The Muck
Card Guards
Bernard Lee
George Lind III
Maverick Movie
Off the Felt
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AUG 04
That PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker Settlement Was Kind of a Big Deal
The poker industry is always looking for (positive) ways to get into the mainstream media. When Black Friday rolled around, poker was in the mainstream media, but there was nothing positive about that. On Tuesday, poker was in the mainstream media again, this time however, there was definitely a positive to it. You already know about PokerStars acquiring the assets of Full Tilt Poker, so we're not telling you about that. Here's a look at the coverage that got.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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AUG 03
Buying and Selling Funds from Full Tilt Poker Accounts
The “High Stakes PL/NL” forum on TwoPlusTwo hosts a running thread titled "hsnl xfer thread: for active/reputable hsnl community members only" where posters can solicit and search for various online poker transfers. Most transfers are from site to site, such as from PartyPoker to PokerStars, but posters also set up transactions using cash, physical chips, bank wires and other forms of currency.
Before Black Friday, one of the more popular trades was Full Tilt Poker to PokerStars, and visa versa. In fact, Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman requested $4,000 on Full Tilt for $4,000 on PokerStars on April 11, 2011, just days before the poker world was rocked by the United States Department of Justice. The deal was made by a poster named “KJM” later the same day, and Seidman’s funds were frozen less than a week later.
“A large part of my roll was on Full Tilt,” Seidman told PokerNews. “Probably half. I was swapping for the FTOPS [Full Tilt Online Poker Series].”
Once Black Friday struck, the marketplace changed because no one knew the true value of money on either Full Tilt, PokerStars or Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet. Transfers weren’t working either, yet people were openly trying to swap between the sites or were trying to unload their balances for currency on other sites or cash/chips. A week after Black Friday, PokerStars began returning funds to U.S. players, but Full Tilt and AP/UB were still up in the air.
The value of money on AP/UB plummeted, and less than two weeks after Black Friday, players began selling funds at 50 cents on the dollar. For example, if a player had $100 on AP/UB, he was able to sell it for $50 in PokerStars money, cash, or other considerations.
On May 3, 2011, Isaac Haxton posted the following:
The Full Tilt market was initially more stable, but it too began to decline rapidly. By July, the price dropped down to around 70 cents on the dollar. By September, the price ranged from anything as high as 12 cents on the dollar to as low as 1 cent on the dollar. The price then shot back up to 60 to 80 cents on the dollar in early October, when Group Bernard Tapie “acquired” Full Tilt.
The market continued to fluctuate over the next nine months, and on Tuesday, when PokerStars actually acquired Full Tilt’s assets, the posters were still uncertain of the true value of Full Tilt money. Some players were asking for as much as 90 cents on the dollar, while others thought that was way too high:
On Tuesday, I asked my Twitter followers if any of them had bought Full Tilt funds for less than face value, and I received very few responses. Aaron Steury informed me that he bought an entire account on Tuesday for 85 cents on the dollar, but didn’t disclose the amount of the account. I contacted Octo-Niner Greg Merson, who allegedly sold his Full Tilt account after Black Friday, and he said the following:
“I’m super happy for everyone in the community. The poker world has been through so much the last 15 months and deserves this type of news.”
Again, nothing concrete about the sale of his account.
Later that day, Dan Fleyshman joined Kristy Arnett and myself on a mega edition of the PokerNews Podcast, and he said that he recommended players to sell their accounts for as low as 50 cents on the dollar during the Tapie fiasco. Fleyshman also told us that “household name” players bought funds from other “household name” players, and there were some “seven-figure deals that went down at 70 cents on the dollar,” but he gave no names.
According to TwoPlusTwo poster Daniel “d2themfi” Isaacson, one of these seven-figure deals may have gone down in April of 2011. Isaacson was at dinner with Daniel “Jungleman” Cates, and Cates told him that he sold his Full Tilt account balance for, “I believe 85 percent but I can’t remember.” Cates’ friends asked him if he sold it to Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, and he responded, “Something like that.”
Neither Dwan nor Cates have confirmed this. Cates’ Full Tilt balance is estimated to be worth $6 million.
