Ray Henson
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Reece Lewis £80,000 – WPTN London Main Event
Ray Dehkharghani $235,931 – 2013 Wynn Poker Classic
Ray Henson $16,128 – WSOP-C The Lodge Casino Prelim

The week has finally come to an end with a good number of gambling degenerates from the poker world glued to the television watching, betting, cursing the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It’s a fun time of year for those who like to diversify their gambling dollar but not so much for those on Twitter who only endorse messages about things which interest them.

This week saw Ray Henson win his 2nd WSOP-C ring of 2013 at a place called The Lodge in Colorado (not to be confused with the old Pokerati games at The Lodge back during the golden old days). The WSOP-C Main Event is now underway with 3 starting days and a $1,675 buy-in. Also underway is the overly-complicated PartyPoker Premier League VI in London featuring a ton of your favorite players and a super live stream with Kara Scott. The only outcome noticed so far was a bad beat on Daniel Negreanu to send him back to Vegas before the WSOP-APAC.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – You can’t argue with the tongue-in-cheek sentiment. So when/what/where is this Ivey Poker thing going to happen? (h/t @Kevmath)

It seems like IveyPoker and Nevada are in a race to see who can have the largest group of people doing nothing.

— Pokerlolz (@pokerlolz) March 22, 2013

Highway to Hell – An interesting read about old school gambling in Texas along the Jacksboro Highway complete with stories/quotes from Doyle Brunson.

Parx Takes Lead In Monthly Poker Revenue – As an east coast boy I find this pretty shocking. When Pennsylvania began opening casinos and card rooms, everyone shrugged their shoulders saying it would have little impact on the games in AC. I guess they might have been wrong and kudos to Matt Glantz for getting Parx ahead.

Phil Ivey To Captain Team Americas in WSOP Asia-Pacific Caesars Cup – The WSOP Asia Pacific series is just a few weeks away and they’ve announced the captains for the latest effort to make the Caesars Cup something interesting. Phil Ivey (Team Americas), Sam Trickett (Team Europe), and Joe Hachem (Team Asia-Pacific) will now “draft” their teams.

Vertical Rush from PokerStars.com – I’m not exactly sure what I’m watching in this video other than it’s a bunch of people running up 42 floors of some building in London, includes Liv Boeree, and appears to have been recorded using mid-1990’s video technology.

Ari Engel
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Ari Engel $55,503 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Eddie Ochana $44,281 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Matthew Weber $135,475 – Punta Cana Poker Classic

Another week in the books and players are scattered around the globe 5-bet shoving their way to glory. The World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event is underway with an impressive showing while a several hundred players have taken the long flight to Johannesburg, South Africa for their first World Poker Tour event. Players in Hammond have to worry about less than stellar facilities/rulings while those in South Africa are going on safaris and dodging wild animals.

Coin flip if you ask me.

After these festivals are done, players will blast off to populate other tournaments in Florida (WPT), Barcelona (WPTN), Albuquerque (HPT), and Iowa (MSPT) for the next in eternal search of temporary glory.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – So the oldest kid in poker would not kick Howard Lederer out of his game but probably forgets telling his fanboys that he deserved “few swift baseball bat swings to the groin area”.

To answer other questions: if HL sat down in my game I would not run him off. The other players want him in the game for obvious reasons.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 19, 2012

Poker Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2012 – After the public and media rounds of voting, the WSOP announced Eric Drache and Brian “Sailor” Roberts as the latest inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame. Disappointed to not see Scotty Nguyen or Chris Bjorin on the list but these two are worthy. The induction ceremony will once again take place during the Main Event final table circus.

Its problem! PokerStars announces it will not pay Full Tilt Poker affiliates – They still don’t know how to write a damned headline, but an interesting look at some possible snags in the FTP repayment situation. I think it’s pretty close to tin-foil hat time, but still worth the read.

PokerNews Op-Ed: What Happened To Poker? – Donnie Peters penned an Op-Ed lamenting the demise of fun at the poker tables. As someone usually having too much fun at the tables, I generally agree with him. Although if serious money were on the line, I’d likely be up on assault charges when Ted Bort barked in my ear.

