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Final Suspect Arrested in EPT Berlin Heist

Kevin Mathers — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:10:55 +0000

Jihad Chetwie, the final suspect in the March 7th heist at EPT Berlin, turned himself in at Tegel airport after flying in from Beirut, Lebanon. Chetwie left the country shortly after the heist, but he could not handle living in Lebanon, and decided to turn himself in rather than being arrested in Lebanon.

Third Suspect Nabbed in EPT Berlin Heist

Short-Stacked Shamus — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:30:01 +0000

News this morning from Germany that a third suspect has been arrested in connection with the armed robbery at EPT Berlin that took place two weeks ago today. According to the Associated Press, Mustafa Ucarkus, aged 20, was arrested at Tegel airport after his lawyer informed authorities of his whereabouts.

Earlier this week one member of the group of alleged thieves — a 21-year-old man of Turkish origin — turned himself in and identified his three accomplices. One, 20-year-old Ahmad el-Awayti, was arrested on Wednesday. The fourth member of the group, Jihad Chetwie (aged 19), remains at large.

ESPN Gets Emmy Nomination for November Nine Coverage

DanM — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:03:48 +0000

We’re no TV experts here — when is Gilligan’s Island gonna get the trophy it deserves? — but we knew we were looking at something special on the small screen watching Joe Cada upend the hopes and dreams of Darvin Moon and logger poker players everywhere. (Phil Ivey probably had something to do with that, too.)

Sure enough, for the second year in a row, ESPN’s WSOP coverage got an Emmy nomination.

Specifically it was for the November Nine coverage in the category “Outstanding Live Event Turnaround”.

I think they’re referring to the fine TV production work of Dave Swartz, Matt Maranz, and the 441 Productions crew, moreso than the chipstack turnaround of Cada.

UIGEA to go into effect June 1

Kevin Mathers — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:17:08 +0000

PokerNews is reporting that the UIGEA will go into effect on June 1, as the Treasury Department will not request another delay of the regulations to happen.

EPT Berlin robbery suspect turns himself in Names/pix of three other suspects released

Kevin Mathers — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:22:52 +0000

Photo: Reuters

These three suspects are still on the lam.

Bild.de (translated from German) and Bluff Magazine (in English) are reporting that one of the suspects in the EPT Berlin robbery from two weeks ago turned himself in on Monday to German authorities. The police in Berlin released names and photographs of the three other suspected bandits: Mustafa Ucarakus, Jihad Chetwie and Ahmad El Awayti. The article in the German newspaper notes that the suspect mentioned they did receive help from someone on the inside as to where the money was stored and that the security staff was unarmed. More details to come as more news is available.

UPDATE: Bild.de reports that that German police have arrested Ahmad El Awayti.

ESPN Inside Deal

DanM — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:49:06 +0000

Here’s the latest episode — a good one with Phil Hellmuth in studio talking a little EPT-Berlin robbery, significance of the NBC Heads-up, and his recent non-collapse collapse at Bay 101.

They also talk with his “mindset coach” Sam Chauhan … and the process of keeping players focussed.

It doesn’t get weird until Andrew Feldman and Bernard Lee start to talk about Hellmuth shirtless.

Poker Pros Win Big Humanitarian Award Phil Gordon, Rafe Furst honored by cancer foundation

DanM — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:56:09 +0000

The Prevent Cancer Foundation presented its 2nd Annual “Cancer Champion” award this weekend in Washington DC to two Full Tilt poker pros — Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon.

You be the judge … good poker face on Spencer Bachus (R-AL) as he and his wife congratulate Rafe and Phil for their ~~good~~ great work fighting cancer?

Perhaps one of poker’s staunchest political opponents is softening … Either that or it’s hard to oppose money for cancer, especially at an event sponsored by Pfizer.

Prevent Cancer’s Spring Gala, where they present this award, is one of the bigger annual DC fêtes. Some details on the event itself:

Our 2010 Spring Gala will be held March 12 at the National Building Museum, our theme is the Indelible Impressions of India.

The Prevent Cancer Foundation Annual Spring Gala is widely recognized as one of Washington’s premier events, attracting more than 800 guests from the business, diplomatic, government, medical, sports, media and social communities.

The 2010 gala will be held under the honorary patronage of Her Excellency the Ambassador of India, Meera Shankar.

BIZBASH Washington has recently recognized the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Annual Spring Gala as one of the Top 100 “must attend” charity events in Washington, DC!

The folks behind PreventCancer.org specifically honored Rafe and Phil for their work with Bad Beat on Cancer, a charity well-known in poker circles, and one the foundation credits for helping the organization vastly expand its reach over the last several years while raising more than $3 million for cancer research.

Prevent Cancer takes no shame in loving on poker. The 6th Annual Bad Beat on Cancer charity tournament is May 4. It’s one of the organization’s biggest fundraisers, and thus one of the biggest poker-minded DC shindigs of the year.

Phil Gordon is the official host.

No word on whether or not Bachus intends to play in that event, nor how many rebuys he’d have on hand.