The most interesting response I received on Tuesday was from Mike Sowers, but it didn’t name any names. It was a warning:
@RichTRyan be careful...u are going to get lots of these people who have a whole new ftp sweat on their hands. #bouttofindoutwhoucantrust
July 31 2012FollowSowers’ warning is not unwarranted either — we’ve seen plenty of deals go wrong in the poker world. Seidman informed me that he has screenshots and saved messages from transactions he made, and some posters discussed contracts in the “hsnl xfer thread,” but with so much swapping and re-swapping going on, there could be a lot of information and money lost in translation.
It will be less of a hassle for people who swapped with “rest of world” players, because their funds will be untouched by the DOJ, whereas U.S. players don’t even know how to apply for their money yet. Additionally, there is wide speculation within the poker community that U.S. players will have to pay taxes on their account balances. This is obviously detrimental to players who sold funds, because unless they discussed taxes as part of the deal, they will lose a substantial amount of money.
It will only be a matter of time until the “(Insert name) is a scammer” threads start popping up on News, Views and Gossip.
For now, all we can do is wait. Seidman is confident that everything will be “relatively doable,” but Sowers’ warning keeps echoing in the back of my head. Millions of dollars have been transferred during the last 15 months, and the only thing that buyers have received is promises, documents, emails, and screen shots. The younger generation of players have always referred to themselves as “more trustworthy” than the old-school “live pros.” Well, this is their first big test.
Let’s hope that they pass with flying colors.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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AUG 03
The Micros: The Sale of Full Tilt Poker
We know how a lot of poker pros reacted to the news that PokerStars had acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker, but what about Chase, Tommy, and Balls?
In the latest web comic from The Micros, John Wray and Jay Rosenkrantz give us a look at the day Tommy found out Full Tilt Poker was sold, and the bet he made with Balls when he didn't believe it. (It involves a sexy car wash.)
Visit The Micros' Facebook fan page for more photos, including some teaser posters for the web comic.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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AUG 02
Pawn Stars Shoot During the World Series of Poker
Preface: I had the opportunity to film for an episode of the History Channel's Pawn Stars over the summer. Although I can't reveal too much of the experience because of a nondisclosure agreement, here's everything I can tell you.
I’ve always been a fan of history and poker. I majored in the former while in college and almost went on to teach high school history, but my passion and career lies with poker. With that said, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to combine the two. This past summer, I found the perfect opportunity — taking vintage poker memorabilia to the hit History Channel program, Pawn Stars.
Over the past three years, I’ve been fortunate enough to piece together an extensive collection of old poker memorabilia, most notably some one-of-a-kind photos from old Las Vegas and past World Series of Pokers. I’ve managed to do so through different outlets including online auctions, antique stores, and by contacting a few individuals who were looking to part with their collections.
In 2011, I applied to be on Pawn Stars through its website and was fortunate enough to get a call from one of the producers. I then had to submit more information on my items including what they were, how I obtained them, and how much I was asking. In this case, I had three unique photos from the 1972 WSOP featuring “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Puggy Pearson and Doyle Brunson. Upon showing the photos to WSOP Media Director and noted poker historian Nolan Dalla, he informed be that he had never seen the photos; in fact, he couldn’t recall seeing a single photo from that particular final table.
Unfortunately, production fell behind in the summer of 2011 and my filming appointment got pushed back further and further until I had to leave Las Vegas. It was a missed opportunity, though not to any fault of my own. Not to be deterred, I decided to reapply this past summer before heading to Sin City for the 2012 WSOP. Much to my delight, the producer remembered me and made another appointment for me to go in and film.
Here’s a part of the e-mail I got from the producer:
Just a reminder — You are on the schedule to film with Pawn Stars Friday June 1st from 7-9am. Filming runs according to schedule, so do not arrive any earlier - it will last approximately 1 to 3 hours. Sometimes the crew may run late, so let us know if there is a time you definitely need to leave the shop by.
The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop is located at 713 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, NV 89101. When you arrive at the shop bypass the line if there is one, and let security know you are there for filming - they'll let you know where to go.
The director prefers that you bring sunglasses with you as some shots are taken outdoors. Please do not wear anything white as it does come across well on camera; dark solid color shirts are preferred. Hats and shirts with large patterns, prints, stripes graphics or labels of any kind are also not permitted.
