November 2008 Archives

With the sounds of Joao Barbosa winning the EPT Warsaw echoing across the poker world last weekend several thousand PokerStars.net players had their own glory in mind in the Weekly Round 2 events. These free to enter tournaments pitch the best against each other in the most competitive event of its kind online with a typical first prize reaching $276 – not bad for nothing.

Two new winners graced the winners circle last weekend. On Saturday NEGOSYO from the United States beat EKE 72 from Turkey heads-up, while Sunday’s event was won by chinjukin of Belgium, ahead of Unamr of Spain. Congratulations to them and to everyone who recorded a cash finish.

Here are the final table details...

Weekly Round 2 - Saturday November 22

1. NEGOSYO (United States) - $276.00
2. EKE 72 (Turkey) - $164.00
3. varedsoxfan7 (United States) - $100.00
4. cardpacker38 (United States) - $80.00
5. Jerbo69 (United States) - $62.00
6. chellew2 (New Zealand) - $50.00
7. Fancy123x (United States) - $39.00
8. RoyalDaantje (Netherlands) - $30.00
9. madmax2260 (United States ) - $22.20

Weekly Round 2 results - Sunday November 23

1. chinjukin (Belgium) - $276.00
2. Unamr (Spain) - $164.00
3. primobmx1 (United States) - $100.00
4. rperalta (United States) - $80.00
5. adrian432 (Argentina) - $62.00
6. customm123 (Bulgaria) - $50.00
7. VirgentBill (United States) - $39.00
8. feefee12 (Jordan) - $30.00
9. fat_tire69 (United States) - $22.20

Remember, anyone can play in the Weekly Round 2 events, provided you win a ticket in one of the many Astronomer Freerolls clearly marked in the PokerStars.net tournament lobby. Entry to those is free and provided you finish within the final number of tables shown on the tournament page you could find yourself winning a real money prize in either the Saturday or Sunday event.

It’s the best way to practice your poker skills in a unique competitive environment. Good luck, and see you at the tables.

It’s been a busy time here at Blog Towers with few of the updates you’ve come to expect, as regular readers will have noticed. But at last normal service is now resumed. In the last week an Asia Pacific Poker Tour event has concluded and a European Poker Tour event has started and finished in Poland.

So From Manila to Warsaw check out the links below to catch up on events...

APPT Manila

Day 1a comes to a close in Manila
Close to the money in Manila
Hometown heroes bound for final
Thriller in Manila

EPT Warsaw

Day 1a – Small but beautifully formed
Day 1B – Normal service is resumed
Day 2 – Reaching the money
Day 3 – Another November Nine
Final day – Birthday boy wins in Poland

Yesterday Joao Barbosa was 25-years-old and one of the hottest rising stars on the European Poker Tour. Today Joao Barbosa is 26-years-old and €367,141 richer. On the day he celebrated his birthday, the kid from Porto, Portugal, also underlined his serious talent. Barbosa's EPT record now reads: one title and two other cashes from four events played. Here is our Best Newcomer-elect.

Barbosa out-gunned one of the highest-quality final tables in recent memory, featuring the reigning EPT Prague champion Arnaud Mattern and the Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri. Minieri and Barbosa had previous. They tangled in one of the most spectacular pots of the tournament late on day two, when Minieri called a massive bluff from Barbosa with second pair, which was good against the Portuguese's seven-high. But Barbosa earned his revenge today, dispatching Minieri in third place with pocket nines to the Italian's sevens.

That left Barbosa to do battle with Nico Behling, another young player rapidly making a name for himself on the poker circuit. The German made the final table of the Aussie Millions earlier this year and is now the nearly man of EPT Warsaw. Behling scaled the heights of a monstrous chip lead mid-way through the final table, ousting Ludovic Lacay, whose aces lost to a set of eights in the German's hands. And although he took a huge hit later on, his set of sixes no good against Minieri's straight, he was even in chips when they went down to two.

But Barbosa had the run of it heads up, picking off the bluffs and rarely getting caught with his own. After doubling up once, and a couple of dramatic split pots, Behling was all in with J-7, but Barbosa's A-10 was not to be outdrawn. Behling has €205,270 with which to soothe his wounds. Barbosa has more than 360,000 reasons not to forget his 26th birthday.

How we got down to three was a familiar tale of brutal aggression sprinkled with suck outs. The short-stacked Michael Muheim was first out, running into Sergey Shcherbatskiy's cheekily-played aces.

Muheim's A-9 never caught up and the PokerStars player took €21,114 for ninth. Lacay's aces weren't quite so lucky, running into a set of eights as described earlier. And then Andrea Benelli's day was ended by his friend and countryman Minieri. That was an A-Qh v J-J affair, the flush turning for Minieri.

Shcherbatskiy was next to go, forced back to the Urals with €57,475 by Barbosa, whose pocket queens were better than Shcherbatskiy's A-5.

After that it all got a little grim, for Mattern and Atanas Gueorguiev, in particular. "Three-outered and then two-outered," muttered Mattern as he went to the cage for his fifth-placed money, referring to two outdraws -- A-K beaten by A-8 and pocket 10s undone by eights. It was arguably even worse for Gueorguiev, who got it in good on a king-high flop with ace-king. But Barbosa, way behind with K-Q hit the magic queen on the river. He made €87,973 for fourth.

And that, really, was that. We wondered if might be the first two-time champion. We wondered whether Dario Minieri might take his first EPT crown. In the event we did get another terrific final table and another hugely talented winner. Congratulations Mr Barbosa, and happy birthday.

Thank you and goodnight from Warsaw.

You can take your pick of the stories on day three at the EPT Warsaw. A Team PokerStars Pro makes the final table? A former champion on course to win an historic double? All that and more on a third day that is now washed, chopped and dished up; 24 players down to nine, in a little less than five hours.

In terms of excitement there was little to rival the diminutive Dario Minieri, perhaps the most incendiary player in the game today, who within minutes of the start had begun a unprejudiced campaign of carnage towards anyone in his way, sending three players to the rail within the first half an hour.

Yesterday Minieri had done the same, a brash and cheek-filled waltz where he triumphed while others fell. Tomorrow he’ll be armed with 359,000 for what is his third EPT final table. He is chip-leader and an EPT crown would go nicely with the WSOP bracelet earned last summer.

The day started full of expectation, featuring both Minieri and his Team PokerStars Pro team-mate Isabelle Mercier, who was in good form having recently cashed in the £1 Million Showdown event in London. The two were drawn at the same table from the start and, with such colossal momentum on his side, Mercier did well to keep out of the Minieri storm before exiting in 16th place for €10,557.

Two players arrived today with a potential second EPT title still a possibility. Ultimately only one would survive the day, knocking out the other along the way. Yesterday Roland de Wolfe looked most likely to capture a second crown, but as the day progressed the Frenchman Arnaud Mattern slowly overtook the Englishman, eventually busting De Wolfe in 13th place with nines over fives.

