March 2012 Archives

It's been said that war is 90 percent boredom, 10 percent fear. The same could be said about poker. We saw one level go by without action, and then the next looked like it was going to bring more of the same, but then it happened. That 10 percent...more

Our first level of play brought us two eliminations, the second brought none. While not much was going on, we did manage to see one showdown last level. It was the only one. Javier Venegas raised to 100,000 and Felipe Velasquez called. The flop came 6♠3♥4♥ and both players...more

It didn't take long following the break for a one-two blow to finish off the ANZPT Sydney Main Event and crown Scotland's Gordon Huntly as our newest poker champion! Three-handed, it took a bit of a cooler to finish off the determined Anthony Aston. Liam O'Rourke opened with a raise...more

The day started off fairly tight, but before the end of the level, we'd have our first two eliminations. Some players folded some big hands early on. We started the day off in Level 25, with 20,000/40,000 blinds and a 5,000 ante. In one of the first hands of...more

We're here, the first final table of LAPT Season 5. We saw 672 players sign up, 651 actually showed up (21 no-shows), and they've all been eliminated except for eight. And while majority of the 104 players who've cashed have already been paid out, our remaining eight are fighting...more

"What do you write about when there's nothing to write about?" was the question asked by PokerStars.tv hostess Lynn Gilmartin to us a short while ago. It's a great question. Sometimes it's hard to make nothing sound exciting, but like it or not, nothing is still something. The last two...more

As the players take the next scheduled break, and the evening slowly draws towards midnight, we find ourselves four-handed after a fascinating session of play. It was dominated by Liam O'Rourke in many respects. He played nearly every pot, won plenty of them and was responsible for the elimination of...more

We're not sure what the players ate at dinner, but our final seven have quickly become five after the fast and furious eliminations of Oliver Speidel and Craig Blight. It was a sour dessert for Blight who was quickly all in just moments after the resumption of play. In fact,...more

Boom boom! Just like that we've lost the first two players of our ANZPT Sydney Main Event final table. First to go was unfortunately 2008 APPT Sydney champion in Martin Rowe. And it took a very cruel river blow to do the damage. With the blinds at 12k/24k/2k, Rowe opened...more

The official ANZPT Sydney final table of nine have been formed after we went from 16 to nine with a series of pretty rapid bustouts. Kristina Griffiths and Steve Lindeblad lost the battle with their short stacks, before Mishel Anunu's tournament came unstuck in unlucky 13th place. Anunu fell when...more

We've recently redrawn for the final two tables and are now down to 16 players remaining in the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Damien Walsh, Luke Downes and Laurence Hall were recent casualties while the devastating elimination of American Jim Collopy was the trigger for the redraw. A distraught Collopy was...more

"Bottle of water?" announced one of the perky Star Poker waitresses as she stood next to table two here in the Oasis Lounge. "Anyone?" she sighed. "I'll take it if no one wants it," shouted Erich Stadler from across the table. The waitress came over and delivered the water, as...more

As we enter the final day of the 2012 ANZPT Sydney Main Event, it seems appropriate to look back almost twelve months to this final table last year. It was one of our favourite final tables of all time. Not so much because of Michael Kanaan's dominant victory (although that...more

The final table bubble burst at an unusual time. Level 24 had just come to an end -- signaled by the "Jaws" theme song -- and a few players ran out to do whatever it is they do during breaks. But while they were out and about frolicking across...more

Ten players are left and action has dropped a gear or two. It's hard to keep the blistering pace we started the day off with. Stacks are getting big and so is the money. The final ten are guaranteed $9,130, but that's only a fraction of the $129,470 that...more

And just like that, we're down to 12. But Daniela Horno is not among the final dozen. The start-of-day chip leader had quite the roller coaster ride on the chip counts page. She started up top, but then rushed to the bottom. She fought her way back to average...more

It's been a massacre. We're 90 minutes into Day 3 and we're already down to our last 20 players. Players are now guaranteed $3,860, but they have bigger goals in mind, we're almost down to the final two tables. And that means we're getting closer to the final table....more