You are required to be consistent with the item's asking price as per what we discussed. Unrealistic asking prices and/or raising the price immediately prior to filming for purposes of being on TV will result in cancellation of the scene and will never be aired on Pawn Stars. If you have previously posted an online auction listing for your item please remove it immediately. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that your item will be sold to the shop.
You will be required to fill out some paperwork prior to filming that will include an appearance release and a nondisclosure agreement.
Please note that you will be the only person to appear on camera. If you do not wish to be the seller, let us know the name of the person that will be appearing on camera. You are welcome to bring a friend or family member into the shop with you during the filming, but they will not appear on camera. They can stand off camera, near the production crew, only you will appear on camera during the taping.
The main focus of this is the hopeful sale of your item. We ask that you treat the guys as normal employees and hold off on any requests until after the scene has been completely filmed (e.g., photographs).
Lastly, but most importantly, be sure to bring your A+ personality — don't be shy or afraid to crack a few jokes in the scene, we want you to be comfortable and have fun with it!
By this time I had added some more great photos to my collection, including those from the estate of Frank Cutrona, the former tournament director of the Golden Nugget. Back in the 1980s, the Golden Nugget was a hotbed for poker, and Cutrona had dozens of photos from celebrity poker events that featured poker pros alongside stars like Dionne Warwick, Mr. T., and Willie Nelson, just to name a few.
The Pawn Stars' Rick (left) with PokerNews' Senior Writer Chad Holloway.On the day of filming, which was postponed just once this year, I arrived and made my way to the door. The shop was busy that day, but an intern found me with ease and escorted me to the back. While the storefront is fairly small, at least compared to how they make it look on TV, the back area is huge. There are offices, storage shelves, garages and closets abound. Surprisingly, I was taken to a small area with no windows that was more akin to the set of a snuff film than anything else.
I may have been unenthusiastic with the holding area, but I was quite excited to film for the show, especially when one of the producers came in and informed me that I’d be filming with Rick Harrison and Chumlee, perhaps the two most well-known stars on the show. Eventually the store was cleared out, with the exception of a couple of dozen customers who were allowed to stay and serve as extras, which basically meant they browsed in silence and didn't look at the camera.
Sadly, I can’t tell you too much more about my experience because, as the e-mail indicates, I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Rest assured that when the episode does air, which will likely be during the upcoming new season this fall (they don’t give you an exact date), I will write a more intimate recap of my experience and break down just how the negotiations went.
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*Lead photo courtesy of Pawn Stars.
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AUG 01
The Lazy Person’s Guide to PokerStars’ Acquisition of Full Tilt Poker
Ever since Groupe Bernard Tapie’s bid to acquire Full Tilt Poker (FTP) fell through last April and PokerStars surfaced as a potential buyer, poker players have waited for news on their funds, which have been tied up for 15 months. On Tuesday, players rejoiced when they received great news: after months of negotiations with the United States Department of Justice, PokerStars had completed the purchase of FTP and players around the world would have their balances refunded.
The great news answered a lot of longstanding questions, but it also inspired many new questions. When would players receive their funds? What did the settlement mean for the future of online poker in the U.S.? How would the settlement affect other defendants like Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst and Ray Bitar?
There was a lot of information to absorb, and a day later, questions remained. As such, we’ve decided to sift through all yesterday’s developments and offer them to you in one simple place, what we’re calling the Lazy Person’s Guide to PokerStars’ Acquisition of Full Tilt Poker.
What does the settlement entail?
This is how it will work. First, FTP will forfeit all its assets to PokerStars, which will then forfeit $547 million to the U.S. government over the next three years. Once the transfer of assets is complete, PokerStars will repay non-U.S. customers FTP players a total of $184 million within 90 days, while U.S. players, who are owed approximately $150 million, will be paid by the U.S. Department of Justice.
I’m from the United States. How will I get my money back?
According to the PokerStars Corporate Blog: “The money paid to the U.S. Government will in part be used to reimburse former Full Tilt Poker customers in the United States, through a remission process to be administered by the Department of Justice.”