That completed a spectacular comeback for Mattern, who had been on the ropes earlier in the day and down to just 70,000 at one point. But he will start tomorrow as not only a crowd favourite (everyone loves a record breaker) and perhaps the most notable foe to Minieri.

Not that the final result is a foregone conclusion. Far from it. Also returning is another Frenchman Ludovic Lacay, himself a noted pro with two EPT cashes and the runner-up of the WPT Spanish Championship last year. Joao Barbosa, who is in only his first EPT season, has already cashed three times from four, showing dynamite form.

The full line up will look like this...

Seat 1: Arnaud Mattern – 238,000
Seat 2: Ludovic Lacay - 296,500
Seat 3: Andrea Benelli – 100,000
Seat 4: Michael Muheim – 89,000
Seat 5: Joao Barbosa – 123,000
Seat 6: Dario Minieri - 359,500
Seat 7: Nico Behling - 343,500
Seat 8: Sergey Shcherbatskiy – 349,000
Seat 9: Atanas Gueorguiev - 186,500

We came to play down to the money. We got there, but the route was less predictable and featured a few more bumps than anyone had imagined. Attention is always on the chip leaders - the players most likely to shape days three and four - but today their story was one of collapse and elimination as one by one the big stacks from this afternoon had turned to dust by this evening.

Frenchman Antony Lellouche, who was protected behind a chip wall that peaked at 100,000 today, succumbed to a change in luck which, on day one, had favoured him royally, starting with a fortuitous kings against aces double up. Nothing like that luck today for Lellouche, busting from the tournament with panache but empty handed, after a last ditch clash with Andrea Benelli.

The former EPT London champion Mark Teltscher met the same fate, exiting within throwing distance of the money. Teltscher was one of eight former champions playing today, another being the Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand Grospellier who was looking good for a run on the double before he too was shuffled away by a day designed to ruin the wealthy.

That there were so many former champions in the field had the press corps cooing over the possibility of a first double winner. The list was distinguished – Jepson, Ruthenberg, Teltscher, ElkY, Perrault, Griffin. All arrived with hope but all were rail bound, leaving the responsibly on the shoulders of two players.

The EPT Dublin champion Roland de Wolfe looks to be the boy most likely, ending the day by bagging 170,000. There remains another hope in EPT Prague winner Arnaud Mattern, who rallied late on, bursting the bubble, and finishing with 130,000. But if tomorrow is as cruel to the leaders as today there’s no counting out the Frenchman; a cautionary tale for tonight’s chip leader, the PokerStars player Sergey Shcherbatskiy on 265,900.

Poised to cause havoc tomorrow are the remaining Team PokerStars Pros Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. While Minieri spent much of the day being massaged to within an inch of his life, he massaged a stack that yesterday had touched the 3,000 line before lifting off to fly where the air is thin, an altitude of 211,000.

While those kinds of numbers make for sweet dreams, spare a thought for Hans Eskilsson, EPT Warsaw’s bubble boy, who leaves with nothing more than the nightmares of a white knuckle losing battle in Casinos Poland. Eskilsson had done well to have recovered from a crippling hand earlier in the day, but when making his move was unable to steer his A-9 passed the A-Q of Moises Ramos or more crucially the pocket kings of Mattern. With him gone this chapter of the EPT was closed.

Tomorrow the remaining 24 will return and start again, seeking not just a reward for survival, but a coveted final table seat. Will the possibility of a double winner remain alive by that time? And will Team PokerStars Pro Minieri remain a contender to win the EPT title he must feel he deserves? Just another day on the European Poker Tour.

Sean Callander concludes his coverage from the APPT in Manila...

You need luck to win a poker tournament, and the talking point among players as they fly to the four corners of the world after the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event will undoubtedly the luck that carried Van sirens Marcus to the title at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

But it’s an unfair assessment of his performance. Sure, he won a disproportionate number of hands when chasing the board, but this is a player who was overdue for a breakthrough victory.

The young poker pro from Melbourne (he’s still a young man in his mid-20s) has been chalking up consistent results on the green felt for several years.

This was his third APPT cash for this PokerStars player, and all had been final table finishes. He was fifth in this event last year, and finished ninth in the 2008 APPT Macau High Roller.

After falling short at two earlier APPT final tables, the monkey is off the back of Van Marcus.

Forget the rivered sets or quads (who could forget that one-out three he hit to make quads on day two) – this win was about grit and determination against the odds. As his stack was under constant attack from the trio of Korea players at the final table, Marcus maintained his composure and ensured he was in a position to win the event. The harder he works and prepares, the luckier he gets.

As much as it was a breakout event for Marcus, it was also an important event for players from the Philippines and Korea.

The performance of the Filipino players in their home event cannot go without mention. Of the 32 players who cashed, 10 were form the Philippines with Ramil Tandoc’s fifth-place surpassing the performance of Derick Hernandez (ninth) in the 2007 APPT Manila main event.

With the PokerStars Filipino Poker Tour going from strength to strength, the Philippines can rightly claim to be one of the strongest poker markets in Asia, with the quality and quality of players to prove it.

They also added a unique brand of colour to the tournament – from larger-than-life characters like Melvin “The Miracle” Matibag and Wally “The Dream” Sombero to former models-turned-poker players Sunshine Samson and Priscilla Meirelles and full-time pros like Neil Arce and Franco Mabanta, the local players made the APPT Manilla main event (which doubled as the Filipino Poker Tour Philippine Championship) their own.

The three Korean players at the final table – Tae Jun Noh, Hyoung Jin Nam and Chang Yong Suk – showed that Korean poker no longer needs to hang its name on ex-pats like Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier. They were bold, loose, aggressive, and put on a show that made this the most dynamic final table in APPT history.

It was also great to see Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson again underlining how he earned that nickname, with a solid sixth – his third APPT cash and first APPT final table.

Amid the fears of a global economic recession, the tally of 285 players (up from 255 in 2007) was rightly regarded as an excellent turnout for the penultimate event on the 2008 APPT. And has been the case in Macau and Seoul, the ratio of Asian players to internationals increased. Poker is securing its foothold in Asia.

We now turn our focus to Sydney, Australia for the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final. It’s hard to believe that 12 months has passed since a quietly spoken schoolteacher by the name of Grant Levy won a life-changing $1 million.

Held at Star City Casino on the shores of Darling Harbour in the heart of Australia’s largest city, the tournament is played in full view of a poker-loving public and with a backdrop of one of Australia’s most recognisable icons – Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Last year, poker-mad locals and players around the country, to create a field of 561 players and a massive prize pool of AUD $3.336 million.

Having set such a high bar, how could the APPT possibly soar higher in 2008? Firstly, another AUD $1 million first prize has been guaranteed. In addition to the $6300 buy-in main event, the APPT Tournament of Champions has again been scheduled. Featuring APPT season two winners and a selection of Team PokerStars Pros, this event offers a $50,000 prize, to be donated to the winner’s charity of choice.

A popular addition to other APPT events has been a big buy-in High Rollers event. Logically, a $15,300 High Roller event will be played in Sydney on the penultimate day of the main event.