Liv Boeree @ WSOPE Cannes 2012 – This video runs a lot longer than most videos but since it involved Liv Boeree, metal, and Liv Boeree playing metal I deem it worthy of your attention. Fast forward to around the 3:30 mark if you just want girl on guitar action.

Liv Boeree playing Fade to Black (Metallica) -… by poker52

Brent Hanks

 
Today’s WSOP Boxscore

Brent Hanks $517,725 – Event #2 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
Leif Force $207,708 – Event #3 $3,000 Heads-Up NLH/PLO
Cory Zeidman $201,559 – Event #4 $1,500 Stud Hi Lo
Nick Jivkov $189,818 – Event #5 $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em

Four open event bracelets have been awarded so far this summer and there have already been some impressive final tables. Fan favorite Brent “Bhanks11” Hanks won his first bracelet at a final table which included Vanessa Selbst, Jacob Bazeley, Andrew Badecker, and JP Kelly. The Stud Hi/Lo tables featured Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Todd Brunson, and Chris Bjorin while the Pot Limit Hold’em had none other than Old Kid Poker Negreanu, Tommy Vedes, and Jon Aguiar.

Just one bracelet to be won today and the $1,500 Stud has the biggest names atop of the leaderboard. David Williams leads followed by Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein. $126,363 for first place and a fancy bracelet. Bloch is trying to get off the confounded “best players to not have won a WSOP event” list.

Aside from the action inside the Rio, it seems like a battle was being fought in the suburbs at the house warming party of Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree, and Maria Ho. Missing this party was one of my regrets in hitting Vegas a week late but I might have saved myself a little pain. At last report, at least 5 people ended up on the injury report including Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and hostess Liv Boeree with a nasty looking ankle injury.

Lesson for the kids, don’t get drunk and try to do backflips.

Did a back somersault on the grass under the tuition of JKoon. Landed on feet. Ankle snapped. Bad ankle. Don’t know what snapped yet.#Tilt

— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) June 2, 2012

Is this good? twitter.com/Liv_Boeree/sta…

— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) June 2, 2012

Link Dump

Tweet o’ the Day – Brought to you by @AllenBari who is not generally known for doing anything other than complaining and bragging. Also for winning a crap ton of money, but mostly the complaining and bragging.

Dealers in the O8 today have been doing a pretty good job.. Everyone needs to be a little nicer, most of them are willing to get better

— Allen Bari (@allenbari) June 1, 2012

Pro-spective with John Monnette – The (top notch and very slick) BLUFF Magazine video team sat down with John Monnette, who explains how a dealer error in the Stud Hi/Lo tournament may have cost him a shot at the bracelet.

Why Female Players Will Break Through at 2012 WSOP – Another WSOP, another article looking at how women will perform. Things are looking great so far with Vanessa Selbst and Xuan Liu making final tables and Annette Obrestad’s deep run in the Mix Max Event.

WSOP 2012: Welcome Back to the Rio – Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant from PokerNews take a walk around the empty Rio Convention Center.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

While the media lay down a carpet of solid adulation for Pius Heinz, the world’s wheels keep on turning. Join me, as we find out what’s been swept under the global news carpet while the world’s latest millionaire was parading about in his jangly new wrist ornament.

PokerStars Outplayed on Landmark Hand #

PokerStars are still top dogs in the world of online poker and, just to rub it in, they decided to celebrate their 70 billionth hand by giving whoever won it lots and lots of cash. Two enterprising players decided to game the system by continuously folding to each other across multiple heads up tables. Their sneaky plan worked to perfection and they joyously scooped up the prize money. Whether you think they were geniuses or cheats depends on your outlook. Youtube polemicist EVhero definitely falls on the angry side of the argument. [Youtube]

Playtech and William Hill Lock Horns #

I reported a few weeks ago on the mass walkouts at William Hill Online’s Israeli offices. At the time it appeared to be a simple labour dispute, but the Financial Times suggests deeper concerns. The online gambling company is co-owned by Playtech and British bookmakers William Hill. Relations between the two firms are frosty at best, with concerns about split loyalties among staff in worldwide offices. [Financial Times]

