EPT Berlin Robbery: Kevin MacPhee Appears on Early Show
The weekend robbery of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin event has garnered headlines around the world. On Monday morning, the tournament’s champion, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, appeared on CBS’ “Early Show” to break down the heist.
In one of the most bizarre events ever to take place during a poker tournament, masked gunmen stormed the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin, nabbing a portion of the EPT’s prize pool. According to a Monday update issued by the Associated Press, the four thieves are still on the run and police have “no clear leads.” The perpetrators robbed the poker tournament’s registration area just after 2:00pm local time on Saturday in a midday assault and, according to the news outlet, escaped with a “low six-digit figure” of cash into a nearby mall. No one was harmed.
MacPhee told the millions of “Early Show” viewers live from Berlin, “It was one of the craziest days that I’ve ever experienced. There was a lot of panic in the room that day and then we were asked to come back and play for €1 million. It was very unusual.” Video of the robbery aired concurrently with MacPhee’s interview. A few hours later, participants returned to the tournament room and resumed their pursuit for the €1 million top prize.
MacPhee was seated at the feature table with the scuffle began and recalled, “We weren’t really sure what was going on. I just saw a wave of people headed for the back exit. There was a lot of panic and the actual TV stage started to collapse. When that started to happen, all of the players got up out of their seats to see what was happening.” The commotion began out in the hallway and players made their way to safety in the tournament room, some seeking cover under tables.
The tournament’s eventual winner knew that someone with a gun was likely to blame for the near riot: “My first instinct was just to get down on the ground. I figured that only someone with a gun in the room could cause that kind of panic. The gunmen didn’t even enter the poker room. They stayed near the tournament registration area, which was where the cash was. Thankfully, they didn’t come into the poker room and make it worse than it already was.” The tournament drew nearly 500 players.
News of the rare casino heist has made waves across the world’s largest media outlets. Media outlets including the Sydney Morning Herald, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Toronto Star have all reported on the story, as have a variety of poker news outlets. According to The Local and reprinted in the New York Times, another assailant may be to blame: “Because the well-timed heist bore the signs of an amateur job, police told Berlin daily Berliner Zeitung that they now believe there was at least one other accomplice already inside the hotel who gave a signal to begin the raid.” Whether the accomplice worked for the Grand Hyatt Hotel remains to be seen.
Despite the financial loss, all players received their prize money and the tournament carried on to a conclusion. As for what MacPhee did to celebrate his rather eventful live win, the online poker player told “Early Show” viewers, “Sundays are our busiest day, so… I celebrated by playing more poker. I think I’ll get out in Berlin the next couple of nights and try to celebrate a little bit more.”
Check out the complete CBS News interview with Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee.
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Annie Duke Breaks Down National Heads-Up Poker Championship Win
Over the weekend, UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke became the first female winner ever of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will air next month on NBC. Duke sat down to discuss her monumental win.
Poker News Daily: Your breakthrough match came against 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Paul Wasicka, which featured you drawing out with A-10 against pocket aces and 8-5 against pocket jacks. Talk about the roller coaster of a match.
Annie Duke: I had Paul Wasicka ground down and then he doubled through me. We were about even in chips and then I was slightly behind before I won with A-10 against aces. I sucked out and made a Broadway straight and he was crippled. I was horrified when I won that hand. It was an epically long battle. He said that whichever way this goes, we could both sleep well. He was so gracious and it was an amazing match.
PND: In a Guest Column on Poker News Daily, you lamented that neither Erik Seidel nor you had much success in the invite-only tournament. How surreal was it to be playing against each other for the title?
Annie Duke: That was storybook. After I won my match against Wasicka and Erik won his match, we talked on the phone. I realized how close we were to playing each other in the finals. What an incredible feeling to know that you’re in the finals and whatever the result was, you’d be very happy. He said that this was the happiest he’s ever been coming in second and I’d have felt the same way. It was a very relaxing feeling and not the same as in the other matches. Erik Seidel might have the best poker mind out there.
PND: You drew 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon in the second round. How is Moon’s game?
Annie Duke: Darvin Moon was really nice. He’s just a good guy and he was talking about how happy he was to be there and how he’s living the dream. It was really pleasant to play with him. He knows that he doesn’t have the game of a player like Huck Seed. I was happy to draw him, of course, but he wasn’t a pushover.