On behalf of the blogging and digital media teams here in Manila, we hope you enjoyed our coverage of the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event. We look forward to seeing you in Sydney.

Yesterday's opener to EPT Warsaw was a quiet affair, a tight-knit friendly game played among a dedicated bunch who seemed reluctant to knock one another out. It was fun to watch and probably fun to play, but there was something unusual about it, something not quite EPT.

That was yesterday, this was today. And business returned to normal. Today's field weighed in at 121 players and by the end of the same seven levels, fewer than 60 were left. There were some of the usual trailblazers flying high, others unceremoniously dumped in the Wisla. Established names made waves again, unknowns worked on becoming known.

Top of the tree going into day two is Roland de Wolfe, the EPT Dublin champion from season three.

De Wolfe was bounced around the room by a perennially breaking table, but hoovered up chips wherever he went and bagged up more than 60,000. He was one of numerous former champions in today's field and Pascal Perrault, Peter Jepsen and Mark Teltscher each joined the same table early on and remained there until the end of the day. (Sebastian Ruthenberg is also through and yesterday Arnaud Mattern and Gavin Griffin progressed, raising hopes of the first two-time EPT champion.)

De Wolfe will sleep well enough on his mountain of chips, but with the likes of the Team PokerStars Pro duo Dario Minieri and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (another former champion) breathing down his neck, there may be the occasional nightmare featuring an impudent Italian and a free-wheeling Frenchman, who seems only to turn up at a tournament these days to coast to the top of the leaderboard.

Minieri has more than 40,000; ElkY is the right side of 30,000.

In addition to ElkY, and similar to yesterday, there was a continued presence near the summit of the leader board of players from France. Following Antony Lellouche and Ludovic Lacay's dominance on Saturday, the less heralded likes of Remy Biechel and Alain Roy prospered on Sunday. The former survived a table of cataclysmic peril -- Minieri, Ramzi Jelassi, Alex Roumelitis and Patric Martessen -- to take 30,000+ into day two. On the other hand Bernard's pink shirt might have been shockingly loud, but his acquisition of close to 50,000 chips was quiet and understated.

In other Team PokerStars Pro news -- and also with a distinct French connection -- Isabelle Mercier is also riding high. Mercier finished with close to 30,000, and also survived another fierce table, featuring Katja Thater, among others.

For her part, Thater made one terrifically gutsy play in about level five, calling for a chunk on an ace-high board, and seeing her kings hold up. The German Team PokerStars Pro wound up with about 18,000. Alex Kravchenko will also return and sit behind close to 20,000 chips tomorrow. That's a remarkable testament to his endurance as he sat with less than 5,000 for hour upon hour.

On the other hand, there was no glorious homecoming for the Team's Polish representative Marcin Horecki, who busted early. And Horecki found Luca Pagano and William Thorson on the rail by the end of the day.
The two day one fields now merge overnight and there will be 100-odd starting again tomorrow, reconvening under the same roof for the first time. Twenty-four will be paid for their exploits in Warsaw, and we will probably play down to that number tomorrow, tournament officials' decision pending.

Sleep well and see you tomorrow.

The PokerStars.Net APPT Manila event has been a hive of activity in recent days, and today was no different with a dramatic finish to the day which saw the last seven players eliminated in just half an hour.

At the start of the day, American PokerStars Qualifier Michael Shell led the field, equal with Korean Chang Yong Suk. Play continued at a frenetic pace with a number of other challengers nipping at their heels.
77 other players were here to play and all sort fame and glory on the final table – at the end of the day, only nine would remain.

Early in the day, PokerStars Sponsored player Van Marcus drove through the field, careening on a one-track path to the final table, running over anyone in his way. He was loud and he was brash as he played solidly and attracted the attention of the other players.

Van never dared to settle in to cruise control, continuing to play an aggressive role that impressed spectators and players alike. Of course, a little luck was helpful, such as his one-outer against Daniel Nordstrom when he rivered the single remaining three in the deck to make quads to defeat Nordstrom's set of tens.

Van Marcus has driven through the field today

Fireworks erupted on other tables, as the various players continued to clash and confront each other in a desperate reach for chips. Ivan Tan's hopes of a third APPT cash disappeared when he lost a coin flip with A-K.

One of the most frustrating knockouts struck Celina Lin, who got her money all-in on a J-9-4 flop with J-9 and top two pair. Without a hope to get away from the hand (she merely checked from the big button) her chips were swept up by Mike Marvanek who had a set of fours.

Thus, in a quick sweep, we lost another PokerStars player and the bubble burst. In the money, the players managed to knock each other even faster, with Van Marcus continuing to cause damage.

Celina Lin was knocked out painfully close to the money

Our overnight chip leaders had radically different fortunes, with PokerStars player Michael Shell fading in 25th place, and Natasha Ellis surviving until 12th place. Ellis was one of the last seven players to be eliminated in the last 30 minutes as the pace of the tournament continued to climb faster than ever before, and is the first woman to cash in both a Season 1 and Season 2 APPT event.

We had expected players to grow more timid as we approached the final table bubble, but instead, the pace escalated even further.

It included Josh Pang Ang, who went from chip leader for much of the evening to being knocked out in tenth, leaving the remaining players for the final table.

The Korean contenders, including Chang Yong Suk, Noh Tae Jun and Hyoungjin Nam managed to each amass huge chip stacks, smartly picking their spots and picking up many pots. Similarly, three Filipino players made the final table: Rainier Aquino, Ramil Tandoc and Benjie Lim. This is an improvement for the home team on last year's APPT Manila event, which saw just one.

A large part of the credit for this increased home team representation goes to the highly successful Filipino Poker Tour. The Filipinos will join the Koreans, Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson and PokerStars player Van Marcus (who made the final table at this event last season) and Manish Sansi from Hong Kong.

Nelson and Marcus have now each made their third APPT cash, and only an elite and small legion of fellow players have achieved this milestone.

With 99 players starting day 1a here in Warsaw, we were wondering whether at the end of the day we would already be down to a single table. Such is the carnage usually associated with the EPT that even with 10,000 chip starting stacks and one-hour levels, it's not uncommon that 90 players can depart.

As it turned out our fears were unfounded. When the tournament director called a halt to proceedings moments ago, 53 players were given plastic bags to store their chips until Monday's day 2.

Among them were some familiar figures on the EPT, including the Norwegian star Johnny Lodden, who has kept his rich vein of form running all the way from the banks of the Danube in Budapest earlier this month to here beside the Vistula in Poland.

Lodden was down to 5,000 at one point, before rallying dramatically - thanks in no small part to kings and aces in successive hands - to end the day in the handful at the top of the leader board. By the time the curtain came down, Lodden was lording it: tales of his raising seven hands on the bounce made their way to the press room. He's confident and back in contention.

We have also seen Antony Lellouche near chip leads before, and he was back on form very early on today. On the second hand of the tournament, Lellouche found kings and somehow got all his opponent's stack into the middle. The reason? His opponent had aces and was in terrific shape until a king turned and Lellouche never looked back. He built on that early double up to do so again during the day. He's another right up there.

