September 2012 Archives

In just a matter of an hour, three more players have been eliminated, setting up the least surprising heads-up match we could've predicted. Patrick Mahoney and Leo Fernandez began this final table with half the chips in play. Now the pair has 100% as they get settled in for what...more

Twenty-eight year-old Diego "diesanser" Sanchez has been playing poker professionally for the past five years before making his first LAPT main event final table. Though he had great success in the side events over the years, he had yet to reach a coveted spot at a main event final. That...more

Venezuelan voters will soon decide who they want to lead their nation after one of the most hard-fought presidential elections in that country's recent history. Before that happens however, the entire country can cheer as one for its nation's poker championship. Late last night, the Venezuelan poker team defeated Team...more

American Patrick Mahoney and Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez hold half the chips in the play as Latin American Poker Tour's first event gets underway. Consider that for one moment. There are eight people sitting around the table. Half the wealth is concentrated in two stacks. There is probably something...more

Patrick Mahoney is not a vacuum salesman. We know this because moments ago when filling out a bio questionnaire, Mahoney wrote "vacuum salesman" down as his profession. And then he scratched it out. In its place, he wrote "Zamboni driver." "No one but me is going to know what that...more

Leo Fernandez's arm is sticking out like a sore thumb. A green sore thumb at that. For the past three days, the Team PokerStars Pro has shown up to play with a green band around his bicep. Speculation ran rampant. Was it a fashion statement? Was it something akin to...more

Many people have spoken of poker's Triple Crown, the achievement of one player winning WSOP, EPT, and WPT events during their career. Fewer people have spoken of something tourney grinder Sam Razavi is lining up for today: the PokerStars hat trick. With 12 players remaining, Razavi has an average stack...more

Looking for a Trinidadian (or Tobagonian, for that matter) poker champion is like a search for Sasquatch or the Yeti. There are people who believe such a thing exists, but evidence in support of it is murky at best. But this was my mission today. As the final 23 players...more

Can he do it? With a big chip lead and only 22 people to beat, can Argentinian Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez win the very first LAPT Panama? The last time any Team Pro won a LAPT event, it was Fernandez's countryman Jose "Nacho" Barbero in Season 3. Barbero was...more

Someday--mark my words--there will be a Cirque du Soleil built around the face of Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez. It's simultaneously clownish, contorted, and artful. It's all I can do to not imagine it painted in clown-face-white as he rakes pot after pot. The rakish grin, the mussed hair, the...more

Cormac McCarthy's Anton Chigurh was nowhere in the room, but Alberto Santos could've been staring him in the face tonight. Forty-nine players remained, and Santos was one of the unfortunate few who had nearly no chips. He could've sat back and waited. He could've hoped fate, Chigurh, or an earthquake...more

When you look at the Latin American Poker Tour, you're looking at the handy work of its president David Carrion and his team of organizers. No matter what happens--good, bad, or ugly--Carrion takes responsibility for it all. He was among the people responsible for bringing the LAPT to Panama for...more

Caio Pessagno dislocated his shoulder before the cards even hit the felt. That's how intense the Americas Cup of Poker has gotten. The Brazil team leader's shoulder popped out of its socket in midlap of last night's Americas Cup swimming exhibition (yes, swimming exhibition). It's been just a week since...more

I learned something some years ago about the use of the word "meteoric." I was reminded of it again here today as we watched Day 1 chip leader John Hewitt make a startlingly early departure. Most folks use "meteoric" to describe the speed and relative brilliance of a person's accomplishment....more

Wednesday November 5, 2008 was a day no veteran of the LAPT will ever forget. The U.S. Presidential elections had finished up the night before. The party in the Ramada Herradura bar lasted until the early morning hours. The final table started that afternoon, and brash American Ryan Fee dismantled...more

There is something quite important to be said about being the first to a title. It's a distinction that no one can ever take away. This week, there are many firsts still in play. For instance, whoever wins this weekend will be the first ever LAPT Panama champion. There...more

"A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!" It's a palindrome, the same backward and forward. Like "race car" or "straw warts" or "senile felines." But this one is about Panama, the story of the day here in the world of Latin American Poker. If you're here for more than...more

The dinner break was almost finished when I left my hotel room and stood in front of the 13th floor elevator. A tall blonde woman looked at me and rattled off a series of Spanish phrases so fast that I was worried she might have dislocated her ample lips. I...more

