June 2009 Archives

Team PokerStars Pro announced today that it has signed to its stable two rock stars of the modern poker world.

In one fell swoop, Team PokerStars Pro pulled in longtime tournament veteran Marcel Luske and prolific young gun Jason Mercier.

Known around the world as 'The Flying Dutchman,' Luske is a household name in European poker. Just last year he won the European Poker Awards' Lifetime Achievment Award.

Known for his sartorial elegance and distinctive singing voice at the poker tables, Luske was ranked Europe's top poker pro in both 2001 and 2003. In 2004, Luske went to the World Series of Poker and became an international star after a tenth place run in the main event.

Now, at long last, the longtime friend of PokerStars players and mentor to Team Pro Noah Boeken has come home to roost. Luske is now officially a member of Team Pro. Count on seeing him a lot in the coming season of the European Poker Tour.

Luske is joined by one of the hottest poker players on the circuit today. Mercier, a 22-year-old poker pro from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has put together $3.2 million live tourney cashes since his first tourney appearance at the 2008 PCA.

Mercier first came to the attention of the international poker community when he took down the Season Four PokerStars EPT San Remo event for $1,372,893. Only a few months later, he finished sixth at the PokerStars EPT Season Five event in Barcelona, earning $324,946. Just the next month, he took downPokerStars EPT London £1 Million Showdown High Roller tournament for $944,847.

Yeah. Seriously. He is that good.

As if that wasn't enough, just a few weeks back, Mercier did something people wait a lifetime to achieve. He won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tourney for $237,415.

After all of that, you would think nothing could make Mercier any happier. Not so.

"Becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro means a lot to me," he said. "I'm so excited to be playing for the site I first started playing on. I feel like this solidifies my standing as one of the top poker players' around."

The PokerStars Blog would like to welcome both players to Team Pro. We look forward to continuing to cover you for years to come.

Anyone who's been following the World Series updates on the PokerStars blog will have noticed the build up in tension as June turns to July. For those new to poker you're about to feel its full force for the first time. There's nothing like it.

While World Championship events have crowned new winners in the Amazon Room of the Rio hotel in Las Vegas, and events like the $50,000 HORSE event thunder towards a conclusion, the main event is about to loom over the horizon - the $10,000 buy in tournament that has shaped the poker calendar in all its 30 years of incarnations.

Thousand will play it - a number never accurate until every last name has been counted and the order to shuffle up and deal yelled across the tournament floor - but we know it's big and that means large amounts of money at stake.

If you can't play it then you're looking for the next best thing - the best place to follow the action online. That's where the PokerStars.net blog comes in - the place for daily reports on all the events taking place with the best writing and the best pictures from the business end of the world's greatest poker tournament.

It all starts on Friday with the first of four "day ones." It's about to get serious. See you there.

Brad Willis reports from the World Series...

It was not to be, apparently, for Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown.

Seeking his first-ever WSOP bracelet to mix with his more than $2.3 million in lifetime tournament winnings, Brown came into day 3 of the $1,500 Stud-8 event with the chip lead and a plan to take it down. He was still among the chip leaders when they reached the eight-handed final table. From there, nothing good happened.

Bricks, big limits, and second-bests ground Brown's stack down to a do-or-die situation. Before long, he was forced into a hand with Costa Rican stud kingpin Max Stern. By the river, Stern had made two pair with no low to Brown's ace-high with no low.

The fourth place finish puts another $44,000 in Brown's pocket. It's not a bracelet, but it's not bad.

If anything, we can take heart in the fact Max Stern (seen above next to Brown) is still alive and kicking three-handed in the same event. Stern is a good friend to the PokerStars Blog and we wish him all the luck in the world. If he could win today, it would be his fourth WSOP bracelet.

More from the Amazon Room at the World Series...

Daniel Negreanu may be a lot of things, but a tragic figure he is not.

Shakespeare would have a field day in building full of tragic tales. They may not end with star-crossed lovers offing themselves or a crazed prince speaking to a skull, but they often end with as many tears. The saddest of the tales usually begin with the words, "I've played 16 events" and end with "I haven't cashed once." If it weren't so common, it would be enough to make a jaded poker writer blubber all over his keyboard.

In a world of tragedy, Negreanu is the court jester. Having just busted out of the $1,500 Stud-8 tournament, he could very easily be cranky about not having a shot at another bracelet. Instead, he's happy to report his seventh in-the-money finish. So happy, in fact, he's walked the few dozen feet to the back of the Brasilia Room to play in the 2-7 tourney. The money didn't mean much (in fact, Negreanu earned more from his last longer with Chris Reslock than he did for making it into the cash). It was just some more padding on the Negreanu legend.

Just behind him, Barry Greenstein slipped out for the same money and, coincidentally, his seventh cash as well. He started four to a wheel and bricked the rest of the way too many times. He was hot on Negreanu's heels and is sitting in the 2-7 event, too.

Meanwhile in the same event, Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown is threatening to make his second final table of this year's Series. He already has a third place finish in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for more than $188,000. At this hour, with 37 players remaining, Brown is among the top five chip leaders.

Down the hall here in the Amazon Room, Team PokerStars Pros Christian De Leon and Johnny Lodden are both still alive in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Triple Chance tourney. With 63 players left, both men are already guaranteed twice their buy-in with a shot at the half million dollar first prize.

Hold that thought: Seconds after we hit publish, De Leon and Lodden both busted out of the $3,000 Triple Chance event for $8,037. Congrats, guys.

Brad Willis reports on Event 53 at the World Series...

The rail at the $1,500 is the thicker than you'd expect for a limit, split pot Stud game. Normally at a rail for that kind of event, you'd have two people watching and one of them would only be there because he thought they were giving out free soup.

Today, though, the cream is sitting on top (not to mention right on the rail). The $1,500 Stud-8 Day 2 field is packed full of name pros, notably Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, and Daniel Negreanu. Accordingly, the rail is two and three deep with fans.

For a lot of people (and, let's be honest, especially Stud players) all the attention would be a little more than annoying. Team Pro Negreanu, however, is taking it in stride, despite referring to how he's running as, ahem, "like ass."

Between every hand, Kid Poker is joining in conversations on the rail, standing up for photos, and signing autographs, No sooner has he made it back to the table than he peeks at his hole cards and declares, "I'm gonna raise THAT guy." He bricks a couple of cards, folds to a bet, and back to the rail. Back to the table and then, "I'm going to raise that guy, again!"

This time he gets a different caller. A couple of streets go by and Negreanu's hand has barely improved. Even an amateur on the rail can tell his opponent is holding the wheel, so it's particularly funny when the guy checks to Negreanu.

"You're checking?" Negreanu laughs. He checks behind, bricks again, and pulls off his hat. He pretends to shoot himself in the head, hits himself in the forehead with his hat four times, and folds.

All the bricks should be enough to put Negreanu into an ugly funk. Instead he hops up and heads toward a pretty blonde on the rail. "Ready for me?" She smiles widely and steps in to have her picture taken. That opens the flood gates. Suddenly, ten people are crowding in.

"It's my 40th birthday!" a woman implores with camera in hand.

Negreanu glances over his shoulder to make sure he won't miss a hand and then smiles for the camera. And then another. And another. One woman is holding more cameras than seems reasonable.

"How many do you have?" Negreanu asks. Then he counts them, "One, two, three, four, five?"

He manages to fit in a picture with every one of them before noticing the dealer is about to shuffle. He double times it back to the table, calling over his shoulder, "I gotta get back. They've got rules around here!"

All three Team Pros are still alive at the dinner break with fifty players remaining.

Brad Willis reports on the latest from Event 49 at the World Series...

Bill Chen needed a miracle. He needed a rush of cards. He needed something other than a chop. The man needed some cards and he didn't get them.

Only a few players off the money, Chen was down to his last few bets. He knew there was no such thing as turtling his way to the money. He wasn't going to survive five bustouts, so he put himself in action.

The first hand was the real crippler. Chen raised pre-flop in the Omaha/8 round and got a call in the big blind from Vitaly Lunkin. The flop came down [2d][5c][2s]. Lunkin check-called a bet and they saw the [5d] on the turn. Now, Lunkin led at Chen, who called. With less than 20,000 behind (less that a full bet), Chen folded to the [Qh] on the river.

On the very next hand, Chen got it all in again after a raise from Brett Richey. Huck Seed called in the big blind and they saw a flop of [4d][6c][2c]. Seed checked, Richey bet, and Seed looked at him with a little disdain. With a player all-in, Seed didn't like to see Richey betting. Seed folded to see Richey only held [Ah][3d][8s][9c], good enough for the nut low, but little else, and not enough by the river to beat Chen's [As][3c][Th][7h]. Chen got three quarters of the pot to stay alive. The table was not pleased.

Still, Chen barely had any chips and got it all in on third street in a subsequent hand of Razz with [9d][8s][Ad]. From there it was brick city, leaving him with no better than a T-9. With that, the last surviving member of the PokerStars stable was eliminated from the $50,000 HORSE event.

It was a tough day in the Amazon Room, but hope springs eternal--or at least for another few events. This week will see a few more bracelet tournaments, the Ante Up For Africa charity event, and finally the $10,000 Main Event beginning on Friday.

Of course, we'll be here for it all and report all the news that's fit to blog, and perhaps a bit more.

Brad Willis, working the rock face in the Amazon room, reports on the HORSE event at the end of the first day...

It's hard to fully define what Day 1 of the $50,000 HORSE means. It takes an incredible amount of Run Bad or some equally terrible play to get eliminated. It's not that Day 1 means nothing, but nobody will be hitting the Dom to celebrate making it to Day 2. With another four days of play before we crown a champion, today wasn't so much important as it simply was.

If there is a headline to print, though, it is that every member of the PokerStars stable who started the day will be joining us here for Day 2.

After finishing fifth in the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event, Barry Greenstein made it over to the day's biggest tournament. He is working to be the only person to cash in every $50,000 HORSE tournament since it began in 2006. After losing 16,000 chips to blinds and antes while he was at the other final table, Greenstein finished with 151,500.

Daniel Negreanu, who helped conceive this event in 2006, started strong today. He's cashed in this event once before, and is looking to make it happen again. By night's end he was still rocking, rolling, and entertaining the crowd. When the clock hit zero, his stack sat at an impressive 204,100.

Across the room, Greg Raymer is working to get second $50,000 HORSE event cash, too. He had a rocky day, but managed to end the day on 123,900.