ALT HED: Play with the Politicos

Also, check out Rafe’s blog. Not exactly the kinda thing you’d expect Bachus to embrace.

WSOP Announces New TOC FormatFan ballot to determine spots in million-dollar freeroll

Kevin Mathers — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:12:52 +0000

The big announcement that the WSOP announced on Twitter over the weekend has now turned up online. The 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions will have 27 players will meet in June to play for a $1 million prize pool with the winner earning $500,000. The twist for this year is that the public will vote for the remaining field of 20 WSOP bracelet winners. A list of the 521 living bracelet winners is available here , along with the current top 50 in online voting. Voting starts at noon ET March 15 and runs through June 15th at midnight. The other spots have been filled by these players:

Joe Cada – 2009 WSOP ME winner
Barry Shulman – 2009 WSOPE ME winner
Mike Sexton – 2006 WSOP TOC winner
Mike Matusow – 2005 WSOP TOC Winner
Annie Duke – 2004 WSOP TOC Winner
Two sponsor exemptions (the WSOP will announce details on how these seats will be awarded shortly)

The TOC will begin on June 27th at noon, and play down to the final table. Play will then resume July 4th (the day before the WSOP Main Event begins) and play down to a winner. ESPN will film the action to air as a two-hour show on August 3rd. The entire press release is on page 2:

LAS VEGAS (Mar. 15, 2010) – Poker deserves its annual All-Star Event, and the World Series of Poker intends to deliver it.

The WSOP will be putting up one million dollars to award during the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, taking place during the 41st Annual WSOP at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

ESPN will cover this No Limit Hold’em event for airing in a special two-hour telecast on Tuesday, August 3, 2010.

“The Tournament of Champions brand has heritage in delivering the big moments,” said HIE Vice President Ty Stewart. “We’re thrilled to reinvent it around a model that should elevate the game by engaging millions of poker fans. We have received a lot of input from players and their affinity for the TOC, and we are excited for them and the fans and hope its here to stay.”

A total of 27 players will participate in the freeroll poker invitational, with 20 players selected by voting from the public. The vote begins March 15, 2010 at 12 noon ET on WSOP.com and remains open until June 15, 2010 at midnight ET. The top 20 vote-getters will be awarded entry. In the event anyone in the public’s Top 20 is unable to participate, the next highest eligible and available vote-getter will be awarded the entry. To qualify as one of the 20 eligible fan-voted participants, players must be a WSOP bracelet-holder. All living WSOP bracelet holders are able to receive votes, and currently there are 521 eligible players.

Five entries into the tournament are automatic. The three previous WSOP TOC winners gain automatic entry, plus the reigning WSOP champion and the reigning WSOP Europe champion get seats at the table. Therefore b>Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Joe Cada and Barry Shulman will make up 5 of the 27 players for this event.

“Tournaments like the Tournament of Champions help elevate poker to the level it deserves and I am honored to participate,” said inaugural TOC victor Annie Duke. “Winning the TOC marks one of the most memorable events in my poker career and I’m ecstatic that the WSOP is hosting this prestigious event.”

Two sponsor exemptions will be awarded by the WSOP, with details forthcoming on how those seats can be won.

Play will convene at the Rio on Sunday, June 27, 2010 to begin the tournament. Play will halt once the final nine players are reached, and those nine return on Sunday, July 4, 2010 to play for their share of 1,000,000 dollars and the title of 2010 WSOP TOC Champion. The tournament has been scheduled to avoid conflict with other WSOP events, as no new tournaments begin on either June 27 or July 4.

The WSOP Tournament of Champions was started by the WSOP in 2004, after Harrah’s took ownership of the World Series of Poker brand. In the inaugural event, ten top names were invited to participate in the freeroll event structured as a winner-take-all. Duke won the event at the Rio.

In 2005, the TOC was won by Matusow at Caesars Palace, with an expanded field of 114 entrants competing in the freeroll, with the top nine places cashing.

The TOC event last took place in 2006 at the Rio, when 27 of the games greatest took to the felt in the freeroll, with the final table all walking away with prize money and 2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Sexton walking away with the top prize.

This year’s TOC will be a No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament with the top nine places being paid. First place will win $500,000, the runner-up gets $250,000, third place earns $100,000 and the fourth through ninth place pockets $25,000 each.

Details on how to cast your vote and rules can all be found at WSOP.com. The public will be able to track the voting, with the top 50 vote-getters listed and updated automatically after each ballot is completed. In an effort to avoid ballot-stuffing, the tally of individual votes won’t be divulged during the open voting period, and balloters will be required to complete an authentication process to ensure one vote per email address.

The WSOP, an annual poker games extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular variations running from May 27-July 17, 2010.

A total of 57 coveted gold bracelets will be up for grabs in 2010 – equal to last year’s total.

ABOUT THE WSOP

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world, having awarded more than a billion dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2009, the event attracted 60,875 entrants from 115 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and awarded over $174 million in prize money. The WSOP in December, 2008 was named the 7th most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Sports Survey, trailing only the older and more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties. In addition, the WSOP has experienced groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit our website at WSOP.com.