It's been one week since Victor "Puropoker123" Lemos' wrist became very important to the country of Panama. The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker was grinding along in its last week. Through a decade of WCOOP events and hundreds of millions in prize pools, Panama never had a player claim...more

A thunderstorm rolled across Panama City this afternoon and rendered the already warm air into a drippy, tropical soup. On the seventh floor of the Wyndham Veneto, low gray clouds dripped into the pool. As the storm passed, a lone man worked under an overhang, his dark hands against almost-matching...more

In the past four months, Joey Weissman has gone from sleeping on his friend's Las Vegas couch to living a sun-baked dream on the beaches of Costa Rica. The difference in his life couldn't be more stark, and the sky under which he awakes isn't the only reason. Since...more

So, there is an unwritten rule in the world of sports that when someone streaks naked across the field of play, the television cameras turn away. It's a matter of decency and discretion that keeps events in the good graces of the easily offended. Twitter has changed all the rules....more

It's nearing 11pm and the van is bumping hard along the highway to Panama City. An American expat sits near the front explaining the subtleties of poker to a Venezuelan journalist who doesn't know a turn from a roundabout or a river from a lake. And there is nothing else....more

Rui Chen Wins the 2012 Macau Poker Cup Main Event Championship! It was one of the most exciting final tables we have ever witnessed. It was one of the most dramatic heads-up battles in the history of PokerStars Macau, but eventually a champion had to be crowned and the man...more

10.35pm: Take a Time Out The last level of poker has been some of the most intense we have ever witnessed. The two players are heading on a much-deserved 10-minute break! 11.25pm: You Couldn't Write a Script Like This Yosuke Sekiya should have been eliminated multiple times by now. But,...more

9.20pm: Three Break for Ten The three remaining players have been sent on a break at the 2012 MPCC Main Event final table. Ten minutes and they will be back in their seats to try and crown a champion! 9.10pm: Big Hand Into the Break The players were scheduled to...more

9.20pm: Three Break for Ten The three remaining players have been sent on a break at the 2012 MPCC Main Event final table. Ten minutes and they will be back in their seats to try and crown a champion! 9.10pm: Big Hand Into the Break The players were scheduled to...more

7.00pm: Three Head to Break Following the elimination of Sunny Jung, the three remaining players have been sent on a 10-minute break. 6.55pm: Sunny Jung Eliminated in 4th Place (HK$361,500) After more than two hours of very little action, a player has been eliminated! The 4th-place spot has gone to...more

4.50pm: Break Number Two With more than half the final table being eliminated, the remaining four players have been sent on a 10-minute break. 4.45pm: Big Pot for Sekiya Yosuke Sekiya is just a couple of eliminations away from taking the lead on the Asia Player of the Year leader...more

2.40pm: Break Time On one of the final hands before the break, Jessica Ngu was able to four-bet shove preflop and get a fold from Sunny Jung who three-bet Rui Chen's opening raise. With that, the seven remaining players have been sent on a 10-minute break. 2.30pm: Nice One...more

The 2012 Macau poker Cup Championship saw 260 players pony up HK$20,000, creating a prize pool HK$4,818,960. After four massive days of poker, the field has been whittled down to just nine players, with the below nine fighting it out on Sunday for the HK$1,108,500 first-place prize. Let's take a...more

A tournament reporter never makes plans for the evening of a tournament day. Regardless of what time the day starts, it generally won't finish before the sun is down. Right now, through the doors of the PokerStars Macau poker room, we can see a glint of sunlight shining into the...more

6.10pmFinal Table Draw Rui Chen will be leading the final nine heading into the final day of play. Below is how all the players stack up. 2012 MPCC Final Table Lineup Seat 1: Ryan Hong - 425,000 Seat 2: Sunny Jung - 888,000 Seat 3: Kevin Kung - 469,000 Seat...more

5.25pm: Twelve to Break The twelve remaining players have been sent on a 10-minute break. We will be back soon and continue on our way to the 2012 MPCC Main Event final table! 5.20pm: Two More Prior to Break Just as the players were about to be told they only...more

3.10pm: Break Time With the bubble burst, the stressful part of the day is over as the remaining players have been sent on a 10-minute break! 3.05pm: And Just Like That, The Bubble is Burst Just a few minutes after the clock was wound back and the bubble has now...more

At the end of Day 1b, Kenny Wong held a top-five chip stack and told us he was grateful to not finish as the chip leader because "The Day 1 chip leader never wins." While the Day 1a chip leader Edmund Lee is still surviving, he is now one of...more