Bill Chen, Chad Brown, and Alexander Kravchenko are all in search of their first money finish in this tournament. They all still have a shot. Chen is sitting on 208,400. Brown finished with 165,000. Kravchenko will go into Day 2 with 234,400.

Ninety-one players will return for Day 2. Because another giant $1,500 no-limit hold'em event is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, the $50,000 HORSE event has been pushed back to a 4pm Pacific Time start. So, we'll catch a nap and be back with full coverage of Day 2 at that time.

Photos by Joe Giron/IMPDI Worldwide

Brad Willis reports on the first day of the HORSE...

After an initial slow start during which time we couldn't tell exactly who was playing the $50,000 HORSE World Championship and who was not, we now have a clearer picture of the event.

When registration closed this afternoon, 95 total players had signed up for the event. While not quite the 148 players the event has seen the past couple of years, it still will pay out more than a million bucks to the winner. Sixteen runners will walk away with cash. The eventual champion will bank $1,276,802.

Team PokerStars Pro is represented by some of the top players in the stable. Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Chad Brown, Alex Kravchenko, and Barry Greenstein are all in action today. They are joined by Friend of PokerStars Bill Chen.

Greenstein is essentially freerolling the event. Having just won $57,000 in the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em tourney, Greenstein is now getting a chance to play the big one without any significant ding to his bankroll. As it turned out, the HORSE event went on dinner break just as he finished on the other final table. As he put it on his Twitter account, "On dinner break of the 50k HORSE, #wsop49. I have 134k from my original 150. Haven't yet played a hand."

Of all the Team Pros in the field, Negreanu went into the dinner break with the best of it. He's up to 195,000 after three levels of play.

All 95 players managed to survive until the dinner break. With five days of play, this HORSE event is in no danger of breaking major news tonight. Slow and steady, as they say.

The rematch.

Last November, Peter Eastgate defeated Ivan Demidov heads up to become the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion ever. Demidov claimed his own piece of poker history, becoming the first player to ever make the final tables of both the WSOP and the WSOP-Europe, and he did it in the same year.

Between making the final table in July and the restart in November, Demidov flew over to London and took third in the Main Event across the pond. So when PokerStars decided to replay the heads-up portion of the WSOP Main Event from 2008, we knew it would be a great matchup. Obviously this time there weren't millions of dollars on the line, but bragging rights a $10,000 for charity isn't chicken feed, either.

The stacks were deep as the competitors took their seats at the virtual felt, with Eastgate leading 80 million in chips to Demidov's 56 million. The blinds were 120,000/240,000 with a 30,000 ante, so there was plenty of play in the structure. The only difference was in the time players had to make their decisions, which was adjusted to fit the standard PokerStars time allowances. The levels were also shortened to fit the parameters of internet play, with 30 minutes levels instead of the 2-hour levels in the WSOP.

First blood went to the runner-up, as Demidov took down a big pot to cut Eastgate's chip lead in half. The pace of internet play took some getting used to for these players, accustomed as they were to taking their time making decisions. Demidov ate into his time bank heavily in the first couple of hands, then his time bank took a further his as he suffered a disconnection at about the 10-minute mark of the match.

By 15 minutes into the match the pendulum had swung back to Eastgate, as he reclaimed his chip lead in this big hand.

Eastgate kept the pressure on, three-betting Demidov and moving all in on occasion to force a fold. Demidov's connection issues came into play again as he times out of a big pot, to which Eastgate jokingly remarked that he was abusing Demidov's lack of a time bank. While he wasn't abusing his opponent's lack of a time bank, Eastgate certainly wasn't giving him any breaks, either. He raised practically ever time he started with the button, not letting off the accelerator for a minute. Demidov responded with plenty of opening raises of his own, and the odd three-bet, and for a spans of five or six hands in a row we sat by as no-flop poker was the method du jour.

Eventually Eastgate's pressure poker built up a 2:1 chip lead, which he extended in a huge pot that actually went all the way to the river. Eastgate raised from the button, eliciting no surprise from anyone watching anywhere around the world. Demidov flat-called to see a flop of [3s]-[8s]-[2c]. Demidov checked, and again Eastgate surprised no one by betting out. Demidov called again, and the [Td] came on the turn. Demidov checked again, and then called again when Eastgate bet. The river brought the [8d], and the players went check-check, with Eastgate showing [Kd]-[Kc]. Kings were good enough as Demidov mucked his hand, and Eastgate dragged a pot worth almost 12 million in chips.

After a period of raise/fold poker, Demidov's connection issues raised their ugly head again, costing him a big pot and moving Eastgate over the 100-million chip mark. Now holding a 3:1 advantage, Eastgate applied even more consistent pressure as he worked to wear Demidov down. We continued to see very few showdowns, as the players generally got all the raising in on the first couple of streets. Just before the end of the second level, Demidov doubled through Eastgate to bring things almost back to even. All the chips went in preflop, and it was a classic coin flip. Demidov got it all in with [Kc]-[Qd], and Eastgate called with [5s]-[5h]. Demidov caught a king on the [8h]-[As]-[Kd] flop, and Eastgate needed one of two cards to eliminate his opponent. The turn and river blanked out, coming down [Js]-[7h], and Eastgate's formidable chip lead had been hacked almost to nothing. The champ as undeterred, and he went right back to work, but at the beginning of Level Three the chip stacks were almost exactly even.

Eastgate came back from the first break with a little more gas in the tank, and quickly took control of the match. By just a few minutes back from break, he had extended his lead to 30 million in chips with very few showdowns. But Demidov wasn't ready to lie down and die just yet, picking up a big hand with a flush over flush to move back into contention. And in one big hand, the momentum swung abruptly into Demidov's favor.

Eastgate got all his money in on the very next hand, and it turned out to be for the last time. He and Demidov traded raises back and forth preflop until all the money went in, and Eastgate tabled 4d-4c for a pocket pair. He was in deep trouble when Demidov's 10d-10c was revealed, because not only was he behind to a bigger pair, he had no chance at a four-flush as both his suits were dead. The board ran out 2h-2s-9h-3d-10s, and Demidov rivered a full house to take down the rematch and win $10,000 for charity.

Congratulations to both our champions, as Team PokerStars Pro put on a great show tonight, and congrats to Ivan Demidov for beating the champ heads up!

JC Alvarado has narrowly missed out on winning a WSOP bracelet like his fellow Team PokerStars Mexico Pro Angel Guillen. Alvarado made it to the last five in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em, but despite a temporary comeback from the jaws of defeat, he fell in a huge coin flip with John Kabbaj.

Alvarado raised to 200,000, Kabbaj came over the top to 700,000, the Mexican moved all in for a total of 1,250,000 - call!

Alvarado: [ah][qs]
Kabbaj: [10c][10s]

The race was on, but the board ran dry for the PokerStars man- [7s][6d][jd][7d][jh] - busting him in fifth place for a $138,375 pay day.

He could and perhaps should have been out a little earlier, after falling to the felt when he doubled up Kabbaj leaving him with only 200,000. But he went on a terrific little run that, for a short time at least, threatened a remarkable comeback. On the next hand he was all-in with [kd][qc] against Davidi Kitai's [6h][4s], which held up getting the Mexican up to over 400,000.

Next hand he raised the pot to 350,000 and it was folded around. The next hand he raised the pot again - and again it was folded to his disgust, as he revealed pocket aces.

Finally on the next hand he raised again, got re-popped by Eric Baldwin, all in, call!

Alvarado: [10c][10d]
Baldwin: [as][kc]

The board ran [qd][7c][3d][jd][7h] and Alvarado found himself up at 1,400,000!

Then the fateful hand with a rejuvenated Kabbaj sealed his fate. Shortly after Davidi Kitai busted in fourth, leaving Kabbaj, Kirill Gerasimov and Eric Baldwin to fight for the bracelet and the $633,335 first prize.

We started with 14 and now we're down to just nine in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em. Among them is Team PokerStars Mexico Pro JC Alvarado, who survived a few early escapades to take a place at his first WSOP final.

While still at two tables, Alvarado nursed a 200,000 loss from his 900,000 starting stack. "I did not even have a showdown," he said. "It's just that I lost a few small pots and then a decent one when I raised and then he jammed it, so I had to let it go."

His buddy Angel Guillen has already made two final tables in this Series, and JC was there to rail him all the way. But today, Guillen is nowhere in sight. "Some friend he is," joked JC. "But I expect he is still asleep."

When they got ten-handed the two tables combined, and JC picked up the blinds a few times with pre-flop raises. Then, an interesting hand developed with Jason Lester.

With blinds up to 15,000-30,000, it was folded around to JC in the small blind. He raised it up to 60,000 and Lester called. The flop came [6s][7s][7c] - JC check-called Lester's 60,000. On the [9h] turn JC checked again, and this time Lester made it 110,000, leaving 180,000 behind.

JC tanked and then announced all-in - barely loud enough to hear, but the message was clear enough and Lester folded. JC showed one card - [3c].

Tenth-placed finisher, and the final table bubble boy, was Mohsin Charania, who collects $57,645, leaving everyone else a guaranteed $77,136 pay day.

Chip leader, still, is the UK's John Kabbaj on 1,867,000, but David Kitai, who eliminated Charania, is right behind with 1,737,000.

Final table chip counts:

John Kabbaj, 1,867,000
Davidi Kitai, 1,737,000
Isaac Haxton, 1,139,000
Eric Baldwin, 1,115,000
JC Alvarado, Team PokerStars Mexico Pro, 810,000
Kirill Gerasimov, 621,000
Jason Lester, 386,000
Eugene Todd, 341,000
Darryll Fish, 241,000

Simon Young reports on events towards the end of another day at the World Series...

After being all-in for her last 30,000 or so not too long ago, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has gone on a monumental tear-up around her $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em table - and shot above 300,000! It all happened in four quick hands just before the dinner break, which will have made the refreshments go down a treat.

Rousso takes up the story: "First I had [ad][qd] and limped under the gun for 5,000 and Bryn Kenney called, then Alex 'AJKHooiser1' Kamberis potted it, I called and my hand held - he had A-10," Rousso explained.

"A few hands later I'm in the big blind and called a Bryn Kenney raise of 12,500. There was a ten-high flop and he bet, I re-raised and he folded.

"When the button came round I raised with [ac][6c] and got one call. We checked it all the way down and my ace-high was good. Then my raise of 15,000 was re-raised to 26,500 and I called. The flop was K-10 and a small card, I make a big bet and get a fold!"

Phew! That's how you go from short-stack to seventh in chips in just a few of orbits of the table, folks.