CardRunners Presents …Truly Free Poker Training

DanM — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:36:14 +0000

My first lesson … watching Cole South talk through a $5/$10 no-limit heads-up game. Here he tells what you’re looking from your opponents to develop reliable reads, and how to size your bets accordingly:

More like this available to you with TrulyFreePokerTraining.com.

McLean Karr takes down WPT Bay 101 title Hellmuth knocked out in 6th

Kevin Mathers — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:31:02 +0000

The final table of the Bay 101 Shooting Stars Classic concluded early Saturday morning as McLean Karr, down to just 10 big blinds with 27 players left when day 3 started, winning $878,500, which includes a $25,000 WPT Championship seat, defeating Andy “BKiCe” Seth in heads-up play. Phil Hellmuth was the first elimination at the final table, when his QQ lost to Seth’s AJ when another ace hit the river, causing Hellmuth to curl up in the fetal position, leading Tony G to blog an open letter to Hellmuth, expressing concern for his mental health after his stunning elimination. Here’s the full results from the final table:

1 McLean Karr $878,500 including $25k WPT seat
2 Andy Seth $521,200
3 Daniel O’Brien $292,800
4 Hasan Habib $234,300
5 Matt Keikoan $175,700
6 Phil Hellmuth $117,000

Here’s an interview tournament director Matt Savage had with McLean and friend Maria Ho after his win:

EPT Berlin Poker Robbery Suspect Released Mistaken identity?

DanM — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:43:05 +0000

From the Associated Press:

A spokeswoman for Berlin police — who did not give her name in keeping with department policy — said the suspect had been set free due to a lack of evidence. The suspect, who was detained late Friday, denied throughout several hours in questioning having taken part in the heist at the Grand Hyatt hotel in the capital.

Hmm. While it briefly seemed like the case might be unravelling for the robbers, maybe not so much … apparently just because a guy robbed one casino in Germany doesn’t mean he committed all casino robberies in Germany.

Suspect Arrested in EPT Berlin Robbery

DanM — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:40:19 +0000

UPDATE UPDATE: The suspect has been released. Apparently German coppers got the wrong guy … or are running a high-level police play where they detain a person and let him go hoping he will lead them to someone else. No word on whether or not they are still looking for a black Mercedes somewhere in Germany.

Police have arrested a man in connection with last weekend’s armed robbery at the Grand Hyatt during EPT Berlin:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35849559/ns/world_news-europe/

Few details on the suspect himself, other than that his arrest has something to do with info police received about a black Mercedes getaway car … and that he may have been a guy convicted and sent to prison for a casino robbery in 2004.

The thugs made off with $331,000 in the daytime heist, pulled off as cameras rolled at the biggest poker tournament in German history.

Supposedly, we’re also hearing, the robbers left behind a lot of clues, and more arrests are likely to follow. Police don’t think it was an inside job, but are looking into whether or not there was an accomplice who entered one of the events.

UPDATE: A little more news from Germany … the heist took place while guards were on break and the money was being prepared for transfer to the casino’s main cage. Also, from TheLocal.de:

The arrested man was thought to have taken part in another high-profile robbery in 2004. That January four armed masked men stormed the casino at the top of the Park Inn on Alexanderplatz in central Berlin. They were later arrested and convicted, receiving jail terms of between two and four years.

Nevada Gambling Control Board considers setting guidelines between casinos and .net sites

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:25:37 +0000

An article by Howard Stutz at the Las Vegas Review-Journal states that the Nevada Gambling Control Board is considering establishing a set of guidelines between casinos and the .net section of online poker sites, which could lead to widespread changes into how poker tournaments are run in Nevada. In 2007, Harrah’s established a series of rules that prevented online poker sites that took US customers from registering their satellite winners directly into the World Series of Poker. Those sites were also prohibited from having their players promote .com sites, while they were allowed to promote their “poker school”, with a .net suffix.

When these guidelines will be finalized is unknown, they could have a huge effect on the World Series of Poker, North American Poker Tour, and televised poker programming such as Face the Ace and Poker After Dark if .net sites were also not allowed.

Phil Hellmuth makes WPT Bay 101 Final Table Ultimate Bet Cancels 2010 Aruba Classic

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:15:17 +0000

After having what he admitted was his worst year in poker last year, Phil Hellmuth decided some changes were in order. In his blog from February, Hellmuth hired mindset coach Sam Chauhan and had a battery of tests among other changes to get his poker game back to the when he was considered by more than himself as the best player in the world. It appears to be paying off this week, as Hellmuth has made the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event Friday afternoon. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated when play resumes around 4pm PT (results come from the Hendon Mob Database):

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 455,000
Seat 2: Phil Hellmuth – 1,433,000
Seat 3: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 2,164,000
Seat 4: Matt Keikoan – 371,000
Seat 5: Mclean Karr – 1,112,000
Seat 6: Dan O’Brien – 1,129,000

Other big names who missed the final table: Scotty Nguyen (8th), “Miami John” Cernuto (11th), Nick Schulman (13th), Chau Giang (14th), and current WPT Player of the Year leader Faraz Jaka (18th). Live updates will be available from BJ Nemeth and the other good people over at the WorldPokerTour.com site.

