Posts Tagged ‘Maria Ho’

Instapoker

by , Jan 8, 2013 | 4:00 pm

Photo: PokerStarsBlog.com

Scott Seiver
Photo: PokerStarsBlog.com


Today’s Boxscore

Scott Seiver $2,003,480 – 2013 PCA Super High Roller
Peter Jetten $52,380 – 2013 PCA Open-Face Chinese
Mike Telker $96,750 – 2013 $5,000 Turbo 8-handed
Simon Deadman €67,500 – WPT National Dublin


The poker tournament circuit is back underway with the launch of the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and a lot of noise coming from the Bahamas already. Big money, first run tournaments, and a few tweets about the silly amount of money it costs to stay at the Atlantis.

PokerStars changed their PCA schedule a few years ago, to the better, by putting the Main Event near the beginning of the festival. This leaves plenty of side events for those who bust out of the Main and still want to hang around the Bahamas instead of heading somewhere much colder. Scott Seiver was the big winner right out of the gate when he defeated the understandably talented Super High Roller final table which included David “Doc” Sands, Nick Schulman, and Philipp Gruissem. A nice payday for Seiver as he added a mere $2,000,000 to his bankroll.

The PCA also introduced the first Open-Face Chinese Poker tournament ever. This game is the latest big buzz among the young, high-rolling, twitter-happy professionals and PokerStars decided to feature the game with a unique tournament (check the link for some of the rules). They drew an impressive 59 players with 18 reentries and Peter Jetten can now call himself the first ever Open-Face Chinese Poker champion.


# Everything you always wanted to know about online gambling but were afraid to ask! #


Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Dane Cook played this off later as a joke. The only problem with Dane Cook, it’s impossible to tell the difference between when he’s being serious and when he’s joking. I’m sure online poker players responded with their well known restraint.

Kindt: Internet Gambling Will Cripple World’s Economic, Financial Systems – Well here’s an op.ed piece that doesn’t beat around the bush at all. Online gambling would cripple (cripple I tell you!) the economy of the entire world. I don’t suppose he could be overstating his case in the least.

Broken: The Erick Lindgren Story – The Lindgren saga has been playing out over the last year and Lance Bradley at Bluff was able to get a sitdown with the man as he sits in rehab for his gambling addiction. Interesting that it’s only recognized as an addiction after defaulting on a boat load of bets. The article is worth the read if you haven’t already.

There’s little TLC for ‘Sin City Rules’ – There was a little buzz around the poker world when it Jennifer Harman announced she would be involved in a “reality” show on TLC. That buzz died quickly once people realized the show was unwatchable and now it looks to be buried in the Nevada desert. A show that bad deserved a heavy handed Las Vegas cliche.

Zynga’s Online Gambling Ambitions Bolstered by its Patent Portfolio – You have to give them credit, Zynga hasn’t given up on their ambition to enter the online gambling market in force.

PCA 2013: Maria Ho Comes to Bahamas After Party in Vegas – Maria Ho, Kristy Arnett, the Bahamas, and talk of parties in Las Vegas.


Instapoker

by , Dec 10, 2012 | 9:00 am

Ravi Raghavan
Photo: World Poker Tour


Today’s Boxscore

Ravi Raghavan $1,268,571 – WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Marcin Wydrowski €325,000 – WPT Prague Main Event
Paul Berende €119,974 – PokerStars Hold’em Challenge
Dan Murariu €110,000 – Unibet Open St Maarten


The World Poker Tour and all those who call the shots must have been really happy as the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic field played down to its final table and saw the names remaining. Just missing out on the TV table were Jon Aguiar, Jason Somerville, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Freddy Deeb, Greg Mueller, Andrew Robl, and Scott Clements. They all crashed out on the final two tables but Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Shawn Buchanan will once again see themselves on the small screen.

Ravi Raghavan, recently of the Borgata Fall Open Main Event final table, was the last player standing as he knocked out Buchanan in 2nd place to increase his bankroll by nearly $1.3 million. Thanks to some structure tweaking and reasonable PR by the Bellagio staff, there was far less complaining about this year’s Five Diamond event as last year. Baby steps.

Link Dump

Maria Ho Joins Heartland Poker Tour Broadcast Team for Season 9 – Good move by HPT because everybody loves Maria Ho. Those poor fanboy souls hiding in Iowa and Minnesota are going to lose their minds when she shows up in the their local poker room.