10.50pm: Day 2 Over; Hong Bags Up the Lead What a day! Seven levels of poker action have come to an end on Day 2 of the 2012 MPCC Main Event and it is Ryan Hong who bagged up the chip lead. Hong managed to accumulate a staggering 430,300 in...more

7.35pm: Final Break of the Night Approximately 49 players have been sent on their final 10-minute break of the night. At this point it is looking very unlikely that we will burst the money bubble this evening, but anything could happen! Join us soon for the final level of the...more

7.25pm: Break Time There are approximately 65 players remaining in the field and each and every one of them has been sent on a 10-minute break. 7.15pm: The Big One Recently we had a little wander around the tournament area with the express purpose of finding a chip leader. It...more

5.15pm: Break Number One Approximately 97 players have been sent on their first 10-minute break of the day. 5.10pm: Kenny Wong Might Be Going Back to Hong Kong It is arguable that Kenny Wong ("From Hong Kong") could be the most aggressive player in the PokerStars Macau poker room right...more

The business end of the night can often be the easiest part of the day for the humble tournament reporter. The only thing left to report on is the chip leader and usually one player has managed to burst away from the crowd and sit behind a stack that towers...more

10.45pm: Bagged and Tagged The surviving players have bagged and tagged their chips and are making their way out of the PokerStars Macau poker room here in the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex. The player with the largest number on his bag was Yanqin Huang with 112,925. He was followed extremely...more

There are many reasons to go to Latvia - beautiful landscapes, fascinating history, cheap bars - but we've just come up with the best. Eureka Poker Tour Latvia, ladies and gentlemen, touches down in the capital Riga next month for seven days of poker action (1-7 October) crowned by...more

9.35pm: Final Break of the Night Approximately 100 players have been sent on their final 10-minute break of the night. 9.25pm: A Few of the Stacks It's coming to that time of the night when some chip leaders are moving away from the pack. Right now there are two players...more

7.25pm: Second Break of the Day The approximately 130 remaining players have been sent on a 10-minute break. 7.15pm: How Go the Team Pros The three remaining Team PokerStars Pros are still alive and kicking and you could even say two of them are prospering. Bryan Huang is currently sitting...more

5.15pm: Time for the First Break The players have been sent on their first 10-minute break of the day. At the end of this break, registration will be closed and shortly thereafter, the prize pool will be announced. 5.00pm: The Original Champ is Here Back in 20009, 158 players partook...more

There is something unnerving about the chip leader who manages to accumulate a huge stack, all the while barely going noticed. You just have to wonder how they do it. That was exactly the case with Hoi-Ting "Edmund" Lee on Day 1a of the 2012 Macau Poker Cup Championship Main...more

10.50pm: Bagged and Tagged The approximately 40 surviving players have bagged and tagged their chips and are making their way out of the PokerStars Macau poker room here at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex. Just as we expected, it was Hoi-Ting "Edmund" Lee who finished up as the chip leader...more

9.35pm: Final Break of the Night The remaining players have been sent on their final 10-minute break of the night! 9.25pm: How Many Left; How Many Tomorrow The tournament clock is currently telling us that 47 players are currently remaining here on Day 1a of the MPCC Main Event. While...more

7.25pm: Second Break of the Day The approximately 70 remaining players have been sent on their second 10-minute break of the day. 7.15pm: All Downhill For Steicke At the start of the day, there was no other player than David Steicke who managed to see their stack increase to well...more

5:15pm: First Break of the Day The players have been sent on their first 10-minute break of the day. Registration will be closed at the end of this break and the official numbers for Day 1a will be revealed. 5.00pm: Wang On The Move; Player of the Year Looming Jacky...more

The APPT Melbourne Main Event has been run and won with the trophy set to head to the motherland for the very first time as Britain's Sam Razavi has overcome local hope Keith Walker in a quick heads-up battle to grab the win and $326,125 in prize money. It only...more

For large period of today, and yesterday, Tom Grigg was in total control of this tournament. With a big stack in hand, he's one of the most dangerous players going around, and we felt like this was his tournament to win...or lose. The small ball tactics worked for Grigg when...more

It's often a good indicator to see who has the most small denomination chips at a poker table. It will usually mean that player is the most aggressive as they are winning the most pots and picking up a lot of blinds and antes. If the railbirds who arrived to...more

It had to happen. Four-handed play reached a deadlock after the whirlwind that swept through the Crown Poker Room in the first hour and a half of this APPT Melbourne final table. The players were deep and they were able to play a little post-flop poker. It slowed the excitement...more