Another shot. Every player has one tournament where they wish things had gone differently. Maybe it was a bad call, a failed bluff or a bad beat, but you replay the hand in your head night after night. It tortures you to sleep. If only you had another shot......more

It was always going to be a tough ask today. 208 players into a final table of nine within ten levels of play - virtually an impossible equation, but we gave it a crack here on Day 2 of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. As the players bag and tag...more

Being Saturday night here in Sydney, we thought it might be a good chance to take a closer look at some of the exciting dining options here at The Star. The $850 million renovations have provided a wealth of new offerings which are sure to please poker players who love...more

We love the bubble. It scares a lot of players, but for the media, it's great fun. Poker tournaments aren't everything that you see on TV. There are plenty of lulls, which we do our creative best to make sound exciting for you at home. Fortunately when it comes to...more

When thinking of a story to write for my next piece here at the ANZPT Sydney Main Event, I turned to colleague Josh Bell who has been bringing you all of the live updates at this event. Without missing a beat, Josh said, "What about Oliver Speidel? He's a beast...more

As poker reporters we do our very best to cover as much action in the tournament as humanly possible, but unfortunately we're not omnipresent and we do very occasionally miss some action. That's why we love it when we we're wandering tables and get stopped by friendly railbirds who share...more

With the second level of today's play approaching a conclusion, a couple of big stacks have started to put a bit of a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. Scotsman Gordon Huntly appears to be the first player to crack 200,000 and we decided to wander over...more

What once occupied two days and two separate conference rooms now fits snuggly in four, green-felted LAPT tables. Day 1A and 1B produced a total of 672 players, but only 190 would survive to make it to Day 2. Now, only 32 remain. Leading the final 32 is Daniela...more

We've seen some remarkable achievements in the poker world. Brunson winning back-to-back WSOP championinships in 1977 and 1978. Chan doing likewise in 1987 and 1988. Ungar winning it all in 1980 and 1981 before returning sixteen years later to do it all again in 1997. More recently, there's Hachem's breakthrough...more

Our final 52 players have returned from their hour-long dinner break. They'll be playing another three levels or until we reach 32 players. The choice is theirs, but not really, it's up to the cards. But they do have a choice on where to eat though. While there are...more

We're making money. The bubble was easy to burst, made weak by large blinds and aggressive play. In about three hands of hand-for-hand play, we got our bubble boy. The unlucky 105th place finisher for LAPT Viña del Mar was Claudio Scandura. Scandura and Rene Manzano were facing a...more

There's lots of return business at the LAPT. Three of the top ten Player of the Year players managed to make it to Day 2. Leandro Csome and Miguel Alvarez de Lugo, who finished 3rd and 5th respectively, were eliminated early on today. But the reigning champ, Pablo Gonzalez,...more

Poker and charity go hand in hand and the LAPT is no stranger to giving back. In Costa Rica, Humberto Brenes set up a fund to help stop illegal shark finning. In Mar del Plata, the LAPT donated two ambulances to the local hospital. And more recently, the kids...more

It's hard not to enjoy life here at Viña del Mar. The weather is beautiful and the hotel has a fantastic view of the beach. When you eat at the hotel's seafood restaurant at around 7:30pm, you dine with a beach-side sunset. The town is youthful too, several private...more

The final hands have been dealt and the players have bagged, tagged and called it an evening with approximately 129 surviving the day. For some, it was a long day with eight levels and a dinner break, while others could take their time over dinner down on the Sydney harbour...more

As we entered the sixth level of the day, we scoured the room for the big stacks and spotted a runaway chip leader as PokerStars qualifier Luke Edwards had steamrolled his way to an impressive stack of 110,000. We wandered past the table of the 2010 ANZPT Darwin runner-up to...more

Nothing frustrates players more than slow dealers. It's the thorn in the side of live poker. Slow hand rates, cards flying off the table, exposed cards, misdeals. It doesn't happen online, but also doesn't happen (often) here in The Star Poker Room. The dealers here are a pretty friendly mob...more