In other news related to Hellmuth, Ultimate Bet has decided to cancel the 2010 Aruba Classic as they decided to expand their offerings online, including having a second Ultimate Bet Online Championship series each year.

Poker2Nite S2 Episode 2

Kevin Mathers — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:21:34 +0000

Here’s this week’s Poker 2 Nite episode on Versus, featuring interviews with Annie Duke and Olympic snowboarder Hannah Teter.

The Art of Moderation 2+2+Mathers

DanM — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:25:21 +0000

None other than KevMath stepped into a new dimension across the pond last week, appearing on The Poker Show with Jesse May. Our favorite 2+2 moderator — and arguably the second or third most mysterious man in poker — shares his refreshingly sober analytics from what May calls “the best AND worst journalism about poker”. Check it out … there’s a lot to be learned from the guy charged with shepherding ducks on NVG (and cleaning up their mess).

They also get into the personalities at the NBC Heads-Up Championship for a bit, and talk about the peculiar appeal of Luke Schwartz — what’s behind FullFlush’s rising star in the UK, and why is he more than just a 2+2 blowhard?

Really good stuff from a new (to audio) voice serving a necessary role in the poker world. He clearly does it all for the glamour:

KevMath on The Poker Show

Yet another EPT Berlin update

Kevin Mathers — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:46:42 +0000

The eventful EPT Berlin Main Event final table came to a conclusion Sunday afternoon, and it would be American Kevin MacPhee taking down the first prize of 1 million Euros, defeating Ilari Tahkakollio heads-up. MacPhee also had the chance to do this brief interview Monday about his weekend:

An interesting footnote to the excitement from Saturday was a decision Tahkakollio made when play eventually resumed. With 21 players remaining, he was involved in a hand with Luca Canielli, who was all-in for his last 600,000 with As-Qd, against Tahkakollio’s Ad-10h, with the board showing 3c-Kc-8s-4c. At that moment, the armed robbery took place, scattering players and chips leaving this for the players to return to about four hours later (picture from pokerolymp.de):

As the players and tournament staff came back to their seats, and exact chip counts impossible to determine, tournament director met with the remaining players in the main event. It was decided that the players would go by the honor system to determine each player’s chip stack.

Next was to decide how to handle the Tahkakollio-Canielli hand. Since it was impossible to know if the deck had been tampered with amongst the confusion, Kremser ruled that the hand be ruled dead. However, Cainelli was unhappy with this decision as he was in need of doubling up. Kremser then ruled that the deck could be reshuffled so the river could be dealt, but would also need the approval of Tahkakollio, who could have decided to have the hand ruled dead and the two get their chips back. After thinking for several minutes, Tahkakollio decided to allow the river to be dealt, and when the 5h came on the river, Cainelli received his double up, while Tahkakollio had lost about a third of his chips. Tahkakollio recovered from that setback to make the final table third in chips, and after a tense back and forth battle with MacPhee when play got to heads-up, eventually collecting 600,000 Euros for finishing 2nd.

The original reporting of the hand was done by the PokerStarsblog.com team.

Watch Episode 3 of High Stakes Poker

Kevin Mathers — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:20:07 +0000

Was going to post this over the weekend, but stuff happened in Berlin to delay things a bit. One of these days, GSN will get its act together and put the current season of High Stakes Poker on Youtube AND decide to put it up earlier in the week than Friday.

Top 10 Toughest Tournaments in the World? According to Daniel Negreanu

DanM — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:58:35 +0000

Daniel Negreanu has an interesting new post up where he breaks down what he believes to be the 10 Toughest Tournaments in the World.

Spoiler alert:

10. WPT LA Poker Classic (Los Angeles)
9. PCA (Bahamas)
8. WSOP Heads-up Championship (Las Vegas)
7. EPT Grand Final (Monte Carlo)
6. WSOP Main Event (Las Vegas)
5. WPT Championship (Las Vegas)
4. NAPT Bounty Shootouts (??)
3. WSOP-Europe Main Event (London)
2. WSOP $25k Six-handed Event (Las Vegas)
1. $50k WSOP Players Championship (Las Vegas)

Click here for Negreanu’s explanations of what makes each of these events special.

Numbers 4 and 2 are the only ones that seem possibly questionable to me. The Bounty Shootouts, indeed, are likely to become great. But it’s not even clear yet where the real championship will take place. (The upcoming version at Mohegan Sun will be the first open one of these.) Likewise for the WSOP’s new $25k six-handed event. High-roller and fast no-limit hold’em action, sure … but again, can you really put something at #2 when it hasn’t even happened yet? I’d rather see an Ironman tourney on that list … even though they aren’t big, yet, I think all who have battled in them can attest they are tough.

