August 2008 Archives

The weekly round 2 events last weekend bunched together the usual eclectic mix of nationalities at the final tables with players from France, India, Germany, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Brazil and Spain featuring in the payouts. But it was the United States up top both days.

‘D0k_Holliday’ was triumphant on Saturday ahead of 801 players who cashed. D0k took $276 for his efforts. Whilst a bumper field on Sunday saw ‘Porki’ take a whopping $305 for finishing first, the biggest WR2 first prize to date. Congratulations to ‘Porki’ and everyone who cashed over the weekend.

The full results are below...

Weekly round 2 results (Saturday 23 August)

1. D0k_Holliday (United States) -- $276.00
2. Lienanh (France) -- $164.00
3. vipulmehta (India) -- $100.00
4. Ruffy64 (Germany) -- $80.00
5. ayabert (Canada) -- $62.00
6. marvin00711 (United States) -- $50.00
7. webberygy (Australia) -- $39.00
8. dionysis red (United Kingdom) -- $30.00
9. Mero4545 (United States) -- $22.20

801st Alte Katze (United States) -- $0.60

Weekly round 2 results (Sunday 24 August)

1. Porki (United States) -- $305.00
2. easydough (United States) -- $180.00
3. GoombaZRX (United States) -- $103.80
4. NO FEAR 355 (United States) -- $86.00
5. makers316 (United States) -- $72.00
6. dirtydog 226 (United States) -- $60.00
7. ssusso (Uruguay) -- $48.00
8. Scandelai (Brazil) -- $38.00
9. jmayou (France) -- $17.60

800th nanetex (Spain) -- $0.60

Don’t forget qualifying for one of the two weekly events is easy and a great way to get some practice at tournament poker. All you need to do is play in one of the Astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and finish within the top number of tables specified in the details.

The astronomer freerolls run several times a day so there’s never long to wait and if you’re successful your ticket into the Weekly Round 2 could see you win a cash prize.

Who can resist the allure of an award ceremony what with all the glamour, prestige and canapés? Well, after four full seasons of the European Poker Tour PokerStars has created the first ever EPT Awards to be held in Barcelona, Spain on the eve of the first leg of the tour’s fifth season.

Staged at the glittering Opium Mar location in downtown Barcelona the game’s best will descend for hearty congratulations and camaraderie before making their way to Casino Barcelona the next afternoon to resume the day job of folding, raising and chip stacking.

The awards recognise the very best of the EPT; the nominees are in place. All that’s left to do is to put the winner’s names into a gold envelope and hand them to a glamorous starlet in a long and expensive dress to announce the winner to the world. Failing that a fellow poker pro in sports shoes and a baseball cap will do the same. Either way it will prove to be quite a night.

So what awards are up for grabs and who has been nominated? They include...

Best Newcomer
Trond Erik Eidsvig
Denes Kalo
Jason Mercier
Annette Obrestad
Mike McDonald


EPT San Remo winner Jason Mercier

Best Performance
Jason Mercier
Julian Thew
Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier
Glen Chorny
Mike McDonald

EPT Dortmund winner Mike McDonald

Best Overseas Player
Tim Vance
Isaac Baron
Raymond Rahme
Danny Ryan
Mike McDonald

EPT Copenhagen winner Tim Vance

Player of the Year
Luca Pagano
Trond Erik Eidsvig
Johannes Straussman
Jan Heitman
Thierry Van der Berg

Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano

Awards in the two more categories, People’s Choice and the Poker Writers Award, will be decided by the public and media respectively. The winners of those above will be selected by a panel of judges made up of Team PokerStars Pros Vicky Coren and EPT founder John Duthie, as well as John Caldwell, Editor in Chief of Poker News, and former PokerStars poker room manager Lee Jones.

It all leads to an exciting night in Spain before the real business of EPT poker gets underway for another season. We’ll have all the detail of that and the EPT Awards ceremony here on the PokerStars.net blog.

The weekly round 2 was dominated by players from the United States last weekend with seven of Saturdays finalists hailing from the land of the free and the same again on Sunday, a level of success only matched it seems by the country’s swimmers in Olympic pools.

‘CASHGAMBLE’ was paid off on Saturday with $276, finishing first ahead of 801 others paid for their efforts from a field of thousands. On Sunday it was ‘pogmotuin’ who aside from having one of those names that begs the question ‘what does that mean?’ also has $276 to his name, finishing first in a field as big as the day before.