‘Isildur1’ Bests Dwan in $400k HU Match – Full Tilt Poker is back which means we now have the platform to witness huge HU matches between the biggest names in poker. This weekend it was Viktor Blom slicing off a piece of Tom Dwan.

Casino operators gearing up for online poker – Things are starting to move right along with online poker in Nevada. I’m still skeptical about how successful it will be but it’s better than moving backwards.

Women Business Execs Learn When to Hold and Fold ‘Em – Presented without comment, because I have no idea what to think about this article on ABCNews. I think I will wait until Amy Calistri straightens me out.

The Micros: The Lost Episode – They’re back! At least for one episode but tell me you didn’t miss the opening tune. Seems this episode has been steeping for awhile during the PokerStars/Full Tilt negotiations but it’s now ready for your viewing pleasure.


Instapoker

by , Sep 4, 2012 | 3:00 pm

Manlio Iemina
Photo: PokerStarsBlog.com


Today’s Boxscore

Stanley Choi $6,465,560 – Macau High Stakes Challenge
Samad Razavi AUD$326,125 – APPT Melbourne Main Event
Manlio Iemina $161,234 – IPT Campione


It seems Macau might not be on the death watch just quite yet, at least as far as big ticket poker tournaments. An impressive 73 players put up HK$2,000,000 (US$260,000) to play in the Macau High Stakes Challenge at the StarWorld Hotel & Casino. 21 of those players event decided to take advantage of the re-entry option after busting out.

The field was full of rockstars like Erik Seidel, Joe Hachem, Tom Dwan, and Gus Hansen with a final table featuring Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Sam Trickett. From all reports, the structure for this huge buy-in event played out much like a micro-grinding tournament. Plenty of action and it didn’t take long to find a winner. Not much is published about the victor, Stanley Choi, but we do know he picked up HK$50,149,000 (US$6,465,746) and has his first entry in The Hendon Mob database.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Is Matt Glantz skirting the policies of PokerStars and the ol’ United States of America by sneaking in the WCOOP via internet trickery? According to my double-blind, super-secret contacts within the Stars world, this was just a badly played Twitter joke. Perhaps the poker world should convene a Standards & Conduct Meeting to investigate.


Judge rules that poker is a game of skill. Poker pro says: Duh – Another article about the recent ruling about poker as a game of skill, this time it’s a fine op/ed piece in the Washington Post by Matt Matros. One of the smartest guys in the game.

Viktor Blom: The Man, The Myth, The Legend – It’s rare that you will see one top player write/comment in depth about another top player, but that’s exactly what Phil Galfond did on his site when talking about the mythical “Isildur1”.

Filing As a Professional Poker Player/Gambler – If you want some top tips for filling your taxes, why not get the information from a poker playing tax attorney. That’s exactly what Jamie Kerstetter supplied for the folks at CardsChat.

MICHAEL PHELPS CRUSHES Vegas Wins $100K in Poker – There’s nothing I love more than senseless capitalization or crazy punctuation, this article comes from Mensa minds of TMZ. But it’s Michael Phelps, poker, and Las Vegas so worth noting.

WinStar River Poker Series: Oklahoma Pop Quiz – Maria Ho, enough said.


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Generic Poker Gossip Column

by , Sep 15, 2011 | 6:50 am

Click to enlarge: Melanie Iglesias has her panties in a wad over something related to her break-up with the WPT.

lacey jones lingerie

Undercleavage: This stylish lingerie not available at K-mart offers a new way to look at Lacey Jones’ right boob.

jim rice survivor medical marijuana poker

Pot-committed: Survivorist Jim Rice found a more legal way to earn a living than online poker by selling weed.

Tenacious P: Jack Black is still kinda sorta into poker.

kobe bryant champagne

Baller beware: No TV show ever came of an idea about bar-bill wars between Kobe Bryant and Antonio Esfandiari.

A little poker gossip because sometimes in serious times we like the petty …

Melanie Iglesias vs. WPT (and QuadJacks?)
The guys at Quadjacks have called it “Flushgate” — and reportedly have received quite a bit of wrath from non-poker types over “the abrupt resignation of three Royal Flush girls” — 2010 Maxim Hometown Hottie winner and now MTV personality Melanie Iglesias, Michelle Banzer, and brand spankin’ new RF girl Mica Javier, who had only been on the job for a few weeks. The purging all went down last month right around the time of press announcements for the World Poker Tour’s new Season X … ooh, juicy! You could almost be certain somebody was gonna cry, if not more formally cry foul.

