nights. The network often sees its original programming preempted due to local sporting events, including college hoops, college football, and pro contests.
We’ll have a full recap of “Poker2Nite” Season 2’s kickoff episode right here on Poker News Daily.
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bwin Announces Preliminary Fourth Quarter And Financial Year 2009 Reports
Following its acquisition of an Italian online gaming asset, the European gaming giant bwin was able to show a profit in both its fourth quarter gross revenues as well as for the Financial Year 2009.
In an announcement released this week, bwin demonstrated its dominance in the European market in all areas of its product. While the financial numbers reported would have been excellent standing alone, bwin – which acquired the Italian gaming operation Gioco Digitale in September of 2009 – was able to reap further benefits from the addition of the Italian company. From the information released, the addition of Gioco Digitale, which gave bwin a seat of operations in the Italian gaming market, will continue to be a strong part of the company.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, bwin showed increases in every area of the company. Total gross gaming revenue was up 12.9% to €132.9 over the fourth quarter of 2008’s profits of €117.7 million. The best increases came in the online poker operations, where a 35.8% increase in gross revenues to €37.6 million (over 2008’s €27.7 million) led all areas of the company. The sports betting arm of the company (up 3.3% to €66.6 million) and its casinos (up 4.8% to €20.2 million) added in to make up for the fourth quarter increase.
For the financial year 2009 overall, bwin was able to show increases in most areas of the company despite the global economic issues throughout the year. Gross gaming revenues for the year were up 6.1% to €446.6 million, vastly outpacing 2008’s final revenues of €420.9 million. Online poker once again led the way for the company, earning 26.1% more in 2009 (€118.8 million) than bwin did in 2008 (€94.2 million). While casino gaming gross revenues were up for the year in total (up 5.4% to 73.7 million), sports betting was the only area that showed a downturn, falling 3.8% for 2009 and earning €226.3 million versus 2008’s €235.4 million.
All of the numbers reported include the additional income of Gioco Digitale’s Italian citizens. Even if you take away the numbers generated by Gioco Digitale, bwin was still able to show a profit for the overall financial year of 2.8%. Where the addition of Gioco Digitale will most be felt perhaps is in the online poker room, where the company was able to push bwin’s fourth quarter numbers out of the red.
Back in September, the announcement of bwin’s purchase of Gioco Digitale rocked the online gaming world. The purchase, rumored to be in the neighborhood of €100 million (roughly $140 million U. S. at the time), was initiated by bwin to establish a foothold in Italy, where the country requires that an online gaming organization has a dedicated site for Italians to play at and must abide by established Italian gaming laws. Gioco Digitale reportedly held over 20% of the Italian market and, with the added 7% that bwin captured, makes for a formidable operation in Italy.
Estimates for the company in the future look very good, according to Yahoo! Finance UK. Through analysts’ estimates, bwin looks to earn €553.02 million in 2011, which would be approximately a 20% increase over 2009 numbers. At the close of trading on Friday on the Vienna Stock Exchange, bwin’s stock – traded as BWIN – was slightly down from yesterday at €40, down €1.7 from Thursday’s action.
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Alex “AJKHoosier1? Kamberis Joins Brunson 10
Online poker site DoylesRoom announced this week that Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis is the newest member of the Brunson 10, a group of up-and-coming poker stars handpicked by Doyle Brunson himself. Kamberis, a pro from Indiana, made his debut wearing DoylesRoom gear at the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Event.
Pamela Brunson, Doyle’s daughter and manager of the Brunson 10, made an official announcement via Twitter on Wednesday: “The 5th Brunson 10 member is….@ajkhoosier1. Alex Kamberis. He’s awesome! Y’all follow him!” Brunson is responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling, and managing the Brunson 10.
Kamberis, 23, was the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year (OPOY), finishing with 9,424 OPOY points and defeating runner-up Steve “gboro780″ Gross by nearly 1,500 points. Kamberis’ largest cash in 2008 came in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, where he took third place for $782,542.90. He also had a runner-up finish in the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed for $134,895. In his career, Kamberis has more than $4 million in online tournament earnings.
Kamberis told Poker News Daily, “Being associated with Doyle Brunson in any way is such a thrill for me; I basically feel like a basketball player who becomes associated with Michael Jordan and the Jumpman brand. Doyle is such a legend and I’m really humbled by the fact that he felt I was a worthy addition to the team.”