Congratulations to all players and remember the next events are only a few days away. Qualifying for one of the two weekly events is easy and a great way to get some practice at tournament poker. All you need to do is play in one of the Astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and finish within the top number of tables specified in the details.

The astronomer freerolls run several times a day so there’s never long to wait and if you’re successful your ticket into the Weekly Round 2 could see you win a cash prize.

In the meantime here’s a recap of last weekend’s results...

Weekly round 2 results (Saturday 16 August)

1. CASHGAMBLE (United States) -- $276.00
2. needanecho (United States) -- $164.00
3. mustangs8 (United States) -- $100.00
4. fsuman240 (United States) -- $80.00
5. Bramshot (United States) -- $62.00
6. goldenwrigs (United States) -- $50.00
7. Hens1411 (Germany) -- $39.00
8. impact57 (United States) -- $30.00
9. Skkinally (Brazil) -- $22.20

801st barada777 (Georgia) -- $0.60

Weekly round 2 results (Sunday 17 August)

1. pogmotuin (United States) -- $276.00
2. looseplayr (United States) -- $164.00
3. lincoln65 (United States) -- $100.00
4. dgstyl (United States) -- $80.00
5. Action_DanAA (United States) -- $62.00
6. Mariorr (Spain) -- $50.00
7. ejf@sjg (United States) -- $39.00
8. feitctaj (United States) -- $30.00
9. Shimdoo (Austria) -- $22.20

801st HerrKaLeu (Germany) -- $0.60

The LAPT is in the can, its first year a success story of rapidly growing proportions and plans are already in full swing for a second season. In the meantime though all eyes now turn back to Europe.

Any fan of European poker should now sense that heady mixture of excitement and awe. Like winter for a baseball fan or summer for a soccer fan, that period between seasons can be a long and dark one, regardless of the distractions.

Sure, it’s slightly different with poker nuts who can gorge themselves on a diet of World Series poker in the summer months, but the EPT is something entirely different. Beautiful destinations, the best players in the world and the little statistic of being the richest poker tour on the continent.

All eyes turn to stunning Barcelona

That brings us to Season 5.

As we’ve written already on this blog season five all begins in just a few short weeks from now on the sandy shores of Spain in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. It’s a city of art, culture and a night life to blow your socks off. It also stages one of the most popular stops on the tour, the event everyone wants to play.

Last year it was Sander Lylloff who got the season underway with a boom. Sander triumphed in a final featuring Greg Dyer, Trond Erik Eidsvig and Patrick Bruel among others, with a first prize of €1,170,700 to the Dane.

An understandably happy Sander Lylloff

You can catch up with all that took place twelve months ago at Casino Barcelona by visiting PokerStars.tv which, after a quick click on the EPT link, will give you endless scope for a short (or long) recap, including a video interview with the winner who, in typically understated fashion, had no idea how to spend the money.

This year is likely to be even bigger in terms of prizepool and in field. Already set to jet in are Team PokerStars Pros Isabelle Mercier, Noah boeken, former EPT London winner Vicky Coren, Dario Minieri (complete with World Series bracelet), PCA champion ElkY, Luca Pagano and former world champ Greg Raymer.

Let the count down begin.

Whilst the Olympics burst into life over in China the smaller flame of the Weekly Round 2 events shone just as brightly as players from around the world competed for poker gold. It was a Germanic one-two last weekend with an Austrian and a German taking honours.

First it was Austrian ‘bbberni’ on Saturday, ahead of 702 players who won money for nothing. ‘bbberni’ took $287.60 for his efforts. Whilst on Sunday a slightly more modest sum of $276 was taken down by German player ‘sender z’, with a total 802 players receiving something for playing ahead of thousands more.

Weekly round 2 results (Saturday 9 August)

1. bbberni (Austria) -- $287.60
2. dzsinn6 (Hungary) -- $166.00
3. haensdaempf (Germany) -- $100.00
4. Its_Instinct (United States) -- $80.00
5. amy***cap (United States) -- $62.00
6. sabio3 (United States) -- $50.00
7. kingtin1 (United Kingdom) -- $39.00
8. troyAxXx (Philippines) -- $30.00
9. ykmjc (United States) -- $22.20

702nd jdavis142000 (United States) -- $0.80

Weekly round 2 results (Sunday 10 August)

1. sender z (Germany) -- $276.00
2. scarypete (United Kingdom) -- $164.00
3. Yendor (Canada) -- $100.00
4. Chris Siai (Switzerland) -- $80.00
5. Timmy699 (United States) -- $62.00
6. htn2 (United States) -- $50.00
7. HunterMc07 (United States) -- $39.00
8. SilvEagle (United States) -- $30.00
9. JJBusta -- $22.20

801st LattManJR (United States) -- $0.60

Qualifying for one of the two weekly events is easy and a great way to get some practice at tournament poker. All you need to do is play in one of the Astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and finish within the top number of tables specified in the details. The astronomer freerolls run several times a day so there’s never long to wait and if you’re successful your ticket into the Weekly Round 2 could see you win a cash prize.