PND: You’re a former WSOP Tournament of Champions winner and have also captured a bracelet. Where does this rank among your various poker accomplishments?
Annie Duke: This is second to the Tournament of Champions. I’ve always ranked the Tournament of Champions above the bracelet and I would put this above the bracelet as well. It’s the timing. Given that I had just taken five months off, the timing was big. I feel like I’m standing with some pretty cool winners of this event, so I am pretty happy. I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with Huck Seed, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Chris Ferguson, and Paul Wasicka. To have gotten to play Erik in the final was a really memorable experience.
In the Tournament of Champions, I was three-handed with my brother and Phil Hellmuth. Now, being able to play with one of my best friends and be among those winners is incredible. I think I needed the win and have been really focused since I got back into poker. I had a nice run at the L.A. Poker Classic leading up to this.
PND: In the L.A. Poker Classic High-Roller event, you were seated alongside Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka. Tell us about his poker skill set.
Annie Duke: Playing heads-up against him helped me in the event I won. He’s very good at leveraging the chip stacks of his opponents. He’s good at changing up his play and I watched what he was doing. I learned a lot from my match with him.
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Greg “FBT” Mueller, Yevgeniy Timoshenko Among WPT Bay 101 Day 1A Leaders
Two players on recent hot streaks are among the chip leaders after Day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. A total of 17 bounties took to the field on Day 1A, with 25 more expected today.
Greg “FBT” Mueller won two bracelets during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), coming out on top in the $10,000 World Championship of Limit Hold’em for $460,000 and a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000. Moreover, he made a third final table, taking seventh place in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud for $53,000. All told, Mueller logged one of the most successful WSOP showings in history and is up to his winning ways once again in San Jose, California, the site of Bay 101.
Mueller sent Shooting Star and recent WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins out on Monday. The DoylesRoom pro was all-in before the flop with A-K, but Mueller, who is also a Shooting Star, picked up pocket aces. The board ran out Q-8-4-9-9 and Corkins signed over a commemorative shirt. Mueller also laid claim to the $5,000 cash bonus. The former hockey player has the second largest chip stack after Day 1A at 132,800, trailing only chip leader Vanna Tea’s 143,900.
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko is the reigning WPT Championship winner and also took down the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million. In 2008, Timoshenko found the winner’s circle of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau Main Event for $500,000. Timoshenko, a Shooting Star, owned the fourth largest stack when play wrapped up for the night on Monday at 97,600. A total of 53 players remained of the 136 who entered.
Timoshenko dropped a portion of his stack late in the day. He led out for 6,900 into a pot of 10,000 on a board reading K-8-4-6-5. Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu made the call and turned over 5-4 of hearts for two pair. Timoshenko had K-J for top pair and was a victim of a less-than-stellar river card. The hand boosted Negreanu to 50,000 in chips, but he ended the day with just 19,600, the 48th largest stack.
The first Shooting Star to depart was T.J. Cloutier, who shoved on a flop of A-J-4 holding pocket queens. Wade Griffith held A-J in the hand for top two pair and Cloutier failed to improve on the turn or river. Griffith finished in 42nd place after Day 1A with a stack of 30,000 chips.
Besides Mueller, Timoshenko and Negreanu, the Shooting Stars who survived the day were Mike Matusow (39th place with 35,100), Freddy Deeb (41st place with 30,800), and Steve Brecher (51st place with 10,800). Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first of two starting days at Bay 101:
1. Vanna Tea – 143,900
2. Greg Mueller – 132,800
3. Oddie Dardon – 105,500
4. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 97,600
5. Joseph Elpayaa – 87,300
6. Scott Montgomery – 84,800
7. Chris “Fox” Wallace – 84,100
8. Bruce Kramer – 81,200
9. Daniel LaFrance – 79,400
10. Tyson Marks – 74,000
When play wrapped up for the day, the action was in Level 9, where the blinds were 300-600 with an ante of 75. No Shooting Star has ever won Bay 101 since it became part of the WPT in 2004.