Details on the remission process are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Will Full Tilt Poker be back?
According to a press release issued by PokerStars, the company plans to relaunch Full Tilt Poker in most markets as a separate brand, after appointing a "new, independent management team." Full Tilt Poker’s headquarters will remain in Dublin, but regulatory oversight will be transferred to the Isle of Man.
Will FTP be available to all players outside the U.S.?
According to Lee Jones, Head of Home Games at PokerStars, the company is not planning to seek a license to operate FTP in France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium and Estonia. "Full Tilt players in these countries will be able to play on PokerStars," Jones said in a thread at TwoPlusTwo.com.
Will we see either PokerStars or FTP back in the United States?
PokerStars added in Monday's announcement that the agreement allows the company to operate real-money online poker in the U.S. under both PokerStars and FTP brands once the activity is legalized at a state or federal level and PokerStars receives the proper licenses; however, such legalization could take a long time. PokerNews’ Matthew Kredell provided an in-depth look at the issue in PokerStars Settlement: What Does It Mean for Online Poker Legislation in the United States?
What sort of ramifications will this deal have on defendants like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst?
The short answer is that there shouldn’t be any ramifications on the cases involving the aforementioned defendants. As FTP attorney Jeff Ifrah told PokerNews yesterday: “On the civil side, this deal doesn’t affect the individual defendants obviously, but in terms of what impact it will have, from a technical legal standpoint it really shouldn’t have any impact. The charges against the individuals on the civil case are different than what was just resolved today. What was resolved today was the civil forfeiture charges against the corporate defendants, and what remains open are fraud charges against individuals. So there really are different charges.”
How have Lederer, Furst, Ferguson and Bitar responded to the developments?
The former two have remained silent, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering each still have charges pending. Meanwhile, Ferguson’s lawyer, Ian Imrich, told PokerNews: “This settlement is great news for poker players worldwide, and particularly in the US. But Chris Ferguson is not in a position to comment at this time as he has not yet resolved his individual civil case with SDNY and the settlement discussions — while extremely positive and productive — must remain private and confidential at this time.”
Bitar released a statement of his own, which in part read: “Over the past few days, I signed the papers necessary to complete Full Tilt’s deal with the US Government. The company’s assets will now be transferred to PokerStars and Full Tilt employees will have a new employer as well. I believe that this deal will result in Full Tilt’s customers being repaid. I am extremely pleased and excited by this prospect. For the past 15 months, I have worked hard on possible solutions to get players repaid. It has been a very long road, with lots of bumps along the way, but I am glad we have gotten to the end. I only wish that we could have resolved the situation much sooner.”
What ever happened with Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet?
On Tuesday, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York submitted a declaration in support of the government's motion for the entry of proposed stipulated order of settlement between the Government and Absolute Poker and its parties, including Ultimate Bet.
Are all of the online sites guilty of a crime?
As the DOJ said in a press release: “The settlements entered today with regard to Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, and the proposed settlement with regard to Absolute Poker, do not constitute admissions of any wrong doing, culpability, liability, or guilt by any parties.”
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JUL 30
This is How We Troll: Joe Sebok Drama and Making the WSOP Main Event a Reentry
TwoPlusTwo can be scary. If you’re a first-time visitor, it’s hard to process all of the threads, and if you post you could be flamed. Badly. Posters have no mercy. So, if you’re afraid to lurk, or you’re just looking for the best threads at the moment, we thought we would lend a helping hand — and add our input.
Let the trolling begin.
1. WPT signs Joe Sebok (Edit: Not happening)
It all started when Jeanine Deeb, the daughter of professional poker player Freddy Deeb, tweeted the following: “Look who has joined the @WorldPokerTour teaaam!!!! @joesebok WOOHOO!! ❤”
The tweet also included a picture of Joe Sebok, but it has since been deleted.
*According to source close to the World Poker Tour, Sebok wasn't signing a sponsorship deal, rather he was going to run the live updates and the live stream. Not long after the thread was started, Kevmath announced that Sebok will not be joining the WPT, and perhaps it’s because the majority of the TwoPlusTwo posters protested the alleged hiring. And, while News, Views, and Gossip can be flooded with white noise, numerous influential pros spoke up in the thread, including Isaac Haxton, who said the following:
It's not like he was an investigative journalist who tried his best to dig up a story and failed. He was a paid representative of UB, spun that role as some sort of "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this!" bull****, learned nothing, and then turned around and assured people that it was safe to play on UB.