Kamberis joins Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, Amit “amak316″ Makhija, Zach “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Dani “ansky” Stern as the fifth member of the Brunson 10. The talented group will represent DoylesRoom at live events and by playing on the site. “Not only are Chris, Amit, Zach, and Dani all amazing, highly accomplished players, but they’re friends of mine and people that I have a lot of experience playing and talking with,” Kamberis told Poker News Daily. “I know that I partly owe this deal to them speaking up on my behalf – there’s a lot of mutual respect there, and it just makes things so much easier and more comfortable to just jump into this new chapter of my career.”
After earning OPOY honors in 2008, Kamberis took a lot of time off from poker in 2009, limiting his volume in both online and live tournaments. He told Poker News Daily that he began a new relationship with a girl and started backing a fairly full stable of players, reducing his time and incentive to play and travel. However, with the new DoylesRoom deal, his hunger to play has returned in 2010.
“I am finally ready for this to be my first year that I put in a fairly full live schedule,” Kamberis said. “Last year, I only played a few live tournaments and in the couple years before that, I kind of just picked where I wanted to go, but now that I have the added incentive of promoting the DoylesRoom brand, well… let’s just say you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the near future.”
DoylesRoom told Poker News Daily the site is hoping to sign a sixth Brunson 10 member very soon.
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Ashton Griffin Wins NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout
Poker pro Ashton Griffin edged out DoylesRoom personality Hoyt Corkins heads-up to win the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. The $25,000 buy-in tournament awarded a top prize of $460,000.
The final table was stacked with a mix of veterans and young guns of the industry, with one former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, Peter Eastgate, who became the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in tournament in 2008 at the tender age of 22. Joe Cada would shatter Eastgate’s record one year later. Eastgate was the first casualty of the seven-handed High-Roller Bounty Shootout final table after pushing pre-flop with pocket eights and running into Scott Seiver’s pocket jacks. Eastgate could not catch up, but he collected $75,000 for reaching the final table plus a $5,000 bounty for any player knocked out along the way.
The next to go was Brett Richey, who first doubled up with A-K against A-8. On the following hand, he looked down at A-Q and pushed again. Griffin made the call and showed K-Q of clubs, giving Richey a commanding lead pre-flop and a tantalizing opportunity for another double up. The board read 4-4-4-7, setting Richey up for success, but a king on the river gave Griffin the win.
Young gun Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who earned his online moniker after playing an inordinate number of suited cards as a beginner in poker, pushed all-in from the small blind with Q-10 and was up against Seiver’s A-J of clubs. The flop gave Seiver top pair and a flush draw to boot; Seiver won the pot with a boat. Jaka landed in fifth place in the made-for-television tournament.
Seiver then pushed with Q-10 and ran into Corkins’s A-K. Corkins turned two pair to seal the win in the hand and Seiver, a WSOP bracelet winner, was eliminated from contention. Corkins had doubled through Seiver just prior to the latter’s final hand with pocket jacks against Seiver’s wired pair of fives. Corkins turned a set to send Seiver’s chip stack plummeting.
Joe Cassidy was eliminated from the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout after moving all-in from the small blind with A-2 of diamonds. Griffin, sitting in the big blind, woke up with A-9 and made the call. A nine came on the flop and Cassidy was ousted. Entering heads-up play in Las Vegas, Griffin held a 2:1 chip lead over Corkins, who is fresh off a win in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship.
Two hands into heads-up play, a winner was determined. Corkins called all-in with 9-3 on a flop of 4-5-9. However, Griffin held 9-8, out-kicking Corkins and handing him the final table’s winner-take-all $460,000 grand prize. He cashed in a Pot Limit Omaha preliminary event during the 2009 WSOP Europe for £15,000. One year prior, Griffin landed in seventh in the Latin American Poker Tour’s (LAPT) San Jose, Costa Rica stop for $29,000.
All was not lost for Seiver, however, who collected a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerStars for knocking out the most number of players. Seiver single-handedly sent all six of his opponents at his first round table to the rails and two more at the finale for a total of eight.
Four hours of coverage on ESPN2 will be dedicated to the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event. The action kicks off on April 19th and will air according to the following schedule:
April 19th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
Next up for the NAPT is a trip to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The $5,000 buy-in NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event kicks off on April 7th and runs through the 11th.