As an added bonus, Tea pocketed a $10,000 cash prize for leading the pack after Day 1A; the leader after Day 1B will also collect $10,000. The cards hit the air at 10:45am PT this morning.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
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Face the Ace Lawsuit Dismissed in Nevada’s Eighth District Court
On Monday, Poker News Daily learned that the Eighth District Court in Nevada dismissed a lawsuit filed by Brandon McSmith, who claimed ownership of the idea for the NBC poker game show “Face the Ace.”
McSmith can now file an appeal or seek the intervention of a federal court. McSmith told Poker News Daily that while he was disappointed in the decision, he’s optimistic an appeal will be successful: “Judge Michelle Leavitt dismissed the case on the basis that I didn’t state a claim. Leavitt has her fair share of appeals that have gone against her.”
McSmith purportedly created a show dubbed the “All Star Poker Challenge” in which five pros would take on contestants in a series of heads-up matches similar to the structure of “Face the Ace.” Each match was worth $2,000 in prize money and players who fought through all five pros would take home a trip to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. On “Face the Ace,” the top prize was $1 million and only three matches were held.
On why Leavitt may have dismissed his case, McSmith told Poker News Daily, “She didn’t want to listen to any of the evidence before her. Under Nevada procedures, you state a claim that’s plausible. I’m trying not to be negative, but it looked like it was stacked against me. I will either appeal it or file in federal court. It gives the FBI a little more time to investigate.”
The FBI became involved in the copyright infringement case late last week, when McSmith successfully contacted Arlo Devlin-Brown of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Devlin-Brown was one of the primary forces behind a $30 million online poker funds seizure last July that affected more than 24,000 players. It’s speculated that Devlin-Brown’s interest in the case may stem from the involvement of Full Tilt Poker, which sponsored “Face the Ace” and lent its pros to the program. 2009 WSOP Main Event November Niner Phil Ivey was the series’ very first pro challenger.
Poker PROductions brought “Face the Ace” to life. The production company also creates new episodes of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and is headed by Mori Eskandani. On a timeline for his next move, McSmith forecasted, “I have my people working on it right now. It’ll be less than three weeks. We’re pulling everything together. I won’t sit back and wait, but I want to make sure to cross my T’s and dot my I’s first. I’m not too worried about going to federal court. The big decision is if I want to get [Judge Leavitt's] decision overturned.”
McSmith sent a package to an FBI Special Agent containing hard copies of e-mails and other correspondence related to his claims to “Face the Ace.” The agent actually asked him why he didn’t file his copyright infringement case in federal court in the first place, an avenue that McSmith may now take. The plaintiff is a security worker at a casino in Las Vegas by trade.
“Face the Ace” debuted with a paltry 0.4 rating and a 2 share, equating to nearly 1.6 million viewers. It squared off against “America’s Most Wanted” on FOX, the Rachel McAdams movie “Red Eye” on ABC, and a re-run of “Numb3rs” on CBS, falling short in the ratings against all three programs. The series, which featured host Steve Schirripa of “The Sopranos” fame, has not yet been renewed for a second season. McSmith noted that despite the relative failure of the show, its worldwide syndication and being its creator make a lawsuit worthwhile.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest developments in the “Face the Ace” lawsuit.
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High Stakes Poker: $1 Million Vegetarian Prop Bet Agreed To
Large pots were few and far between on Sunday night’s episode of the GSN series “High Stakes Poker.” Instead, a vegetarian prop bet between Full Tilt Poker pros Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan took center stage.
After being discussed non-stop for a half-hour of the 60-minute program, the vegetarian prop bet was finally agreed upon. Ultimately, Ivey would become a vegetarian for one year for $1 million. In a sit-down interview with “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott, Ivey told viewers, “I was thinking about doing it for a while, so this is an added incentive.” Dwan was confident that he’d win the bet, but nonetheless expressed a degree of doubt: “He’s got a lot of will power and he might go out and prove me wrong.” Any creature that moves is off limits for Ivey.
Back on the felts, Ivey proved why he’s one of the top names in the game by raising to $3,000 pre-flop with 7-2 and receiving four callers. The flop came 4-9-A with two hearts and Ivey put in a $12,000 continuation bet. Italian poker stud Dario Minieri, who held 10-8 of hearts, came along to see another ace hit the turn. Ivey bet out $30,000 and Minieri folded. “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan commented, “Most players would turn over the 7-2 there, but not Phil Ivey.”