The people who believed him lost every dime they had on the site when the **** hit the fan. He continues to tweet about his awesome life and his sweet house on Hermosa Beach that he pays for with money UB stole and gave to him to tell people they weren't crooks. He's never even made a proper public apology or admitted his role in helping UB rob more people.
If anything, he doesn't get enough hate. The fact that poker-related businesses continue to pay him money to use his name in association with their products is mind-blowing.
Haxton’s view has received so much support that it’s been included in the original post.
Since signing with Ultimate Bet in September 2009, Sebok’s image in the poker industry has taken a significant hit because he was unable to uncover any evidence from the infamous UB/Absolute Poker scandal. In an interview with PokerNews, Sebok said: “I hope that fans and players rest easier knowing that I am a UB pro now. I will absolutely be keeping both eyes open and will be the first to call out any wrongdoing if any were to happen there.”
In the year and a half before Black Friday, little significant information was released. When Black Friday hit, UB’s funds were frozen, and the company has shown no interest in refunding the players.
Singling out Sebok for all of UB’s wrongdoings is unfair, and I’m certain that he regrets some of his decisions while working with Paul Leggett and the gang, but unlike other members of Team UB, Sebok was “an intermediary between Ultimate Bet staffers and the site’s all-star roster of players.” While Eric Baldwin, Maria Ho, Brandon Cantu, Adam Levy and others simply represented the site on the felt, Sebok was speaking publicly on behalf of the entire operation, which carries significantly more weight. So, when the ship went down, the poker world didn’t look to the players for answers, they looked to the two captains, Sebok and Legget. When Sebok couldn’t provide any answers, the poker community vilified him.
Before signing with UB, Sebok was undoubtedly one the “good guys” in poker. PokerRoad, a multimedia poker site, which he created with his father Barry Greenstein, was very influential within the community, and being media friendly, Sebok was always portrayed in a positive light. Sebok also went deep in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 56th ($108,047). However, once your image is damaged — whether it’s deserved or not — it’s very difficult to rebuild. The WPT put itself in a bad situation by publicly negotiating with Sebok, especially when there are so many entertaining people to choose from in the poker world.
No other news has surfaced regarding the position the WPT was interviewing for, and Sebok declined to comment on the matter.
2. View: Main Event a re-entry?
If they’re not locked and deleted, the majority of “view” threads on NVG are short-lived. However, "camz2895’s" thread about the WSOP Main Event being changed to a reentry event garnered nearly 5,600 views and 94 posts. The original poster gave an example that the WSOP Circuit main events are reentry events, but the majority of the posters disagreed with the idea.
Some of the posters in the thread confused reentry tournaments with rebuy tournaments, and there is a stark difference between the two. In reentry tournaments, the players literally have to reregister for the tournament once they’re eliminated. Thus, they pay the juice again, and they get moved to a different table. In rebuy tournaments, players don’t move from the table they’re at, rather they simply reload their chips when they “add on” or lose all their chips. The WSOP staff questioned the integrity of rebuy tournaments a few years ago however, and eliminated them from the schedule because they didn’t want players to be able to “buy a bracelet.”
In general, I’m in favor of reentry events because they increase prize pools. Larger prize pools attract more players and create more buzz, which is good for the game. Most reentry events are smaller buy-in events however, and none of them generate $62 million prize pools. The Main Event is perfect as it is. The buy-in is perfect, the field size is perfect, and more importantly, the dichotomy of professional players and amateurs is perfect. Unless the value of the dollar plummets or rises exponentially, the format of the Main Event should never change.
If the Main Event became a reentry event, then two distinct things would happen: (1) Day 1a of the Main Event would become the biggest, craziest day of poker each year. Professional players with multiple bullets would emerge from the day with either half a million chips or none. In turn, (2) amateur players would be overwhelmed. The Main Event is great because everybody is on the same playing field, and everybody has an equal shot at winning millions of dollars and becoming the world champion. If professional players are suddenly given extra opportunities, then the tournament would become less special.
