June 2011 Archives

La próxima parada del Latin American Poker Tour tendrá lugar en el balneario de Punta del Este, en la costa del Uruguay. Entre el 3 y 7 de agosto, el Mantra Resort acogerá de nuevo el LAPT Punta del Este, patrocinado por PokerStars.net, después de haber sido el escenario...more

La próxima parada del Latin American Poker Tour tendrá lugar en el balneario de Punta del Este, en la costa del Uruguay. Entre el 3 y 7 de agosto, el Mantra Resort acogerá de nuevo el LAPT Punta del Este, patrocinado por PokerStars.net, después de haber sido el escenario...more

Vou confessar uma coisa para vocês, por favor não contem para ninguém... Quando foram anunciadas as etapas da quarta temporada do Latin American Poker Tour, fiquei triste por não ver o Uruguai entre os países-sede. Punta del Este sempre esteve presente na história do LAPT, desde a primeira temporada....more

A expectativa era enorme. E confesso que foi difícil guardar segredo! Mas hoje finalmente posso revelar: em menos de um mês teremos em São Paulo a primeira etapa do Brasil Poker Tour! O PokerStars patrocina alguns dos maiores circuitos de poker do mundo, como o Latin American Poker Tour,...more

When the 16 remaining players returned today they were all looking up with chip envy at one man, Idan Greenberg from Israel. Ultimately no one could catch him as the 'Green Machine' steamrolled his way to the Eureka Bulgaria title and its hefty €55,145 first prize. Eureka Bulgaria champion...more

2.30am: Idan Greenberg wins Eureka Bulgaria Idan Greenberg had ground his way back into a 55,000 chip lead when the following hand occurred. He limped the button, Milan Rakic made it 195,000 and Greenberg shoved, Rakic took his time but he made the call. Greenberg: J♦J♣ Rakic: 9♣9♦ The...more

7.05pm: Break time The players are now on a 15 minute break. You'll find level 24 updates in a new post. -- NW 7pm: Rakic rakes big pot I only saw the river action but with a complete board of A♦6♥K♥Q♥T♦ Georgi Harasimov bet 135,000 into a pot of...more

A total of 16 players will return tomorrow to determine the winner of Eureka Poker Tour Bulgaria. Only one can walk away with the top prize of €55,145 and whilst 100 players failed to stay in contention during the 10 levels of play today, one player who certainly did...more

2.20am: Play is done for the day The 16 remaining players are bagging their chips, well done to those of you who took the over! A full wrap of today's play is on the way. Play will re-start at 2pm tomorrow, it appears that with 689,000 Idan Greenberg is the...more

12.02m: End of the level That's the end of level 17, you'll find level 18 updates in a new post. -- NW 11.50pm: Mpallas keeps Moraru ernest From the small blind Petru-Ernest Moraru made it 15,000 to go and Mpallas Dimitrios then moved all-in for 124,000 from the big blind,...more

6.22pm: End of the level Players are now on a 15 minute break, you'll find level 14 updates in a new post. -- NW 6.10pm: News in brief 1) Miroslav Rizov still leads although he's dropped a little to 225,000 2) Anna Davydova - the last woman standing - is...more

2.05am: Ciprian stays cool to lead Day 1B field: The winner of the Eureka Poker Tour Bulgaria will pocket €55,145 after a total of 177 players entered Day 1B. Add these to the 131 who started Day 1A and the 308 players created a prize pool of €224,840. Of the...more

6.25pm: End of level That's the end of level four, you'll find level five updates in a new post. -- NW 6.20pm: Exits Iosif Eva and Boris Kotleba are the latest exits, in total 26 players have been knocked out during the opening four levels. -- NW 6.15pm: Papazian put...more

By now, if you haven't seen all there is to see in televised poker, you're probably doing it wrong. Over the past eight or so years, it seems we've seen every flop, turn, and river. We've seen the outbursts, the crying, and every possible gimmick the producers could imagine. But...wait....more

2.15am: From Russia with shove - Anna Davydova leads Day 1A field A total of 131 players took to the felt for Day 1A of Eureka Poker Tour and on a day when no man seemed able to hold onto the chip lead it was a woman who showed them...more