Without trying to categorize players too much, we couldn't help but notice that there is a distinct bias towards the more "experienced" players in today's field. The old school is certainly representing while many of the country's young guns appear to be missing from this event. Poker is certainly a...more

The two-day long Day 1 has come to an end. João Lopes will lead the remaining 190 with 207,700. As predicted, today's field was significantly larger than yesterday's. A total of 367 signed up for Day 1B, making the official number for LAPT: Viña del Mar 651. These 651...more

Things just got official. Players. Prize pool. Parties. Porsches. We've had developments on all these things since our last update. The Porsches part might baffle you, but that's because it's supposed to be singular, Porsche. Did that help? Didn't think so. The Enjoy Hotel & Casino is hosting a...more

Poker players are used to running on little sleep and grabbing a bit of rest wherever and whenever they can. The online grinders are usually up before the birds to grind on PokerStars, with many known to have fallen asleep at the table during the breaks. Then there's the cash...more

Dinner break has come and gone, putting us in the last four levels of Day 1. Several things are going on right now. Our stomachs are digesting food, our minds are going around their usual circles and poker being is played. And when poker is played, chips get lost....more

So you're here in Viña del Mar and you've busted out or feel the urge to celebrate making it past Day 1. Where do you go? Lucky for you, there are several places around the area. We here at the PokerStars Blog took some time to research the options....more

There were several different roads a player could take to register for LAPT: Viña del Mar. Locals could qualify at local tournaments hosted by Enjoy, while the rest of the world could try to qualify online. Whether it be through steps, satellites or super-satellites, playing on PokerStars could get...more

<form mt:asset-id="68133" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="lapt-promo.gif" src="http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/lapt-promo.gif" width="130" height="100" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></form>When you go to certain countries, there are certain things you have to do.When you go to Chile, you taste the wine.This region of the South America is world-famous for its wine...more

It seems like only yesterday that the Enjoy Hotel & Casino was hosting its first LAPT event. It was Januray 2009 and Peter Eastgate had just won the Main Event. Michael Jackson was still alive and LAPT: Viña del Mar saw a total of 216 entrants. Those were different...more

A new season and a new look for the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour saw Sydney kick things off in impressive fashion today on Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. With a focus on larger tournaments with bigger prize pools, the ANZPT is going to be pushing...more

The second flight of players is starting to trickle into the room here in LAPT Viña del Mar. We're expecting a bigger field today as a mass of online qualifiers are lined up outside of registration. We're also guaranteed at least double the amount of Team PokerStars Pros today....more

As we move into the sixth level of play for the day and it appears that Andrew Li has emerged as the chip leader with an impressive stack of 107,000. But it appears that tablemate Tom Grigg has been quick to scout his opposition. "Here's his SharkScope!" laughed Grigg as...more

As we mentioned a little earlier in the day, we have four tables set out in an overflow area that has been setup in the Oasis Lounge - just a short stroll from the end of the poker room. Heading out there to check out the action and we were...more

When you travel to different poker events around the world you soon discover that there are many nuisances and variations to the rules of this great game of Texas Holdem. It's simple to learn, but takes a lifetime to master as they say. Well, it can take a lifetime to...more

The cards are in the air in The Star Poker Room as the opening flight of the ANZPT Sydney $2,200 Main Event is underway. It's the first event of Season 4 of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour and, traditionally, the largest of the tour. Over the years, Sydney...more

It's the end of Day 1A ok? But don't be heart broken, we'll be back tomorrow with Day 1B. It'll be just like today, 15,000 starting stack, 10 levels and constant coverage of the best poker Latin America has to offer. For now though, we'll give you a run...more

It's almost time to close the page on the first day of LAPT's fifth season. 284 players started out the day and only about 115 remain. When someone loses their chips, somebody else wins them. So far, we've found two players who seem to have amassed more chips than...more