As much as we root for professional players to go deep, we love to see Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, and Darvin Moon at the final table — it gives us an opportunity to be able to sit on our couches and ask ourselves, “Why not me?”
From a pure money-making standpoint, then, making the Main Event a reentry event is a no-brainer. But it would simply ruin everything. Keep the tradition, protect the amateur players, and don’t mess with a perfect tournament.
*Update: Additional information was discovered and added at 4:50 p.m. PDT
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUL 25
All Mucked Up: The Top 10 Card Protectors from the 2012 WSOP
We saw plenty of card protectors at the 2012 World Series of Poker. We snapped plenty of photos of them and each day we added them to our summer series, All Mucked Up. If your brains are anything like ours, you probably forgot most of the ones you saw. Luckily for you, we've chosen our top 10 card protectors from the summer. Enjoy.
Next ›No. 10 of our top ten card protectors count down is this man’s bear figurine, which only makes it in because of how insistent the man was that we took a picture of it. He even held up a sheet of paper behind it so we could get it clearer. The power of persistence -- we award No. 10 to the brown bear.
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Do you have any favorites from our All Mucked Up coverage? Let us know in the comments section below and as always, follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUL 16
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 50 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
A Legend Will Rise: Day 7
It’s day seven of the 2012 WSOP Main Event. Of the 6,598 entries only 27 remain. Which players will make the Octo-Nine? We’ll find out today. There are plenty of interesting story lines. Will we have a woman make the Main Event final table? Two still remain, Elisabeth Hille (9,7770,000) and Gaelle Baumann (6,295,000). Can Marc Ladoceur (15,875,000) and Daniel Strelitz (12,790,000) ride their big stacks to October glory? Will Greg Mearson capture the top spot in the POY standings? Stay tuned, as PokerNews will be answering all those questions and more. Here are images of the three feature tables before the start of play:
Views From The Rail
Pereyra on rightWe spotted poker pros Andres Pereyra and Jamie Armstrong on the rail sweating Daniel Strelitz who got off to a rocky start during the first level of play today. An untimely bluff followed by a lost flip knocked him down to 3 million chips at one point, but he’s managed to grind his stack back up to over 9.5 million chips.
We asked Armstrong if he had given any advice to Sterlitz before the start of the day.
“No, not really, I just told him to keep it going,” Armstrong said. “He knows what to.”
Pereyra has a financial interest in Strelitz.
“He’s my horse, I have a piece. I’m excited for the rest of the day.”
Also spotted was 2012 WSOP bracelet winner, Ronnie Bardah, sweating Paul Volpe, with chants of, "Lets go Paul V, lets go Paul V."
BardahProp Bet Update
Robert Buckenmayer, our oldest grindersAs 54 year old Roland Israelashvili was just eliminated from the Main Event, we thought we'd post a quick update of how the high stakes prop bet - whether someone over the age of forty would win the Main Event this year - was doing. Israelavili's exit means that there are only 3 Main Event contenders over the age of 40 left, and they're squaring up against 21 of the best young guns in the game! The 3 over 40s left are Steven Gee, Michael Esposito and the 67 year old Robert Buckenmayer. The players involved in this prop bet, Barry Greenstein, Mike Sexton, Doyle Brunsen and Brian 'stinger' Hastings among others, have been giving 10-1 that a player over 40 will win the bracelet. The youngsters currently outnumber the golden oldies 7-1! The youngest player left is Jacob Balsiger, who is 21 years old.
Sights In The Amazon
We spotted Antonio Esfandiari leaving the Amazon room in a rush. We caught up to him to ask who’s his pick to win the Main Event.
“I don’t even know who’s in it,” said a smiling Esfandiari. When you’re the One-Drop champ you can afford to have more pressing worries.
Here’s Daniel Strelitz being interviewed by Kara Scott after being eliminated in 24th place. He’ll be taking home $294,601.
We Have A Winner!
