Tao of Pokerati: December 9, 2010

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The second installment of the Islidur SuperStar Showdown took place yesterday evening on PokerStars. After getting beat by Isaac Haxton in the first match Islidur1 took on Tony G in the 2,500 hand heads-up match. By the time the 9 hour match was concluded Islidur1 came out victorious with a final winning margin of $44,820.

At different points of the match each player held a lead of at least $70,000 before the biggest hands of the match even happened. The largest hand of the match came on one of the PLO tables when both players were sitting with over 60k each. Tony G was the aggressor for the entire hand and was the one who got the players all-in after the river when the board read . Tony G held the lead throughout the hand with his but the river was enough for Islidur1 to steal the $124,300 pot with his .

As the matched closed Tony G went into desperation mode and tried to make a move with but ran into the of Islidur1. After this hand Islidur held a $45,000 lead and that was where the match ended.

Post match comments by Tony G can be found on his blog where has laid down the challenge for Islidur1 to come over to Party Poker.

Who is next in line for the SuperStar Showdown? Some think it will be Phil Galfond while others think that a Islidur/Haxton rematch is possible. PokerStars Pro David Williams hinted in the chat box last night that David “Viffer” Peat has sent in a proposal for a challenge between him and Islidur1 take place live at PCA this month. Keep an eye on the official SuperStar Showdown page for the announcement of the next opponent.

We also talk a little Clonie vs. Full Tilt lawsuit and say our goodbyes to those who left us in 2009.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
1/14/10

The most recent hand came from the final table of the World Cup of Poker VI yesterday, as 2008 November Niner Darus Suharto is the victim of one of the worst slowrolls ever. Note: As this is a team competition, players are allowed to call a time-out in the middle of the hand.

The slowrolling came back to bite the Germans, as they were eventually eliminated by Canada, but it was the team from Taiwan Chinese Taipei who took down the title.

The PCA Main Event had the other controversial hand, as Daniel Negreanu calls the floor and the forums blow up, accusing him of shooting an angle:

But Harrison Gimbel, 19, now a freshman at the University of Alabama, became the youngest PCA champion ever, winning $2.2 million by besting a record field of 1,529 in the $10k main event.

Gimbel-Gamble: I went to the Bahamas and all I got was this lousy PokerStars-dot-net T-shirt.

But Gimbel — now arguably the Doyle Brunson of Generation Z — didn’t come out of nowhere. He began playing poker at age 13 … and hit the Florida poker rooms at 18 (the legal age there) while still a student at a tony Palm Beach prep school. In June of last year, during the 21-and-up World Series, he won the Florida State Championship — a $900 main event that paid $65k. He followed that up during the November Nine, final tabling a PokerStars Sunday Million for $47k, and then the next week taking down a $125 tourney on Stars for $25k.

He won his way into the PCA via a $1,000 live satellite. On Day 1, he got it all-in pre-flop with 4-6 offsuit to crack Barry Greenstein’s Aces.

* He plays online as Gibler321.
* He’s been a member of Daniel Negreanu’s Full Contact Poker community since 2006.
* The NAPT-PCA champ will be too young to compete in the NAPT-Venetian event.

Barry Shulman, the only actual grandpa at the final table, btw, finished 3rd, booking his second million-dollar tournament win in the past four months.

CORRECTION: Turns out Gimbel dropped out of Alabama three weeks into school. Way to go, kiddo! You have chosen the right career path, as nowhere but in poker is dropping out of school more celebrated.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Nemeth, Michalski
1/07/10

BTW, a little breaking-ish news on this episode — and perhaps an indication of the perceived threat of the NAPT-Venetian, which just so happens to coincide with the LAPC, the usual early-year destination for the LA-LV poker masses … anyone who buys into the $10k WPT-LAPC main event at the Commerce before February 19 now will receive a seat in the televised $200k WPT Invitational. Neato!

Anyhow, for a glimpse at how this non-European-EPT-event-turned-flagship-tourney of the new NAPT is catching on worldwide … here’s the breakdown of nationalities for the main event field (which currently has 405 of 1529 remaining):

Country Players
USA 739
Canada 164
Germany 100
Netherlands 60
UK 56
France 44
Brazil 37
Spain 27
Sweden 27
Argentina 21
Italy 21
Norway 18
Russia 17
Denmark 17
Hungary 15
Belgium 12
Finland 11
Mexico 9
Portugal 9
Romania 9
Australia 8
Austria 8
Switzerland 8
Ireland 6
Poland 5
Slovakia 5
Costa Rica 4
Estonia 4
Greece 4
New Zealand 4
Panama 4
Peru 4
Uruguay 4
Venezuela 4
Czech Republic 3
Israel 3
Lebanon 3
Bulgaria 2
Iceland 2
Malta 1
Ukraine 2
Virgin Islands (U.S.) 2
Belarus 1
Belize 1
Bermuda 1
Chile 1
Croatia 1
Egypt 1
India 1
Korea 1
Latvia 1
Lithuania 3
Monaco 2
Puerto Rico 2
Slovenia 2
Turkey 1
Turks and Caicos Islands 1
unknown 6
1529

Follow the on-table action at PokerStarsBlog, and the off-table adventures at Tao of Poker and LV-OTR. Or just listen to Pauly’s report for a conchilicious taste of all the pokery gayness goodness going down right now in the Bermuda Triangle as the ever-French Benjo threatens to disappear sans a contract for podcast big-bucks:

Book 8: The Islanders
Episode 8.1: International Hotspot 3:25

Isn’t this the network that has declined to renew High Stakes Poker and the World Poker Tour? Hypocrital is the word that immediately comes to mind. Watch our great poker shows on Father’s Day, and watch the current season of the WPT on our network, but when it’s over, good luck with that poker fad.

I guess GSN has to get the viewers before all of us downgrade our cable packages after the WPT season is over. I know I’ll save about $20 a month by getting rid of that tier of channels, and though I do love me some nostalgic episodes of Match Game, I’ll gladly say goodbye to GSN for their refusal to consider their loyal poker viewers or give an honest answer about why they’re dropping poker from their line-up.

They’ve been dating for awhile, and Chad proposed to Vanessa at Christmas. They made the engagement announcement for the first time yesterday on PokerRoad Radio during the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

Do I hear an “Awww” somewhere in Pokerati land?

Congratulations to Vanessa and Chad!

• January 5, Bahamas: Where better for a tournament than a place called Paradise Island? The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) starts and ends with the main event, the final table of which will take place on the 10th. This is an 18-and-over tournament, so look out for the kiddies young, skilled online pros to turn out in force. Otis will be blogging from the event.

• January 5, Australia: A quick 14-hour flight or so away will be the Aussie Millions Poker Championship in Melbourne. This is a series that starts on the 5th with a $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, continues with a wide range of games and buy-ins (including the $100,000 no-limit event), and wraps up with the main event that begins on the 14th and runs for seven days. A plethora of reporters, including Dr. Pauly and Change100, will be covering it all for PokerNews.

• January 3, Tunica: The World Poker Open has already begun with its preliminary events at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. By the 20th, the main event will be underway and hosted by the World Poker Tour. Aaron Hendrix is there and will be providing daily coverage of all of the events for PokerWorks, and the WPT will be live blogging for the main event with BJ Nemeth at the helm.

• January 15, Atlantic City: The Borgata Winter Poker Open starts its preliminary events on the 15th, and the WPT main event (Borgata Poker Classic) begins on the 27th with a final table on the 31st. It doesn’t seem that any media outlet is covering the prelim events, but surely PokerListings will be there for the main event along with the WPT live bloggers.