There are still 44 players left in this event, with only the top 27 getting paid. Team PokerStars Pro ElkY will find it a struggle after bluffing off a large chunk of his remaining chips. He bet out with his missed flushed draw on a paired board, and was called by Justin Young with A-6 for second pair. ElkY is now down to just 10,000.

Still going well is Team PokerStars Mexico Pro JC Alvarado on 220,000, Germany's Florian Langmann on 110,000 and Friend of PokerStars Bill Chen with 115,000.

STOP PRESS ElkY found Q-Q just after dinner and got his last 10,000 in the middle, but was up against the A-K of Bobby Firestone. An ace on the flop, and the Frenchman is outta here.

Ali vs. Frazier.

Balboa vs. Creed.

Eastgate vs. Demidov.

This latter fixture may not be the most famous rematch of all time, but in terms of entertainment it's right up there.

How it ended the first time is now part of World Series legend. In November 2008, Peter Eastgate defeated Ivan Demidov at the Main Event final table. Though Demidov had played like a champion, only one could take home the bracelet. Now, PokerStars is giving Demidov a chance to face his nemesis again, a chance to put the demons to bed. For Eastgate it's an opportunity to enjoy that feeling of triumph once more.

This Friday at 18:00 ET, both step back into the ring, the two Team PokerStars Pros facing off on PokerStars under the exact circumstances as they did back in November. Eastgate will begin with 80,300,000 chips to Demidov's 56,600,000. With blinds at 120,000 / 240,000 with a running 30,000 ante there's room for this rematch to get interesting.

While this is about a good an idea as they come, the money won't be necessarily as significant. Eastgate's $9 million is safe. This time it's just bragging rights. But then players always say the money isn't important, don't they. So bragging rights it is. Plays $10,000 donated to the charity of their choice.

So, shuffle up and deal! Or should that be seconds out, round two?

Good luck to both players.

Our man at the World Series, Simon Young, reports on the latest...

We've seen many a player at this WSOP juggling two tournaments at once - playing one, then nipping over to the other during a break to try and keep their stack alive.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is doing that in today's day two of the $2,500 Razz and the $10,000 pot limit hold'em - and now threatening to make it three tournaments at once by also registering for the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Low 8 or Better. If he does, it will require some nifty footwork as the $10K event is in the Amazon room, while the others are in Brasilia.

For a moment it looked like it would remain at just two events, as just now he was all in over at the Razz, but hit a miracle six on his last card to fill his 6-5-3-2-A to best Jeff Lisandro's 6-5-4-3-2 right at the death for a 20,000 pot.

We lost Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko and Jose Barbero, but Dario Minieri is still playing, although down to 10,000 or so. Chad Brown is also still in with around 33,000, one of the 50 left chasing the 32 cash spots.

Play was stopped for 30 minutes while medics attended to "Miami" John Cernuto, who appeared to collapse at the table. He was taken away on a stretcher but thankfully was talking on his phone and giving a wave.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

All photos © Stephen Beyer, IMPDI

STOP PRESS Negreanu will have to carry on playing two tournaments at once, not three - he just busted from the Razz. According to his Twitter page, he is not too chuffed: "I have 24k in the PLH. Steam is coming out of my ears. I am just furiously annoyed and stressed out. Can't handle any beats at the moment."

DON'T START THE PRESS JUST YET Negreanu has also busted from the $10K Pot Limit Hold'em - flush draw then turned a straight draw as well, and missed the lot on the river. He'll now be able to concentrate on the Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better after grabbing some food.

"Think big", is a good enough mantra for anyone starting something new; unsure how things will turn out but wanting to try it anyway, making as big an impact as possible.

That might not necessarily be the starting point for any PokerStars venture, but it often seems to be where new ideas end up. After the game changing success of the European Poker Tour PokerStars spread its wings eastward, hoping to create something similar in the Asia-Pacific region of the world. Starting small the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour was born, another PokerStars highlight that has since become the prestige tour of the region.

In the space of just a couple of years the APPT has blossomed into the region's first stop for poker pros and poker pretenders alike, with mammoth fields and new records set for prize money. Now PokerStars has announced the long awaited dates for the tour's third incarnation.

According to information just released, the tour will kick up again in Macau August 24-30, returning to the scene of its other successes at the Grand Lisboa. The $5,160 buy-in event could feature a potential 700 player day one, over three flights. Last season, Eddie Sabat played a marathon 12-hour final table to take down the Macau championship. A new wave of players now know the date they can attempt the same.

The APPT will host five events this season. After Macau, the tour will head across Asia and the Pacific from Seoul, to Auckland, to Cebu, and finally to Sydney for the Grand Final. It was there that Martin Rowe became Australia's newest million-dollar man in season two, winning last season's grand final and AUD$1,000,000.

See you in Macau!

Simon Young reports from the World Series on the latest Team PokerStars Pro to make a final table...

The pay day will come as little compensation to Barry Greenstein. After three days juggling the extreme swings this game brings, he arrived at the final table of the WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha with high hopes of securing his fourth bracelet and, of course, the bumper $679,379 first prize.

To do that you have to win your fair share of monster PLO draws, and while he did that earlier to build his chips to a place of real contention, he missed a big one right at the death.

It took a huge call by the Russian Vitaly Lunkin, who won the $40,000 no limit event earlier in the Series, to dispose of Greenstein, who will count himself considerably unlucky that he came out of the hand with nothing.

The killer blow started innocently enough: with blinds at 20,000-40,000 Lunkin raised to 120,000 and Greenstein and Josh Arieh defended their blinds. They checked to Lunkin on the [9c][6s][2c] flop, and he made a 200,000 continuation bet.

Greenstein then check-raised to 800,000, sending Arieh running for the hills. It was a huge decision for Lunkin, but after a few minutes he announced: "All-inl!". Greenstein called quickly:

Greenstein: [9d][7s][8c][5c]
Lunkin: [ah][ad][8h][7c]

The Russian was ahead with aces and had the open-ender draw, but Greenstein had loads of outs with the same wrap and a flush draw, while any five would give him two pair. But the turn of [qd] and river of [3s] missed the lot of them, and the Team PokerStars Pro was headed for the cash desk while Lunkin headed for the chip lead.

****************

Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex Veldhuis was unable to win his second round $5,000 Shootout match, but collected $16,740 for his progress up to then. "I was just leaving the cashier when they said the $2,500 Razz event was starting, so I thought, 'Why not?'", and that's where he's sitting now, trying to make the worst hand possible.

We've all been there - you're involved in a key hand playing on PokerStars and someone tries to interrupt just at the wrong time. You get a little grumpy, right? That's exactly what happened to Joe Hachem during his time as a motel operator and some guests arrived to check in when he was in a big pot.

Hold on, when did Team PokerStars Pro Hachem ever run a motel? Of course, he didn't. This is cinema, folks, and the new horror flick Prey sees a cameo role from the Team PokerStars Pro, who plays a motel owner .

In his scene film-goers will see Hachem playing on PokerStars just as the main characters arrive to inquire about rooms.

The film has just been released in Australia, and with Hachem involved it fittingly gets its star-studded US premier right here in Las Vegas on Tuesday night at the Brenden Cinemas at the Palms Hotel, which will be PokerStars players' base during the WSOP.

Here's what the film release material says: "When six friends decided to leave the City and head for the surf, how were they to know that they were being drawn into a world of ancient curses and inescapable nightmares.

"Trapped in a valley of primordial evil, these friends try to come to terms with past wrong doings but no matter how hard they try to escape, they always end up staring death in the face.

"Welcome to a place where the supernatural world hunts the real world. Welcome to PREY...Dreamtime is over!"

Scary stuff!

Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose details a mathematical approach to a hand played during the World Series...

The hand: Day two of the WSOP $1,500 NL and there are 270 left. We're in the money, average is around 45,000 and I have 11,100 after losing a flip on the bubble the night before.

Dustin Dirksen opens under the gun to 3,000 at 600-1,200 (100), I'm the cut-off with A-10 offsuit. I shove. Now against a tight under-the-gun raiser this is an easy fold even with nine big blinds. But I felt like Dustin would raise a pretty wide range here so I put it in.

Results: He calls with J-J and I bust. Now it's easy to say one of two things: 1) He had J-J, bad shove, 2) He's probably raising a lot of hands worse than A-T, good shove. But there's more to it than that.

The math: I'm putting in 11,100 to win 13,800 (11,100 from Dustin and 2,700 from blinds and antes) so I need to win almost 45% of the time ignoring the times someone behind me has a hand. I think we can safely assume Dustin is never folding pre-flop since he'll be getting 2:1 to call my shove.

I get that he has to be raising at least any pair, most suited aces, A-T and up, suited broadways and some smaller suited connectors just for my shove to break even. And while it's possible he's opening that wide (or a little wider), I haven't even dealt with the three players still to act.

Conclusion: Probably a small mistake to move in there, especially since I think I play a short stack better than most and there's some small value to surviving, despite my short stack.

Most importantly, though, doing math like this away from the table will give you a much better understanding of short-stacked play and make you a better overall tournament player.

By Tom McEvoy

The World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas decided to celebrate the 40th year of the WSOP with a special tournament. The 25 living main event champions were all invited to compete for the title of 'Champion of Champions', with the winner receiving a vintage 1971 bright, cherry red, corvette fully restored. In addition, the champion received the first ever awarded Binion's Cup. The cup was named for the Binion family which founded the World Series of Poker, first held in 1970. Jack Binion, son of the founder Benny Binion, was invited to award the cup to the winner.

The tournament began on May 31st, with the final table the next day. Of the 25 past living champions, 20 showed up to participate. A historic photograph was taken of the Champions, and you could literally feel the electricity in the air. Several of us were wearing Stetsons, including me. It reminded me of the earlier tournaments which were dominated by players from Texas. Everyone wanted to win the title, the cup, the car and not least of all the bragging rights. I cannot remember facing a tougher line-up in my entire poker career (which spans over 30 years).

The tournament started with three tables. After two players were eliminated we went down to two nine-handed tables. Jamie Gold, the 2006 champion, had the unfortunate distinction by going broke very early in the first level of play. After that one by one the remaining players went broke until we got down to one final table of ten. That final table would come back to play the next day in front of the tv cameras. ESPN is scheduled to air the show on August 4th.

The WSOP started out as a winner take-all event with $10,000 in chips. This Champion of Champions event followed the tradition. The opening blinds were $25 - $50 with one-hour rounds. We battled for almost six hours the first day, finally getting down to the final ten when the blinds were $200 - $400 with a $25 Ante. Phil Hellmuth was determined to make the tv table and after 2005 champion, Joe Hachem went broke with slightly more chips than Phil, the poker brat got his wish.