Jason Mercier was just announced the winner of the 25k fantasy draft for the this year World Series Of Poker. It was tight at the end, but Yuval Bronshtein's 23rd-place finish was enough to confirm Jason winning... Or was it?!?! New information tells us that if Paul 'paulgees' Volpe makes a push to finish 1st or 2nd in in chips for the October Nine then Bryn Kenney's team will actually steal the title from under Mercier's nose - it will all be decided today as the October Nine finish is not what matters, but what positions they finish in chips today.
So Bryn Kenney has an outside chance depending on Volpe's performance tonight, otherwise Jason Mercier will be winning $178,750 for his win! We'll keep you posted.
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JUL 15
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 49 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
Featured
There are only 97 players left in the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event so the Rio has been cleared out for the most part. Today at the Main Feature Table is Vanessa Selbst, who always makes for some interesting poker TV.
The ESPN Main Feature Table for SundaySelbst will begin the day relatively short stacked, but with her skills, she of course always has a chance to run even deeper into the tournament.
At the secondary feature table is Gavin Smith, Amnon Filippi, Yuval Bronshtein and A.J. Jejelowo which should provide for some very interesting table talk throughout the day from Smith and Filippi.
The ESPN Secondary Feature TablePlayers will play today down to 27 players, or even further depending on how fast play goes. If 27 players is not reached by the 5th level of play today, players will play even longer. Tournament staff has announced a shuffle up and deal, so cards are now in the air!
Be sure you check out the live reporting blog for all the tournament updates throughout the day.
Main Event Groutfit
It's been a while since we were able to bring you a groutfit, or a grey on grey outfit, but we finally found one here in the Main Event. This player decided it was in his best interest to great grey cargo sweats/pants + a grey sweater as well.
GroutfitSure took long to find one, but will bring you more if we find any.
Murderers Row
There is another set of feature tables under the banners of the past Main Event champions near the door in the Amazon Room. We've been calling this section murderers row because it always seems that the best players find their way to this section.
At the furthest table from the door is a table that features former chip leader Paul Volpe. Also at the table is Jeremy Ausmus who has eight cashes from this years World Series of Poker.
At the middle table sits one of the final four women (Susie Zhao was recently eliminated), Gaelle Baumann. Also at that table is David "ODB" Baker, who still has a shot at Player of the Year honors.
Then, at the closest table to the door sits Sam Holden, Elizabeth Hille and Erik Cajelais.
Cajelais may be the ripped one, but check out Sam Holden showing off his muscles to the table. This should make for some interesting TV.
How To Win WSOP POY
Interestingly, Greg Merson, who currently sits in sixth place on the 2012 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard, is only 87.75 points behind the current leader, Phil Ivey, who racked up 568.70 points this summer. As we understand it, even if Merson falls short of the final table and busts today, he will earn 75 points for his deep run, which means he’d be just 12.75 from the lead. With that said, a final table appearance would put Merson in the top spot headed into the World Series of Poker Europe.
Gregory MersonIn order for David “ODB” Baker, who currently sits in seventh place, to overtake Phil Ivey on the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard, he’ll need to finish seventh or higher. Likewise, Vanessa Selbst would have to finish fifth or higher to overtake Ivey, and that’s provided Baker doesn’t finish seventh or better. There’s
DAvid "ODB" Baker
Vanessa SelbstHere’s a look at the current WSOP POY standings:
Current 2012 WSOP Player of the Year Standings
Place Player Points 1 Phil Ivey 568.70 2 John Monnette 524.25 3 Phil Hellmuth 500.70 4 Antonio Esfandiari 488.10 5 Michael Mizrachi 486.20 6 Gregory Merson 481.13 7 David “ODB” Baker 433.38 8 Andy Frankenberger 406.66 9 Andy Bloch 405.30 10 Vanessa Selbst 388.17 Also, here’s a look at how WSOP POY points will be awarded for the Main Event:
2012 WSOP Player of the Year Points
Finishing Position Points 1 500 2 350 3 250 4 220 5 190 6 165 7 140 8 120 9 100 Remaining Top 20% 75 Next 30% 50 Bottom 50% 25 There are even more players in the mix for 2012 WSOP POY, and we'll be bringing you various updates and scenarios throughout the day.
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JUL 14
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 48 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
Did You Even Go Home?
