March 2011 Archives

When we started out this afternoon we got a feeling that there was a great story unfolding, with only the final chapters left to be written. Five locals, a few young guns, an Irishman and a PokerStars qualifier by the name of Grant Levy. The man known as "Grunter" entered...more

9:00pm: John Corr eliminated in 2nd place; Grant Levy crowned ANZPT Perth champion! It had taken almost three and a half levels of grinding for Grant Levy to work away at the stack of his gallant opponent in local John Corr, and after consecutive double ups, it looked like Corr...more

7:10pm: Ten-minute break As the nearby band cranks up Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name", the players are now taking a much-needed ten-minute break. 6:50pm: Corr fighting hard Not a lot of action to report as Grant Levy appears content to keep pots small and wait patiently for...more

4:50pm: Ten-minute break 4:40pm: Corr puts in a four-bet John Corr opened with a raise to 60,000 before Grant Levy popped it to 130,000 from the big blind. Corr hasn't got into too many preflop wars but he came back with a four-bet of an additional 210,000. Levy thought for...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:35pm: Han Luu eliminated in 6th place On the final hand of the level, Grant Levy opened with a raise to 32,000 from under the gun before Han Luu defiantly thumped 90,000 into the middle from late position. Action folded back to Levy who this time acted...more

The PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event attracted a field of 220 entrants, creating a prize pool of $506,000. After three days of play, our field has been reduced to a final table of eight players. Here's how they will line up: Seat 1: Han Luu (Perth, West Australia) - 639,000...more

Australians love nothing more than cheering their own team onto victory. It doesn't matter if it's the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the local Curling Division 2 championships - just attach some form of allegiance and we'll happily sit and cheer. The rule counts for double if the local...more

7:40pm: What an end to the day! Well, that got rather busy, rather quickly! After plenty of slow periods throughout the day, we've ended with an almighty rush with four eliminations in rapid succession. Only eight players will return tomorrow, and to be honest, it was so frantic there at...more

7:20pm: Level up - blog will continue on new page 7:15pm: Teddy crippled by Kearns Aaron Lim opened with a raise to 26,000 before Ted Nguyen moved all in from the button for 195,000. Patrick Kearns thought long and hard in the big blind before also declaring himself all in....more

5:10pm: Level up, blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 1,000 Due to the unscheduled break, we won't be taking this break right now, but our coverage will continue with the next level on a new page. 5:00pm: Corr claims another John Corr is unstoppable right now. He's just claimed another victim in Shane...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:35pm: Hachem doubles, Quon busts Just as the players were heading off for their break, two big all in pots were unfolding. One led to a double up, and the other was an elimination. The one to double was none other than Tony Hachem. He opened with...more

When we started out this morning we knew it was going to be a day that would sort out the best from the rest, and without a doubt the cream rose to the top as Day 2 of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event was a day to remember. From the...more

Table 15 Seat 1: David Gorr - 62,100 Seat 2: Peter Gilbert - 72,200 Seat 3: Alan Bustany - 86,200 Seat 4: Mile Krstanoski - 48,400 Seat 5: Tim Marsters (PokerStars Qualifier) - 219,400 Seat 6: Shane Rakich - 210,600 Seat 7: Taner Ates (PokerStars Qualifier) - 111,900 Seat 9:...more

8:00pm: Day two is done We need a moment to catch our breath after a stunning end to the day when Aaron Lim captured a massive pot and a clear chip lead at the end of the day. He'll bag up close to 550,000 with Ricky Kroesen next best with...more

6:50pm: Ten-minute break 6:35pm: Two more down The rate of eliminations has been rather quick this afternoon as we're now down under 40 players remaining in the Main Event. In recent eliminations, we lost cult hero David Steicke when he pushed all in on a jack-high flop with king-jack, but...more

4:40pm: Ten-minute break 4:35pm: O'Rourke rockets ahead Liam O'Rourke is one of Australia's finest young talents with a super-impressive online poker resume and he's quickly accumulating a live resume to match. After a third place finish in the ANZPT Gold Coast event last year, O'Rourke is heading towards another ANZPT...more

2:30pm: Ten-minute break 2:15pm: Cohen finds a river Hugh Cohen is amongst the leaders in a classic suck-resuck hand that we all love. After a limp in front of him, Cohen popped it to 3,000 holding A♦A♣. His opponent made the call and the flop landed 5♠Q♥T♦. A check and...more