Of course he was down to less than $1,500 in chips, and Doyle made a very humorous remark before play started the next day. He told Phil that this confirmed what he knew all along - Phil would do anything to make the tv table, lol. I wonder if the mics picked up Doyle 's remark - I guess we will have to wait and see. Doyle was in a humorous mood that day, he also said: "Where are all the internet players - oh there he is." He was referring to Peter Eastgate the youngest player at the table, and the reigning World Champion.

As luck would have it, Phil, by far the shortest stack, drew the big blind the very first hand. Carlos Mortensen who busted Phil when he won the 2001 championship did it again by raising on the first hand dealt, putting Phil all-in if he chose to call. Everyone passed to Phil who hemmed and hawed for a minute then said, (heck) he would have to call with practically any two cards and then did so with a suited 10-5. Surprisingly, Phil was not in that bad of shape as he was up against Carlos's pocket deuces. However, as luck would have it the poker brat did not improve and was out on the first hand dealt. He was very gracious as he left the table, shaking everyone's hand and wishing us all good luck.

Eastgate went out a few hands later. He raised preflop with the 7-8 of spades and got reraised by 1995 champion Dan Harrington. Peter thought about it for a while then made a play I would definitely not have made against Dan. He pushed all-in. Now in my opinion Dan would not have reraised this early at the final table without a big hand, so this was definitely not the time to make this kind of move. Dan, rather humorously said: "Well everybody has to take a stand sometime," and then called - with pocket aces. He also said he wished he was up against a different type of hand before the flop and was proven right when the flop came down 8-6-5. Peter flopped a pair with an open-ended straight draw and two cards to come. Yikes! Dan sweated it out and Peter got no help and went out in 9th place.

The tournament took a long time to finish, finally ending around 1am in the 12th round of play with the blinds at $1,000 - $2,000 and a $300 ante. Along the way I eliminated Doyle in 8th place. Later on 1986 Champion Barry Johnson, short-stacked to begin with finally went broke to Carlos, soon followed by 1996 champion Huck Seed.

I was fortunate to win a few pots early against Carlos and knock his stack down considerably and became co-chip leader with Harrington. Carlos finally made top two pair against 1993 champion Jim Bechtel, but Jim had flopped a set and our opening chip leader went out in 5th place. Down to four players now, Robert Varkoni , the 2002 Champion, was the shortest stack and raised the pot to $3,000, I was on the button with A-K offsuit and reraised to $9,000. Bechtel in the big blind then pushed in for about $34,000, Varkoni quickly folded and it was up to me. In another article I will explain what went through my mind when I finally decided to make the call, but sometimes you make the wrong play at the right time and get lucky. Jim had pocket kings and Robert said he had folded a suited ace - oops, I was in worse shape than I thought. However I admit the poker gods smiled on me this day, and the flop revealed one of the two remaining aces in the deck. My hand held up and I now had over $100,000 of the $200,000 chips in play. I was in the lead the rest of the way, but Harrington and Varkoni were only one double up from taking the lead.

We played almost three hours three-handed before I broke Dan Harrington with K-Q of diamonds vs his pocket nines. I called his all-in bet on an ace, queen flop, hoping he didn't have an ace. This time I was right and my pair held up.

If players were betting on Varkoni's chances of making it to the finals and I would be his opponent, it would have been a very long shot indeed, but what our colleagues didn't know was our mindset. I told the ESPN crew in my pre-tournament interview that nobody was more determined to win this event than me. I wanted to re-establish myself as a top notch player who could still compete against the toughest competition. I also felt that Robert Varkoni, who played excellent the entire tournament, had something to prove. He is a much underrated champion and he too wanted to gain some respect from his peers and I knew he would be tough to beat.

After I got heads-up with Robert, I had almost a 3 to 1 lead, and I took nothing for granted and didn't think I had it locked up. I was proved all too right as he won a whole series of pots right off the bat with his aggressive play and almost got even with me in the chip count. I started to battle back, and then we played a huge pot which put him all in. He was basically on a semi-bluff with a straight flush draw, but I had the top end of it blocked and had already made the nut straight, so he only had one out when he went all-in. My hand held up and I was the Champion of Champions.

That is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. The older players clearly dominated the final table, and I have one last thing to say: "Old School Rocks!"

The latest news from the Amazon Room...

It seemed like just another day at the WSOP. Four tournaments were winding their way towards conclusion, generating the usual large crowds of railbirds and the just plain curious. But while four bracelets were on the line, focus was beginning to centre on the corner of the Rio's Amazon room, where something remarkable had happened.

Gone was the usual final table stage area where scores of players have already bagged their WSOP bracelets this year. In its place there was an ice hockey rink. What? Well, it was not a real rink, but the whole area had been decked out fabulously to look like one.

The reason? PokerStars.net was presenting the NHL Charity Shootout, a special televised tournament featuring some star names from the NHL, Team PokerStars Pros and several lucky PokerStars players - the good and great of poker and ice hockey.

The poker table had a special new felt - white and overlaid with the markings of the playing area, the button was replaced with a puck, and the stage was surrounded by familiar ice hockey boards topped with glass panels (not that there was any real danger of a player launching the puck/button into the crowd).

To add to the atmosphere generated by this event, the Stanley Cup was on display, taking pride of place at the daily bracelet-winners ceremony to the delight of the audience.

NHL star and PokerStars ambassador Mats Sundin was there, along with Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canuks, former player Glenn Anderson who played for, among others, the Edmonton Oilers, and Kris Kersteeg of the Chicago Blackhawks. Many more big names joined the fun to raise money for their favourite charities.

First they had to get past some of our Team PokerStars Pros, including Dennis Phillips (wearing the kit of his home-town St Louis Blues), Chris Moneymaker and Vanessa Rousso, the last of whom made it through to the final.

The tournament was held to coincide the annual NHL Awards, staged just up the road at the Palms hotel - where all our WSOP Main Event qualifiers will be staying just a few weeks from now.

We won't reveal the results and spoil your enjoyment of the TV show when it airs, but here are the nine who made it through to the final table ice hockey rink:

Scott Hartnell
Roberto Luongo
Murray Ungurain, PokerStars player
Mats Sundin
Vanessa Rousso, Team PokerStars Pro
Glenn Anderson
Kris Versteeg
Jeremy Roenick
Eddie Olczyk

All photos © IMPDI

Nearly every country has its own revolutionary hero. Anymore, nearly every country has its own poker revolutionary, someone who has changed the face of the game so dramatically that the country's players will never forget him.

Angel Guillen may just be that man in Mexico.

Late last night, after a marathon six-hour heads up battle against Mika Paasonen, Guillen became only the second Mexican national to ever win a World Series bracelet.

The 26-year old member of Team PokerStars Mexico is on the heater of his young career. Less than two weeks ago, Guillen came within one spot of winning a braclet. His second place finish in the $2,500 no limit hold'em event put $312,000 in his pocket.

Not happy with just the cash, Guillen refused to give in last night. Now, with a bracelet, Guillen is thinking of his fellow Team PokerStars player Chris Moneymaker and what the man did for United States poker.

"I want to do the same thing in my country," Guillen said. "Hopefully, I can."

The revolution will not come as easy for Guillen, no matter how many bracelets he wins.

"The problem in Mexico is that poker is not legal," he said. So, the growth of poker in our country has been very slow. We are trying to develop that now. We want to make a boom in Mexico."

If there's a man who can do it, it's Guillen. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Guillen is just a few credits short of a degree in economics. Right now, he's blowing away any invesment ROI he could ever achieve in the business world. In the span of just a few weeks, he's turned a $40,000 tourney bankroll into more than $800,000.

More than anything, though, Guillen has achieved in just a few short weeks what some people work a lifetime and never get. He has a gold WSOP bracelet around his wrist.

"Latin Americans, in general, are very passionate people. We love to win," he said. "We have a different type of life. We get an energy boost when we win. It's like all your hopes and dreams come together."

Angel Guillen will remember this day for the rest of his life. The Team PokerStars Mexico player had already enjoyed a dream start to his live poker career, which began only at the New Year, and now he has topped it by winning a WSOP bracelet.

The 26-year-old Mexican proved only a few weeks ago he is a no-limit force to be reckoned with when he finished runner-up in the $2,500 no-limit event, cashing $312,800. Now he adds another $530,548 to his rapidly-growing bankroll for winning the $2,000 no-limit event.

At times today he simply ran over the final table, building up a monstrous chip lead when they were three-handed, with around three quarters of the chips in play.

Yet when he got down to heads-up he met with a brick wall in the shape of Mika Paasonen, the player from Finland who seems to routinely qualify for PokerStars EPT events.

They started with Paasonen having the slight chip advantage after he busted Jason Boyes in third place, but slowly but surely Guillen took the lead back and built up a substantial gap, at one point 4:1. Then Paasonen doubled up in fortunate circumstances when his A-5 outran Guillen's A-Q, and once again the Mexican had to wear him down.

Finally, this epic five-hour heads-up match ended when Paasonen raised pre-flop. Call. The flop came [3c][4c][ks], and when Guillen bet out the Fin moved all-in. Call!

Guilen: [3s][3d]
Paasonen: [kd][10d]

Guillen had flopped a set, and[ad] turn and [2c] river changed nothing.

Paasonen leaves with a heavy heart, but also a heavy wallet, now loaded with $326,203 for his second-place finish.

Guillen's bracelet was the first for Team PokerStars players at the WSOP this year. They'd been close on many occasions - Daniel Negreanu and Guillen himself had finished runners-up, while Greg Raymer and today Chad Brown bagged third-place finishes.

We'll be back tomorrow when another collection of Team Pros will be shooting for top finishes, including ElkY, who is deep in the $1,500 no limit event and hovering around the chip lead.

A big day results wise for Team PokerStars Pro as Simon Young reports from the Amazon Room...

He came agonisingly close to a WSOP bracelet, but Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown has just busted in third place in the $10,000 Limit event. He collects $188,855 for his three days work.

Brown had been a force at the final table all day, racing to the top of the leaderboard soon after they sat down at 1pm local time. For nearly 12 hours, he went up and down before establishing a clear chip lead when they were down to just three players.

But he was unable to hold on as first Greg Mueller, and then Pat Pezzin, who had been the shortest stack of the three, won key pots. Pezzin twice doubled up, and each time Brown lost a sizeable chunk of his stack.