Catpacking in AC
We can only imagine how cut-throat that world can be — where looks absolutely are tied in with your success. Call us old-school here at Pokerati, Melanie is great and all, but she’s still no Lacey Jones, who recently did a lingerie photoshoot with power-model Katerina Van Derham. Meanwhile, here’s a new video featuring Lacey and Maria Ho helping Christina Lindley pick out a dress for her birthday party at the Borgata in Atlantic City this weekend … and New Jersey celeb-hunter Michael Berman interviews this threesome, being dubbed “the Cat Pack” here for the kickoff of WPT Borgata, where there may or may not be openings for three new Royal Flush Girls.

Auction Player?
Speaking of old school, Phil Hellmuth appeared last week on the A&E show Storage Wars — advising a group about strategy in their game of swag auctions, which apparently involves a combination of luck and skill. Not too familiar with that show … when do we get to hear someone say to Phil, “Going, going, gone!?”

Dealer’s Choice: From Poker to Pot
A relatively unknown poker player named Jim Rice is representing poker (whether he likes it or not) and pot on Survivor 23: South Pacific. Supposedly a pal (and business partner?) of Paul Wasicka’s, the 35-year-old from Chicago is now a medical marijuana dispenser in Colorado (woot!). His most recent cashes include a 3rd and a 23rd on the Heartland Poker Tour, this year and in 2008, respectively. And now with online poker more illegal than selling weed (in some US jurisdictions) … makes you wonder if certain poker pros would rather be Jim Rice or Jean-Robert Bellande.

Jack Black Rising or Falling Poker Celebrity?
There’s always new Hollywood celebrities getting in on poker — and hosting a charity tourney is often their first foray into niche hero-status and/or business opportunity around their personal poker addictions. Could Jack Black be the latest? The last-place finisher in the WPT’s 2009 Hollywood home game is hosting a charity tourney next month at the Commerce Casino in California, but otherwise still has much to prove before he becomes the next James Woods, whom you may recall back in 2004-05 kicked off his effort to become the Adam West of Poker.

Vegas Living: Closing Down Blush
The luxe but laid-back “boutique” nightclub Blush, at the Wynn, is closing after a four-year run. Ahhh … I remember this “ultra lounge” as the site of multiple VIP poker parties and the place where upon moving to Vegas I met a guy who explained to me the process of importing women to the US for a life of hooker-dom before having to excuse himself to go sell coke. But perhaps more famously, Blush is the place where Antonio Esfandiari “lost” a game of who’s got bigger ballers to Kobe Bryant — with the NBA star supposedly racking up a $21,000 champagne bill that had celebrity and sports media mocking some poker player being called “the magician” … even though he somehow got Kobe to pay for the last 15 bottles of Cristal.

Meanwhile, @KobeBryant’s Twitter account got suspended last week, and @MagicAntonio’s, who had a surprisingly similar number of followers, did not.


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Meet the First Free Poker Pros

by , Jun 17, 2011 | 6:42 pm

We were kinda just kidding when we suggested this might be the Year of Free/Subscription Poker. I mean we knew we were gonna see some moves into WSOP poker space by various free American-friendly play money sites … but how that would translate at the 2011 World Series (and beyond) wasn’t so clear. It still isn’t. But Rise, makers of those douchebag-free poker clothes and now an online poker site … is showing that they will indeed be a force in the free poker future … whatever that might mean.

Maria Ho Scotty Nguyen Jean-Robert Bellande Rise Poker Team WSOP

Move over Full Tilt Poker dot net. Scotty Nguyen sends the whole table a virtual Corona!

Personally, I don’t think they coulda picked better pros — Scotty Nguyen, Maria Ho, Jean Robert Bellande, and Dani Stern, aka Ansky (not pictured) — even better than a Team of Brunson, Hellmuth, and Negreanu, imho. If you don’t see why these pictured three +Ansky should do incredibly well @RisePoker … well, I could tell you, but, well … let’s say it goes beyond just “Asian”.

More…


Crossing the Line

by , Jun 12, 2011 | 6:12 pm

Jon Katkin


OP-ED

Spend enough time around the professional poker circuit and you’ll quickly realize that it’s a very small and incestuous group. Players and media members spend hours, days and sometimes weeks together in casinos and card rooms around the world and, as expected, the close quarters inevitably lead to friendships (and, sometimes, more) between the two groups.