UPDATE: Anyone else finds Daniel’s omission of the NBC Heads-Up curious? I wouldn’t think much about it had he not included WSOP Heads-up as #8. Now I gotta wonder if his list woulda been different had he been in the final four this weekend / Annie Duke not won.

Annie Duke wins 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Title

Kevin Mathers — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:07:13 +0000

The Poker Beat has needed a new commercial, and Annie Duke’s win in this year’s NBC National Heads-Up Championship at Caesars’ Palace may just do the trick. First a brief run down of today’s matches:

Clubs/Spades Bracket:
Erik Seidel beat Peter Eastgate
Scotty Nguyen beat Jason Mercier

Hearts/Diamonds Bracket:
Dennis Phillips beat Doyle Brunson
Annie Duke beat Jerry Yang

Semifinals:
Erik Seidel beat Scotty Nguyen
Annike Duke beat Dennis Phillips

The finals commenced with Duke (1-5 lifetime before this year’s event) taking on Seidel (0-5 lifetime at the NBCHU) in the best of three final. Duke won the first match, Seidel would tie it up in the second and held the lead in the deciding match, and had Duke all-in while holding the best hand, but his AdKd was no good for Duke’s Qd9d when she made two pair to take the lead. Duke eventually sealed the deal when her pocket nines turned a straight against Seidel’s A-2. Seidel was left with two outs to a chop, but the river was a blank, with the second place winnings of $250,000. Duke picks up $500,000 for the win, her first major win since her 2004 victory in the WSOP Tournament of Champions.

More on the EPT Berlin Robbery

DanM — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:46:20 +0000

Kevin interrupting this post to include some breaking news

PokerStars has just released a statement with an update on Saturday’s robbery at EPT Berlin along with clearing up various rumors:

“Yesterday at approximately 2.15pm, an armed robbery took place at the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. Four armed men were involved in the robbery which targeted the tournament registration desk outside the tournament area.

No shots were fired and the suspects quickly fled after a security guard intervened. The police investigation so far has shown that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used. The suspects did not enter the tournament area and the money taken was substantially less than what has been reported.

The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.

The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them.”

Micon over at DonkDown had a Skype-chat with an eye-witness — brings up some more details from the robbery itself about how the action played out at the Hyatt and the cash situation on hand.