Bwin.party Profit From Italian Renaissance #

Meanwhile, Bwin and PartyGaming are still enjoying a blissful honeymoon period. Recently released financial reports indicate an increase in revenue of 3% to 201.1 million euros. The company credits increasingly relaxed Italian gaming laws for the rise in profit. Not to mention picking up their fair share of poker refugees in the wake of Full Tilt’s Black Friday debacle. [Reuters]

British Poker Pros Enjoy the Spotlight #

Finally, a quick word from the BBC. Earlier this week, the unimpeachable British bastion dedicated a quiet corner of its news website to UK poker players. Written just before the start of the November Nine, the reporter’s hopes for Sam Holden were sadly premature, but it still represents a rare chance to see poker pros in the media without any appended bleating on the dangers of online gambling. Plus, you can watch Sam and Liv Boeree play heads up for a delicious Wispa bar. [BBC]

I’m off to search London for a Wispa Gold, the confectionery equivalent of a WSOP bracelet. I’ll keep my beady eye peeled for any stray bits of news that are blowing across the pavement, while you keep your gaze fixed firmly on Pokerati. I’ll know if you move.

The 2010 WSOP Europe at the Casino at the Empire in London held their first bracelet event this afternoon, the £2500 + £150 NL Holdem 6-max event. The field had a cap of 204 players, selling out the tournament, however alternates were accepted, eventually creating a field of 244 entrants, with the final 24 making the money. 31 players will return at 2pm London time Wednesday (updates at PokerNews and WSOP.com), playing down to the final 6 players. Andrew Pantling leads the field with 106,100 in chips. Other notables returning: Chris Bjorin (103,800), Chris Moorman (94,200), 2007 WSOPE runner-up John Tabatabai (69,900), Phil Laak (63,600), Jeff Lisandro (55,500), Praz Bansi (49,300), Liv Boeree (27,700) and Andrew Lichtenberger (19,900). Full seat assignments available here.

Time to recap the Saturday afternoon action:

Lindgren and Nguyen highlight 5k 6-max FT

Six players remain at the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table with Jeffrey Papola (2,340,000) leading when play resumed at 9pm. The rest of the final table is made up of Erick Lindgren (1,670,000), Men Nguyen (1,505,000), Orlando Delacruz (1,100,000), Bruno Launais (1,003,000) and Mark Radoja (480,000). Follow the action at PokerNews.

Velador vibrant at PLO/PLH FT

Eight players remain in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Pot-Limit Holdem final table with Jose Luis Velador (985,000) holding the chip lead. Kevin MacPhee (631,000), David Chiu (437,000), Rob Hollink (323,000), and Victor Ramdin (200,000) are the notable names remaining, follow the action at PokerNews.

10k NL HU at Round 4

The $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship is currently at round 4 with players now in the money. Among the round 4 winners: Faraz Jaka, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brian Rast, Kido Pham, Ludovic Lacay and Jason Somerville. One more round is scheduled for 11pm tonight, with the 8 survivors playing to a winner Sunday afternoon. See who else moves on at wsop.com.

Seniors’ sauntering along at day 2

Less than 150 players remain as play continues on day 2 of the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship with Duane Gerleman (210,000) reported as the chip leader. Other notables in the hunt: Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (181,000), Berry Johnston (110,000), Susie Isaacs (60,000) and John Spadavecchia (55,000). Find more info over at wsop.com.

Day 1a of 1k NL underway

A field of 2,485 1,987 started day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with around 550 players remaining, scheduled to play 10 levels or down to about 360 players, whichever comes first. Notables who’ve grown their 3,000-chip stack: Scott Montgomery (25,000), Liv Boeree (24,700), Neil Channing (18,000) and Lee Childs (11,000). More updates and chip counts can be found at PokerNews.

3k HORSE field saddles up

The 5pm tournament today, $3,000 HORSE, drew a field of 478 entrants with the top 48 making the money, with the winner earning $329,840. The early leader is Robert Willamson III with 16,000 in chips, followed by Andre Akkari (13,000), Shaun Deeb (12,500), Matt Savage (11,700) and Scotty Nguyen (10,500). More updates as eight levels of play is scheduled at PokerNews.