All good things must come to an end, and now the first season of the Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT) is in the record books. After Julien Nuijten in Rio de Janeiro, Valdemar Kwaysser in San Jose, the third and final champion has also been crowned and is another European. His name is Jose Miguel Espinar, from Valencia, Spain.

The rain on the Spaniard: Jose Miguel Espinar emerges from the ticker tape as a champion

Espinar came through a tough final in Punta del Este, Uruguay and won an epic heads-up scrap against Team PokerStars Pro Alex Brenes of Costa Rica. But at the end, it came down to one big hand when both players got their level chip stacks in the middle with A-10 and A-9. Espinar had the advantage with A-10, and although Brenes thought he'd outdrawn the Spaniard when a nine flopped, the ten on the turn sealed the hand for Espinar.

Delight turns to despair as Alex Brenes outdraws but then is outdrawn on

That left Brenes with just 40,000 in chips, not even a small blind, and Espinar's king-three was enough to win it on the next hand.

The celebrations began, and music boomed out from the speakers. Espinar and his friends from Spain wiped away tears as he was crowned a worthy champion.

After two days of stiff competition at the Mantra Resort in Punta play resumed with a typically formidable line-up. Leading the way was Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes, fresh from World Series success.

But not even Gomes could get away from a hand against Alex Brenes at about the mid-point of the day, when he flopped straight and flush draws but missed both. Brenes, in fact, hit his straight and sent Gomes out in fourth.

By then, we had already accounted for Brazil's Paulo Cesar Ribeiro, Argentina's Juan Jose Perez, Brazil's Sydney Chreem and Canada's Gylbert Drolet in an all-action opening couple of levels.

We were only five minutes in when Ribeiro was forced out: he got all his chips in with pocket jacks, but Espinar, whose king-queen had tripped up on the flop, had trapped him.

Out went the first Brazilian and Espinar was up and running

Next up for the guillotine was Argentinean Perez, who also ran into the immovable object Espinar. This time Espinar had a suited ace-jack and was behind against Perez's pocket aces. But the flop, turn and river got progressively straighter for the Spaniard and the king on the river ended it. We were down to six.

For a while, it was all Lisandro Gallo. The Argentinian busted Brazilian Sidney Chreem with pocket sevens against Q-10. Then Canadian Gylbert Drolet took the walk.

He had been card dead for the whole final and had been reduced to a small stack when he got it all-in with jacks. But the vibrant Gallo, the most vociferous around the table for the best part of two days, called with ace-queen and ended up making a flush.

Then it was time for Gomes to go, to leave Gallo, Brenes and Espinar to fight it out three handed. Gallo was the short stack and although he was up and down a couple of times he eventually ran a pair of sixes into a pair of jacks and then a nine high into aces. Gallo shrugged, smiled, shook hands and walked.

The heads-up battle pitched two of the most accomplished players against one another. Espinar is a familiar face from the European Poker Tour whilst Brenes had already been on an LAPT final table -- in Rio in March. This heads-up battle had been brewing and then we had what we wanted. They jabbed, they parried, they ducked and weaved.

It went on for more than three levels before that big hand with the ace-ten and the ace-nine. And after all the money had gone in and all the chips had been shipped, they shook hands, hugged and knew it would all happen again some other day.

The first season of the Latin American Poker Tour is over. But it will all start again in November.

Gracias y adios.

All photographs (c) Joe Giron/IMPDI

They began with 351 and now they’re down to eight. The final table for the LAPT event in Punta del Este, Uruguay, has been set. And here are the players who made it. Each is now guaranteed at least $17,025, although all will be eyeing the first prize of $241,735.

Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 763,000
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars player, 691,000
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, 675,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, 465,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, 457,000
Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars player, 281,000
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, 167,000
Sidney Chreem, Brazil, 93,000

You may notice one of those names leaping from the page, that of Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes. He earned a place on the team when he won a World Series bracelet this summer, becoming the first to do so from Brazil. Understandably he travelled home as something of a hero and his performances here have proven already that he is no flash in the pan.

Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes

Gomes started strong and finished stronger. He settled the final table late on when he made a mandatory value call against short-stacked Carlos Curi's pre-flop all in. Gomes managed to outdraw the Argentinian and we reached the last eight with his name at the top.

The other familiar face around tomorrow's felt will be Alex Brenes, brother of Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, but an LAPT star in his own right after reaching the final table of the inaugural event in Rio de Janeiro in May. Back then he came fourth for $62,800.

Of course, in order to reach this point in the tournament, we have to have shed a great many others, and among the unfortunate fallers today were Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes and Greg Raymer, who all had high hopes but came up just short.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso

Rousso must be feeling especially disappointed after she seemed set for a stunning final table appearance but ran pocket nines into the aces of Jose Miguel Espinar to bust in tenth. But after a short cooling off period, Lady Maverick can look back on a spectacular showing here in Punta del Este. And she has $11,065 reasons to be cheerful.

Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes

Humberto Brenes also made the money, his first cash on the LAPT, and it meant a great deal to the Costa Rican poker legend. Amazingly, this was the first time the Team PokerStars Pro had cashed in a PokerStars-sponsored event, despite dozens of lifetime cashes in the World Series. Certainly worth the wait.

So it is that we'll reconvene here at noon tomorrow and prepare to play to a champion. The LAPT is almost done for its first season, but the grand finale tomorrow will surely be worth waiting for.

All the work from the video blog team, including an archive of previous coverage, can be found over a PokerStars.tv

All photographs (c) Joe Giron/IMPDI

Something like a month ago, the chances are that most poker players will have never heard of Punta del Este, Uruguay. Similarly, most residents of Punta del Este, Uruguay, probably didn't know that much about poker. But this week, thanks to the PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT), the two have come together in a happy union.

The LAPT has already been a spectacular success story, and this the first day of the last event of the first season has been as good as any we’ve seen. The good news? There are still two more days of play.

It was expected that 300 players would begin today, but as midday came and went there were 351 players in line waiting, a line that stretched around the exterior of the Mantra Resort, Spa and Casino.

By 1pm though, each had put up the $2,500 entry fee, creating a prize pool of over $850,000. That makes the first prize $241,735 and 33 players will be in profit come the end.

The field included some of the heavyweights of the world game and some hardy locals aiming for a shot at the big time. In the first category were the Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes, Alexandre Gomes, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown and Andre Akkari. While the cards did not fall in the favour of Greenstein, Brown and Akkari, the first four of those big names are all still well in the hunt, with Raymer, in particular, enjoying the trip south.

The 2005 World Champion won a huge pot with kings against ace-king, then busted Akkari with aces against queens. That catapulted him to the chip lead with close to 85,000, a level kept up throughout the day.

Brenes, of course, loves playing poker and he loves playing it on Latin American soil better than anywhere else in the world. He struggled through the early levels, plunging to a low of about 5,000 in chips, but once the feature table had been assembled and he'd been invited to sit around it, the comeback began.

Brenes bagged up 53,000 at the end of the day, and the shark is well in the hunt.

(As a side point, that wasn't quite enough to be the most chipped-up Brenes in Punta del Este, however. That accolade went to Humberto's brother Alex Brenes, who is our probable overnight chip leader, with 110,000.)

World Series bracelet winner Alexandre Gomes has become a big attraction on the South American poker scene after his fantastically successful sojourn to Las Vegas this summer.

And the spotlight suits Gomes well: the most recent addition to Team PokerStars Pro was still sitting pretty among the 95 finishers, with 31,000.

Vanessa "Lady Maverick" Rousso, meanwhile, ended the day with just less than 20,000, no mean feat given that she played alongside the formidable Raymer all day.

Video blogs of the day’s action can be found over at PokerStars.tv

Tomorrow's fun starts at noon, when they will return to play level 10 with blinds at 600-1,200 and a 100 ante. They'll play down to the final nine. Be sure to join us.

All photographs (c) Joe Giron/IMPDI

They’re the guys who answer your emails, send a few themselves and who make sure PokerStars runs smoothly from top to bottom. They’re the backroom staff we can all thank for making PokerStars what it is. So they deserve a day out in the sun once in a while, or the grey overcast skies of the Isle of Man, where last month they swapped a day off at home on the sofa in front of the tube for something more... pro-active.