JUST HAD THIS CHAT W/ONE OF THE REPORTERS THAT WAS @ EPT BERLIN

[4:30:46 PM] Bryan Micon: did u see this shit?
[4:31:00 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS:Yeah. I was down the hallway when that happened. When the dude in black runs to the right off screen he runs towards us and we ran the other way.
[4:31:06 PM] Bryan Micon: what is the word? inside job?
[4:31:11 PM] Bryan Micon: did they make off w/the $?
[4:31:31 PM] Bryan Micon: also will u be on radio on Wed?
[4:32:00 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Just rumors right now. But we heard one of the staff members actually knew who it was or at least recognized them because she said they were players.
[4:32:13 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Wearing the same clothes they wore when they played in some events.
[4:32:39 PM] Bryan Micon: wowsers
[4:32:45 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: And we’ve heard anywhere from $0 to $700k stolen.
[4:34:30 PM] Bryan Micon: check this vid
[4:34:54 PM] Bryan Micon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu2e7yiX … r_embedded
[4:35:11 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Haha, yeah, saw it.
[4:35:18 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Lived it, hha.
[4:35:52 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Here’s what happened in the video.
[4:36:13 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Right at the beginning you see Noah Boeken walk back into the tournament ballroom through the door.
[4:36:25 PM] Bryan Micon: y
[4:37:26 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: It’s because there was some commotion outside and he ran out to see if there ws a fight as did a lot of people. Turns out, nothing was going on when they went outside so they started coming back in, hence his smile and laughter.
[4:37:49 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: But the guy with the camera kept going and stayed in the doorway.
[4:38:00 PM] Bryan Micon: then all hell broke loose
[4:38:19 PM] Bryan Micon: dude is THROWING THE BOOK AT HIM
[4:38:23 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: While the security guard fought two of the guys. The one in red had a gun and the other guy had a machete.
[4:38:34 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: The guy in black had the machete, you can see it in the video.
[4:38:51 PM] OTHER GUY IN CHAT: lol machetements
[4:39:01 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: About 20 secs into the video you see the guy in black take off to the right and go down the hallway.
[4:39:06 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: That’s where we were.
[4:39:25 PM] Bryan Micon: omg
[4:39:33 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: I was walking back to the media room which is down that long hallway when there was some yelling behind me and some guys running towards me.
[4:40:07 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: They were yelling in German so we didn’t really understand them, but it sounded like they were saying “rough, rough!” So I thought a “rough” was a fight.
[4:40:22 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: So we turned back and started walking back to see the fight and possibly report on it or whatever.
[4:40:50 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: We got about halfway down the hallway when the guy came running down it towards us as you see him in the video when he darts to the right off screen.
[4:41:27 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: I saw what I thought was a big knife and a guy in a mask and yelled oh my god and just turned and booked it back to the media room.
[4:41:45 PM] Bryan Micon: jesus
[4:41:54 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: We all got in, like the four or five of us that ran back and there was about 20 others already in the room.
[4:42:01 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: We shut the doors and barricaded it with some chairs.
[4:42:17 PM] Bryan Micon: :good decision
[4:42:52 PM] Bryan Micon: 1 of the vids shows chips everywhere on 1 tbl
[4:43:06 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Meanwhile, Noah was in the tournament room hiding behind these wooden window shade things.
[4:43:14 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: As were a lot of people.
[4:43:55 PM] Bryan Micon: and the dude that was tackled?
[4:44:04 PM] Bryan Micon: him and the others all got awaay?
[4:44:15 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Well, you see him get tackled and the guard holds him.
[4:44:21 PM] Bryan Micon: y
[4:44:23 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: And the gun is on the ground right next to him.
[4:44:37 PM] Bryan Micon: then homeboy comes in video game style
[4:44:53 PM] Bryan Micon: the guard is throwing something at red guy
[4:45:18 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Then the guy with the machete comes running back at him and a third guy grabs one of the rope poles like a bat and goes after the guard as well to free his friend.
[4:45:26 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: So the guard let him go and they took off.
[4:45:41 PM] Bryan Micon: they got out?
[4:45:44 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Yeah.
[4:45:48 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Haven’t been caught.
[4:45:55 PM] Bryan Micon: damn
[4:45:59 PM] Bryan Micon: and they got
$?
[4:46:19 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Supposedly some but no one knows for sure.
[4:47:04 PM] Bryan Micon: then they restarted the event after this shit?
[4:47:12 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Sam Chartier recalled Johannes Strassmann bursting through the doors back into the room leap frogging chairs and tables and yelling in German. Although Chartier said he couldn’t understand what Strassmann was saying because of the language barrier, he noticed that everyone who did understand him was panicking. Tables were flipped so people could hunker behind them while chips flew all over the floor.
[4:47:34 PM] Bryan Micon: wowsers
[4:47:37 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Yeah, I mean given the circumstances I think the tournment staff handled is as best they could.
[4:47:43 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Even better than everyone expected,
[4:47:53 PM] Bryan Micon: like, put the table right side up
[4:47:57 PM] Bryan Micon: everyone how much chips did u have?
[4:48:13 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Well, the Main Event tables didn’t get flipped.
[4:48:20 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: The chip stacks just got knocked over on those.
[4:48:44 PM] Bryan Micon: lolz how do u make a ruling on that!?
[4:49:00 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: So the players, TDs, and dealers all worked together to figure out how many each person had and they made sure everyone voted on each chip stack basically and agreed on it.
[4:49:12 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: If someone argued, they went over it again,
[4:49:16 PM] Bryan Micon: tough but fair
[4:49:23 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: That took like 45 minutes.
[4:49:36 PM] Bryan Micon: lolz that’s pretty good imo / obv avg chips stack off by 2%
[4:50:14 PM] Bryan Micon: and that place @ the beginning of video where red is (and where German guard throws the book at him) is that the cashier or buy-in area?)
[4:52:05 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Yeah. There was no money kept there until today because today the High Roller event was held. 10k Euro for the buy in and you had to pay cash, you couldn’t buy in with Stars money or anything.
[4:52:12 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: So they just had all that money from those guys there on site.
[4:52:22 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: Obv not thinking this would hppen.
[4:53:01 PM] Bryan Micon: wow
[4:53:24 PM] ANON EYE WITNESS: It was crazy scary.

EPT Berlin, Found in Translation“I fear the belly”

DanM — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:54:55 +0000

As the dust settles from yesterday’s big poker heist at EPT Berlin, I was just thumbing through the Berlin poker robbery links and videos KevMath amassed. My favorite Google translation so far comes from the interview with a German photographer on hand:

14 clock in Berlin’s luxury hotel “Grand Hyatt”: The European Poker elite has the honor. It is the biggest tournament in Germany. Prize money: one million euros! Even Boris Becker was as an advertising face of Pokerstars.de at the table there – until he is rausflogen on Thursday. In addition, author Charlotte Roche ( “Wetlands”). Today I want to photograph the friend of Poker Europe champion Sandra “Black Mamba” Naujoks (28). He had lost a bet, now disguised as a woman sitting at the table. So far, so ordinary.

While so much can get lost in Google translation, sometimes it spits out pure poetry. The robbers haven’t even gotten there yet, and it would be Theater of the Absurd if it weren’t about to become so real.

For a firsthand account via second-hand language filter, the translated version of Benjo’s blog also becomes must-read, obv:

And that’s exactly what it is: a story that I tell surely in abundance in my back, emphasizing the amusing details. But on the stroke during the two minutes that lasted the confusion, I fear the belly.