Voting for the WSOP Tournament of Champions closes on June 15, and the final seat in the 27-player field will be determined in a nine-person tournament on June 10th. The nine players taking part in the tournament June 10, with the winner playing the $1,000,000 TOC June 27 are:

Tom Dwan
Andy Bloch
Michael Mizrachi
Sorel Mizzi
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Liv Boeree
Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen
Don Cheadle

The tournament will be filmed for the online version of WSOP Academy, with commentary provided by Ali Nejad and Phil Hellmuth. You can also follow the action as it happens on WSOP Academy’s Twitter. More information can be found at WSOP.com.

Recapping the Thursday afternoon action, with one bracelet already decided:

Tieman Takes Down Title

The $5,000 No-Limit Shootout final table with Joshua Tieman eliminating the final four players to take down the coveted WSOP bracelet, along with $441,692. Tieman disposed of veteran British pro Neil Channing in heads-up play, earning $273,153 for Channing. Stuart Rutter ($179,617), Joseph Elpayaa ($125,387), Nicolas Levi ($92,543) and Brent Hanks ($71,998) rounded out the final table results.

2-7 Lowball Final Table

The $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball is down to three players with Raphael Zimmerman the chip leader (865,000), followed by Dan McNamara (675,000) and Peter Gelenscer (612,000). David Chiu ($50,517), Jameson Painter ($34,843). and Leonard Martin ($24,723) were the others at the final table. Follow the action over at PokerNews.

$1,500 NL Day 2

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event is down to under 80 players as the field is now at their one hour dinner break. The chip leader is Jose Gatmaitan at 350,000. Notables with chips: Josh Schlein (196,000), Matt Stout (150,000), Phil Hellmuth (145,000), and Steve Sung (85,000). The field returns to play five one-hour levels or reach the final table, whichever happens first. Follow PokerNews to get all the latest updates.

Taking it to the Pot-Limit

The first tournament to start on Thursday, $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem starting with a field of 650, with under 200 remaining when they return from their 90-minute dinner break to play four more one-hour levels. The final 63 players in the field cash, with the winner earning $197,470. Chad Batista is the current chip leader (52,000), followed by notables Justin Bonomo (32,000), Liv Boeree (26,500), Team Pokerati’s Tom Schneider (22,000) Lex Veldhuis (17,000) and Eric Froehlich (15,000).

World Championship Stud Starts

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship got underway at 5pm this afternoon, with a field of about 148 when registration closed. Yuval Bronshtein has already doubled up his starting stack of 30,000 to take the early lead. He’s followed closely by Daniel Negreanu (51,800), Robert Mizrachi (49,000) and Scotty Nguyen (35,000). For updates and a full list of entrants, check out wsop.com for more information.

If you missed it last week, one of our more astute hirsute co-panelists on The Poker Beat was break-dancing the fine line between news and conspiracy theory in analyzing the changing legal landscape of poker and what it means to the business we all dabble in.

The arrest of Daniel Tzvetkoff had something to do with that.

Also BJ and Gary look at actual numbers in comparing/contrasting the WPT to the EPT. All while assessing whether or not PokerStars is taking over the world. Plus Liv Boeree kicking arse as Huff celebrates the glorious life of Gang Starr.

The Poker Beat
4/22/10

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:60]
UPDATE: New audio file click here

For the third time in seven weeks, a woman has won a major poker tournament. Today, it was UB sponsored pro Liv Boeree the winner of the PokerStars.it EPT San Remo event, officially winning 1,250,000 Euros (about $1.7m US), defeating Jakob Carlsson in heads-up play. Below is a clip of the winning hand:

Meanwhile at the WPT World Championship, Heather Sue Mercer started Day 4 second in chips (1,364,000) with 35 players remaining. The only woman to win a non-ladies WPT event was Van Nguyen’s win at the sorta-open 2008 WPT Invitational. Among other notables remaining when play resumes at noon PT: Shawn Buchanan (1,841,000), Billy Baxter (887,500), Faraz Jaka (856,000), Phil Hellmuth (806,500), David Benyamine (731,000) Carlos Mortensen (586,000) and JJ Liu (495,000). Follow the live updates over at the the World Poker Tour site.