In the end he committed all chips four-betting Greg Mueller with [qs][10c], but walked into the Canadian's [ah][9h]. The board ran out [5s][8d][7d][kc][6h] to fill up Mueller's straight and send Brown to the rail where he had been supported for the last few levels by his partner and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso.

After a long day in the saddle Simon Young reports on the last match of the heads up championship...

What a day: eight hours of gruelling, energy-sapping heads-up play to determine who would take the coveted WSOP bracelet for topping the $10,000 World Heads-up Championship. If those of us on media row covering the best-of-three final were running on empty by the end, imagine how the players felt.

Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie had already endured three long days to get this far, but he fell agonisingly short of securing his first WSOP bracelet when he went down two matches to one.

He takes home $386,636 for a spectacular effort, leaving Leo Wolpert to take the wrist jewellery and $625,682 first pize.

After all the twists and turns, the ups and downs, the joy and despair it came down to one flop when Duthie hit top pair, Wolpert bottom two.

Duthie, ever the gentleman, shook Wolpert's hand, then turned to me and said only: "C'est la vie." Such is life, indeed, but it's never pretty getting so close yet so far.

Things had started brightly for PokerStars EPT founder Duthie, who took the first match after a long struggle of more than three hours. Much of that time he was behind but clawed his way back before delivering the fatal blow when Wolpert moved all in for his last 920,000 with [ks][qs] - and was insta called by Duthie with [ad][qd]. The board ran [8c][5c][3h][2c][as].

After a brief break it was on to match two, but any thoughts this too would run a marathon distance were dispelled early when all the chips flew in on the [9s][6c][ah][2d] board.

Duthie: [as][kc]
Wolpert: [6h][6d]

That left Duthie drawing dead on the river, which fell a [2c].

So the match drew level, but despite the pressure of the situation, Duthie was still able to joke with the crowd, and even won a $100 side bet with Wolpert when he landed the button in the round WSOP logo on the table.

The deciding match turned into another feat of endurance, close on four hours of play. Some 191 hands later it was all over. Wolpert had taken an early lead, and despite attempts at a comeback, Duthie never made it.

With blinds beginning to take on an added importance as the levels shot up, Duthie started to make all-in moves rather simply raise. It worked for a time, as they always do... until the last time.

Wolpert had limped in from the button and Duthie checked his option. The flop came [10s][3s][5c] and Duthie pushed, insta called by Wolpert, who had him covered by more than 3:1 at this point.

Duthie: [10h][2d]
Wolpert: [3h][5h]

Duthie needed to catch a second ten or a two, but the turn was [jh] and the river [qh].

This was Duthie's second big cash of the year after he finished runner-up in the PokerStars SCOOP $25,000 Heads-up event in April for $250,000.

Congratulations to Leo Wolpert, and commiserations to John. Your time for a bracelet will surely come.

**************

Although we've obviously been concentrating on Duthie today, we should not forget how other Team PokerStars Pros have been getting on at the Rio.

Vanessa Rousso cashed for the third time this WSOP when she came 19th in the $1,500 HORSE for $5,906.

And other Team Pros are still going strong in other events. In the $10,000 limit hold'em Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein and Lex Veldhuis are each still in the remaining 40 runners and looking to close in on the 18 cash positions.

Meanwhile Andre Akkari has just busted from day two of the $2,000 no limit hold'em event, cashing for around $5,000.

All photos © Stephen Beyer, IMPDI

John Duthie is the creator of the European Poker tour and throughout the year is often seen patrolling EPT tournament areas itching to pull up a chair himself. Free from any restriction in Las Vegas he's digging in to the World Series heads-up event, as Simon Young reports...

If this had been a boxing match the referee would have stepped in long ago and stopped the fight. If it had been a bar brawl John Duthie would have been carted off by the law and thrown in the cells. Of course this was only a game of poker, but such was the ferocity of Duthie's relentless aggression that Nathan Doudney may have felt as though he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Victory in this marathon match took Team PokerStars Pro Duthie into the final two of the WSOP $10,000 World Heads-up Championship, where he'll play either Jamin Stokes or Leo Wolpert over the best of three beginning tomorrow (tues) at high noon local time.

Duthie is now guaranteed $386,363, but will be putting on the gloves again as he fights for the $625,682 first prize and gold bracelet.

He started today as he meant to go on, offering only these words to your blogger to describe his mood as he entered the tournament area: "Kill, kill, kill!" I hasten to add he was referring to his upcoming opponents, not me.

Eight returned to play today from the initial 256 runners, and Steve O'Dwyer was the first victim to feel the force of Duthie, the Brit who created the PokerStars European Poker Tour, now preparing for its sixth successful season.

O'Dwyer was a tricky customer, but after several hours he pushed on a turned flush draw only to walk into Duthie's turned straight.

Duthie then had to wait two hours to play his next opponent in the semi - Nathan Doudney. He took an early chip lead, and never really looked likely to give it up.

He pounded Doudney, raising and re-raising. Doudney then won a nice pot to threaten to come back into it again, but like a boxer getting up of the canvas just before the count was up, he was soon receiving heavy blows once more and put back on his backside.

Observers were saying Duthie was playing almost flawless heads-up poker, and as his stack continued to grow - first a 2:1 chip lead, then 4:1 then 5:1 - and Doudney looked more dejected, few could argue.

It was not all one-way traffic, as the fact it took Duthie more than three hours to polish him off would confirm.

In the end, it was a pretty standard knockout blow. Doudney raised to 120,000 from the button, and Duthie moved all in. Call.

Doudney: [as][jd]
Duthie: [qh][qc]

The board ran [9d][4d][4s][6c][2h], and that was that.

Duthie had some support on the rail at various times, including many Brits, and two Team PokerStars Pros in Vicky Coren and Mayrinck.

Congratulations, John, on an epic performance so far - and best of luck for tomorrow!

For the first time ever, Queensland, Australia will play host to a major poker tournament.

The first season of the PokerStars.net Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour has been running for the past several months and the action will come to a head in less than two months time. August 5-9, the ANZPT will head to the state of Queensland for its final stop.

Ever since Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem won the World Series Main Event in 2005, Australia has been poker crazy. It's only been a few weeks since Chris Levick took down the event in Melbourne. Now, after a stop in Queenstown, New Zealand next month, Australia will see the finale of its first major tour.

Brisbane's Conrad Treasury casino and the Gold Coast's Conrad Jupiters casino will host the first two days of the finale. The tournament will finish up at Conrad Jupiters casino on Sunday, August 9.

Players can buy into ANZPT Queensland for $2,500 AUD and acting fast would be a good idea. The tournament is capped at 300 players and is expected to sell-out. With a prize pool of $750,000 AUD, people will be fighting to get a seat.

"We are very excited to be able to add Queensland to the tour," said ANZPT spokesperson, Danny McDonagh. "We have really covered the major casinos in the region by adding both Conrad Jupiters and Conrad Treasury."

By Brad Willis

The European Poker Tour is rarely without a surprise or two. From one year to the next, the new schedule almost always contains some sort of happy revelation. This year, the entire schedule is a surprise, and it's spectacular by just about any definition.

We have just seen a document that contains some of the most interesting and we dare say awesome possibilities for any poker tour anywhere. The sad part? We can't tell you about the whole thing yet. Sorry, but what with confidentiality agreements being what they are and all, we're sort of stuck.

We hate to tease, however, and, as it happens, PokerStars has decided to release the first half of the schedule. Good thing, too, because we probably couldn't have kept the first stop secret for very long.

For the first time ever, The European Poker Tour is going to Russia.

We've just learned the EPT will host its first stop in Moscow, Russia August 17-23. The $6,900 tournament (that's 212,000 rubles to be you and me) will be the first time the EPT has crossed into Russia and is sure to be an historic event.

This will be the first time in the EPT's history that it is not kicking off its season in Barcelona. Though we can't confirm this with our sources, we're guessing the early move to Moscow has something to do with that whole "not fighting a winter war in Russia" thing. Fear not, however, as the EPT is picking right back up in Barcelona September 4-7 with a €8,000+300 ($11,590) tournament.

That brings us to the next big surprise. Once again, for the first time ever, EPT London will be moving away from the Vic. Due in large part to the ever-growing crowds at the London event, the EPT is moving the event down the street to the Hilton Metropole, a place that can easily hold 1,000 players. Early word is that this year's EPT London is going to be a pretty significant festival. Stay tuned for more details on the October 1-7 tournament(s).

After that, it's back to Warsaw Poland for the October 20-25 event. That event contains no real surprises, but you only have to wait until the next month before getting a brand new EPT tournament.

For the first time in its history, the European Poker Tour is going to Portugal. Players will be sitting down at Casino Vilamoura November 17-22 for a €5,000+300 ($7,400 USD) tournament.

The next two tournaments will be a comfort to those of you looking for some constancy in life. EPT Season 6 is headed back to Prague December 1-6 and then, thank all that's holy, to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure right after the first of the year for what we're promised will be a huge festival of poker.

Last year's PokerStars EPT season proved a massive success and overtook the World Poker Tour in both number of players and total prize pools. EPT Season 5 generated a total prize pool of nearly €55 million (approximately $77 million) with 7,980 players from 97 countries. The four richest prize pools available in poker tournaments outside the United States last year occurred during EPT5, at: the PCA ($12.7 million); Monte Carlo ($12.3 milliion); San Remo ($7.5 million); and Barcelona ($7 million).

Now it's time to move onto Season 6 and EPT creator John Duthie couldn't be more pleased with how things are looking so far.

"We have set very high standards and we aim to improve on this still further in Season 6 - with new additions to the schedule as well as a richer mix of games and buy-ins to cater for more players," he said.

Be sure to stay tuned for the second half of the schedule. If even half of what we've seen holds true, Season 6 could change the way we look at the EPT.

So close yet so far for Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko. Having tasted the sweetness of bagging a WSOP bracelet two years ago, he was back today hungry for more.

But he fell short on the final table of the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better, busting in fifth place after a battling performance saw him rise up the paying spots without quite being able to build enough chips to make a title challenge.

He leaves the Rio with another $53,881 in crisp US dollars to put into his bankroll.

His elimination, just before Robert Campbell fell in fourth, came when he got all-in pre-flop against the chip leader Scott Clements:

Kravchenko: [8s][7s][5c][4c]
Clements: [as][9s][7h][5h]

Plenty of chances there for at least a chop, you would have thought. But the board ran [js][10c][5d][kd][6c] allowing Clements to scoop the whole pot with just a pair of fives.