Sergey Shcherbatskiy, from Russia, is also in the mix, as is his countryman Serguei Pomerantsev, who learnt that attack is the best form of defence on a table of bullies.

He and Richard Gryko sat beside each other all day, both nursing their growing stacks, and when they were joined at the same end of the table by Ilari Sahamies, Pomerantsev soon sent Ziigmund packing, with ace-king bettering ace-queen.

Not everyone could stay smiling all day. After a brilliant run from the World Series through Budapest, Kara Scott's hot streak was dampened in Warsaw.

Her aces just couldn't hold up against Arnaud Mattern's deuces. She was soon joined on the rail by the king of Hungary William Fry, who couldn't go back-to-back after his terrific debut showing in Budapest. He too was vanquished.

If rumours are to be believed, tomorrow will bring considerably more players to the coalface. After finishing up in Amsterdam, there will be a host of hot prospects jetting over to Poland for day 1B. But tomorrow is another day.

And once all that is done, return for tomorrow's action. In the meantime, goodnight Warsaw.

The race for the money gets serious tomorrow when we return to the ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in the Filipino capital for the penultimate day’s play in the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event. Just 77 of the 285 players who took their seats on the two flights of day one will return for day two – their first aim will be to reach the payout stage.

The total prize pool is PHP 26,790,000 (approximately USD $542,856), with the top 32 players set to receive a payout. Our winner will take home PHP 8,037,000 (approximately USD $162,856) and the title of 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Manila champion.

It's quiet now, but 77 players will be back tomorrow in pursuit of the APPT Manila title.

The day 1B field of 136 ensured that the total number of players surpassed last year’s figure by 30, underlining the growth in the popularity of poker regionally in the past 12 months (all set against the backdrop of a financial woes across the globe).

The big names were out in force today, led by the only Team PokerStars Pro to find his way to Manila, New Zealand’s Lee “Final Table” Nelson. The field also included PokerStars Sponsored players Celina Lin, Ivan Tan, Van sirens Marcus, JJ Liu, 2008 APPT Manila champion Brett Parise and Japanese duo Yoshihiro Tasaka and Hidenari Shiono.

There was also a massive local presence – FPT3 winner Neil “Dirty Ice Cream” Arce, 2004 Miss Earth Priscilla Meirelles and pool legend Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan were just a few.

Other prominent names playing were James AndyMcLEOD Obst, Nali “Iraqi Nick” Kaselias, David Steicke, Roger Spets, Eddy Sabat and Casey Kastle.

The player best placed to add their name to the APPT honour roll from day 1B was Scotland’s Natasha Ellis. She made her move during the mid-stages of day 1B, and shot to the chip lead when she KO-ed three players in one hand just before dinner. She lost a big pot to Van Marcus shortly after the main break, but was back in the lead shortly before day’s end.

Blondes have more fun: Day 1B chip leader Natasha Ellis

Paul Kim raised from early position, and Ellis called from the small blind. The flop came 9h-2c-3h, Ellis bet 2100 and Kim raised to 7500. Ellis pushed all-in, and Kim called with a further 20,000 chips behind. Ellis made a set of deuces on the flop, while Kim held A-9. The turn came Kh and river Ad, delivering Ellis a solid chip lead, with 112,100 chips.

Other players prominently placed included Marcus, who final-tabled here last year (69,700), Denmark’s Jeppe Drivsholm (65,400), Canada’s Dimitrios Pappis (63,300) and Chris Roh from Korea (57,500).

Tomorrow’s day 2 field will also include Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson (32,000) and Ivan Tan (37,300), Priscilla Meirelles (24,100), Celina Lin (27,400) and last year’s winner Brett Parise (13,300).

Lee Nelson congratulates Priscilla Meirelles on her tremendous achievement to reach day 2 in the APPT Manila main event

We’ll be back at 12.30pm tomorrow for the continuation of play in the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event, plus updates from the APPT Manila High Roller event.

Less than one-quarter of the 149 players who started day 1A of the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event will return for day 2 on Saturday after a dramatic day of play at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

Just 38 players had chips to bag at day’s end as the blinds took their toll in the hour either side of the dinner break.

Korea’s Chang Yong Suk and Michael Shell both finished the day on 124,300. Singapore’s Josh Pang Ang (88,800), Swede Daniel Nordstrom (75,200) and Donny Morris (71,700) filled out the top five.

The day ended in sensational circumstances on either side of the room. Suk ascended the chip count after taking a huge pot against Eric Sia. The chips were in pre-flop, with Sia holding Ac-Qs while Suk showed pocket kings. The board stayed low (2h-8c-10d-6s-5h) and Suk had snared the chip lead in the final minutes of the day.

Across on table 18, the battle between Rudy Lim and Rumil Tandoc escalated to all-out war after a series of raises and a flop of 10d-2d-4h. Lim picked up chips to bet but before he could release them, Tandoc announced all-in. Lim pulled back the chips.

APPT tournament director Danny McDonagh ruled that Lim appeared to have no intention of deceiving Tandoc but had acted out of turn.

Lim considered his options but instead showed his hand (Ah-Qh), then folded his hand. Unfortunately, Lim’s decision to expose his hand meant a one-round (eight-hand) penalty, half of which will need to be served on day 2. It was a stunning end to another memorable day for the APPT.

Twelve hours ago, organisers held their breath that the recent economic downturn wouldn’t put a serious dent in the number of players entering the APPT Manila main event.

But fuelled by the massive growth in the popularity of poker in the Philippines since last year’s historic first APPT event here in Manila, entries soared to almost 150. It seems last year’s tally of 255 will almost certainly be surpassed on day 1B.

While many of the big names will be in action tomorrow, today’s field wasn’t bereft of talent. The line-up included several PokerStars players highlighted by the strong local contingent of Sunshine Samson, Wally “The Dream” Sombrero, Derick Hernandez and Ronald Singson. Samson and Sombrero survived – Sombrero is seventh in chips (60,100) while Samson is down to just 8700.

PokerStars player Bryan Huang was also in action, but his hopes of securing a fourth APPT cash in a row ended midway through the day. Other notables in the day 1A field were 1991 WSOP main event winner Brad Daugherty, Singapore’s Josh Ang Pang, in-form Australians David Saab, Michael Chrisanthopoulos, James Broom, Dave Lee and APPT Macau High Roller runner-up Andrew Scott. Saab, Chrisanthopoulos and Broom will be back on Saturday.

There’ll be no shortage of big names in action tomorrow, including Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson. Play starts at 12.30pm local time, and will continue for eight-and-a-half levels.

They called them the Million Dollar Men, the November Nine and the PokerStars Six. But everyone knew that when the smoke cleared there could only be one of them left standing. And now we know his name.

The 2008 World Series Main Event champion is 22-year-old Peter Eastgate, from Odense, Denmark.