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FTOPS Main Event Winner JackQKA Denies Being Underage, Backed
The winner of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) Main Event, JackQKA, has denied being 16 years-old and having a backer, according to a thread on the popular forum TwoPlusTwo. JackQKA remains atop the FTOPS XV Main Event leaderboard.
In a thread posted on Tuesday afternoon on TwoPlusTwo, JMaverick, who had joined on the same day, lashed out at the FTOPS XV Main Event winner. He explained that last December, he noticed JackQKA playing on ESPN’s poker site. JMaverick decided to let his new pet project have a go at a few MTTs and the student racked up $1,000 in just three events. JMaverick promptly staked JackQKA until the latter had built his own bankroll and then the two parted ways.
In October, JackQKA requested additional backing and JMaverick purportedly transferred $2,500. He wrote, “I had 50% of him on all of his tournaments though until he paid me back.” JackQKA took home $237,000 for winning the FTOPS XV Main Event and JMaverick demanded $115,000, or roughly 50% of the haul. JackQKA allegedly said no, which prompted the following rant from JMaverick: “JackQKA first of all is only 16 Years Old, his parents have no clue he plays online poker… Jack I am telling you I will personally call them and tell them there gonna need legal representation because if I dont see $115,000 in my account by 12AM this will turn into a legal issue!”
On Wednesday, JackQKA responded on TwoPlusTwo, claiming that he’s 24 years-old and has never been backed during his poker career. The winner, whose real name is Jack, added, “I have been playing poker seriously for about 2 and a half years, mainly on pstars under sn jackellwood but also on ftp as jackqka and on absolute as ellwoodinho. For most of this time ive been a low-mid stakes mtt grinder with reasonable success. On Sunday I had by a long way the best results ive ever had and for some reason someone has decided to post a load of bs about me.”
About an hour after his original post, the accuser seemed to rescind his desire to seek legal recourse. After talking to his lawyer, JMaverick confessed, “I made a mistake outing him and there was no official legal agreement in place. This is now a private matter. I made a mistake posting on here! I may have screwed myself out of getting my money and if I do not get it I know the time will come when I will ship one of these.” JackQKA goes by the name “Ellwoodinho” on TwoPlusTwo and claimed that instead of arguing whether or not he owed JMaverick $115,000, he was out partying to celebrate his FTOPS Main Event win.
Meanwhile, JMaverick continues his search for $115,000. Yesterday around 4:00pm ET, he wrote, “I will try to talk to the kid when they come on either myspace or facebook tonight,” but JMaverick has not provided any further update as of 1:30pm ET on Thursday. The tournament had a $535 prize pool and was the largest FTOPS Main Event ever held, weighing in at 5,645 players.
Some posters cleverly responded with clips from “Bad Boys,” while TwoPlusTwo posters tried to squash rumors that JMaverick had actually played in the FTOPS Main Event and was merely seeking to move up the pay ladder as a result of a disqualification. TwoPlusTwo poster “zeppy” explained, “The original poster JMaverick of this thread is one of the higher place finishers in the FTOPS and started this thread to try to get FullTilt to escalate its normal procedures into an investigation and subsequent disqualification of JackQKA in order to move up one place in the payout award for the FTOPS tournament.” No user named JMaverick appears on the FTOPS XV leaderboard and zeppy later retracted his claims.
A source close to Full Tilt told Poker News Daily that following the FTOPS XV Main Event, site officials checked for multi-accounting and verified JackQKA’s ID. He passed with flying colors.
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Poker In Twitter: NAPT Bounty Shootout, Matusow Versus Bellande, and Hellmuth in Playgirl
For many in the poker world, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at the Venetian has been their home base for the past week. While the Main Event wrapped up last night with Tom Marchese taking the championship, the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout was in full swing and many top pros were a part of the action. The Tweets from those involved let the poker community know how they were doing while the tournament was in play.
Two UB.com pros let their fans know who they would be facing during the Shootout tournament. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok seemed ready for action when he Tweeted, “my tbl for 25k tomorrow: Phil Laak/Justin Bonomo/David Williams/Joe Cassidy/Yevgeny Timoshenko/Tommy Vedes. lots of potential for fireworks.” Unfortunately for Sebok, he was unable to make a run at the Shootout table, where the eventual winner has to defeat his or her entire table to move on, and was knocked out early by Bonomo. “ZeeJustin” was eventually busted by Cassidy, who moved on to the final table by eliminating four of his six opponents.