Odin himself would have approved.

The legend of Scandinavian players at the poker tables is well known but several hundred years ago they also gave the world big men with beards and axes who terrorised the shores of Britain and Ireland. Things change of course and that legacy now takes the shape of the charity Viking long boat World Championships in Peel on the Isle of Man. PokerStars rustled up a team.

The team start rowing...

As you’d expect, they day was one of courage, ingenuity and a few ups and downs.

Entering in the men’s event an immediately 30 second penalty was incurred when one crew member was found to be a girl. But not letting something like that stop them the team weighed anchor and set off into Peel harbour, over looked by the magnificent and rather old Peel castle, where they would navigate around a buoy 100 meters away before heading back across the finish line. The rules were simple –the fasted team would be declared the winner.

PokerStars are no strangers to World Championships so you’d think this would be a breeze. There would be tales of glory surely, of a mighty ship cutting through the tide, crew members on the prow beneath the PokerStars ensign flapping in the wind?

Well, not quite. As Captain Bob of the Customer Relations department reported in the ship’s log:

“We never found out exactly how we did, but we know that we didn't make the top five out of the 20 entries. I'm pretty sure we beat the team dressed as Willy Wonka and nine Oompa Lumpas.”

But credit to all of the team for raising some well earned money for a host of local charities and by the looks of things having a ball in the process....

Back on dry land in front of Peel Castle, from left to right... Mike, Gary, Graham, Ste, John, Nicole, Tom, Captain Bob, Sam and Kevin

"We were only allowed two 20 minute practise in the weeks prior to the race, which isn't ideal preparation for a World Championship” said the Captain, in what is probably the first instance of a Long Boat Championship bad beat story. “Luckily we didn't have any delusions of victory and we were pretty glad we made it back to the harbour with everyone still in the boat."

Well done to everyone from PokerStars involved on the day. As yet there are no plans for an online version of the event.

Another week on PokerStars.net and another Weekly Round 2. Two more multi-national final tables over the weekend, the first with an American one-two-three with ‘TheNewIRS’ winning $276, whilst the second saw a win for Ireland and ‘madloopy’ who won the same.

Weekly Round 2 results (Saturday 2 August)

1. TheNewIRS (United States) -- $276.00
2. tai won on (United States) -- $164.00
3. poin1 (United States) -- $100.00
4. jjjy (Canada) -- $80.00
5. FARTOVIY (Russian Federation) -- $62.00
6. tavovil10 (Colombia) -- $50.00
7. ccoplaymate (United States) -- $39.00
8. mr.plumber99 (Germany) -- $30.00
9. nbubu (Germany) -- $22.20

801st easymade (United States) -- $0.60


Weekly Round 2 results (Sunday 3 August)

1. madloopy (Ireland) -- $276.00
2. deedee86 (Canada) -- $164.00
3. allr (United States) -- $100.00
4. clifford008 (United States) -- $80.00
5. J&MHETT98 (United States) -- $62.00
6. Adaletos (Germany) -- $50.00
7. aztiger (United States) -- $39.00
8. BONGO JR (United States) -- $30.00
9. unityirie (United States) -- $22.20

801st erint (United States) -- $0.60

Qualifying for one of the two weekly events is simple. All you need to do is play in one of the Astronomer freerolls shown in the PokerStars.net lobby and finish within the number of tables specified. They astronomer freerolls run several times a day so there’s never long to wait and if you’re successful your ticket into the Weekly Round 2 could see you win a cash prize.

The European Poker Tour has long been home to high-rollers. The Grand Final buy-in of the tournament series is impressive in itself at €10,000. The rest of the events are nearly as big. However, we always knew there were people in the room who wanted to play bigger. After the tournament was over for the day, the big players would start up big-money sit & go tournaments.

If that wasn't enough, the true high rollers would retire to a hotel suite and play private games for more money than most people can imagine.

Now the European Poker Tour has given these high-rollers a tournament of their own.

When the Season 5 EPT London event kicks off in a few months, event organizers will not only host the scheduled EPT London event. They have also just announced a brand new £20,000 + £300 PokerStars EPT £1 Million Showdown, with a guaranteed £1,000,000 prize pool. If that doesn't attract the big action players, not much will.

That's not all. The London EPT event is getting a shot in the arm and the winner of the event is going to be pretty happy about it.

PokerStars is adding an extra £250,000 to the prize pool of this October’s EPT London event, making for a guaranteed £1,000,000 for the winner.