It took four hours of tense heads up competition against Ivan Demidov, from Moscow, Russia to reach this point, with records being smashed left and right along the way. The World Series Main Event has never had two players from outside of the United States going heads up for the title; there's has never been a final table lasting so long; tournament blinds have never before reached one million; and perhaps most impressive of all, Eastgate is the youngest ever world champion. At just 22 years old, he has knocked two years off the previous youngest mark set by Phil Hellmuth in 1989.

At around about 2.30am Vegas time, Demidov announced that he was all in looking at a board of 2d-Ks-3h-4c-7s. He might have felt good about doubling his dwindling stack as he table 4h-2h for two pairs. But Eastgate was going nowhere except into the winners' enclosure. He flipped Ad-5s for the wheel -- a straight ace through five -- to take the title and a first prize of $9,152,416.

"When I got my opponents all in, my hands held up every time; I was very fortunate," said Eastgate. "They were eight tough opponents," he added, referring to the vanquished competitors through two days of final table competition. Craig Marquis, Kelly Kim, David Rheem, Darus Suharto, Scott Mongomery, Ylon Schwartz and Dennis Phillips all hit the rail in yesterday's titanic struggle. But that's to say nothing of more than 6,700 others who came to Vegas clutching $10,000 back in July, whose chips are now all in front of Eastgate.

In truth, this heads-up battle was one way traffic, with Eastgate admitting that the deck was definitely with him today. In two key pots, he made a diamond flush with 7-4 and he turned a full house with pocket threes in another pot worth upwards of 10 million. Yesterday he'd also found small pocket pairs to oust opponents, beating Schwartz with pocket fives that made a full boat on the river, and removing the final table chip leader Dennis Phillips with pocket threes, flopping a decisive set.

That brought us to the final two, and most commentators agreed that Demidov and Eastgate deserved to be the ones to go head-to-head for the bracelet. Demidov, who also made the final table of World Series Europe this year, clearly remains a class act despite finishing second today. "I was trying to get my opponent to make mistakes. He makes very few mistakes," said Eastgate. "We will see a lot more of him in the coming years."

Demidov took his defeat as you might expect. He was crushed to take second, but comforted by the $5,809,595 he will cash out of the Rio cage. Demidov final tabled the World Series Europe Main Event this year while waiting for the Main Event of the World Series in Las Vegas to finish in November.

"When someone runs good like me, it helps," he said tonight after his finish. "I felt a lot more confident."

The deck did not treat him as well tonight. "I couldn't connect with a hand," he said. "I lost every big pot, when I tried to bluff, he had always had a hand."

For now, though, it's all about this young record breaker from Denmark. It was his first cash in a World Series event, and only his second final table in a major tournament. But he's already shooting for the very top: "I'm going for 11 bracelets," he said.

Why not 12?

Every World Series final table has carried with it a sense of anticipation, but none quite like the one we watched today.

It was an historic final table four months in the making. Nine men from around the world reconvened after an extended poker vacation. They walked into the Rio Hotel and Casino Penn and Teller Theater this morning knowing that when they left tonight, they would know if they still had a chance at winning poker's most coveted prize and nine million bucks.

Tonight, we know who among those nine men have that shot.

Denmark's Peter Eastgate and Russia's Ivan Demidov will return to this theater Monday night to play heads up for the World Series bracelet.

Among the November 9 who started here today were six members of the PokerStars family. The Million Dollar Men were better known as Dennis "FordMan1954" Phillips, Darus "Dennis_TO" Sahurto, Ivan "hasuling" Demidov, Ylon "TenthPlanet" Schwartz, David "Chino" Rheem and Peter "Isser" Eastgate. They faced off against off against Craig Marquis, Scott Montgomery, and Kelly Kim.

Although the event started slowly, it quickly turned to a bloodbath. Marquis was the first to go after opening-shoving pocket sevens into Scott Montgomery's A-Q. Marquis loved the 7c-Ah-Td flop. Just to keep the audience engaged, tournament director went through the long recitation of ways Montgomery could suck out.

"He could catch running aces. He could catch running queens," etc, etc.

He failed to mention the possibility of running jack-king. He should've mentioned that. Sure enough, the Jd on the turn and Ks on the river and Craig Marquis went from overwhelming favorite to the ninth place finisher in the 2008 World Series of Poker, earning $900,670.

Kelly Kim and his short stack gave the Cinderella story lovers an opportunity to root for a comeback. After surviving well past when anybody thought he would, Kim finally gave up the ghost, getting pocket fours all-in against three players. He was out-flopped by Darus Suharto's 9c-Tc and Kim went out in eighth place for a $1,288,217 payday.

Still alive were all of the PokerStars Million Dollar Men. With six out of the seven left in the field, it was only a matter of time before one had to go. That man was David "Chino" Rheem. An early favorite among prognosticators, Rheem had a hard time finding consistent traction today. Finally, he got his short stack all-in, and got it in good. Rheem open-shoved with As-Kc and got a call from Peter Eastgate in the small blind. Eastgate held Ah-Qd. As always, everything looked fine until the flop: Qs-5s-7d. Rheem bricked twice and was eliminated in seventh place $1,7772,650.

"I would have changed the last hand," Rheem offered, when asked if he would have done anything different. "One hand I got unlucky and that cost me my bracelet. But that's poker."

That, of course, is poker, and now Rheem returns to the cash games and tournament circuit with a reputation only enhanced by this World Series experience. "I'll try to stay positive and say there's always next year," he said. "But the odds, you know..."

Rheem gets a hug from Suharto on his way out

While the stories of these eliminations were worth reporting, the big story of the day had been Dennis Phillips' epic fall from the chip lead. Starting with more than 25 million chips, he'd fallen below ten million and looked ripe to exit early. It took getting A-Q in against Ylon Schwartz' Q-Q and flopping an ace to get back in the game.

Phillips celebrates, Schwartz endures

Chino Rheem's exit left Darus Suharto as the short-stack in the event. Suharto found himself in a position in which he had to start looking for good opportunities. When Scott Montgomery opened for a standard raise at the 250,000/500,000/50,000 level, Suharto shoved all in for a little more than 8 million. He held Ah-8c.

Though he sat with a Terminator look behind his shades, a close up camera highlighted his heavy breathing. To the outside observer, it was impossible to say whether he was putting it on or in fact nervous. Montgomery decided it was time to look up Suharto. He made the call with a half smile, turning over As-Qd. Suharto winced. He knew he was in trouble.

Though neither player paired on the flop, it was soul-crushing anyway: K-J-2, all spades. Montgomery's ace of spades was just begging for one more of its kind. It came on the turn. The 4s gave Montgomery the nuts. Suharto's magnificent run at the 2008 World Series of Poker was finished. He earned $2,418,562.
Suhrto reflects

Suharto reflects on his final hand

Of all the things that happened today, and there were many, the most startling came next. In a raise, re-raise, all-in battle, Montgomery pushed and got snap-called by Demidov.