We're back! Most things tend to come back from dinner breaks. Appetites and energy aren't on that list, and this time, neither was the internet. But after some jerry-rigging with iPhone tethering, and a few IT people doing whatever wizardry they do, we're back to full speed. Poker players...more

What's going on in Viña del Mar? The answer to this question depends on when you ask it. A lot of things go on around this neck of the woods. If today, you answered "The grand opening for LAPT's fifth season," you'd be correct. For your correct answer, you'd...more

What would you do if you won Player of the Year at the LAPT? My guess is that you'd come to every single LAPT event the following season, mostly because that's the prize. That's exactly what Season 4 Player of the Year, Pablo Gonzalez, is in the process of...more

Not many sports are played out on tables, but Giovanni Rodriguez is on his way to master them all. Rodriguez, 47, is a world-class paralympic table tennis player. The Costa Rican table tennis star is currently ranked 21st in the world and has his eyes set on gold in...more

While many consider anything in poker to be a dream job, the industry is responsible for some of the worst commutes in the world. Layovers, 11-hour flights, crowded trains and expensive cab fares are all commonplace in poker. Making these commutes a daily thing would require time travel and...more

Seasons are changing all across the world. Those in the northern part of the world are starting to see warmer days, with spring rearing its beautiful head. South of the equator, countries are seeing temperate days and cool nights, courtesy of fall. Things here at the LAPT are also...more

After you've been doing this job for a while you get used to living out of a suitcase. Life on the road certainly has its perks, but the ability to have a diverse range of fashion options isn't one of them. This evening I find myself landing in Sydney for...more

Eureka Poker Tour - the only live poker tour dedicated to Central & Eastern European players - kicks off in beautiful Zagreb for Season 2 next month. Now players have a chance to win a €1,100 seat to the main event while helping to raise money for a great cause....more

Начало мая - время праздников в России. Конец мая для покеристов - традиционно время сборов на WSOP. А в середине месяца нас всех ждет приятный сюрприз: давно обещанный Гранд Финал второго сезона RPS пройдет в Киеве, в клубе «Крещатик» с 10 по 20 мая. PokerStars анонсирует Гранд Финал Российской...more

Among the life axioms in which you can trust, count on these: When Keith Richards shows up, you know it's a real party, and when Barry Greenstein shows up, you know it's a real poker tournament. Today, if you didn't trust it to be true, know this: the Eureka Poker...more

In just two months, the Russian Poker Series Grand Final will decide the Player of the Season and the final champion of the season. Today, the Russian Poker Series announced it will hold its Grand Final in Kiev, Ukraine, May 11-20 at the famous Kreschatik Poker Club. The $3,000 buy-in...more

When it comes to tournament reporting, I try to maintain as neutral a stance as possible. I've certainly befriended players over my years on the circuit but I strive not to let my friendships with them affect the coverage that I provide, to favor those players in any way over...more

Following some lengthy discussions over a few slices of pizza, the final four players have worked out the following deal, based loosely on chip counts with a little negotiation thrown in. Andrew Kim: KRW 110,000,000 Moritz Ortmann: KRW 106,000,000 Rafael Sans: KRW 94,500,000 Vincent Rubianes: KRW 90,500,000 In addition, the...more

There's lots of emotions a player can run through during the course of a poker tournament. Satisfaction at knocking out a tough opponent. Elation at a critical double-up. Boredom through long stretches of inactivity. And of course, disappointment and resignation when the moment of your elimination seems all but assured....more

After a lengthy period of a whole lot of nothing, the deadlock has finally been broken with the recent elimination of Jose Severino in sixth place. It was a tough final table for Severino who battled long periods on the short stack. It seemed that he won the small pots...more

Things are starting to get a little shove-y at our final table here in Seoul. That usually leads to some blood. Canadian Mike Kwon is the latest victim. Kwon was ready to depart earlier this afternoon. He wound up all in on the wrong side of a 10s versus 9s...more

The blow up. It's the car crash of a poker tournament. It happens to all of us at one time or another. And when it does, all we can hope for is that it happens on a quiet, dusty road somewhere in the outback, where no one is around and...more