6.25pm: End of the level Players are on a 15 minute break, level five updates will be available soon in a new post. -- NW 6.10pm: Emergency flushed as Rakic stays alive I joined the action to see a board of 4♣8♦9♠5♣ and Niklas Ulhoi all-in for his last 5,000...more

A few months back, I sat in a Sao Paulo churrascaria eating chicken hearts and sipping on a cold beer. It was coming up on 11pm and men with giant spits of meat sat tableside waiting for me to look the least bit hungry. I'd lost track of how many...more

It was a long weekend in Australia and what better way to celebrate the birthday of Her Majesty than with a friendly game of poker. It's a game designed for royalty, as kings and queens were tossed around the felt with effortless precision this afternoon. Fifteen loyal servants came together,...more

Congratulations Sammy Huang - ANZPT Canberra Main Event champion! It's great to see a local shine through as Sammy Huang has survived the interstate invasion and steamrolled his way through the final table to claim a memorable victory. Huang qualified for this event through one of the online $22+R 3xTurbo...more

5:20pm: Fifteen-minute break 5:15pm: Leigh Warne eliminated in 5th place Leigh Warne's tournament has come to an end and again Toothpick Tony was the destroyer. The chips were in preflop with Warne going with A♥Q♣ but Toothpick showed Q♠Q♥. Both players' tournaments hung in the balance, as the board ran...more

The PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra has produced a field of 134 players for the $2,200 Main Event to create a prize pool of $268,000. The nation's capital and the Casino Canberra played host to three days of intense poker action, as our field has been reduced to our final table of...more

1:20pm: David Gorr bubbles final table! Just like that our final table has been set with the dramatic elimination of Aussie Millions champ David Gorr. We caught the action from the turn on the board of Q♠6♣4♣6♦. Gorr fired 17,000 and Khiem Nguyen made the call to see the action...more

We started out nearly eleven hours ago with 76 hopefuls entering the Casino Canberra poker room in their quest for ANZPT glory. We had previous ANZPT champions, Australian poker legends and several young guns in contention. But after a day full of psychological warfare, we are left with just fifteen...more

10:30pm: We're in the money as Moussa bubbles to end the day The bubble has burst on George Moussa to leave us with fifteen very happy players. Of course Moussa wasn't so thrilled especially considering his elimination hand. Moussa opened from the cutoff to 11,000 before Tristan Bain shipped it...more

8:45pm: Ten-minute break 8:25pm: Edwards survives four barrels from Graham Jarred Graham had been running over his table but he just hit a roadblock in the form of Luke Edwards. It started with Graham min-raising to 6,000 and Edwards calling on the button. Brett Chalhoub came along in the big...more

5:45pm: One-hour dinner break Just like back home, it's 5:45pm so it must be time for dinner! We'll be taking a one-hour break before returning to battle it all the way down to our final fifteen. Heading into the dinner break it appears that Jarred Graham has snatched the chip...more

3:35pm: Ten-minute break 3:20pm: Rennie rolls on After being crippled in the early levels of the tournament on Day 1, Rennie Carnevale has shown great patience to find the double ups required to get himself back into contention. The latest double up was at the expense of Billy Jordanou. We're...more

Table 1 Seat 1: Leo Boxell (Australia) - 79,925 Seat 2: Graeme Putt (New Zealand) - 16,900 Seat 3: Khiem Nguyen (Australia) - 44,975 Seat 4: Jai Kemp (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 33,400 Seat 5: Elzabeth Thomson (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 41,125 Seat 6: Dylan Honeyman (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) -...more

A chilly Saturday afternoon saw a field of 73 players take to the felt of the Casino Canberra for Day 1b action in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra Main Event. This produced a total number of 134 entrants to create a healthy $268,000 prize pool. Amongst them today was our only...more

7:50pm: Day 1b, and Wally the Wombat, is in the bag The clock has ticked down and the players have found some chatter after surviving day one action. It looks like we'll have around 41 survivors including Team PokerStars Pro Tony Hachem who made it through the day with 18,150....more

6:40pm: Ten-minute break 6:30pm: Scarf gets a present Accumulating chips in a poker tournament is about making the right reads, solid plays and getting a little lucky. If you're Andrew Scarf, it also involves accepting gifts. Christmas came early for Scarf when he raised 5,000 more on a flop of...more