This is perfectly normal and, quite frankly, not a big deal in most cases. A poker pro sharing a drink or a meal with a player can be beneficial for both parties. And, so long as clear lines are kept between professional and personal relationships, there’s no real issue. When the lines are blurred, however, things become less clear.

Whether or not friendships affect reporting is irrelevant, because it’s the perception of impartiality that matters. If people paid to report on poker can’t separate personal feelings and biases from the stories they’re covering, how can anyone trust what they say or write?

We’re only a couple of weeks into this year’s WSOP and I’ve already seen plenty of instances where the line hasn’t just been blurred, but erased completely. Specifically, I’m referring to the increasing and increasingly annoying practice of poker journalists openly rooting for their friends during individual events.

More…


Maria Ho Pockets Second-Highest WSOP Cash Ever by a Female

by , Jun 7, 2011 | 6:43 pm

Maria Ho started the Day 4 Final Table of the 4th event of the 2011 World Series of Poker ($5K NLHE) as the shortest stack, while Allen Bari came to the table with a dominant chip lead. Although Maria was able to chip up and double through the elimination of Nicholas Blumenthal, Allen kept his monster stack healthy by eliminating Sean LeFort before the a heads-up confrontation.

Allen Bari Wins His First WSOP Gold Bracelet in the $5,000 NLHE!

Credit for the video goes to Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum of WJMedia.net.

Allen had Maria’s 15 big blinds covered 8 to 1 when Heads-up play began, and although she played her heart out, the cards favored Allen. It finally came down to Maria’s A♠4♠ vs. Allen’s 88♠. The board ran dry and Maria was eliminated in 2nd place. While not quite the coveted bracelet, the $540,020 payout she received represents the second-highest cash figure ever won by a female player in WSOP history. Translation, the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Last Woman Standing can now add the highest WSOP cash ever won by a female player on this side of the pond to her brag list. Only Annette Obrestad, the WSOP Europe Main Event champion (2007), has had a bigger payout.


Live at the Bike to Play Host to Maria Ho & Co.

by , May 26, 2011 | 1:19 pm

Live at the Bike continues to mix it up with another special episode at a special time.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 7:30 p.m., the 2007 World Series of Poker Last Woman Standing Maria Ho will play host to her friends in her own special Live at the Bike No Limit Hold’em 1/3 cash game on liveatthebike.com. This may be your last opportunity to watch these rising stars in action before they migrate to Vegas for the 2011 World Series of Poker. Maria will be joined at the table by seven of her dear friends, including her bestie: Tiffany Michelle. More…


Maria Ho Signs with WinStar

by , May 19, 2011 | 12:18 pm

Continuing the trend of poker players signing with brick-and-mortar (and in the case of WinStar tent) casinos … Maria Ho joins Greg Raymer as a celebrity endorser of WinStar Casino in Far Far North Dallas, Oklahoma. Just in time, btw, to begin pimpin their upcoming big River Tourney. Apparently the satellites are about ready to open … and this year they are guaranteeing a $3 million prize pool.

This tournament has grown and grown into one of the biggest of the year in the country … and not that it would be all Ho and Fossilman’s doing … but I have a feeling this year people outside of Texas and Oklahoma will start to take note.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes vid of Maria’s commercial shoot with the Chickasaw … who by the way, just officially bought Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, presumably changing the dynamic of Texas gambling legislation, but that’s a story for another time … right now it’s all about the value of Asian poker hotties playing the role of high-stakes cash game player. That and/or being a WSOP main event champion still seem to play well in the poker endorsement world.


WPT Hard Rock Seminole

by , Apr 27, 2011 | 6:58 pm

The first major live poker tournament since Black Friday in the United States kicked off today with the World Poker Tour at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood Florida. One of the unknowns coming into the tournament was wether or not sponsored pros would show up wearing their patches.

With 406 players in the field today only 13 players were found wearing either a Full Tilt Poker or a Ultimate Bet patch. The one “big three” site that did not have a single patched up player was PokerStars, even though WPT regular and PokerStar Pro Jason Mercier was in the field.

Also in the field today not wearing their normal patch were Maria Ho (UB) and Antonio Esfandiari (Victory). The fact that these two are not wearing a patch for their respected site while Adam “roothlus” Levy (UB) and Jonathan Little (Victory) are patched up definitely creates more questions.