Then, Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu raised to $3,000 with 9-6 of hearts and Eli Elezra came along with 9-8 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-7, giving both players straight draws, and Negreanu bet $5,500. Elezra pushed the action to $13,000 and Negreanu came along to see a king on the turn. Elezra checked and Negreanu accidentally exposed his nine while reaching for a stack of $100 bills. He promptly checked and an eight hit on the river, filling his straight. Negreanu bet $20,000 and Elezra tanked before folding. Negreanu told the table, “That was the weirdest hand I’ve ever played.”
Minieri was overly active throughout the episode and set the tone after Gus Hansen made it $3,500 pre-flop with A-8. Minieri, sensing weakness, made it $11,500 with A-9. Then, fireworks went of, as Hansen re-raised to $35,500 and Minieri shoved all-in for $213,000. Hansen quickly mucked, leaving Kaplan to remark, “That’s either a good read or a moment of insanity.” Negreanu would later try to force an all-in from Minieri when “Kid Poker” held pocket aces, but the Italian instead folded.
In one of the larger pots of the episode, which aired at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on GSN, Ivey raised to $3,000 with pocket eights, Negreanu called with A-7 of spades, and Dwan called with Q-J. The flop came A-J-4, and Ivey checked his pocket pair. Negreanu led out for $8,000 with top pair, while Dwan made the call with middle pair. Ivey got out of the way and a queen hit the turn to improve Dwan to two pair. Negreanu fired out a bet of $18,000 and Dwan called. The duo both checked a river five, shipping the $63,800 pot to Dwan.
In the final hand of the hour, Elezra raised to $3,000 with 9-7, Negreanu called with Q-9, and Dwan called with K-Q. The flop fell K-8-10 and Elezra put in a $7,200 continuation bet with an open-ended straight draw. Dwan came along with top pair to bring a jack on the turn, filling Eleza’s straight. However, with three spades now on the board, the action went check-check. The river was a six and Dwan bet $8,400. Elezra raised to $28,400 and Dwan released his hand.
Next time, four “High Stakes Poker” players get felted and an epic hand brews between Dwan and Ivey. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET on GSN.
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Berlin Poker Robbery Committed by Small-Time Crooks
In an article authored by the German news outlet Spiegel, Police Chief Rainer Wendt labeled the four armed gunmen who plundered the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Berlin over the weekend “small-time crooks.”
New details on the buzz worthy event have dribbled in since the incident took place on Saturday afternoon at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the German metropolis. Text found on the PokerStars Blog shed light on the weaponry used in the high-stakes heist, which has captured worldwide headlines: “The police investigation so far has shown that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used.” The tournament’s organizers added that the amount of cash removed was “substantially less” than numbers circulating cyberspace.
According to Spiegel, the security force at the casino was unarmed and those who responded to the distress call were small in numbers. Despite ending with no injuries, the robbery may spark a revamp in casino security. Wendt offered up the following helpful advice to the German news media: “A few guards and a hotel intern are not enough. That was really quite negligent.”
EPT Berlin Main Event winner Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee echoed the questionable security practices in a post on the popular poker forum PocketFives.com: “I honestly thought we should have stopped play. It was a pretty freaky thing to have happen, especially considering the poor planning of the tournament area… no exits, lots of panic, stampeding, screaming, and crying.” It was the EPT’s first stop in Berlin.
A 36 year-old security guard on the premises in Berlin, Roman, told another German news outlet that he made the attackers pay for their misgivings: “That guy for sure has trouble swallowing now.” Another attacker, purportedly armed with a machete, ran at Roman, who threw him to the ground. Roman recounted the media: “He did not say a word. As a civilized Middle-European, you don’t just break the necks of people like this, so I tried to [keep] him on the ground.” Roman added that he wasn’t carrying a weapon at the time because tournament officials asked him not to.
A separate Spiegel articled hinted that €800,000 may have been lifted from the scene and a PokerNews.com reporter dubbed the event “The blackest day in the history of German poker. Probably the biggest nightmare at a poker event that world has seen so far.” Claudia Sommerey, who was outside of the tournament room at the time, explained to Spiegel that security personnel subdued the bandits with ropes making up the line in the tournament registration area. She hid under a table before frantically calling police.