4:30pm: Ten-minute break 4:25pm: Double for Xu Qi Xu is a blogger's delight and a quiet achiever on the ANZPT tour. With three cashes from limited appearances last season, Xu finished in the top 20 in the POTY race. He's just found a handy double up here in Canberra to...more

2:20pm: Ten-minute break 2:10pm: Keep on boxing It's been an amazing year so far for leaping Leo Boxell. After an Aussie Millions gold ring and a final table at the ANZPT Gold Coast, Boxell picked up yet another final table in New Zealand before making his way to this event...more

Stretching to every mainland state and territory in the country, the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour offers players more than just a poker tournament. It's the opportunity to visit somewhere new, and experience something different. Canberra is not your typical tourist destination, so for many, the chance to visit...more

7:55pm: That's all she wrote The final hands have been dealt on Day 1a of the ANZPT Canberra. The players have bagged up their chips and headed across the room to Galaxy nightclub as the ANZPT Player's Party kicks off. We'll have some loose ends to tie up here before...more

6:45pm: Ten-minute break 6:40pm: Voegele back in business Octavian Voegele has doubled up again to now be back in good shape here at the ANZPT Canberra. As Voegele recalled to us, holding pocket kings he raised to 5,000 over a table full of limpers, only to see Angelo Scicchitano move...more

4:35pm: Ten-minute break 4:20pm: Broom likes being the bully James Broom has a habit of accumulating chips. He's one of the most aggressive and fearless players in the country, and already today he's off to a fast start in a rare ANZPT appearance. Facing a raise to 550, Broom made...more

2:25pm: Ten-minute break 2:20pm: Toothpick double trouble In a battle of the blinds, Toothpick Tony and George Moussa went to war with the last chips in on the turn on a board of T♣T♠5♣7♠. Moussa bet 15,000 which was enough to put Kambouroglou all in, and after a few moments...more

June is traditionally the time of the year for poker players to travel. For many Aussies, it's the time to escape the winter chill, jet set to the other side of the world and step out into the scorching heat of the Nevada desert for the World Series of Poker....more

The final day of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Event saw 23 hopefuls return to the Grand Lisboa Casino with dreams of becoming Asia's newest poker champion. Ultimately, only one would earn that honour, and today it goes to the unassuming Kwan Mah. Yesterday we nicknamed him "Spiderman" for...more

Congratulations Kwan Mah - Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Champion! A big congratulations to Kwan Mah who has defeated a field of 447 players to capture the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon trophy and a massive HK$983,400 in prize money. Not a bad effort for someone who qualified for this...more

7:50pm: Dinner break We'll be back in 45 minutes. Here are the approximate chip counts at the break: Haifeng Xue - 3.17 million Kwan Mah - 1.9 million Conrad Coetzer - 1.55 million 7:45pm: Double up for Coetzer Haifeng Xue opened with a raise to 85,000 from the button before...more

5:40pm: Ten-minute break 5:25pm: Yue Xu eliminated in 8th place Yue Xu opened to 60,000 and action folded around to Jessica Ngu in the blinds who three-bet an additional 110,000. Xu made the call and they saw a flop of A♥K♣7♣. Ngu checked to Xu who moved all in, but...more

3:50pm: Ten-minute break 3:40pm: Farewell Fung With Danny McDonagh giving some of the Japanese media a turn on the announcer's microphone we didn't quite catch the details of the action that lead to the elimination of Baton Ting Hang Fung. However when we heard some high-pitched commotion from our announcing...more

1:35pm: Ten-minute break 1:30pm: What a recovery! Not long ago Edward Yam was time wasting with a one big blind stack. He's now up to 250,000 after a remarkable double up through Gabor Peteri. Yam was all in preflop with 7♦7♣ against the Q♥T♥ of Peteri, and things looked very...more

It was moving day today at the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event as 143 players returned to the Grand Lisboa Casino to strive to reach the final day of action. After around eight hours of play it was clear that the day belonged to Hong Kong's Justin Chan....more

7:40pm: Day 2 brought to an abrupt end - 23 survive! With 24:38 showing on the tournament clock, Danny McDonagh announced for each table to finish the hand they were on and that's it! The 23 remaining players looked around at each other in confusion, but yes, it's true. They...more