Before Kravchenko, we lost Andy Black in sixth and John Racener in seventh, who both joined early finishers Anthony Lellouche and Armando Ruiz

Chad Brown has built a reputation as a prolific tournament earner, and that's no great surprise as he has more than $2 million under his belt already. What also impresses, however, is his ability to make serious money in all poker disciplines.

Over the years, the Team PokerStars Pro, who gave up his dream of being a Hollywood actor to follow the poker tournament trail, has pocketed big pay days in No Limit Hold'em, Stud, Omaha, 2-7 Draw Lowball and all manner of mixed events.

Today he was nurturing hopes of making another WSOP final table, this time in the $2,500 Omaha/7-card Stud Hi/Low 8 or Better. He had a huge mountain to climb, starting day three with just 23,000 chips, a country mile behind chip leader Jon Turner on 465,000.

He really had only one option when he sat down... go for it, and hope for the best.

Before too long that's exactly what happened in a Stud 8 hand, but the result was not what he planned:

Brown: [2s][4d]-[8d][10d][9c][3s]-[6s]
Ming Lee: [4h][8h]-[5d][ah][7h][6c]-[3c]

That gave Lee the eight-high straight and the six low, and Brown went to the rail in 14th place with a $10,481 consolation.

Simon Young with more news from the front lines of the World Series...
Brazilian motor racing team boss Gualter Salles had been in overdrive for the last two days, roaring up the leaderboard in the $1,500 no limit hold'em event. But unfortunately he's just done the poker equivalent of running out of fuel on the last lap, falling in 12th place, just short of a final table place.

Ironically the Friend of PokerStars, who has made his name by winning on the track, fell when he lost a classic race against Alan Jaffray.

It was folded around to Salles in the small blind, who opened with a raise to 90,000, leaving around 350,000 behind. Jaffray, who is bizarrely sporting a large-brimmed ladies hat, complete with red rose, took one look at his cards and announced "All in." Salles did not like that too much - he stood up, took a drink, scratched his forehead, then announced "Call", much to the excitement of the Brazilians on the rail, including Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari and Alex Gomes.

Salles: [ac][10c]
Jaffray: [2s][2c]

The race was on - but it was brought to an abrupt end when the board ran [3s][8h][2h][8d][qd]. "Why did you do that to me?" said Salles, as he offered good luck to the remaining players.

As he wandered off to collect his $51,755 cash, I wrote just two more words in my notebook: "Man down."

We on the PokerStars Blog are big supporters of Kara Scott. We work alongside her on the PokerStars EPT circuit, where she presents the television shows, and so are always pleased to see her do well when she's playing at the tables herself. Of late, that is happening more often than not.

You may remember she had a great run in the WSOP Main Event last year, finishing 104th for $41,816, and then in April this year she finished runner-up in the Irish Open, banking $413,612 for that tremendous effort.

Now she's back at the WSOP for her first tournament since that Main Event adventure... and back in the money again.

On day two of the $1,500 no limit, already in the money positions, she's sitting with an 83,000 stack, well placed for an assault at the final table with 172 still left from the original 2,506 starters.

"It's been a wonderful year," she said, "and here I am in my second ever WSOP event - and in the money for the second time.

"But you might call me one of the luckiest players as yesterday I knocked two people out at once when I hit four to a flush on the river. One of them was Justin Bonomo, who I busted from the Main Event last year when I hit quad fives!"

Scott is originally from Canada, but settled in the UK ten years ago, working as a teacher before getting into television presenting... and poker.

As we reported earlier on the PokerStars.net blog, the World Series is well and truly underway in Las Vegas. Already Team PokerStars Pros have reaped rewards. Greg Raymer finished third in the $40,000 no limit hold'em; Angel Guillen came close to his first bracelet and Daniel Negreanu cannot miss, seemingly cashing in every event and twice coming close to an elusive fifth bracelet. It's enough to make you want to play yourself.

Well thanks to PokerStars.net that's a possibility.

Poker is about competition and on PokerStars.net we know about poker. That's why we're giving you the chance to compete in the world's biggest and most famous poker tournament - the World Series main event - at the Rio Hotel and Casino, the same place Peter Eastgate won more than $9 million last November.

From now until June 21 we're giving away one seat to the World Series every week! It's free to enter and you can play every day. This is your chance to go to the big dance in the desert courtesy of PokerStars. Check out the details on PokerStars.

Former World Champion of Poker and Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer writes about moving from online poker to the live game ahead of the main event next month...

Many of our PokerStars players coming over to Las Vegas for the WSOP will be playing live tournaments for the first time. While the rules of the game are the same, playing online and live are two very different animals.

So who better to ask for some sound advice on how to adapt from online play to taking a shot at mega bucks at the Rio than Greg Raymer, who won the Main Event in 2004 and has got $6.8million in live winnings to his name...

by Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer

So, you've been playing on PokerStars, and doing well, and now you want to take a shot at the live games. What should you do? Well, the good news is you've already accomplished the hardest part, so the rest will probably come relatively easily. Here's some advice to make it even easier yet.

I've been playing poker seriously since 1992, so I started out as a live player, and only became an online player when it became available years later. Wherever you play poker, the hard part is learning how to play poker well. If you're winning online, then you've already done that. In 2004 when I won the Main Event, and prior to then, we used to make fun of the online players, and how bad they were. And for the most part, we were right. However, in today's poker world, it is the winning online players who have the most talent and knowledge, as compared to the live players. More importantly, the bad online players are nowhere near as bad as the bad live players.

So, if you're winning online, you've already learned what ranges of hands to play in certain situations, and what are the best ways to play them. To become a winning live player, you only need to follow this knowledge, and not give away any tells to your opponents. Reading their tells will improve your results massively, but it is not actually necessary for you to become good at reading tells to be a winning live player. But it is key that you at least be able to hide your own tells.

The easiest way to hide your own tells is to become a robot, a machine, to sit there and give away nothing. When you are not in a hand, feel free to be sociable and interactive, but once you're in a hand, you should pick a comfortable pose and sit in that position without moving. A good pose will be one you can stay in for up to five minutes (sometimes more) when your opponent goes into the tank and is trying to decide what to do. A good pose might also include covering your mouth with your hands, wearing sunglasses and a hat to cover your eyes and forehead, or maybe a hooded sweatshirt.

If you give off nothing, your opponent is left guessing. However, there are generally only three options in poker (fold, call, or raise), and as such if your opponent is guessing they will guess right about 1/3 of the time. It is also possible to give off tons of tells but to do so in a manner that is not related to your hand. In fact, you can learn to give off "disinformation" tells, that are designed to get your opponent to do what you want. This way, you can actually steer your opponent away from the right decision, and towards the wrong decision.

This can be massively powerful and profitable. But it is extremely hard to learn these skills and apply them effectively. And when you try to do this against another really good player, they will often see through your disinformation and actually make a more accurate guess than if you had given them nothing. So, I advise you to learn to give away nothing first, and then slowly start expanding your arsenal by giving off false tells. First, against very weak and easy to manipulate opponents, and only when you become very good at this should you try it against a strong opponent.

How do you learn to give off nothing? One good technique is to practice while sitting in front of a mirror. Play online poker, and put a mirror next to your monitor. Treat your mouse as if it were a stack of chips in a live game. When the action is on you, be in your pose, break the pose just to reach out to the mouse and click your decision, then return to your pose until it is your turn to act again. Make sure that as you see the cards come out on the flop, turn, and river, or as your opponents make their decisions to fold, call, or raise, that you give off no reaction. Make sure that your movement to the mouse is always the same. I have seen online players in live events who have learned to sit still when waiting on you, but they still give off huge tells when they bet or call. You can tell by HOW they move their chips whether they are strong or weak. So also practice with physical chips, and make sure you always put them into the pot in the same manner.

The final part of the equation is to learn how to read the tells of your live opponents. This is huge. This is the reason that you watch some of us live players on TV or in person, and wonder how we can win with some of the decisions we make. Sometimes when you see us do something stupid, it is simply that we are doing exactly that. But much of the time we are doing something that seems wrong in a strategical sense, but is actually right because of the tells we are picking up on our opponent. Using terminology of game theory, sometimes you should play in a non-optimal manner so that you can more fully exploit the non-optimal plays of your opponents. If you always play in a game-theory-optimal manner, you can never be exploited and you can never be a long-term loser, but doing so leaves you very short of maximizing your profit against the real mistakes being made by your opponents all the time.

How do you learn to read tells? It comes naturally to a few, but most of us have to work hard at getting good at this. I have been working on this part of my game, more so than any other, for the last 10 years. I strongly recommend the book "Read 'Em and Reap" by Joe Navarro. Joe is a former FBI agent who used to teach other agents how to use body language during interrogations in order to determine if the interviewee was being truthful. Over the last several years, Joe has turned his attention to using all that he learned in fighting crime to the world of poker, and how to read your opponents at the table. You can also find Joe at almost every venue of the World Series of Poker Academy, where he and I are both instructors. I only teach at a few of these each year, but Joe teaches at almost all of them, always doing an excellent job.

When you do make the move to the world of live poker, make sure that you start out playing smaller than you do online, at least until you are fully confident in your live game. Once you do so, you will find that you are probably one of the best players at any table you sit at, so enjoy this new source of poker profit.

Good luck in Las Vegas!

All photos © Joe Giron, IMPDI

The latest from the HORSE event, from Simon Young...

While we're not really sure if Ylon Schwartz likes riding horses, we feel confident enough to suggest that he doesn't. Instead, poker and chess are the passions in which he has enjoyed considerable success.

Before finishing fourth behind fellow Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate in last year's WSOP Main Event (for $3,794,974), he had already clocked up a nice run of tournament cashes, live and online. His sharp strategic mind also allowed him to play chess at a very high level.

It's the poker variant of HORSE that occupies his mind today. The WSOP $50,000 HORSE event, which kicks off in a few weeks, is one of the most eagerly anticipated by the pros, seeing as it tests them in key disciplines of hold'em, Omaha hi-low, stud and stud hi-low eight or better, all at fixed limits.

The pros are out in force today for day two of the WSOP $3,000 HORSE, a nice appetizer for the big dish to be served later in the month, and with 125 left in the field, big names are on most.

Schwartz is one of those, and sitting on his left is Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari from Brazil. While Akarri is sitting with 25,000, Schwartz has been on something of a roll and is close to the chip lead with 68,000.

A quiet man at and away from the table, preferring to let his cards do the talking, he is not one to give up chips easily.