An article that appeared on CBS News revealed that following the robbery, the gunmen exited through a shopping mall. Appearing on CBS’ “The Early Show” on Monday morning, MacPhee recalled, “There was a lot of panic in the room that day and then we were asked to come back and play for €1 million. It was very unusual.” MacPhee was seated at the television table when the skirmish occurred. He noted, “The actual TV stage started to collapse.” Hands were brewing when the robbery took place, leading to chips being strewn about the tournament area as bedlam erupted. The robbery was also discussed on Monday’s edition of ESPN’s “Around the Horn.”
After a three-hour delay, the EPT Berlin Main Event resumed sans EPTLive, whose transmissions were cut off for the day. MacPhee went on to defeat Ilari Tahkokallio in the finals of the tournament on Sunday.
Police were able to collect DNA samples from one of the robbers and a bag containing €500,000 was reported to be found by a Hyatt staff member. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest EPT Berlin robbery coverage. Read more about the EPT Berlin robbery.
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Poker In Twitter: The EPT Berlin Robbery, The Oscars, and Annie Duke Wins the NHUPC
It was quite a weekend in the world of poker and some of the best in the game kept their fans up to date through their Twitter accounts. Whether across the Atlantic taking part in the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Berlin or the National Heads Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas, there was action not only on the felt, but also away from the tables.
In Berlin, a field of 945 players came to the tables for battle in the latest EPT championship, with defending champion Sandra Naujoks attempting back-to-back wins. What made worldwide news, however, was the attempted robbery on Saturday when play was down to 24 players. The reports zoomed around the globe, with accompanying footage, and the players tried to let their fans know through Twitter what was occurring.
Noted online and live player Shaun Deeb found a report from a German outlet that showed some of the attempted robbery in progress. While he wasn’t in Berlin for the event, the video Deeb found showed that security at the event was vigilant in repelling the audacious attack. “Most badass security guy taking the money back from robbers,” Deeb Tweeted along with the Tweetvid he provided of the incident.
One of the players who was in Berlin for the tournament was English poker professional Vicky Coren. At first, she apologized to her followers for a lack of an article in The Observer (the English newspaper she writes for) by tweeting, “No Observer column from me today, I was away in Berlin and nothing much happened there to write about.” Scant moments later, Coren chirped again, “- apart from the million-dollar armed raid. It only just occurred to me today that might be news. I’m such a bad journalist.”
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and the money taken was far less than some media outlets’ estimates. The United States’ Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee went on to capture the title on Sunday, defeating Finland’s Ilari Tahkokallio for the €1 million first place prize.
While the poker world was keeping up on the happenings in Berlin, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship was in full swing throughout the weekend. The 64 player invitational tournament was the main focus of several of the poker players on Twitter and they kept their fans fully updated throughout the run of the tournament.
Playing injured for the first round of the event was last year’s runner-up in the tournament, Vanessa Rousso. What she thought was a sprained foot was much worse. “I went for x-ray just now and turns out my foot is broken, right fourth metatarsal… bummer,” “Lady Maverick” Tweeted to her followers. As of yet, Rousso hasn’t stated if the injury will affect her poker schedule.
Another player who was playing at less than 100% was the legendary Doyle Brunson. Originally, it was believed that the two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner would have to bypass the event due to recent dental surgery, but the longtime Texas road gambler felt strong enough to compete. He went on for one of the best runs he has had in the history of the tournament and was followed on Twitter by many in the poker community.
“Down to the sweet 16 in the NBC heads up tourney. Going to play Annette, I hate playing against women. Hope she doesn’t bat her eyes at me,” Brunson jokingly Tweeted prior to meeting up with the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Annette Obrestad. After vanquishing the young phenom, the Brunson clan erupted with Tweets. Son Todd, who was in attendance for the tournament, chirped, “Doyle beats Annette 15 for a third time!,” while daughter Pamela responded with, “My Dad @texdolly is final 8 in the NBC heads up! Go Dad Go!” Unfortunately, the Elite Eight was as far as “Texas Dolly” would go, falling to Dennis Phillips in that round.