Here is a rundown of the players found in todays field that were wearing patches:

  • Gavin Smith (FTP)
  • John Dolan (FTP)
  • Anette Obstread (FTP)
  • Scott Montgomery (FTP)
  • Allen Kessler (FTP)
  • Josh Arieh (FTP)
  • Steve Brecher (FTP)
  • Stuart Paterson (FTP)
  • Jeff Madsen (FTP)
  • Andrew Lichtenberger (FTP)
  • Erik Cajelais (FTP)
  • Paul Wolfe (FTP)
  • Adam Levy (UB)
  • Matt Stout (Lock Poker)
  • Jonathan Little (Victory)
  • Amit Makhija (Doyles Room)
  • Steve Gross (Doyles Room)
  • Mike Sexton (Party Poker)
  • 4 Other Party Poker Players
  • Since we are on the discussion of who is wearing what Tony Dunst, who is known for always being well dressed was not wearing his normal suit today due to a delay in dry cleaning. Instead he was wearing a V-Neck shirt and a pair of jeans. Dunst will be returning tomorrow, hopefully in his freshly cleaned suit, to grind out his short stack.

    After 5 levels of play only 290 players remain with registration open until the start of play with Randy Dorfman at the top of the leaderboard with 160,000. Other players returning for day two are Vivek Rajkumar, Shannon Shorr, Annette Obstread, Mike Sexton, Kathy, Leibert, and Lauren Kling.

    The players will return at 12 noon local time tomorrow for the start of day two of this six-day event to play another 5 levels.


    HPT Championship Open Final TV Table Results

    Michigan auto worker takes it down for $177k; Hamrick, Lee out 4th, 5th

    by , Nov 22, 2010 | 3:45 pm

    The HPT Soaring Eagle Six took to the TV felt circa 6:45p EST/3:45 LV last night.  There were a number of notables sweating this final table – Darvin and Wendy Moon were on the rail for the entire evening, and Scotty Nguyen made a (brief) appearance.

    Though none of the eleven Season VI HPT Champs ran deep to the Six, many of them stuck around the extra night to sweat the final table including HPT POY Bryan Reisner, Las Vegas grinder Kimbo Ung, US Army Staff Sergeant Jason Fennel, aspiring American Idol singer Kurt Fraser, and an extremely personable Matt “MyTmase” Mason (who was diligently counting chipstacks all throughout Day 2.)

    Here are the results:

    HPT Soaring Eagle Season VI ->$1500 +$150 Main Event
    1st: $176,865 Ahmed Harajli
    2nd: $88,434 Joey Brown
    3rd: $53,060 Jordan Rowan
    4th: $41,269 Dean Hamrick
    5th: $35,374 Bernard Lee
    6th: $29,478 Chuck Earl

    The taping of the final table lasted about 5 hours. Chuck Earl was the first to exit the taping area when Dean Hamrick’s big slick & ace-on-the-river combo beat Earl’s Queens.  Pros Dean Hamrick and Bernard Lee busted out 4th and 5th place, respectively.  Early on, Bernard went on a heater, shoving four consecutive times, while everyone folded and urged him to knock it off until on the last hand he showed kings.

    Cowboys were not good to him in the endgame – he took a particularly nasty beat when his pockets fell short to 10s, when the case 10 hit the turn (another player revealed after the hand he was holding the other out), ending his tournament life.  Shortly thereafter, Hamrick ran his 33s into QQs, leaving him on the shortstack.  In the next hand, he pushed allin with K-rag vs. AQ, but it did not get there, and he left with fourth place money.

    I happened upon the pair conversing during the break just after Lee’s shove-shove-shove-and-shove fest at the FT.

    Here is the link to the interview where they discuss running deep together in the $1500 2010 WSOP Main Event where Hamrick won his first bracelet-> rungood.tv| ESPN Inside Deal Host Bernard Lee and Dean Hamrick Square Off at Heartland Poker Tour TV Table

    Jordan Rowan cashed out soon after at 3rd, leaving headups to Joey Brown and Ahmed Harajli.  I’m interested to watch the broadcast of this matchup, because without seeing the hole cards, it still was more entertaining to me than watching the Duhamel-Racener matchup streaming on XBox Live. In the end, Joey went all in shortstacked with K5 against Ahmed 10s.  Ahmed’s hand held up, making him champ of the HPT Season VI Finale, surviving a field of 413 players.

    Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, patched in UB, presented the Michigan native with his $176,865.  I overheard the floor saying that Ahmed, showing some real class, requested to donate a portion of his winnings to the Disabled American Veterans charity.