Also playing today are serial 2009 WSOP casher and two-times final tablist Daniel Negreanu, who is sharing the same table as Barry Greenstein. Friend of PokerStars Bill Chen was sandwiched between them before busting a short while ago.

On the other side of the room, Brazil's Maria Mayrinck and Holland's Marcel Luske, looking as smart as ever in his PokerStars jacket, are both still in, although both have got short.

Simon Young reports from the Amazon Room on the frustrations of Daniel Negreanu...

Daniel Negreanu must be wondering when he'll ever get hold of his fifth WSOP bracelet. Despite riding high from a breathtaking start to this World Series, he's now missed out on a title by a whisker not once, but twice.

First he lost heads-up in the $2,500 Six-handed Limit event, and tonight he finished fourth in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low. That's four cashes out of the last five tournaments, including two final tables and one tenth place.

While many would be happy with winning that sort of money - another $130,401 is heading into his bank account tonight - Negreanu is set on getting the fifth item of wrist jewellery to confirm his position as one of the game's best tournament players.

Despite a punishing schedule that has seen him play until 3am for the last nine nights, he was in high spirits earlier today when the 17 players returned to resume battle. At one point he stood on his chair to celebrate another pot and spent time chatting to his fans on the rail.

From being one of the shorter stacks early on, he managed to get as high as third, but as the field thinned, and they moved on to the feature stage under the bright lights, his run of good cards seemed to dry up.

He was one of several very short stacks when they had got down to six handed, but managed to survive while others fell. Many a time he was all in, but either chopped the pot or scooped the lot to keep his hopes alive.

Eventually, though, something had to give when they got down to four-handed play - it did, but not without a fight. Down to the felt, Negreanu won a succession of double ups, surviving when at least two of the others were in the pot against him. Finally he fell when on the big blind he called Scott Clements' raise.

On the [3s][4h][4c] flop Negreanu pushed for his last few chips and was called:

Clements: [2s][3c][5s][5c]
Negreanu: [2h][4d][9s][10h]

So far so good, but the [as] on the turn gave Clements a straight, leaving Negreanu drawing super thin to a full house. It never filled up, and the Canadian was out, back again no doubt tomorrow to have a shot at another event, and another crack at that elusive fifth gold bracelet.

Much earlier in the day we lost Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko in 16th place for a $26,921 payday.

Congratulations, Daniel, on another superb show.

All photos © Joe Giron, IMPDI

It's all guns blazing in the desert of Las Vegas but there's business to be done in Italy beforehand...

Stefano Puccilli, a 37-year old banker, has become the first PokerStars Italian Poker Tour (IPT) champion after fighting passed more than 250 players to win the inaugural event in San Remo.

Twenty-two players made it to day three to fight for the lion's share of the nearly €500,000 prize pool. It took nine and half hours to make it down to the eight-handed final table. The only Team PokerStars Italy Pro remaining in the field, Nicola Fedeli, exited in 10th place.

It took another six hours to see the final hand. Puccilli got it all-in pre-flop with pocket eights versus a naked ace, only to see a [Jc] [Ah] [Qc] flop. Then the [9d] popped up on the turn and opened up a few more outs for Puccilli. The the miracle: the [10s] fell on the river and the game was Puccilli's. The banker banked 120,000 Euros for the win.

Puccilli has only been playing poker for four years and found his way into the game like many others, having watched televised poker with friends. He eventually outgrew games with friends and started playing on PokerStars, a path that led him straight to San Remo and glory.

If you'd like to play in the next IPT event, you might want to wax up your gondola. Venice, Italy will host the next IPT tournament July 23-26.

The results just keep on coming, as Simon Young reports...

Daniel Negreanu has said he "loves" limit hold'em, and no wonder considering two of his four WSOP bracelets have come in limit tournaments. Today, he was within a whisker of make that three out of five.

Despite holding the chip lead throughout the day, when the $2,500 Six-handed Limit event restarted with 11 left, and then having at one point a clear chip lead when down to three, it all went horribly wrong for the man they call Kid Poker.

The Team PokerStars Pro got down to heads-up play with Brock Parker, holding a 2-1 chip lead, but slowly and surely Parker - who plays as t soprano on PokerStars - clawed it back and then went on a rush to finish the job off.

So confident during most of the final, you could almost see the colour drain from Negreanu's face as one lost pot became another, and then another.

Before long he was well behind the man from Maryland, and eventually fell when he got all in with his [kh][10d] but could not catch up with [ad][js].

Negreanu will be bitterly disappointed, despite the $138,280 pay day. He had his heart set on a fifth bracelet, and even inquired at one stage today if winning this event would mean his third Limit bracelet would be a record. It wouldn't have been, as Phil Hellmuth already has three to his name.

Congratulations to Brock Parker, who collects the bracelet and $223,688.

All photos © Joe Giron, IMPDI

Our man in the Amazon Room Simon Young, reports on the latest from the World Series...

Six months ago Angel Guillen played in his first ever live tournament and cashed. He went much better at the PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este tournament by finishing first - and tonight he so nearly capped it all with a coveted WSOP bracelet.

Team PokerStars Mexico Pro Guillen had shot through a 1,088 field in the $2,500 no limit hold'em event, enjoying watching his chips moving north at every level.

"I'm feeling pretty good with lots of confidence," he said before play got under way a little earlier. "I'm hoping to do some good work today."

That was with 20 players left, and do good he did, first securing a final table place, and then getting down to heads-up play at what seemed like a record-breaking pace.

All that stood between him and the bracelet (and the bigger $506,786 prize) was Keven Stammen, but it proved a step too far. Stammen had the dominant chip lead at the start of heads-up, and never looked like giving it up.

The final hand saw Stammen raise to 150,000 and Guillen call. The flop came [9s][8h][2h]. Guillen checked, Stammen bet 225,000, the Mexican re-raised to 775,000, all in, call!

Guillen: [jh][9h]
Stammen: [jc][js]

Guillen had a bucket full of outs, but missed them all as the turn and river came [10s] and [2c].

Simon Young, on the front lines of the World Series in Las Vegas, reports on today's action...

If you have never been to the Rio in Las Vegas for the WSOP, you could be forgiven for thinking there is a straightforward tournament each day. In fact, multiple events are being played out: day ones, twos and finals. Today, there are no few than six on the go at once.

But although that sounds like a recipe for chaos, it all seems to work like clockwork - each event generally has different break times, allowing for relatively easy access to those little places of, erm, convenience, and the refreshment areas.

The noise of chatter, cheering and the clattering of riffling chips will surprise at first, but after a few hours it all somehow sets into the back of the mind.

One man who has only one focus and is flying right now is Team PokerStars Mexico Pro Angel Guillen. After cashing at EPT Monte Carlo, and final tabling the LAPT Punta del Este event in Uruguay, the Mexican is looking forward to a profitable WSOP.

He's already in the money on day two of the $2,500 no limit event today - and with more than 90,000 chips (blinds 1,200-2400) is looking to make a deep run. So far he's guaranteed $4,929 but all eyes are on the $506,786 first prize.

News from elsewhere today, Dario Minieri busted from the $5,000 no limit event, and Barry Greenstein, who earlier was down to the felt in the $2,500 six-handed limit, has shot up from all-in with 3,500 to 50,000, helped along the way by flopping a set of queens against the nut flush draw. Some comeback! Also better than earlier is Daniel Negreanu on 75,600. They are down to 46 in that event, 36 get in the money.

Peter Eastgate still ploughs on in day one of the $5,000 no limit event, and we'll bring you more of this tournament in tomorrow's day two, when its path has become a little clearer.

All photos © Joe Giron, IMPDI

The World series is all well and good, and may rightly dominate the poker spotlight right now. But if you're Italian the place to be is San Remo, and the start of the brand new
PokerStars Italian Poker Tour which has kicked off across the Atlantic.

The first stop of the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour found players right back in San Remo, Italy, host of one of the most popular stops on the European Poker Tour. More than 250 players settled in for some Italian action today. After nine levels on day one, 110 players remained.

In action today, the brand new Team PokerStars Pro Italia. The fresh faces on the tour include Filippo Candio, Pier Paolo Fabretti, Simone Ruggeri, Nicola Fedeli, and Elena Ichim.

Among the faces in the Italian crowd was none other than Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier. Armed with an Italian dictionary and a love for the host country, Mercier is marching into day two with 70,000 chips.

At day's end, Daniele Amatruda is resting on more than 200,000 chips, good for the chip lead and a good night's rest. Italian poker fans will probably also recognize some of the names still in contention:Gianni Giaroni, Daniele Mazzia, Alessandro De Michele, Giorgio Bernasconi, Sergio Castelluccio, Massimo Di Cicco, Simone Rossi, Marco Figuccia, Michele Di Lauro, Stefano Moresco, Simone Coppari, Matteo Pecorella, Danilo D'Ettoris.

Day 2 kicks off on Sunday. Good luck to all the players still in the hunt.

Simon Young continues with the PokerStars coverage from this year's World Series with news of more success for Team PokerStars Pro...

Perhaps it was just never meant to be Hevad Khan's day. Down to two tables in the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em/Omaha event he was held up on his way to the Rio and arrived a few minutes late in a bit of a fluster.

He was low in chips, but after two early bust-outs he secured a double up and a new found hope of stacking up nicely for an assault on the final table, the bracelet and the $244,862 first prize.

But it was short lived as he slipped back again and succumbed finally in 11th place, picking up $18,170 for his first deep run in this year's WSOP. The final hand summed up his day. In a hold'em hand, he open raised the pot from the button to 42,000 and got re-popped by Najib Bennani in the small blind, effectively for all the Team PokerStars Pro's chips. He duly threw out his last 50,000 but found himself dominated.

Khan: [as][8c]
Bennani: [ad][10d]

The board missed them both, and Khan, who final tabled the WSOP Main Event in 2007, was out, just two spots from the final table here today.

Another day done in the desert, as Simon Young reports...

From the 453 who set out on the rocky road to the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha bracelet, just two tables remain. Of those 18, Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan is still at his seat.

The larger-than-life Khan started the day healthily enough and has not looked back since. He currently sits with 133,000 - about the middle of the pack.

While he is still in with a shout of the final table, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Daniel Negreanu fell short, but still made the money. ElkY busted in 29th for $6,293, while Negreanu went a little earlier in 43rd for $5,074.

If he makes it (and play has stopped until tomorrow), Khan will be the second member of Team PokerStars Pro to make a final table this series after Greg Raymer came third in the $40,000 no limit hold'em event earlier this week for more than $700,000. Negreanu nearly made it, but bubbled the final table of the $10,000 7-card Stud.