6:50pm: Ten-minute break 6:45pm: Seung Heon busts bluffing with kings as Chan soars! Baek Seung Heon has been teasing us all day with plays that have bordered on a very thin line between sheer genius and madness. We haven't been able to tell which side of the line he fell,...more

4:40pm: Ten-minute break With play now on the bubble and hand-for-hand play commencing, the action has slowed right down. Time for a quick break! 4:20pm: Ace-high call pays dividends for Seung Heon We've reported two hands on Baek Seung Heon so far today and both of them have been pretty...more

2:30pm: Ten-minute break 2:20pm: A couple more eliminations We've had a couple more eliminations just prior to the break as the players steamroll their way towards the money stage of this tournament. Asuza Maeda moved all in for his last 10,000 holding K♣6♥ but was called by the player in...more

Today was the second and final opportunity for players to take their seats for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event. A massive field of 258 players took up the opportunity, stretching your humble tournament reporter into overflow tables outside the PokerStars Macau Poker Room on the main gaming...more

Table 1 Seat 1: Ling Kay Yip (Hong Kong) - 76000 Seat 2: Jeremy Macdonald (New Zealand) - 131900 Seat 3: Choong Kian Weng (Malaysia) - 77800 Seat 5: Saejin Lee (Korea) - 18300 Seat 6: Craig Madley (UK) - 23200 Seat 7: Yan Cai (China) - 10000 Seat 8:...more

9:40pm: That's it! Day 1b is in the books! The final hands have been dealt and the players are currently scribbling their names on their bags, hopefully alongside a healthy chip count. Around 80 players have made it through and they will return to the action tomorrow for Day 2...more

8:30pm: Ten-minute break 8:20pm: That's more like an online hand Just moments after Yu-Reng Peng had taken the previous hit to his stack, he has come storming back into contention with the ultimate of bad beats. As the action was recalled to us, Mansour Khorramshahi limped, a short-stacked player moved...more

6:20pm: Ten-minute break 6:10pm: More chips for Chuck We're not sure exactly how it got to this point, but one player was all in and Charles Chua was facing a bit of 6,000 on the river into a decent side pot. The board read 3♠6♦6♣5♦6♥ as Chua considered his play....more

4:10pm: Ten-minute break 4:00pm: Tan takes four-bet pot Facing a button raise to 525, Jay Tan re-raised to 1,200 in the big blind before her opponent put in a four-bet to 3,000. Tan made the call and they saw a flop of 4♣8♦8♣. Tan checked and her opponent bet 3,550....more

With poker in Macau finally starting to fulfil its potential, the May/June edition of the Macau Poker Cup brought with it high expectations. The preliminary events have produced consistent numbers and today the wait was finally over as the HK$11,000 Red Dragon Main Event got underway. Boasting a HK$3,000,000 guaranteed...more

9:40pm: That's all she wrote Day 1a of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event has come to an end with approximately 67 players surviving the day's carnage. Leading the way is likely to be Jeremy MacDonald, with Xiaojun Zhang and Nathanael Seet not too far behind. Also amongst...more

8:30pm: Ten-minute break 8:20pm: Good news, bad news The good news is that Raymond Wu has doubled up again. The bad news was that since his earlier double up, Wu obviously had some troubles as he was down to just 6,200 when we saw him move all in with 8♦8♣....more

6:20pm: Ten-minute break 6:10pm: Wong races through Jones Nick Wong has just found a double up after winning a preflop race with Will Jones. Wong started things off with a raise to 1,025 with Bobo Chen making the call before Jones put on the squeeze, raising to 2,525 in position....more

4:10pm: Ten-minute break 4:05pm: "Bad luck" We arrived on a flop of T♥4♦J♠ to see Sweden's Roger Spets check-call for 825 before the 6♦ hit the turn. Spets checked and his opponent bet 1,000, but Spets came back with a check-raise to 2,600. His opponent quickly called and the river...more

When PokerStars first entered the unchartered waters of the Macau gaming market with the inaugural APPT Macau event back in 2007, everyone held great hopes that the local people would embrace the game of poker that we love and make it their own. It was not going to be easy...more

After a wait that lasted half a year, it's time to start planning for the next season of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. Last December, the APPT put its fourth season to bed in Sydney. This afternoon, tour organizers announced a brand new schedule that begins in just two months....more