Some days on the poker table can be a real grind. You take one step forward and two steps back, and struggle to gain any momentum. Other days it's the rollercoaster ride from hell, with huge swings that test the emotional limits of even the most composed player. Then of...more

You might think the idea of staging a major poker tournament in an Alpine ski resort would detract somewhat from the real business at hand. With ski slopes just a short walk away, and with winter sports leaflets glossily presented to every hotel guest, you would be forgiven for thinking...more

Table 3 Seat 1: Shane Rakich - 40700 Seat 2: Joel Gaffney - 43500 Seat 3: Andrew Hinrichsen - 12400 Seat 4: Paul Spies (PokerStars Qualifier) - 68000 Seat 5: Stephen Ford - 12800 Seat 6: Evan Sylwestrzak - 28900 Seat 8: Kristian Lunardi - 11600 Seat 9: Rodney...more

8:10pm: Day 1b is in the books The final hands of the day drew no further incident as approximately 81 players survived the day. A quick run around the room to scout the big stacks has put Billy Jordanou in the lead with 92,200, narrowly ahead of Ferenc Riech (91,800)...more

7:00pm: Ten-minute break 6:50pm: Here come Billy! On our most recent pass into the main poker room area, we spotted a noticeable increase in the size of the stack of Billy Jordanou. He's now up to over 80,000 and threatening the chip lead. Billy Jordanou is amongst the chip leaders...more

4:50pm: Ten-minute break 4:50pm: It's good to be the Dong On a hand that extended into the break, Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis has disposed of ANZPT Melbourne champ Martin Kozlov. Kozlov opened to 500 before Karamalikis three-bet to 1,200 in position. Kozlov came back with a small four-bet to 2,500 and...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:25pm: Rubie check-raises Barrett When two young online players collide there's always going to be fireworks. Sitting side-by-side Josh Barrett and Brendon Rubie have just tangled with Rubie getting the upper hand. It was four ways to a K♦J♠7♥ flop where Barrett's bet of 525 was check-called...more

As the sun sets on a glorious Perth day, the opening flight of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event has also drawn to a close. We started out with a field of 81 players with several local hopes and plenty of talent flying in from the Eastern states for their...more

8:20pm: That's a wrap The players are now revealing all their bluffs, check-raises and triple barrels as they bag, tag and head to the bar. We'll have approximately 47 players through to day two, with Queenslander Ricky Kroesen leading the way with 109,400, ahead of Mikael Rosen with 96,700. Others...more

7:10pm: Ten-minute break 7:05pm: Kroesen straight to the top In the biggest pot of the tournament, Ricky Kroesen has shot to the top of the charts after a speculative preflop call paid dividends. After a raise and a couple of callers, Kroesen decided to call with 9♣6♣ and flopped a...more

5:00pm: Ten-minute break 4:40pm: Marsland's great escape When the players are so deep-stacked in the early levels of an ANZPT, it usually takes a pretty big cooler of a hand to eliminate a solid player. Then again, sometimes a really good player can even escape from a seemingly impossible position....more

2:50pm: Ten-minute break 2:40pm: Curly keeps it small Emanuel "Curly" Seal will be currently ruing a little lost value after he kept things small on a straightening board of 6 5 2 4 7 . Seal check-called 700 on the turn before both players checked the river. Seal's opponent tabled pocket jacks, as Curly gave...more

After six weeks of rest and relaxation, Season 3 of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour has once again started up the engine and sped away to another exciting poker destination. It's easy to forget how large this sunburnt country of Australia truly is. After a couple of aeroplane...more

Keith Johnson has won the first ever Eureka Poker Tour event and bagged €58,400 for his troubles. He defeated Spanish PokerStars qualifier Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez in a short heads up battle with Johnson's K♣J♦ holding against Rodriguez's T♣6♣ on the final hand. Johnson winning the tournament with a hand...more

12am: Keith Johnson wins Eureka Poker Tour, Prague (€58,400) From the button Keith Johnson moved all-in for an effective 10 big blinds and Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez thought for a while before calling all-in for his tournament life: Johnson: K♣J♦ Rodriguez: T♣6♣ "Hold," shouted Johnson's rail as the flop came down...more

10.30pm: End of the level Players are on a 10 minute break. Level 26 updates will appear in a new post. -- NW 10.20pm: Petr Kralicek eliminated in fourth place (4th €16,080) From the button Keith Johnson made it 90,000 to play, Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez folded the small blind before...more

