The Nightly Turbo: Hansen Versus Dwan in Macau, Isildur1 Returns to Nosebleeds, and More
The high-stakes cash-game action is going strong in Macau this week. Which notables are playing for millions of dollars? We'll bring you that story and more in the Thursday edition of the Nightly Turbo.
In Case You Missed It
Day 2 of the PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Campione Main Event wrapped up on Wednesday night. Several former EPT champs were still in contention to become the first two-time winner on the tour.
There weren't any changes in the top 10 of the Global Poker Index this week, but several notables could gain some ground with big finishes in Campione, Italy. Mickey Doft takes a look at the biggest movers and shakers on the GPI.
All In: The Poker Move made its debut in theaters last week. Chris Moneymaker and director Doug Tirola discussed the film with PokerNews.
Jonathan Little's Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume II was released a few weeks ago. Little discussed a few key topics from Volume II on this week's Strategy with Kristy podcast.
Million Dollar Pots in Macau
It's been a while since we heard rumblings of Gus Hansen mixing it up in Macau. We were excited to learn this week that Hansen has returned to the Star World Casino and is playing in high-stakes games with Sam Trickett, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, and several locals. The stakes are rumored to be an astronomical $1,300/$2,600 with a mandatory $5,200 straddle.
Things seemed to be going well for the "Great Dane" before he bluffed off a huge amount to Dwan on Wednesday. Gus explained the action to Pokernyhederne.com:
I had planned it from the beginning: a continuation bet on the flop, followed by another bet on the turn, and when he called both bets would I give up on the river.
Durrrr called, but on the river it was my considered opinion that he was on a [flush] draw, and since I could not beat ace-high, I decided to send yet another bet going. A HK $ 1.7 million river bluff, but a quick call from durrrr sent all the chips in the wrong direction.
The good news was that durrrr actually had the [flush draw], but the bad news was that he also had a top pair. Oops: (
Trickett tweeted earlier this week that he won the biggest pot of his life during the game at Star World. He didn't post the details of the hand, but some reports believe the amount to be more than $2.5 million.
You can find more updates from the cash games in Macau over at Pokernyhederne.com.
HU 4 Rollz?
Get ready, railbirds. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom is making a return to the nosebleeds.
On Saturday, March 31, Blom and Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton will face off in a $1 million winner-take-all match as part of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. Each will sit down at $200/400 no-limit hold'em tables with $500,000, and the match won't end until one of them has it all.
The match will kick off at 1300 EDT (1700 GMT) on Saturday and run for four hours. If a winner isn't determined by then, they'll resume the match on Sunday — and every day thereafter until one of them has the full $1 million.
Blom has flourished in his first 13 SuperStar Showdowns, going 9-4 with a profit of more than $530,000. Haxton has given the Swede problems, though, winning both of their previous matches for more than $46,000. Now, Blom will get a chance to avenge a devastating turn of events in the last SuperStar Showdown in which he lost a comfortable six-figure lead.
Read more about the upcoming match at PokerNews.com.
Groups Chosen for Premier League
The lineup is in place. The groups have been designated. Once the two winners emerge from this weekend's qualifying rounds, the PartyPoker Premier League V will be ready to go!
The highly anticipated event kicks off at the Montesino Casino in Vienna on April 4 and runs through April 10 alongside the World Poker Tour Vienna festivities. Fourteen players — plus two qualifiers — will post the buy-in of $125,000 and compete for a massive prize pool at the final table. The winner will also receive a $25,000 seat to the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio in May.
The top three point earners from each eight-player group will advance to the final table, and the fourth and fifth seeds in each group will square off in a series of heads-up matches for seats at the eight-handed finale.
Here's a look at the groups, which were announced on Thursday:
| Group A | Group B | |
|---|---|---|
| Tony G | Sam Trickett | |
| Andy Frankenberger | Dan "Jungleman" Cates | |
| Erik Seidel | Patrik Antonius | |
| Luke Schwartz | Vanessa Selbst | |
| Phil Laak | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | |
| Eugene Katchalov | Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier | |
| Tom Dwan | Scott Seiver | |
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 |
The PartyPoker Blog has more.
"God-like" Pro Joins Team PokerStars Online
After a long process of sifting through candidates,PokerStars has selected the newest member if its coveted Team Online. The honored player is Roy "GodlikeRoy" Bhasin, an online pro from Sydney, Australia.
Bhasin specializes in pot limit Omaha and finished second in a $2,100 PLO event at the 2010 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) for $40,800. He's also had success in many live PLO events in Australia.
"I feel incredibly humbled and honored to have been chosen to be a part of Team PokerStars Online," Bhasin told the PokerStars Blog. "It has been a dream of mine for a while now, and to actually see it come true is an incredible feeling."
Read more about the new Team PokerStars Online pro at the PokerStars Blog.
Not So Fast, Mr. Campos
Just one day after Black Friday defendant John Campos pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor for his role in illegal online poker transactions, a federal judge refused to accept the plea until the prosecution explained why it was walking away from the case.
U. S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered prosecutors to explain, in writing, “why they let former St. George banker John Campos plead guilty to a misdemeanor bank gambling charge rather than a felony.”
Campos, the former vice chairman of SunFirst Bank in Utah, was indicted on April 15 on charges of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, conspiracy to violate UIGEA, operating illegal gambling businesses in violation of the Internet Gambling Business Act of 1970, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He allegedly processed $200 million in gambling funds between late 2009 and 2011.
Kaplan said he’ll decide whether to accept the plea at a June 27 sentencing.
We have more on the story at PokerNews.com.
Online Poker Traffic Report
On Monday, PokerScout.com released its online poker traffic rankings for the previous week. The tracking site reported a drop of 1.8 percent, marking the seventh straight week of losses at online poker rooms worldwide.
There was no change in the top 10 of the rankings as PokerStars continued its domination over the competition. The world's leading site saw its attendance rise by 3 percent over the previous week, mostly due to the influx of players trying out Zoom Poker.
PokerScout reports that the new fast-paced game accounts for 26 percent of the site's cash game traffic and has caused a significant drop to the ring game traffic at competitors like PartyPoker, iPoker, Ongame and Microgaming.
As for year-over-year traffic numbers, online poker has seen a worldwide decline of 34 percent since this time last year. Along with traffic drop-off at Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network, the International Poker Network (down 48 percent) and Ongame (down 26 percent) have seen a significant decline.
The biggest movers over the past year were the Merge Gaming Network (up 64 percent), 888poker (up 63 percent) and Winamax.fr (up 30 percent).
Get the full report at PokerScout.com.
She's on a Boat!
Poker players in Campione, Italy boarded a boat for the PokerStars party on Thursday. Sarah Grant thew on some flippy-floppies and joined in on the fun.
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