The final match of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship was a dream for those who follow Twitter. On one side was Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke, who uses Twitter constantly, versus eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, whose Twitter account is one of the most notable in the industry. The battle over the Twitterverse started off with a jewel from Seidel about the Caesars Palace tournament room as he Tweeted, “Temps so cold in room… guessing this event is part of NBCs extended Winter Olympics coverage.”
Other players in the Twitterscape provided their thoughts to the event as it unfolded, with Alex Outhred commenting, “There are few combinations of 2 players that have a greater mutual respect for each others poker minds than @Erik_Seidel and @RealAnnieDuke.” Seidel’s Full Tilt Poker stable mate, Andy Bloch, noted in his Tweet, “Whether he finishes 1st or 2nd, @Erik_Seidel will have earned over $10M in tournament poker, the 9th player to do so.”
As the battle wore on, Bloch was able to note a way for Duke to gain an edge over the unflappable Seidel. “Annie takes a 1-0 lead over Erik Seidel. If she wants to put Erik on full tilt she should get an orange,” Bloch Tweeted in reference to Seidel’s famous battle with Johnny Chan during the 1988 WSOP Main Event. After tying up the match, Seidel would eventually fall to Duke, but he was gracious in defeat. “Ended 2nd to Annie Duke in the NBC Heads Up. She played an outstanding match. Easiest loss of my career, very happy for her,” Seidel Tweeted at the conclusion of the tournament.
Following the activities on the poker tables this weekend, many players sat back to watch the festivities surrounding the Academy Awards. With the expanded Best Picture category and a battle between Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep for the Best Actress Oscar among the intriguing stories, the television program captured poker players’ attention. Most remarkable in the opinion of poker player Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck, however, was the appearance of 47-year-old actress Demi Moore. “”Demi Moore… what a spectacle!,” Mayrinck admired via a Tweet. “She has drank from the fountain or made a pact with the devil. I want too!” High roller Patrik Antonius also weighed in on his Oscar preferences: “rough weekend overall, but at least avatar didn’t win the awards that counted at the oscars.”
The world of poker through Twitter has become one of the best ways for fans to keep up with their favorites. Poker News Daily also is a part of the action on Twitter, so be sure to sign up to follow us at @pokernewsdaily.
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FBI Joins Face the Ace Copyright Infringement Investigation
Recently, Poker News Daily brought you the story of Brandon McSmith, who had a lawsuit pending in the Eighth District Court in Nevada charging that Poker PROductions used his idea for the NBC poker game show “Face the Ace” without compensation. Now, the FBI has become involved in the case.
McSmith told Poker News Daily that he originally created a series dubbed the “All Star Poker Challenge,” which featured five pros taking on contestants in a series of five heads-up matches. Players would win $2,000 per match and, after their fifth win, would take home a seat in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. On “Face the Ace,” three matches were held, with a top prize of $1 million up for grabs.
McSmith explained that he’s been pursuing a copyright infringement claim in Nevada. Among those law enforcement officials he contacted was Arlo Devlin-Brown of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. McSmith commented, “This week, the FBI got in touch with me twice and asked for all of the information. They’ll be launching an investigation of the copyright infringement charges.”
Back in July, the Southern District was behind a massive $30 million seizure of online poker funds destined for 24,000 players. Banks affected by Devlin-Brown’s actions included Citibank, Goldwater Bank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, and Wells Fargo. Major sites affected included Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. McSmith explained, “They’re investigating everyone. An FBI Special Agent told me to forward everything to him. I read an article about Arlo Devlin-Brown freezing the assets of online payment processors. That’s why I chose to contact him.”
Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars reimbursed players for bounced checks and other payment issues at the time and in some cases issued a 10% bonus to offset any hassle. Meanwhile, McSmith continues to pursue his claims of ownership of “Face the Ace.” He told Poker News Daily, “At a certain point in time, you get tired of people lying about this. These guys knew I wanted to prosecute them. In order to prosecute a copyright infringement charge, you have to know you’re right. I’m not hiding anything. I put it out there and they’re on notice. The FBI is involved and my intent is to prosecute.”