In what would become the biggest pot of the tournament yet (worth around 50 million by our count), Montgomery turned over a startling Ad-9d. Not as surprising was Demidov's Ks-Kd. Montgomery had Demidov's 24,435,000 covered. The crowd called for their man's ace or their man's king as the dealer laid out a perfectly frightening 6d-4d-6c flop, Two diamonds and the three remaining aces remained for Montgomery.

He missed twice, sending Demidov into an uncharacteristic dance around the stage. At once, he was the new chip leader.

Demidov rakes in his chip lead

Montgomery went out a few hands later, getting one-outered on the river by Peter Eastgate. He finished in fifth place for $3,096,768.

Four-handed, play slowed down dramatically before finishing the night in one-two-punch fashion.
First, Peter Eastgate raised pre-flop to the now-standard 1.5 million. Schwartz called from the small blind. Both players checked a flop of 2s-Kh-8h and after the Kd came on the turn, Schwartz checked but Eastgate bet another 1.75 million. Schwartz called.

The river was the 5d and again Schwartz checked, Eastgate bet 4.6 million and Schwartz moved all in, for 12.5 million more. Eastgate called and tabled pocket fives, hitting his full house on the river and beating Schwartz's A-10, for ace high. Schwartz's fourth place finish earned him $3,774,974.

With three remaining, crowd favorite Dennis Phillips was the prohibitive short stack.

After Demidov folded his button, Eastgate raised from the small blind, called in the big by Phillips. The flop came Jc-4d-3s and Eastgate led out for 1.5 million. Phillips moved all in over the top, his entire stack worth 15,275,000 sliding into the middle. But it didn't even get there before Eastgate called and flipped pocket threes for the flopped set. Phillips showed 10-9 off-suit. "I couldn't keep on folding!" he declared.

In his exit interview, Phillips said, "We've had a real blast. Who would've ever thunk it? Now I get to play golf tomorrow. McFadden's everybody!" and off to the bar they went.

Peter Eastgate returns tomorrow with 79,500,000 to Ivan Demidov's 57,725,000.

Live coverage from the final table of the World Series of Poker will resume at 10pm local time Monday. Join us here as we watch history as it happens.

All photography by Joe Giron/IMPDI

If not for Ryan's Fee obvious poker skill, a casual observer could mistake him for being the luckiest man in Costa Rica. He's fine with that. After all, he just won more than $200,000. The 20-year old from Philadelphia, Pennsyvania took less than four hours today to destroy the Season 2 LAPT San Jose final table.

Fee was among 219 players who travelled from across the street and around the world to the Ramada Herradura here in Costa Rica and put up their cash for a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. The three day event startled everyone with a Day 1 that eliminated 83% of the field in 12 hours. Day 2 took substantially longer. It was anybody's guess how long the final table of the first stop of Season 2 would take.

The final table was a fun mix of younger internet pros, a dignified Costa Rican lady with a World Series bracelet, and a several journeymen from around the world.

The crowd favorite was easy to spot. Maria Stern is one of the most well-known poker players in this country. She and her husband Max both went deep in this event. Max was eliminated just short of the money and stood by to watch his wife battle all the way to the final table. A short-stack for two days, Maria Stern put on a clinic on how to make a short stack last. It could only last so long.

After growing so short she couldn't rightfully put in a standard raise without committing herself, Stern put all of her chips in the middle with a 116,000 open-shove. She ran right into Jeff Petronack's pocket queens. The board ran out 4h-5c-3d-Td-6c and Stern, who cashed here in Season 1 as well, finished in 8th place for $24,425.

Though Claus Rasmussen is as likable a Dane as you'd ever want to meet, he developed a reputation yesterday for taking longer than average to make a decision. His final decision today was rather easy. With blinds at 6,000/12,000/1,000, a single orbit was costing him 25,000. Under 100,000 in chips, he put his money in with Qd-7d and ran smack dab into Joel Micka's pocket kings. Though Rasmussen flopped a queen, he couldn't improve any further and exited in seventh place.

Claus Rasmussen

It was then eventual champion Ryan Fee went on a tear of good fortune that even a leprechaun would envy. Fee got it all in As-Ks against Jeff Petronack's Ah-Kh. You think you know what's about to happen don't you? Well, you don't know the half of it. First, Fee flopped the nut flush. Then he turned the Royal Flush. Then, just to rub the salt in Petronack's wounds, the board put out a straight flush. So Petronack's straight eight-to-queen straight flush on board fell to Fee's Royal Flush. Petronack won more than $43,000 for his sixth place finish.

Jeff Petronack (left) smiles as Fee hits his miracle

Fee was feeling it. It was obvious. So, it really didn't come as much of a surprise when he got pocket eights all-in versus Andre Chen's queens. And frankly, it didn't come as much of a surprise when he board ran out 6c-4h-5s-7d-x to give Fee the straight. Chen won $61,000 but looked as if he'd just accidentally taken a shot of antifreeze.

The hand moved Fee up over the 1 million chip mark "I'm really good at sucking out," he said sheepishly.
Not one to rest on his lucky laurels, Fee almost looked excited to call Jesus Bertoli's short-stack all-in. This time, Fee held Ks-Qs, up against Bertoli's Ad-3s. Again, it felt pretty natural by this point to see Fee flop top two pair and go on to send the man from Venezuela to the pay-out line. Bertoli collected $80,603 for his fourth place finish.

Jesus Bertoli

Finally, Fee took a break and let fellow 20-year-old American Joel Micka do some of the work. When Brett Sheribon pushed his short stack into the middle from the button with Qd-Td. Micka called in the big blind with a pair of deuces. Sheirbon couldn't find a pair and left in third place for $109,913.

Joel Micka and Ryan Fee took a short break to cut a deal. Though the exact terms of the agreement were not publicly disclosed, the players did a chip-chop deal and left a big chunk of money on the table for which to play. It didn't take long at all. On the final hand, the players got in a raising and re-raising war that ended with all the chips in the middle. It was 4s-4c for Micka and As-Th for Fee.

Joel Micka

If you've been paying attention this far, you should know that it didn't matter that Fee missed the first four cards on board. He still had the river to spike his ace, in this case, the ace of hearts. With a quick pump of his fist, Fee had done it. He had won the first event of the LAPT's second season.

The next stop on the LAPT is in Mexico next month. See you there!

All photography by Joe Giron/IMPDI

There was anoptimism in the ballroom of the Ramada Herradura events center this morning of a type that seems to pervade the small, tranquil nation of Costa Rica. The thirty eight players who assembled for Day 2 of LAPT San Jose were all keenly aware of a critical fact: twenty four players would make the money. That made cashing in this tournament sound deceptively simple. Don't bust before fourteen other players bust.

Anyone who's ever played a no-limit hold'em multi-table tournament will tell you that the truth is that making the money is a Herculean task. It takes unrelenting focus, an unending stream of excellent play and the ability to avoid (or at least minimize) the effects of bad luck. Beyond that, merely making the money was not the goal of any of the remaining thirty eight. They all wanted to win.