Gary Benson has one of the most decorated poker resumes in Australia. With results dating back to 1995, Benson has been playing this game longer than many of us have even been born. He's seen many things in poker, but this was the first time he's seen the bright lights...more

We're not even an hour into today's final table and already we're down to five players following the rapid eliminations of Nigel Andrews, Kristian Lunardi and James Bills. Andrews entered today very short-stacked and managed one double up to find a glimpse of hope but that was as far as...more

Brendon Rubie held high hopes entering today's APPT Melbourne final table. He'd played exceptionally well over the past few days, maintaining his place with the chip leaders throughout. He started today fourth in chips and would've been eyeing off the top prize. But it's all come undone in a matter...more

We've finally arrived at the 2012 APPT Melbourne Main Event final table. After three days of flops, turns and rivers, our field of 257 has been reduced to our final nine. We've talked about the quality of this field throughout the tournament and this final table reflects that quality. Our...more

After three days of slogging it out on the tables of Melbourne's Crown Casino, our APPT Melbourne field of 257 have been reduced to the final table of nine. Throughout the entire tournament, we've been amazed by the quality of this field, and our final table certainly reflects that with...more

Another long day in the Crown Poker Room has come to an end with the APPT Melbourne Main Event reaching the final table of nine. They are headed by Tom Grigg who went from overnight short stack to end-of-day chip leader in a remarkable display of power poker. At the...more

It's been slow going since the dinner break this evening as our field crawls its way towards a final table line up. For those who say that poker isn't a sport, it's moments like this where players are tested both mentality and physically that it offers a strong case for...more

Getting down to the final two tables of a major poker championship like the APPT Melbourne Main Event can be a little nerve-wracking. There's a big crowd on the rail, the media are watching over you like a hawk, there's life-changing money on the line, and you're expected to play...more

For those heading down to the Crown Poker Room over the next few weeks, you have the opportunity to share in a fantastic promotion where six lucky poker players will have the opportunity to win a stunning red 2012 Jeep Wrangler. The jeep is on display in the poker room...more

It was a dramatic few minutes around the money bubble. It wasn't so much the length of hand-for-hand play, but the preparedness for the big stacks to go to war with pure aggression, despite several shorties on the verge of elimination. It seems that our players are here to win!...more

The bubble is always a fun time for tournament poker observers. It might not be quite so much fun for the nervous short stacks, especially the four players that are about to go home empty-handed after three days of toil here in Melbourne, but the tension that builds is certainly...more

We've just noticed an interesting quirk in the table draw as Day 3 of the APPT Melbourne Main Event kicks off. For the third day in a row, Tom Grigg and Brendon Rubie find themselves seated side by side. For the entirety of day one and two, Brendon Rubie had...more

A beautiful Sunday afternoon greets us in Melbourne which is good news for all the dads out there as today is Father's Day here in Australia. Brekky in bed, family lunches and perhaps some footy with a few beers is the order of the day for most blokes around the...more

The first day of spring brought great hope for the 168 players who sat down in the Crown Poker Room for Day 2 of the APPT Melbourne Main Event. Some had plenty of work to do to turn their seeds into fruit while others were looking to take advantage of...more

On Thursday we reported that the ANZ Player of the Year race had been blown wide open with the very early elimination of current leader Anthony Aston. Well that door is rapidly closing as we approach the money and the ANZ POTY points here in the APPT Melbourne Main Event....more

The 60-ish remaining players are currently enjoying their dinner break. For the dedicated live reporting team, that one hour entails a run to the food court to scoff something suitably unhealthy before checking the sports betting agencies to see which AFL bets we'll be placing on tonight's games. One hour...more

We love a little bit of controversy. When things get a little slow around the poker room, we love to see a little verbal warfare to get the blood pumping. And it was certainly pumping over on Table 33 just a few minutes ago with two well-known Australian poker identities...more

Crown Poker Room head honcho Jonno Pittock just swung by our desk to share his surprise about the rate of attrition today in the APPT Melbourne Main Event. Approaching the end of the third level of the day, already we've lost almost half of our starting day field. We started...more

The Crown Poker Room is a hub of activity this afternoon. With Day 2 of the APPT Main Event in full swing (currently 115 players remaining approaching the end of Level 9), there's plenty going on throughout Australia's premier poker room. A large gathering of players are currently at the...more

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month. The first of September brings with it the first day of spring here in Australia. Yes, we live in the future out here. The sun is starting to shine, the birds are singing, the days are starting to get a...more