Annie Duke was at the felt for the $25,000 Bounty Shootout and found it strange that all the ladies in the event were on the same table. “Of the 3 women entered into tomorrow’s $25K event 3 are at the same table. Weird,” Duke said in her Tweet. “I am playing with Jennifer Tilly and Vanessa Rousso.” Duke would have a strong run at the table, battling with Bellagio Cup V runner up Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka for quite some time before succumbing. “The-Toilet” was responsible for knocking out all three ladies and top pro J.C. Tran on his way to the final table.
One player who tweeted his way to victory was 2010 World Poker Tour (WPT) Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins. Corkins has been on a roll as of late and Tweeted on his opponents, “Phil Hellmuth and Greg Raymer at my table.” While Corkins didn’t tweet during the event, Hellmuth picked up the slack with running reports. “Doubled up to average stack blinds 300-600,” informed the “Poker Brat.” “I open 1700 on button w/ A-K, Hoyt shoves w/ 6-4 in BB for my last 13k, K-9-3-5, then 6, whew!” Hellmuth was quite critical of his play later in the event, however, Tweeting, “Bad laydown!! Bad reads 2day! JDuthie had 10h-9h when I mucked A-K pre-flop! I let them steal my blinds & made a stand w KJ when JD had AK.” Duthie would make a run at winning the table, but Corkins defeated him to move on to the final table.
Away from the Shootout, players were on the cash game tables, with Mike Matusow and Jean-Robert Bellande going to battle. Matusow sought out Bellande, Tweeting, “How is it that idiot @brokelivingjrb seems to be winning everyday? I have to go see what kind of SUPER IDIOTS he’s playing against.” Apparently “The Mouth” found Bellande and had a tough night on the felt. Bellande Tweeted later in the night, “@themouthmatusow is lecturing Eli after a brutal beat. Lol. “You play so f’n bad!” Eli giggling. He he. Poker is great.”
While not participating in any of the action in Las Vegas, Lacey Jones and “Hollywood” Dave Stann made notable Tweets this week. In a personal note to her Tweeps, Lacey commented, “Lacey fact: 1 year in Girl Scouts I sold more cookies than any other girl in Texas. I got 3 badges and bragging rights! Girl Scouts rock!” Stann made his way home from playing, but wasn’t particularly pleased. “Hollywood” noted in his Tweet, “Thanks, 4 am Hollywood Park valet guy, for smoking so much g**d**n weed b4 getting my car that I’m driving home getting a contact high.”
Finally, offering up their knowledge in Tweet form was Poker Royalty’s top poker agent Brian Balsbaugh. Apparently in response to critiques of this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship lineup, Balsbaugh gave the poker community insight into the selection process when he Tweeted, “If U R wondering how players with razor thin poker achievements make NBC Head’s Up, it’s b/c their sponsor’s buy commercials.” Balsbaugh also had perhaps the scariest Tweet of the Week when he let his Tweeps know, “@Phil_Hellmuth told me he’d listen to a Playgirl offer “I’d get in best shape of my life, it might be fun.”
With the L.A. Poker Classic starting on Friday, the poker world should be hopping this weekend and the Tweets should be flowing. Poker News Daily continues to watch out for the top names in the game and gather their various thoughts. Poker News Daily is a part of the world of Twitter also, so be sure to add @pokernewsdaily for the latest information on the world of poker and the Twitter scene.
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Double or Nothing Sit-and-Gos: Common Mistakes
Way back in the year two thousand nine, I wrote an article laying out basic strategy for Double or Nothing (DoN) Sit-and-Go tournaments. I had taken a break from them for a little while, just to mix up my game, but this month, I have gotten back into them full force. While it does seem that the competition in these tourneys has gotten tougher, there are still people who routinely make the dumbest mistakes imaginable. Thankfully, this has not only allowed me to make a few bucks, but it also gave me a topic for this article: common mistakes in Double or Nothing Sit-and-Go’s.
Playing Too Many Hands Early
Anyone who has studied Sit-and-Go strategy knows that it is generally a good idea to play fairly tight in the early stages of the tournament. So, when I say that the most common mistake I see Double or Nothing players make is playing too many hands early, it sounds rather obvious. But I’m not talking about playing suited connectors or one-gappers too frequently. I’m talking about playing anything but the most premium of hands during the first couple levels.