Play began just shortly after noon

Yet math is math. The numbers are unbendable in multi-table tournaments. Only eight of the thirty eight remaining players would see the end of the day. Fourteen of them would never even taste the money. Still in the hunt were a husband-and-wife team of WSOP gold bracelet winners and representatives of ten different countries.

The first two players eliminated for the day were out before the last player showed up to unbag his chips. Andrew Chen showed up thirty five minutes late for the start of play. By the time he finally arrived, Jose Contreras had already been busted by Jesse Macleod and Chase Chenoweth's top pair had run into Mark Hirleman's top pair, bigger kicker. So for Chen, at least, the math was different -- only twelve eliminations separated him from the money.

The big story of the early part of the day was the elimination of Abraham Rosenkrantz near the end of Level 11, the first level of play. Rosenkrantz was one of the overnight chip leaders, coming into Day 2 fourth in chips with 114,000. Yet when he ran his pocket kings into Brent Sheirbon's pocket aces, Rosenkrantz was out of the tournament and Sheirbon took over the chip lead from Robert Woodcock.

Abraham Rosenkrantz was eliminated early

Woodcock wasn't slouching. He was using his stack as a weapon to bludgeon his opponents and send people to the rail. One-by-one players like Mark Ioli, William Valladeres and Jesse Macleod were eliminated. Tournament poker stops for no one; either get on the chip truck or hit the rail.

With twenty seven players remaining a special story was brewing. It involved one of only two husband-and-wife teams to ever both win a WSOP gold bracelet: Max and Maria Stern. Both remained alive in the tournament as the money bubble approached. Maria had a healthy stack, but Max was very short. Everyone in the room that wasn't sitting at a poker table was pulling for Max to find a way to double up; everyone sitting at a poker table was rooting for him to bust. Max did finally get his chips into the middle holding ace-king against Carter Gill's pocket fives. An ace flopped, but Gill four-flushed Max in diamonds to eliminate the three-time WSOP champion.

Max and Maria Stern

It was towards the end of Level 12 when the money bubble finally burst. Someone always goes home the unhappiest of all the players who entered the tournament, having labored through all those hours of play to be the last one to go home empty-handed. Today that distinction belonged to Guillaume Noël, whose K-Q couldn't outrun Ryan Fee's A-2. Noël took his departure as good-naturedly as any bubble boy I've ever seen, smiling and shaking Fee's hand before retiring to the rail to watch the rest of the tournament unfold.

As things tend to go in multi-table tournaments, the short stacks kept busting. Jason Frazee, Maurice Millares Molina, Aaron Kielesinski, Mike Gorodinsky, Mark Hirleman and Martin Clemmensen all made their exits. Some took brutal beats (Frazee in particular, who flopped trips but lost when Brent Sheirbon rivered a two-outer for a full house), but most got their short stacks in and just couldn't get there.

Then came the first defining hand of the afternoon. Robert Woodcock and Brent Sheirbon somehow managed to put 110,000 chips into the pot before a flop came down. Sheirbon made a small 12,000-chip bet on an all-club flop that Woodcock raised to 37,000. The hand seemed destined to eliminate or cripple someone when Sheirbon shoved all in, but Woodcock folded. Even so, with that win Sheirbon eclipsed the 400,000-chip mark.

Brent Sheirbon

After that hand, normal order was restored and the short stacks went back to busting. Jon Van Fleet, Michael DeGilio, and Tark Abboud all slipped into the inky blackness of tournament elimination. Play consolidated to two short-handed tables. And that's when the tale of the day returned to late-comer Andrew Chen, the man who was thirty-five minutes late for the start of play. It might have been a sign of things to come that, as soon as he showed up, he eliminated Kevin MacPhee. Likely nobody would have predicted that Chen would even still be in the tournament with only two tables remaining. Yet there he was, tripling up with pocket queens against the ace-king of Joel Micka and the ace-king of Carter Gill. That hand knocked Gill out of the tournament in 14th place and sent Chen's chip count to more than 250,000. Michael Collins, Shawn Patrick Ryan, and Alan Milesky soon followed.

Andrew Chen

Ten players remained. The next elimination would result in another redraw to a single nine-handed table. Earl Burkland put his stack in the middle early in Level 16 with pocket sixes and knew he was in trouble when Robert Woodcock snap-called. It was aces for Woodcock, with a matching ace on the flop. Burkland's tenth place departure set us up for the final nine. One elimination remained before calling it a night.

If fourteen eliminations seemed like a simple order at the beginning of the day, then one last elimination seemed as easy as reciting the alphabet. Yet all of the chips were relatively evenly disbursed, and nobody wanted to be the person to bubble off of Day 3. Hand after hand went by with little change in the counts. Level 16 became Level 17; Level 17 became Level 18. Andrew Chen took a hit at the end of Level 17 when he called a river bet from Ryan Fee and couldn't beat pocket jacks, but it wasn't enough to knock Chen out of the tournament.

Robert Woodcock, the chip leader eight hours earlier at the start of Day 2, may have wished it was. A few hands later, Chen opened for 20,000 and Woodcock shoved all in over the top of him. When Chen called, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. It was Chen's pocket jacks against Woodcock's ace-king, and jacks were best on a Qd-7c-4s-Qs-7s board. Woodcock was unable to make it wire to wire. Andrew Chen showed up thirty five minutes late, but he personally made sure that he would make it to Day 3. We'll see if he shows up late again.

The remaining eight players will come back at noon tomorrow to battle it out and see who will walk away with the first place prize of more than $285,000. It appears that the overnight chip leader is Ryan Fee.

Photography by Joe Giron/IMPDI

There is a certain optimism in Costa Rica that belies the near-constant rain in the country. When the clouds roll over the valley and the mountains are covered by a gray haze, one wonders how the citizens of this beautiful place can live with their trademark Pura Vida spirit. It’s only after one watches the sun come out in the morning and the flowers blooming on the trees in November that one can understand why the smiles here are so frequent.

While it pushes a metaphor to its edge, i’ts not hard to understand why this country has embraced poker so fully. This is a game that can seem to be ever-drenched by rainstorms. The tournament life is as hard as the rain. Cash is hard to come by and a big score is nearly always elusive. There is that time, though, when the sun breaks through and all seems right with the world. That is what the 219 players who started here today were seeking.

At day's end, 38 players remained, a startling 83% of the field gone and looking for other more profitable activities. At the top of the field, a British player named Rob Woodcock. More on him in just a bit. First, we have to pay our respects to the fallen.

The $3,700 buy-in event promised and delivered a $1 million prize pool. Twenty-four players will walk away with at least $9,000. The field here featured dozens of PokerStars players and more than a couple Team PokerStars Pros. Local poker Godfather Humberto Brenes joined Victor Ramdin, and Brazilians Andre Akkari and Alex Gomes in the fight for their first LAPT title. It was not to be. All played a long hard day, but succumbed to the dark side of the game late into the evening.

Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes accepts his demise

The same fate met Vlademar Kwaysser, last season's LAPT San Jose champion. Though holding tough throughout the day, by the time the game broke for the night, the champion was gone.

The big stories of the day surrounded a group of young, tough players including a talkative Ryan Fee who roughed his way through a minefield and held the chip lead for most of day, in what he described as “just another day in the life.” He finished the day around 130,000.

It looked as though Fee would be the chip leader at day's end, but late in the evening, PokerStars player Rob Woodcock made a run to around 150,000, the last 30,000 of it coming courtesy an ace on the turn in his A-Q vs 9-9 battle. He knocked out Raymond Wu in the process.

Woodcock admitted that he got lucky early on today and then took to running good.

"It started off with a pretty good table. There were a few sit-outs, so I was able to chip up early and establish quite a loose image which got me paid off in a few nice spots," he said. "Then the table got progressively tougher and tougher. I had about forty big blinds at that point and got moved tables to a much weaker table and managed to get it in with eights against queens. That's how I got to 100K."

As humble as you'd ever want, Woodcock allowed that he ran well, something anyone in tournament poker needs from time to time.

"I definitely won a lot of pots without showdown to chip up, and then ran really well in all the big pots," he said. "I guess that's how you do well in these things."

With 38 players remaining, Tuesday looks to be a short day. Tournament poker being what it is, though, we're counting on nothing but the re-start at noon when we’ll play down to a final table of eight.

Photography by Joe Giron/IMPDI

A European Poker Tour event wrapped up in Budapest, another leg of the Latin America Poker Tour about to begin in Costa Rica. That means there’s time in between to catch up on the latest results in the Weekly Round two events held last weekend.

This week the two big prizes went to Holland and to Canada, with players from India, Russia, Brazil and beyond picking up good pay days. On Saturday allusderin took honours and $276, whilst on Sunday the possibly split personality of semi & muki did the same. Congratulations to both players and to everyone who cashed at the weekend.

Here are the full results.

Weekly round two results (Saturday 1 November)

1. allusderin (Netherlands) $276.00
2. Cheeaaah (India) $164.00
3. yyyyyyy (United States) $100.00
4. OBNON (Russian Federation) $80.00
5. luckyseb94 (France) $62.00
6. wofala (Germany) $50.00
7. facundo23 (Peru) $39.00
8. Digger Dave (United States) $30.00
9. ROLLEMOUT (United States) $22.20

801st mr2wheeler (United States) $0.60

Weekly round two results (Sunday 2 November)

1. semi & muki (Canada) $276.00
2. sixxfo64 (United States) $164.00
3. joselico (Spain) $100.00
4. rockboy3000 (Australia) $80.00
5. PARAC007 (United States) $62.00
6. sobaka-ru (Russian Federation) $50.00
7. mazeeff (United States) $39.00
8. Cromvelle (Russian Federation) $30.00
9. Tsuyoine (Brazil) $22.20

801st tbob99 (United States) $0.60

Qualifying for weekly round two events is simple. Just play in one of the freerolls scheduled in the PokerStars.net lobby and finish within the top number of tables, as specified in the tournament information. The freerolls are named after famous astronomical figures such as Hubble, Copernicus and Sagan so are easy to spot and they run several times each day. There’s always another coming soon if you miss out the first time.

Good luck!

It was a fitting way to end a magnificent event: two aggressive players playing for a first prize of €595,839. Both the Englishman William Fry and Ciprian Hrisca from Romania may have shared a friendly glass of wine before the heads-up began, but once the glasses were drained the gloves were off for a hand-to-hand battle of wits that culminated in an English triumph, bringing an end to a glorious week on the Danube.

EPT Budapest winner William Fry

The last hand came after less than five hours play. We went pillar to post in less than 300 minutes. Going into the heads-up battle, Hrisca held the initiative with a more than two-to-one chip lead, and he had also shown no sign of capitulation. But Fry stole the Big Mo' shortly before the end when he double up with jack-ten against Hrisca’s pocket sevens, levelling the counts.

The end came when the players became embroiled in a pre-flop raising battle and got all their chips to the middle pre-flop. Fry showed pocket jacks and Hrisca flipped over A-6. The flop of Td-Qs-6s gave Hrisca some hope but the blanks on turn and river swung it towards Fry. After a short pause to resolve who covered whom, the 28-year-old Fry, a former casino croupier, was declared the winner and the first ever EPT Budapest champion.

The speed of the final only added to the drama and it was never long before something had the rail’s attention. Going into the day one name stood out, that of Johnny Lodden, the Norwegian pro with a background of legend when it comes to success online who, since switching to live events, had cashed six times on the EPT, falling agonisingly short of the final table on more than one occasion. That changed this week.

Alas, the final’s poster boy was not yet due that first elusive EPT win in Budapest. Lodden fell first for €53,200, within the early levels of play despite what must have looked like a reassuring pair of kings when he checked his cards. In what would become a massive pot Martin Jacobsen sent the Norwegian home when his 10-7 made a straight. That pot also crippled Zoltan Toth, the Hungarian local hero, who fell a few moments later, picking up €78,736 for seventh.

Hardcore EPT addicts will remember Gino Alacqua from his colourful season four runner-up spot in Prague. Today he celebrated his birthday but was unable to add an EPT title to the joy, his day ending in sixth place when he succumbed in a three way pot to Ciprian Hrisca, leaving in sixth place for €100,016.

Italy’s chances of an EPT winner took a serious blow with Alacqua’s loss but what hope did remain was put to bed when Marino Serenelli fell next in fifth place for €127,680. William Fry saw off Serenelli, shortly before bestowing the same fate on Albert Iversen. Iversen's departure for €153,216 left us with three.

Jacobsen won his seat online at PokerStars and his result here proved that the decision to shift to poker-playing from the kitchen was a good one. At just 21 years of age, the former chef is now carving a name for himself around the poker tables. Jacobsen's week’s work ended in third place and €197,904, busting in a hand against Hrisca who had ladled on the pressure by moving all-in on the river. The young Swede called for his tournament life with second pair but had run slap bang into Hrisca’s flush.

With remarkable haste, the final was now heads up, and in another few blurred minutes, we were crowning Fry, who became the first English winner since Julian Thew’s triumph in Baden on season four. Incidentally both Thew and Fry hail from Nottingham.

Runner-up Ciprian Hrisca

Hrisca’s performance should not go without note. The Romanian was playing in his first live event having only taken up the game 18 months ago in a home game with friends before making the leap to online cash games on PokerStars. Hrisca, who picked Budapest because it was closest to home, may well look upon his decision to take a short Hungarian holiday as one of his best, taking €342,608 back to Bucharest.

The next EPT of the season is in Warsaw, Poland, from November 15-19. Before that, there's all the fun of the second season of the Latin America Poker Tour, beginning tomorrow in Costa Rica. And after that, we'll be in Las Vegas, for the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event, where the Million Dollar Men will be looking to seal their place in history.

It's going to be hectic few weeks on PokerStars blog. Stay with us.

For now, it's goodnight from Budapest.