When APPT President Danny McDonagh made the official introductions at the final table, he announced Seat 7 as Ken Wong "with 527,000 chips." A surprised Wong looked down at a much shorter stack of only 115,000. "Where'd my chips go?" he asked in mock surprise. "Must be a misprint," said...more

We've now reached the final table here in the APPT Seoul Main Event, and it only took a little over two hours of play today to do so. The players have been willing to get active which has provided some aggressive, entertaining play. The speed of play today can also...more

If the first hour of Day 3 was about dominated aces, the second hour has to be about big draws. They're the kinds of hands that, if you flop them, you're either going broke and hitting the rail or scooting out to a big double-up. At Table 12, the result...more

Action is under way here on Day 3 of the APPT Seoul Main Event and already we've seen plenty of carnage as the players seem prepared to move chips around. Of course, by this stage of the tournament a lot of that action is preflop. The blinds are big so...more

The sun is shining in Seoul this morning as we prepare for Day 3 - the final day - of the 2012 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul Main Event. It's winter so the temperatures are a little brisk, but all things considered it's a fine day to mint a hundred millionaire. That's...more

We returned to the Paradise Walkerhill Casino in Seoul, South Korea, this morning along with 109 of Asia's finest poker players as Day 2 of the APPT Seoul Main Event took centre stage. We knew we were in for a long day - and we don't really like those. Seoul...more

The APPT has been a bit of a victim of its own success here on Day 2 in Seoul. The record turnout for Korea - 268 players paying KRW 3,000,000 each makes this tournament the richest ever in Korea - has created some logistical problems for APPT President Danny McDonagh...more

The bubble is always a fun time to be part of a poker tournament. It doesn't matter if you're a player, an observer or a reporter, we all enjoy the drama associated with the fine line between success and disaster. There's a small, twisted part inside all of us that...more

A funny thing may be underway here in Seoul. Not funny ha-ha, but funny curious. Curious like the curiosity of the NAPT Mohegan Sun events in 2010 and 2011, when Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier went back-to-back in their respective events (the Main Event for Selbst; the Bounty Shootout for...more

You've probably heard us use phrases such as "in the tank" and "stalling" when we write up various hand histories at the tournaments we visit. Usually we try to provide some sort of adjective to help describe the situation to the readers at home when a player is taking a...more

A few hours ago I mused that, although the players in the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event may reside in 37 different countries, they're all really citizens of the same country - the country of poker. Yet as I wandered the floor during the last hour, I was struck by...more

Unfortunately Team PokerStars have lost their last member in the APPT Seoul Main Event with Celina Lin dropping by our desk to let us know the sad news. Lin recalled to us that she raised ace-king from the cutoff before her opponent three-bet on the button. Lin moved all in...more

A few minutes before the end of Level 9, I caught an all in on Table 6. On a K-9-3 flop, a big stack tried bullying the short-stacked Hirotoshi Nakabo by making a bet big enough to put Nakabo all in. Nakabo snap-called with A♠A♣. His opponent was drawing thin...more

Following a fun time at dinner, we decided to venture further into the heart of Seoul in the search of a little shopping fix. Our goal was some cheap electronics. Being techies, it didn't really matter what kind, but if it beeped, flashed or buzzed, and was cheaper than the...more

Gamjatang, according to Wikipedia, is "a spicy Korean soup made with pork spine, vegetables, green onions, hot peppers and ground wild sesame seeds". It's deep red in color, slightly spicy on account of the peppers, and served with a variety of accoutrements, including the ubiquitous kimchi. It was also our...more

Welcome back to Seoul, South Korea for our continued coverage of the Season 5 APPT Seoul Main Event. We're loving our time here at this event. It's only a four-day tournament, which means today could be a long day as the record-setting field are reduced to the final two tables...more

The morning after the night before. It was another romantically peaceful day in Seoul, South Korea, but it was a slow start to the day for many following the antics of last night's PokerStars player's party. Break dancing, topless Japanese men and too much soju saw many players nursing a...more