Poker PROductions brings shows like “Face the Ace,” GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” and NBC’s “Poker After Dark” to life. Mori Eskandani is the leading man behind Poker PROductions, but according to McSmith, Eskandani has dismissed his claims. McSmith added, “They didn’t contact me. Everything they’ve said is ridiculous and it’s a lie. It’s documented in letters and e-mails.” Besides Poker PROductions, NBC and Full Tilt Poker, which sponsored the show, have been brought into the mix.
It remains to be seen if Devlin-Brown is interested in the case because of the involvement of Full Tilt Poker, the industry’s second largest site. McSmith sent e-mail correspondence and other materials to the FBI via Next Day Air on Thursday. He originally requested $85 million, but then realized that according to Nevada state law, damages over $10,000 do not require an exact dollar figure. McSmith lamented that the situation was not resolved sooner: “Everybody could have done the right thing on this and brought me in to settle it. These guys choose to conspire and lie. When they first started denying and lying about it, I wanted to get the Feds involved.
On the future steps in the process, McSmith remarked, “The first step was printing everything out and forwarding it to them. I sent it Next Day Air, so they probably won’t get it until this week. The FBI Agent also gave me his direct line.”
“Face the Ace” featured Full Tilt Poker pros and was largely a ratings flop. It debuted with a 0.4 rating and a 2 share, the equivalent of 1.59 million viewers. The series originally aired in a Saturday night time slot in August before shifting to the afternoon.
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Annie Duke Wins 2010 National Heads Up Poker Championship
The first female champion of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship was crowned on Sunday as UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke took down the title and its corresponding $500,000 top prize.
Duke defeated eight-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the finals. She was nearly sent packing against Paul Wasicka in the round of 16, but trumped pocket aces with A-10 and pocket jacks with 8-5 of diamonds to move on. Duke beat Wasicka to face 2007 WSOP Main Event winner Jerry Yang in the Elite Eight. In the five previous installments of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Duke had only made it out of the opening round once.
Against Yang, a bevy of all-ins occurred, as her opponent doubled up with 3-6 against K-9, pocket threes against J-7, and even A-4 against A-K. Yang was finally sent to the rails holding J-3 against Duke’s A-8. The flop came A-J-2, giving Yang middle pair and Duke top pair. The turn and river were a 10 and nine, respectively, missing Yang and handing Duke a ticket to the Final Four against 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips.
After falling behind, Phillips doubled up after pushing pre-flop with K-J of diamonds. Duke called with a baby ace, A-5, and watched as the flop came K-Q-6, pushing Phillips out in front with top pair. No help came on the turn for Duke and the river improved Phillips to trips. In the final hand of the battle between Phillips and Duke, the former committed his chips with A-8 and was up against pocket sevens for a race. The board fell 9-3-2-6-4 and Duke advanced to the finals. Phillips earned $125,000 for his efforts in the invite-only poker tournament.
The finals were held in a best of three format and Duke quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the Full Tilt Poker pro. Seidel was all-in on a flush draw with 8-6 of spades on a board reading 7-K-J with two spades. Duke had A-K for top pair, top kicker and dodged spades on the turn and river to claim the first match against Seidel.
In the second match, a sizable pot brewed when Seidel flipped up the Doyle Brunson, 10-2, on a board of 2-8-K-2-4. Then, Seidel took down match number two after Duke committed her chips with K-5 against Seidel’s 7-8. The flop came 9-6-4 with two hearts and the five of hearts on turn gave Seidel a straight. Duke could win if a heart fell on the river, but instead a black nine hit to set up the rubber match.
In the final hand of the third match, Duke’s pocket nines held against Seidel’s A-2. Duke banked a half-million dollars for winning the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, while Seidel earned a $250,000 consolation prize. Seidel had never made it out of the first round of the unique bracket tournament.
In a Guest Column two weeks ago on Poker News Daily, Duke seemingly forecasted the final match-up of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship: “Erik Seidel and I were joking that we have bad records in that event. He’s a brilliant player, but has never won a match, and I’ve won one. I don’t care who I draw; I just want to win my [first round] match.”