EPT Berlin Final Table

Kevin Mathers — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:04:42 +0000

Here’s the final table of EPT Berlin, with the standard EPT Live streaming at www.eptlive.com scheduled to start at 6am ET:

Seat 1: Marko Neumann – 2,185,000
Seat 2: Marc Inizan – 3,655,000
Seat 3: Kevin MacPhee – 6,070,000
Seat 4: Artur Wasek -3,530,000
Seat 5: Marcel Koller – 3,590,000
Seat 6: Nico Behling – 960,000
Seat 7: Ketul Nathwani – 4,685,000
Seat 8: Ilari Tahkokallio – 3,940,000

How they got to that final table on Saturday took an approximate 5-hour detour when a group of masked robbers stormed the Grand Hyatt Hotel around 2:30pm local time. You can check out my previous two posts from Saturday for some clips here and here.

Various mainstream media reports have said that up to 1 million Euros have been stolen, or as some called it, a “jackpot“. While the EPT Berlin event did boast a 1 million Euro first prize, it’s expected that the amount the robbers were able to pocket is expected to be far less than that.

While there have been numerous eyewitness accounts, most of them are German, which can make some interesting translations for those looking for something in English. Here’s a few foreign reports (translated through Google Translate):

Bild newspaper photographer

Report on what happened in the cashier area

BZ-Berlin article, showing pictures of two of the thieves

Here’s a couple of interviews (in English), first from the cameraman who filmed the robbery in progress:

The other from another eyewitness:

NHUPC Round of 16

DanM — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:13:19 +0000

They’re in the money at the National Heads-Up Championship. Everyone’s brackets have turned to shit — I’ll update that situation as soon as I put this post up here — and Jerry Yang’s crew is apparently rolling old-school Hevad Khan, getting all up in Jennifer Harman’s grill. (Jennifer of all people!)

Everyone left guaranteed at least $25k in pursuit of the $500k first prize.

The payout breakdown:

Champion $500,000
Runner-Up $250,000
3rd & 4th Place $125,000
5th – 8th Place $75,000
9th – 16th Place $25,000

Click here for how they got to this point. WSOP Main Event champs representing. ~~Where’s Varkonyi!~~

Coming up:

Chris Moneymaker vs. Erik Seidel
Peter Eastgate vs. Jamie Gold

Scotty Nguyen vs. Gabe Kaplan
Eli Elezra vs. Dennis Phillips

Jerry Yang vs. Barry Greenstein
Doyle Brunson vs. Annette Obrestad

Phil Laak vs. Jason Mercier
Annie Duke vs. Paul Wasicka

By my count, that’s six Main Event champs, one Main Event-Europe champs, and one guy who thinks he was main event champ.

Re: EPT Berlin Armed Robbery Attempt

Kevin Mathers — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:24:13 +0000

Here’s some video from this afternoon’s attempted robbery at EPT Berlin:

Here’s a clip of an interview from German TV news:

A translation from 2+2 poster “B4RT3K” from the interview between the reporter and “Roman” the security guard in the video above:

Reporter: “We got one witness with us, Roman, you are from the security Team (Security-Kuhr), you were involved in this conflict, how can u describe what happened there ?”

Roman: “It was really scary, with how much brutality the gangsters were acting, I was just standing there minding my own business and securing the money, happy about the fact that the day was calm and nothing happened, suddenly there is shouting and screaming coming from the hallway and the people (gangsters) rush the cashier floor with huge brutality and even armed… it was really scary.”

Reporter: “You are injured, but you got to get hold of one of the gangsters, you were trying to get the money back from him… were you successful ?”

Roman: “Yeah, thank god, we were successful… we got a huge amount of the money back from the gangsters, one of the employees of the hotel helped me there, but we couldn’t secure the gangster because he got rescued by his friends.”

Reporter: “Which weapons were used ? We saw a machete, there were rumours about grenades, kalashnikovs, guns, pump-guns etc.?”

Roman: “I can only verify the machete and a hand-held gun.”

Reporter: “So you really tried to get hold of the gangsters even though u were unarmed and they were armed with guns?”

Roman: “Yeah, in the first moment I didn’t think of the fact that they will use the guns against me, and I just wanted to stop them from what they were doing in that particular moment.”

Reporter: “Brave.”

UPDATE: Here’s another PokerNews update with audio from a police spokesman:

EPT Berlin halted by armed robbery attempt Six robbers storm hotel, no serious injuries reported, tournament has resumed

Kevin Mathers — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:53:57 +0000

Details are a little sketchy, but apparently at around 2pm CET (8am ET) a group of masked robbers stormed the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin during day 4 of the EPT Berlin Main Event.

Here’s video someone recorded off the live stream as people frantically leave the area:

3:35pm Berlin time update from Pokerstarsblog.com :

“An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.”

UPDATE #2, make that 5pm local time for a possible restart.

UPDATE #3, the 1,000 Euro event that started today was canceled, while the main event finally resumed around 6:00pm local time, but the EPT Live webcast has been canceled. Also, here’s a breaking news article from Pokernews along with a video update:

Page 2 has some pictures during the incident:

2010 NHUPC Bracket Pairings Make Your Picks Here

DanM — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:48:20 +0000

Let the heads-up fun begin. Ali Nejad and Leann Tweeden called out the pairings at Pure in Caesars Palace last night. Here’s a print-outable PDF of the official bracket for the 2010 National Heads-Up Championship, which gets underway today at 1 pm pacific.