Energy. With all of our lights, computers and electronics, it's what powers the modern world. There's a killing to be made for anyone who can either devise new forms of energy or exploit existing ones. The current chip leader on Day 1b, 34-year-old Jhana Hale, falls into the latter camp....more

During the course of tournaments, we bloggers often come across little factoids that never make it into the blog for a variety of reasons. Having collected several of those factoids during the first two days of the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event, I decided to take a page from my...more

The Day 1b flight of the APPT Seoul Main Event has come in at 139 entrants, and when combined with yesterday's numbers, has produced a total field of 268 players to shatter all previous records for a poker tournament in Seoul in terms of both number of entrants and prizepool....more

As I was packing up my laptop in my hotel room this morning, I spotted a stand-up on the nightstand advertising hotel massage services available by dialing Guest Services. Forty minutes of what massage go for the very reasonable rate of KRW 49,000, or about $45. I made a mental...more

While some people were busy mixing it up in a crazy PLO game last night, the rest of us sought a less stomach-churning way to decompress. The APPT stepped up with free alcohol, free food, some live DJs "dropping mad beats" (as I believe the kids say), and a break-dancing...more

Here's a little story that should make PokerStars Blog guru Brad Willis pretty happy. You may recall his public health message at the PCA to spread the word amongst poker players to wash their hands after exiting the bathroom. We appreciate Brad's contribution towards a better planet, and while hygiene...more

Arriving into the Paradise Walkerhill Casino this morning and it was business as usual. We found our desk, fired up the old laptop and settled in for another day of blogging duties. It was pretty quiet in the poker room, with tournament staff setting up tables and dealers getting last...more

There's a limited amount of floor space to work with in the Paradise Walkerhill Casino for the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event. That's both a bad thing and a good thing. It's a bad thing because limited amount of floor space means that the tournament staff have to cap the...more

When I walked into the Paradise Walkerhill Casino this morning for Day 1a of the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event, I passed by another function taking place just outside of the casino. The 2012 Puma Kick-off Event featured garishly colored sneakers, Korean mean wearing the last past-ironic fashions (t-shirt, ratty...more

Looking around the Walkerhill Poker Room and we've noticed that among the remaining 84 players there are a significant percentage of female players still in contention. In fact, there's barely a table that doesn't have at least one woman playing, and many of them have two or more. In our...more

I've never adjusted to the amount of smoking that occurs in Asian casinos. You'd think, after a few years of living in Las Vegas and traveling around Asia, that I'd be used to the lazy plumes of smoke that are part and parcel of any casino experience and that are...more

As we pass the halfway mark of the opening day of play here at the APPT Seoul Main Event, there are currently 98 players remaining from the starting field of 129, and our chip leader is currently a pretty familiar face. Is there anyone playing better/running hotter than Australian Oliver...more

Spend any time in a casino in North America, South America, Australia or Europe and you will quickly become familiar with the incessant electronic melodies of hundreds of slot machines all competing for your attention. The machines typically take up more than 90% of the gaming floor in the standard...more

For Matt Wakeman, winning a PokerStars online satellite into the APPT Seoul Main Event was about more than just winning another poker tournament. He's done that many times before. This is about exploring himself, his family and his culture, in a way that he's never seen before. Wakeman is well...more

The first person I saw after I got off my flight to Korea yesterday was Robert DeNiro. Yes, that Robert DeNiro. The one who played Ace Rothstein in Martin Scorsese's landmark film "Casino". The man lauded by many as the greatest actor of his generation. He was here, in Korea,...more

As the 2012 APPT Seoul gets under way here at the Paradise Walkerhill Casino in Seoul, we thought it would be interesting to wind the clock back to September 2008. It was the last time we were here and was one of the most memorable poker tournaments and final tables...more

Thinking back to 2008 and our first venture to Seoul for the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and it was an exciting time to be a part of the tour. I have fond memories of crazy taxi drivers, delicious Korean BBQ, too much Soju and a wild final table that saw...more