UPDATE: Mercer out in 20th

The two major tournament circuits not named The World Series of Poker are currently running at the same time, with vastly different results. First, the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship at the Bellagio drew a field of only 195 entrants as registration closed after the conclusion of level 8. This continues the downward trend in the field size of most WPT events the past few years. Two years ago, the field in the WPT W.C was 545 players (won by David Chiu) and 338 last year (won by Yevginey Timoshenko). Only 18 spots will be paid, with the winner earning around $1,500,000. WPT Player of the Year leader Faraz Jaka is the current chip leader with 500,000 in chips. Follow the WPT Live updates here.

Meanwhile, the PokerStars.it EPT San Remo event drew a field of 1,240 entrants paying €5,000, just 24 remain when play resumes Tuesday for day 5. The current chip leader is Allan Bække (3,483,000), winner of the most recent EPT event in Austria, looking to be the first to win a second EPT main event. The other recognizable name to the casual poker enthusiast is Liv Boeree (1,337,000) First prize is a cool €1,250,000, and you can watch live streaming coverage of the final two days (volcano permitting) will be available at www.pokerstars.tv starting at 6am ET or you can follow the live updates over at PokerNews.

photo: Alan Barry

Check it out … Rising poker diva Liv Boeree is in the December issue of British Maxim, which just recently went up online. While some in poker may scoff at her mere $200k in lifetime tournament winnings, hey, there’s not an online poker site in sight on this photo shoot, and yet Maxim is still interested enough to show sexually suggestive pictures of her ask about her life on a farm rolling around in mud? That’s pretty cool.

(Big score for her agents at No-Limit Management?)

We also learn she’s a total metal chick. Like she can actually rock out to Pantera on guitar. Dude. Go Liv Boeree … Win stuff!

ALT HED: Liv Boeree has never masturbated a pig.

It’s true. She says so herself. Read it.

Evidently, something happened at this summer’s big PokerStars bash besides Nelly’s performance. (Say what?) Someone shot a video of a dance-off between Daniel Negreanu and Liv Boeree…and a few others who wanted to couldn’t help themselves. As @RealKidPoker tweeted the other day, “PokerStars party, alcohol, and Liv Boeree= embarrassing moments caught on youtube!”

(Advice: Turn the sound down; it’s muffled and contains the Lady Gaga song.)

Though one side is telling us this fight is running into troubles — Nevada Boxing Commission — I wouldn’t be surprised if they have it worked out by July 1. It reminds me a lot of what the topless pools in Las Vegas had to go through before opening … there often was a mad scramble and some delay while they paid for their regulatory rubber stamp got their paperwork in order. (Something we probably all should remember as we plea for online poker regulation — with regulation of “vice” comes a lot of ass pains.)

Anyhow, yes, the staged, sweaty Liv Boeree vs. Melissa Castillo violence is still on … And Layne Flack says he’s been asked to be the guy in the ring keeping everything in the PokerNews/UB reunification LoveFest clean. Says @back2backflack about the potential gig: “Next to being a pimp, [this is] a great job opportunity.”

I kinda like the ridiculousness of it and would certainly stop and watch if I happened to be passing by a contrived Boeree vs. Castillo brawl. And ever since The Real Deal closed, poker seems to have been lacking a little Théâtre de l’Absurde.

Though at the moment I’m a tad gun-shy about reporting things that have no official confirmation yet, I know good info from a good source when I hear it … and since none of the principals from PokerNews (who is sponsoring the event) are within shouting distance, my cell phone battery is near-dead, and Nevada Gaming Commission officials are done til morning … fuggit, I’l run with the notion that this boxing match between pro-ess Liv Boeree and PokerNews vid-chick Melissa Castello may or may not happen.

Competitive boxing, of course, is highly regulated in Nevada — and when you mix a prize into the fight, apparently a whole new set of laws and licensing procedures come into play.

I suppose it’s plausible they could restructure it with just a matter of pride at stake … but we’ll see. Anyone wanna make some online wagers about the outcome?