Here we are, day 5 of the Main Event and the grind is starting to wear on people. We stumbled up to this man asleep right outside the PokerNews HQ on the famous couch that has housed Gus Hansen and Jennifer Tilly naps already this series. It's 11:30 am, has he been here all night? It looks like his hotel room, he has the laptop plugged in to charge and an implicit 'do not disturb sign' hanging in thin air. We adhered to his wishes and were as quiet as we could be when he took this pic!
Old School Intro
Yesterday we blogged about Perry Green, the 3 time bracelet winner and relative legend of the World Series Of Poker! Well PokerNews are always ahead of the curve, as today Green is getting big attention as the oldest contestant in the room at the ripe age of 72! Green did this morning's 'Shuffle Up And Deal' where he spoke about his 56 year long marriage and the time he lost to Stu Ungar heads up for a bracelet!
"The most common question people ask me about the old days is 'what was it like to play heads up against Stu Ungar?' Well the truth is it's no more difficult than playing against any of you guys remaining." Perry told the crowd, presumably in a shameless attempt at Main Event Metagame.
A Legend Will Rise: Day 48
Last night's chip leader Paul Volpe was looking fresh this morning as he bids to fight his way to the final table. Volpe has over two million in chips, as does online tournament phenom David D'Alesandro, seated at the far end of the Amazon room. Unfortunately for D'Alesandro, he has a medium stacked Joseph Cheong directly to his left, one of the players people dread seeing the most this year.
If anyone more huge battles come to our attention in the course of the day, we'll be sure to post them!
On Break With Paul Volpe
We caught up with current chip leader Paul ‘paulgees’ Volpe on break to talk about his tough table, some big hands and being in the limelight.
So your table’s pretty tough, what do you know about these guys?
Yeah the tables awful, its defintely the worst I’ve played at. ADZ [Matt Marafioti] just got moved there right before break, there’s a Malicious [David Randall], Taylor [Paur] and Joe Cheong too who I’ve played with a lot online and I know that they’re three of the best around. It’s been super tough, but I just have to get through the day, every day is different.
How has the day gone so far?
It’s gone well, I have 3.5 million right now. To start the day I dropped down a bit. My 3Bs weren’t working or I was getting shoved on, and I just chipped down a bit. I lost one bit pot where I bet the river on a four spade board to try to fold out pairs and I got called by two black eights.
I won a big pot then [At the table of death] where a young german kid opened first to act and malicious called and I squeezed with AQ of diamonds. German guy shoves 69 of spades and I call. Flop came A95 and I turned him dead with another A. That brought me up to 3.5 Million.
How are you feeling? Are you having fun going this deep?
I feel great. I really hope I can keep going and make the November Nine, or the October eight or whatever it’s going to be called. I don’t love all the cameras though, I’m not used to it. I don’t mind talking to you, but there’s cameras in my face every second. Hopefully I’ll get used to it and deal with it better in the future though.
Strategy With Timothy Adams
Timothy Adams secured his 5th cash of this years WSOP yesterday when he made the money in the Main Event. Timothy, or ‘TimOthee’ as he’s known online, even won a bracelet in June’s Event 28 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Four Handed. Adam’s secured a huge pot just before break to move up to the 2.5 million mark, and nearer to chip leader Paul Volpe. Here’s what he had to say about that hand.
“So this guy called Dave [D'Alesandro] had just sat down and had been opening a lot of pots. We’re pretty deep so I pick up 33 and decide to 3B it to retake some initiative. I think most people would call there but I think it plays better like this when we’re deep. He calls. “
“Flop comes 722 with two spades and I bet 101,000. I bet here to protect my equity with a hand like JT, and also to get value from a hand like AQ high. I turn gin 3 of spades, so I’m pretty happy and I just bet 222,000. I get another call.”
"The river is an offsuit Q so I just bet an amount that I would bet with my bluffs, which I thought was 392,000. He calls so I rocket up to 2.5 million in chips so now I’m super deep.”
“Honestly, I’m so much more comfortable deep. I play all cash, I’m trying to transition to playing more tournaments but coming from a deep cash background I’m going to have a big advantage over people when we play deep. So I’m very comfortable moving into the next level.”
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