6.55pm: End of the level That's the end of level 22, updates for level 23 and beyond will appear in a new post shortly. -- NW 6.40pm: Back from the break The nine remaining players are back in their seats, here are their approximate chip counts: David Torok - 490,000...more

4.15pm: Break time The remaining 11 players are now on a 20 minute break. -- NW 4.10pm: Martin Svub eliminated in 12th place (€3,240) Down to just 106,000 Martin Svub moved all-in with Q♠T♠ and was called by Kim Eduardovich who had pocket jacks. The board of T♦7♠6♣5♦8♣ gave Svub...more

For the 98 players who returned today the aim was simple - make the money. They knew they couldn't win the tournament on Day 2, but as 78 players found out, you could definitely lose it. To use a poker phrase play today had many gears. It took six...more

1.35am:Top five stacks Here are the top five chip stacks: David Torok, Hungary , 800500 Jaroslav Urban, Czech Republic, 629000 Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez, Spain, PokerStars quailfier, 522500 Pawel Burka, Czech Republic, 380500 Pawel Bartosz, Poland, 311000 The top three are someway clear of the two Pawel's, and those three traded...more

10.38pm: End of the level That's the end of level 16, updates for the last two levels of the night will appear in a new post soon. -- NW 10.30pm: Last woman sitting Veronika Kokoceva is the last woman in the event as Lieke van Wordragen has just been eliminated....more

8.15pm: End of the level That's the end of the level, you'll find level 15 updates in a new post which will be up very soon. -- NW 8.05pm: Jakub jilted by the ladies Jakub Ratulowski's hopes of making a deep run in this tournament are over. Shortly after losing...more

4.08pm: Break time The players have completed two levels and are on their first break of the day, see you in 20. -- NW 4.05pm: Steady from Urban Day 1A chip leader Jaroslav Urban seems to have had a steady couple of levels, he came into today with 114,000 and...more

Today a total of 169 players joined the 150 players from Day 1A to create a field of 319 for the inaugural PokerStars Eureka Poker Tour event. Whilst that number was important it was nothing compared to the figure announced midway through the day, €58,400 was the important figure....more

1.25am: Top five chip stacks Here by my reckoning are the top five chip stacks at the end of Day 1B. Marius Tripsa, Romania, 127,000 Cristian Murgoci, Romania, PokerStars player, 107,100 Jakub Ratulowski, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 98,600 Martin Strban, Slovakia, PokerStars qualifier, 98,400 Pawel Bartosz, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 97,900 Team...more

9.10pm: Break time Level six is in the books, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 9pm: Double elimination Vojtech Ruzicka just eliminated two players in the same hand. He three-bet to 2,500 after Nikolay Hadziev had open-raised and then a third player moved all-in for 3,100. Back...more

6.50pm: On a break With the end of level four, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 6.40pm: Nuts for Neofitov I only saw the river action but with the board reading K♥8♥3♥5♥4♠ and around 5,000 in the pot Alexey Neofitov asked his opponent (Jiri Jakubec) how much...more

4.05pm: Break time That's the end of level two, players are now on a 40 minute dinner break. -- NW 4pm: Got the keys A little update on James Keys (see 3.20pm post) upon realising he could still play EPT Snowfest Day1B even if he won this tournament he decided...more

An historic old city, a brand new poker tour, the Eureka Poker Tour to be exact and they'll be no geographical pigeon holing for PokerStars latest tour. The first stop is the Casino card club in Prague and despite sharing the same initials this is not the EPT and the...more

1.30am: Top five chip counts As the players were bagging their chips I scooted round the room and got the top five chip counts, full chip counts will be sent by the casino overnight. Jaroslav Urban, Czech Republic, 114,000 Kamil Koska, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 104,900 Oldrich Siml, Czech Republic, 102,100...more

9.10pm: End of level six And with the sounding of the klaxon, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 9pm: One of the best Another player from the Czech Republic who's going well today is Ondrej Vinklarek. He's currently playing a stack of around 43,000 and is, according...more

6.50pm: Break time Players are now on a 20 minute break as level four has come to an end. 6.40pm: Pole position Ok so he's not chip leader but I couldn't resist the pun. However, Polish player Grzegorz Cichocki is going well on around 29,725. I saw him raise to...more

4.10pm: Dinner break Level two is in the books and the players are on a 40 minute dinner break. During that time hopefully a seat draw will be forthcoming and I'll be able to bring you confirmation of how many entrants there are on Day 1A. -- NW 4.05pm: Hruby...more

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