    HPT Championship Open Final TV Table Update

    Bernard Lee and Dean Hamrick make the cut; Tiffany Michelle out 7th

    by , Nov 21, 2010 | 4:38 pm

    The final TV table of six players has been reached at the Heartland Poker Tour “Championship Open” $1500 +$150 Main Event at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Six major names in poker played in this two-day event. Scotty Nguyen was eliminated mid Day 1, while Darvin Moon exited the tournament area in the final levels of that day.  Maria Ho finished in the cash earlier today on Day 2.

    Tiffany Michelle was TV table “bubble girl”, eliminated by big stack Joey Brown, finishing 7th of 413 entrants and taking home $19,927.

    Making the final six was ESPN Inside Deal host and poker pro Bernard Lee, who decided to enter in the tourney at the last minute. Another pro at the table, who has played Bernard previously, is WSOP 2008 Main Event bubble boy Dean Hamrick.  Dean won his first bracelet this year at a $1500 WSOP 2010 NLHE event, and cashed in two others.

    Seat Assignments/Chip Counts
    Seat 1: Dean Hamrick 715,000
    Seat 2: Joey Brown 2,020,000
    Seat 3: Bernard Lee 680,000
    Seat 4: Chuck Earl 450,000
    Seat 5: Jordan Rowan 850,000
    Seat 6: Ahmed Harajli 1,520,000

    Payouts
    1st: $176, 865
    2nd: $88,434
    3rd: $53,060
    4th: $41,269
    5th: $35,374
    6th: $29,478

    Blinds will be set according to the *secret* HPT TV Table magic formula (??) and will last 40 minutes. Cards will be in the air shortly at approximately 6:45p EST/3:45p Vegas.

    Follow me @scarlet_lv today for live-tweets from the rail.


    Heartland Poker Tour Season Finale Main Event Day 1 Update

    Day 2 begins as Tiffany Michelle, Bernard Lee, Maria Ho run deep; Nguyen, Moon busted

    by , | 7:56 am

    Day 1 of the Heartland Poker Tour “Championship Open” $1500 +$150 Main Event tagged-and-bagged @ around midnight at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, MI with 60 players remaining of the original field of 413 (*huge* for HPT.)  This is the finale for season VI of the TV show, and tour regulars comment that it is by far the most star-studded event in their history.

    There were five notable pros playing the Main, who attending the PPA-sponsored charity bounty tourney benefiting the Disabled American Veterans on Thursday.

    Tiffany Michelle & Maria Ho = future USO?

    @TheScottyNguyen was the first of them to fall on D1, with his aces cracked in Level 6 (see rungood.tv|bustout interview vid.)  Darvin Moon’s 99’s pre-flop shortshack jam fell to 77’s set late in Level 11.  @TiffnyMichelle and ESPN Poker’s @BernardLeePoker are healthy; @MariaHo has just over 10BBs.

    Play for D2 resumes shortly after 10a EST/7a Vegas today at L13 (40 min levels), playing to 6.  The final TV table of the “HPT Six” is scheduled to begin taping @ 5p EST/2p Vegas.

    POI (person-o-interest) Chip Counts:

    Tiffany Michelle: 162.5k
    Brandon Dosch: (HPT Champ & POY Contender): 162.5k
    Matt Alexander: (HPT Champ & POY Contender): 136.5k
    Bernard Lee: 118k
    Maria Ho: 68.5k

    Average Stack = 103,250
    Big Stack ~ 230k

    Day 2 -> L13 Antes/Blinds = 500/3k/6k

    Cash bubble @ 41 players today, and the winner will take down an estimated ~ $177k. (hey, I’m not @KevMath y’all, even *inside* the tourney room.)

    Follow @TiffnyMichelle, @BernardLeePoker, @MariaHo for table-twitfeed.
    Follow me @scarlet_lv today for live-tweets from the rail.


    McLean Karr takes down WPT Bay 101 title

    Hellmuth knocked out in 6th

    by , Mar 13, 2010 | 11:31 am

    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:


    Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho Sign with Washington Generals

    by , Feb 11, 2010 | 11:45 pm

    It apparently was just a one-time deal, but still … I’ve never played for the Washington Generals, have you played for the Washington Generals? Pretty cool … as Team Tiffany and Maria continue on their 15-minutes-of-farewell tour, throwing themselves into as many non-poker spots as possible until the next season of The Amazing Race forces the Harlem Globetrotters’ opponents to retire their numbers:

    [via Wicked Chops]

    Watch Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho Show The Globetrotters How To Play Basketball on RawVegas.tv