After busting today, Negreanu hot-footed over to day one of the $10,000 World Championship Mixed event - not a bad idea as he's now chip leader with 110,000. Also in this illustrious field - and we'll bring you more news of this event tomorrow - are Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso, who is also big in chips on 85,000, Katja Thater on 46,000, Victor Ramdin on 39,000, Chad Brown on 36,000, Alex Kravchenko, 15,300, Gavin Griffin, 13,300, and Barry Greenstein on 10,000.

146 out of the 194 starters reamain and first place will get $492,375.

Until tomorrow...

A day full of action, success and more success for PokerStars players at the World Series, as Simon Young reports...

He may come from the US, but Jason Mercier is a well known heavyweight on the EPT circuit. A PokerStars player, he found himself winning the first EPT San Remo in April 2008, then followed that by final tabling the Barcelona event a few months later.

Just weeks further down the line he won the first big EPT High Roller event - scooping the £20,000 buy-in showcase in London on a fierce final table that included David Benyamine, Isaac Haxton (the PokerStars player who finished runner-up in the WSOP $40K no limit a few days back), John Juanda, Scotty Nguyen and Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier.

In all, those three successes - oh, plus a final table at the WSOP Europe pot Limit Omaha event - won him more than $3 million, plus an army of admirers for his hugely impressive game. Furthermore, he is a thoroughly nice guy.

Now the 22-year-old from Florida has added a WSOP bracelet and another $237,000 to his bulging bankroll by winning the $1,500 pot limit Omaha event here at the Rio in Las Vegas.

He beat 808 other players to get his hands on the title, but had already taken control by the end of day one. At the final table, supported by a huge and noisy rail, he finished heads-up with Steven Burkholder.

Afterwards he said: "Winning always feels good, especially after last year (2008 WSOP). I played in 22 events. I went deep in just one of them. I finished 13th and that made me sick. I cashed three times and all three times I busted out with the worst starting hand, in marginal spots.

"I was really upset with how I played last year. Now, it feels great to win a gold bracelet, especially so early in the Series. Every time I enter a poker tournament, I think I can win it, but of course, you have to win some key pots."

He had some strategic advice for those who play in both six-handed and nine-handed games. "I tend to play too many hands in early position... because I am used to playing in six-handed games online. But nine-handed games are very different.

"Today, I folded some hands in early position that I normally would have played. That got me into less bad spots. I was able to play position more and take down a lot of pots that I might not have won otherwise."

Congratulations, Jason Mercier, on a terrific performance.

*********

Team PokerStars Pros have been in the money today. First Daniel Negreanu bubbled the final table of the $10,000 7-card stud for $36,267, then Barry Greenstein and Vanessa Rousso cashed in the $2,500 no limit 2-7 draw lowball.

Rousso knocked out Greenstein in 18th place from the 147 starters, and got the customary signed copy of Greenstein's book, Ace on the River, for her efforts, but then busted soon after herself in 17th. Both received $4,094 for their two days work.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the Amazon room, two members of Team PokerStars Germany Pro were battling it out to cash in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event.

Out of the packed field of 2,791, Florian Langmann made it to 65th for $6,209, while Sandra Naujoks, who won her home EPT in Dortmund in March, got one pay spot higher - $7,390 - for finishing 61st.

Still going on tonight is day one of the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha mixed event, which attracted 453 players. Among them were Katja Thater, Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin and Negreanu, who is nicely chipped up on around 50,000 right now. Also playing, with around 120 left are Alex Kravchenko and Hevad Khan, on 42,000 and 47,000 respectively.

Finally, play has finished in day one of the $1,500 No Limit six-handed event, and Friend of PokerStars Bill Chen is already in the money and chasing the $428,000 title, a first prize generated by 1,459 players. Dario Minieri, who had built a nice stack at one point, was to bust shortly before the bubble.

Simon Young reports from Las Vegas...

He already has four WSOP bracelets to his name, but now Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is homing in on number five after reaching the final 11 players of the $10,000 World Championship 7-card Stud.

They say the greatest poker players are those that master a wide spread of games, and Negreanu has certainly proved that by winning his bracelets in hold'em (pot limit and limit) and the mixed game S.H.O.E.

But there's another skill the best players must have - not to panic when things get bad, but to regroup. That is exactly what the Canadian has done today, the second day of this event which attracted a super-strong field of 142. At one point he was down to below 20,000 when the average was more than four times that, but he made his move at the right times to set off on a dizzying spin-up that at its peak saw him second in chips with 25 left in the event.

The nature of Stud means the tournament has been something of a slog. It took nearly four hours before we lost the first of the 142 players yesterday - and we had hoped to make the final table tonight until proceedings were brought to a halt at 3am. So although the first prize of $373,744 will not be the biggest payout at this year's WSOP, it will have been one of the toughest to get hold of.

It certainly got tough for Negreanu when, with 16 players left, there was a new table draw. He was put on by far the most tricky table, pitting him against the likes of then chip leader Max Pescatori, Mel Judah, Jeff Lisandro, Greg Mueller and Hasan Habib.

Down to 11, with the likes of Judah gone, Negreanu was low in chips and only a couple of bad hands away from the rail. But he fought on, and took a sizeable pot off Greg Mueller when he made aces against his fellow Candian's queens.

That helped him to bag up 191,000 at the close of play, bringing an end to an epic day's work. Chip leader is Eric Drache on 785,000 followed by Hasan Habib on 593,000. The full chip counts can be found here.

Early in the day we lost Katja Thater, then Alex Kravchenko. The other Team PokerStars Pro in the day two field, Chad Brown, was looking good for a cash until he departed in 25th place.

Here's hoping we'll witness Negreanu make it bracelet number five.

Simon Young reports from the front line in the Amazon Room...

It may be 26 years since he won the WSOP Main Event, and the hair has grown grey (on head and beard), but Tom McEvoy today showed he has lost none of his shrewd poker ability. What makes this victory so sweet is the field he had to overcome - no less than 19 other world champions. Money was not at stake, but a lot of pride was. Oh, and a beautifully restored 1970 red Corvette.

The older champs like Amarillo Slim (1972) and Doyle Brunson (1976 & 1977) sat down with the young guns like reigning champion Peter Eastgate in a battle of old-style poker against new. And the old-(ish) game won.

Team PokerStars Pro McEvoy beat 2002 champion Robert Varkonyi heads-up, but only after what seemed like a marathon three-handed encounter with Dan Harrington (1995). These guys have so much experience bottled up between them that none was going to make an silly slip.

As the levels past, though, and the blinds increased, something had to give. It came when Harrington found [9c][9h] - but also found McEvoy in tricky mode. McEvoy had opened with a raise pre-flop, then Harrington came over the top for half his remaining 30,000. Call. The flop was [as][qc][4s] and McEvoy checked-called Harrington's 15,000 push. His [kd][qd] was good, and the 8 turn and 3 river kept him ahead.

At the start of heads-up play he had nearly a 3:1 chip lead over Varkonyi, and although the New Yorker began to grab some back, it was all over when we least expected it. They saw a flop of [7c][5s][8c], Varkonyi bet 4,000 and McEvoy called. The turn, [6c], set off an unstoppable train - Varkonyi bet 8,000, McEvoy made it 16,000, Varkonyi pushed all in. Call!

McEvoy: [10c][9d]
Varkonyi: [jd][5c]

McEvoy had the nuts, Varkonyi didn't. The river was [kc], improving his hand to a flush, and that was that. As well as the car, McEvoy picked up the Binions cup, presented by Jack Binion himself, who shaped the World Series way back in 1970.

The tournament had attracted the great majority of past main event winners, including Team PokerStars Pros Peter Eastgate (2008), Joe Hachem (2005), Greg Raymer (2004) and Chris Moneymaker (2003).

Only Eastgate made it through to today's final table, although Raymer was quite busy elsewhere during yesterday's day one - he was pocketing more than $700,000 for coming third in the $40,000 no limit final. Even then, he showed great respect for the Champions Invitational by playing a few hands of it on his supposed $40K dinner break - then trying to salvage his blinded-away stack when he'd done on the big feature table.

Eastgate didn't last long on the final table. Three hands, in fact, is all it took before he pushed with [6s][7s] but ran into Harrington's pocket aces. Another small victory for the old school.

Congratulations to Tom McEvoy on his tremendous performance.

All photos © Joe Giron, IMPDI

Simon Young reports from the Amazon Room front line...

PokerStars is home to the world champions. So when the WSOP introduced a Champions Invitational to this year's Las Vegas schedule, it was always going to be rammed with members of our team. Fighting for bragging rights, a shiny 1970 red Corvette, and the Binions Cup are five of our world champs - although Greg Raymer is currently rather busy on the $40,000 final table.

Current world champion Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem (2005), Chris Moneymaker (2003) and Tom McEvoy (1983) all proudly sported the colours of PokerStars when they settled into their seats after being introduced one-by-one to the Amazon Room.

While Jamie Gold, the 2006 winner, was the first to bust out, Moneymaker soon joined him on the rail. This is a two-day event, and here's how they looked when they started off - though I'm not sure which one will look best driving off in the Corvette...

The second event on this year's World Series schedule turned out to be a good one for PokerStars. First Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso cashed in 27th place for $71,050. Then, as players were whittled away PokerStars player Isaac Haxton, Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex Veldhuis and former World Champion Greg Raymer made the final table. All would come close.

Veldhuis started the day big in chips, but was unable to get going, ending his day in seventh place for $277,940 when he walked his A-7 into Team PokerStars Pro Raymer's pocket kings.

Raymer himself was in pursuit of his second world series bracelet but would ultimately fall three places short, busting in third place for $774,927 when Haxton out did his pocket fives with pocket nines.

After busting Greg Raymer PokerStars player Isaac Haxton went head-to-head with Russia's Vitaly Lunkin, who just a few weeks ago had won the Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow, with a 2:1 chip advantage. It sounds a lot, but these things change quickly. And that's exactly what happened - quite a number of times as the lead switched again and again.

The two were locked for hours pursuing the $1,891,012 first prize, but in the end Lunkin, dealt the final blow when his aces held up against Haxton's flopped bottom pair and flush draw. Lunkin had bested 200 others, the world's top no-limit players among them, to grab the bracelet.

A little earlier his aces had been cracked when Haxton hit a five-outer on the river to regain the chip lead. But a double up soon after, then the winning aces hand, meant he took the crown - and his second bracelet to the delight of his supporters on the rail.

Congratulations to Vitaly Lunkin on a superb performance.