Here were the final payouts:
1st Place: Annie Duke – $500,000
2nd Place: Erik Seidel – $250,000
3rd Place: Scotty Nguyen – $125,000
4th Place: Dennis Phillips – $125,000
5th Place: Jerry Yang – $75,000
6th Place: Doyle Brunson – $75,000
7th Place: Jason Mercier – $75,000
8th Place: Peter Eastgate – $75,000
9th Place: Paul Wasicka – $25,000
10th Place: Eli Elezra – $25,000
11th Place: Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – $25,000
12th Place: Barry Greenstein – $25,000
13th Place: Gabe Kaplan – $25,000
14th Place: Phil Laak – $25,000
15th Place: Chris Moneymaker – $25,000
16th Place: Jamie Gold – $25,000
A total of 13 former WSOP Main Event champions entered. Amazingly, nearly half of them, or six, made the top 16. Other former Main Event winners who played included Joe Cada (2009), Huck Seed (1996), Joe Hachem (2005), Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Chris Ferguson (2000), Phil Hellmuth (1989), and Greg Raymer (2004).
You can catch the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC beginning on Sunday, April 18th at Noon ET. We’re sure that the tournament will come up on this Sunday’s webcast of the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, which will feature Duke in a broadcast sponsored by Poker News Daily.
Image courtesy NBC Sports.
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Full Tilt Poker Hosts PokerGives.org Charity Tournament
On April 4th, Full Tilt Poker and PokerGives.org will team up for a $5+$5 charity tournament. Half of each player’s buy-in will build the tournament’s prize pool, while the other half will be donated to charity through PokerGives.org.
World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton, Jan Fisher, Lisa Tenner, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Linda Johnson founded PokerGives.org, which is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. PokerGives.org is the charity of choice for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame and offers an avenue for the poker community to give back. Beneficiary organizations include the Special Olympics, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Step by Step Foundation.
Poker players interested in entering the $5+$5 buy-in tournament should log into Full Tilt Poker, click over to the “Tournament” lobby, and then select “Private.” The event is listed in red and takes place on April 4th, about three weeks from now, and has the Tournament ID 137275439. The event’s password is “PokerNations,” which is sponsoring the charity contest along with the Twitter Poker Tour. Full Tilt Poker happily accepts action from the United States.
Johnson was already looking forward to bringing PokerGives.org to the virtual felts of Full Tilt, telling Poker News Daily, “You will be able to play and chat with many celebrities including Andy Bloch, T.J. Cloutier, Jena Delk, Jan Fisher, Susie Isaacs, Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, and me. To reward you for your donation, participants will have a shot at winning lots of bonus prizes, which currently have a value of more than $3,900.” The event kicks off at 2:00pm ET and promises to attract quite a crowd.
There are many prizes up for grabs, including poker sunglasses from Blue Shark Optics, a home game set from DB Dealer, a one-year subscription to Bluff Magazine, six months of poker coaching from Deuces Cracked, poker books, card protectors, a $200 gift certificate to Andrew Shirley and Company, and private coaching sessions with Johnson, Delk, PokerXFactor’s Chris “Fox” Wallace, and Michael “tuna_fish_tank” Stroh.
If that weren’t enough reason to play, entrants can also receive a one-month CardRunners Gold Subscription, Texas Hold’em strategy cards, a one-year membership to the Down to the Felt Club, a one-year subscription to Australia Poker Weekly, and a PMS PokerWear prize pack.
In order to be eligible for the barrage of bonus prizes, players should visit the PokerNations forums and post their Full Tilt user name in the tournament’s associated thread. Every player who participates will receive a one-month membership to the Down to the Felt Club, which has a retail value of $25.
This isn’t Full Tilt Poker’s first venture into the world of charity. In February, the industry’s second largest online poker site sponsored the Kandy Masquerade Charity Event at the Playboy Mansion. The gala had a price tag of $1,000 and its proceeds benefited the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The site also sent over $650,000 to the American Red Cross to benefit the victims of the massive earthquake that struck Haiti after matching $330,000 in player donations. In total, the online poker industry shipped more than $1.5 million to earthquake survivors.
In December, Full Tilt hosted the Justin Shronk Memorial Poker Tournament, which drew a crowd of 359 players to pay homage to the late poker media personality. In addition, during August’s running of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), a $120 Ante Up for Africa charity event was run. Actor Don Cheadle, who co-founded the organization along with UB.com’s Annie Duke and Norman Epstein, hosted the online poker tournament.
Visit PokerGives.org today to see how you can donate.
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