Make your own picks via Pokerati’s bracket-tracker to see how our various predictions compare. We’ve got about ~~nine~~ five hours to come up with some sort of contest … a T-shirt is always standard, but I have to admit we’re running low on Pokerati shirts for really-really large men.

Big ups to @JessWelman who kept us posted live on Twitter, and @BarryGreenstein who accidentally sent a private tweet to Phil Ivey for all the public to see. (Gavin Smith plays small-ball; should walk into Ivey’s wheelhouse.)

The matchups are below:

Clubs
Patrik Antonius vs. Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs. Eric Baldwin
David Williams vs. Joe Cada
Erik Seidel vs. Huck Seed
Dan Ramirez (online qualifier) vs. Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Stephen Quinn (online qualifier) vs. Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs. Jamie Gold

Spades
Gavin Smith vs. Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards (Caesars qualifier) vs. Scotty Nguyen
Shawn Rice (Caesars qualifier) vs. Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Negreanu vs. Jason Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs. Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs. Tom Dwan
Phil Laak vs. John Juanda

Hearts
Jesper Hougaard vs. Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs. Greg Mueller
Annette Dworski (online qualifier) vs. Chris Ferguson
Kara Scott vs. Dennis Phillips
Brock Parker vs. Doyle Brunson
JP Kelly vs. Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs. Phil Hellmuth
Annette Obrestad vs. Orel Hershiser

Diamonds
Barry Greenstein vs. Vanessa Rousso
Sam Farha vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs. Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs. Mike Matusow
Darvin Moon vs. Bill Huntress (online qualifier)
Andy Bloch vs. Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs. Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs. Greg Raymer

[via Bluff Magazine]

Las Vegas Overlay Alert First Friday $20k guarantee at Hard Rock

DanM — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:34:40 +0000

Our good pals at the Hard Rock wanna remind you that they have their $20,000 guarantee tourney tomorrow. They probably don’t want me to tell you that they had to add money to the prize pool the last time they ran this tourney to make the guarantee … but that’s good for you. There were about 60 players, and something like 9 got paid. (I got 12th-ish.)

Decent structure, too. 12k chips for $250 ($225+25) … with a $100 rebuy or add-on for 5k chips. (I didn’t take it. My starting table was soft.) Seriously, it’s not a huge tourney, but it’s a good one, with good payout possibilities. Starts at 6 pm. Details here.

And, of course, they’re always happy to spread 1/2 NLH/PLO … and they usually have enough people interested in dipping their toes into 4-card hold’em waters to make it happen. Just ask them to put your name on the list for the Pokerati game and they’ll be sure to accommodate. You can always text “pokerati” to 25287 and you’ll get a text whenever this game is running. I won’t be able to make it this week, but next week I’m back in action, so you probably need some practice.

UPDATE: Tournament didn’t make. Not sure where the fine print may or may not come in for “guarantees”.

LAPT Viña del Mar Event Canceled Due to Chilean Earthquake

DanM — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:12:15 +0000

This seemed obvious once the pictures started coming in that showed us while no Haiti, the destruction caused by the 8th largest earthquake in recorded history made organizing a poker tournament an afterthought:

The official word, via @PokerStarsBlog:

The PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) regrets to announce that the 2010 LAPT Viña del Mar, Chile poker festival has been cancelled. The festival was scheduled to be held at the Enjoy Viña del Mar Casino and Resort from March 19-23, 2010.

All players who have qualified or bought-in to the event will be fully refunded their buy-ins and any out-of-pocket expenses*.

This cancellation follows a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile approximately 175 miles south of Viña del Mar on February 27, 2010. The cancellation of the festival has been forced by the effects of the earthquake and in light of the rescue and recovery efforts now taking place throughout Chile.

Everyone at PokerStars.net and the LAPT offers their thoughts and condolences to all of those affected by this tragic natural disaster.

The LAPT sincerely apologizes for this cancellation to the players that had planned to attend the festival.

*Players should contact lapt@pokerstars.com with any queries

You gotta chalk natural disaster up to a bad beat, but man, the LAPT seems to really be having troubles getting off the ground (even with all the soccer stars they’ve got pimping). I could see LAPT dropping down from a projected #2 spot to a #4 in terms of prestige amongst the PokerStars tours … behind EPT (obv), NAPT, and APPT.

Poker 2 Nite Season Two Debut

Kevin Mathers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:43:48 +0000

Poker 2 Nite has returned for their 2nd season, this time they’re on Versus, as Fox Sports Net had various restrictions on what Scott Huff and Joe Sebok could actually cover on the show, especially with online poker. Joe Stapleton is no longer the head writer, replaced by the people behind Wicked Chops Poker taking over the writing.

Segment one appears below, but stayed tuned for the special Pokerati mention in segment three on page 2:

Pokerati | Texas Hold'em and Las Vegas Poker Blog

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