To give an example, it makes perfect sense to play any pair early on in a regular Sit-and-Go, as long as you’re not calling gigantic raises or anything with, say, deuces. You could flop a set and potentially win a significant pot. But it’s different in a Double or Nothing. Most players are not going to stack off to you if you flop a monster. While there will always be a couple donks at the table, most of the players will have at least some idea that tighter is better. It is less likely that someone with top pair is going to get all their chips in post-flop in a Double or Nothing than it is in a standard tournament.
Even strong hands like A-Q, A-J, and Tens are suspect in the first couple rounds. When you start tossing chips around with those hands, you are getting yourself in too deep when it is likely that only those with better hands are going to tangle with you.
Calling too Much
Double or Nothings are interesting in that at first glance, the value of chips seems counterintuitive. Players who are new to these games will think that since it’s easier to cash when half the table makes the money, chips are not valuable. After all, you can have one ante left and still win. But in reality, chips are more valuable in a DoN than they are in a regular Sit-and-Go.
Why? Because DoNs are all about survival. They aren’t about chip accumulation. In a regular Sit-and-Go, it can be well worth it to make some speculative calls in the hopes of scooping a gigantic pot, as the goal is to build a large chip stack and outlast every single one of your opponents. There is an extra reward for coming in first place rather than second and second rather than third. In a DoN, while accumulating chips definitely helps (I won’t turn down an easy chip stack double-up), you don’t need to collect all the chips to win. All you need to do is to survive.
I often see players ignoring this fact and making loose calls in DoNs, particularly in the middle stages. What this does is whittle your stack down very quickly when the reward for hitting your hand isn’t necessarily that great. Say you’re down to 1,200 chips from the starting 1,500 and at the 50/100 blind level, you decide to call a pre-flop raise to 300. You flop a solid draw and decide to call another 300 chip bet on the flop. Here’s the problem. What if the turn is a brick? You’re down to 600 chips and pretty much have to bail on the hand. And typically at this stage, there are still eight players left in a ten player DoN, so you don’t have much chance to get past three more players.
Remember, you need to leave yourself some fold equity. 600 chips might give you that, but at that point, you will need to find a hand worth pushing, and find it fast. In those middle stages, you really should not be entering a pot without raising. The blinds and antes are very much worth stealing and you aren’t going to be able to get them by calling. All you need to do is survive. Blind stealing can help you do this, but you can’t go losing your fold equity by making iffy calls all over the place.
Feeling Obligated to Call an All-in
I see this one a lot. We’re down to six players, with five getting paid, and there’s one very big stack who keeps calling the all-ins of the short stacks, no matter what his hole cards are. He does it because he feels that he is obligated, not only as the big stack, but often as the last player left to act, to knock that final player out of the game. To me, that’s silly. If you have a significant chip advantage on the bubble, just sit back and watch the others sweat out the all-ins. You’re going to be safe for several orbits. There is no extra prize for knocking out the last person. If you have a monster, sure, try to end the game right there, but there’s no need to call with any two cards.
What really tilts me is when middle stacks call off most of their chips with garbage or marginal hands just to try to eliminate that sixth place player. In a regular Sit-and-Go, you might take a chance on what you think may be a coin flip in order to put yourself in a position to win, but in a DoN, I try not to call an all-in unless I feel good about my chances of being way ahead. It’s not worth it. Let someone else take the chance.
Not Checking Down
I really didn’t believe I would ever see this in a Double or Nothing, but I have. The best part is that about ten minutes before I wrote this, it happened at my table. And it wasn’t the first time for me. I have actually been in a tournament that, when it was down to six players (again, five got paid), a short stack went all-in, two players called, and one of them bet at some point post-flop. Did I facepalm? Yes. Was I mad because I was also a short stack? Definitely.
Come on people, this isn’t a difficult concept to master. Places one through five all pay the same. In fact, there’s not really a first through fifth place, as nobody ever gets knocked out after sixth. When that sixth place finisher is eliminated, the player with 5,000 chips wins the exact same amount of money as the player with one chip. If you ever find yourself calling an all-in with another opponent, check it down. Check it down, check it down, check it down. It does you no good at all to steal the pot from the other caller. If you win the pot, you double your buy-in. If the other caller wins the pot, you double your buy-in. The match ends in both scenarios. Those extra chips you might win by forcing the other guy off his hand are meaningless. The way you don’t double your buy-in is if the short stack wins the pot and the more players he has to go to showdown against the worse chance he has to do so.
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