Mike Matusow
Photo: CardPlayer.com

Today’s Boxscore

Mike Matusow $750,000 – National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Andrew Robl $1,000,000 – Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship final was like a flashback to the olden days* with a practically made-for-TV final match between Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow. The two of them advanced to the final after defeating Scott Seiver and Joe “Don’t call me Sebok” Serock. Many questioned the Matusow invitation but he showed some of his old form when he earned his victory. He hit a nice little naked flush draw to defeat the 13-time WSOP champion Hellmuth. This is the 3rd biggest cash of Matusow’s career after his $1,000,000 hits for the 2005 WSOP Main Event final table and Tournament of Champions victory.

On the other side of the planet, the Aussie Millions Main Event is underway but not before Andrew Robl beat a small but extremely talented field in the $100,000 Challenge to earn a cool million. The tournament was of the re-entry variety but of the 21 players, Robl was the only one to take advantage of the option and it worked out successfully. Igor Kurganov (2nd), Masa Kagawa (3rd), and Dan Shak (4th) were the other three who cashed in the even.

* – Not really that long ago, but it feels like a generation ago

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Tweet of the Day – Two up this time, both from Matusow after his NHUPC win.

Im laying here in bed overcome with emotion truly wondering if me and hellmuth have changed the game of poker for Americans on tv once again

— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) January 27, 2013

I cant stop laughing when I see a cardplayer quote that says hellmuth having trouble sleeping after loss to me! #lolololweeeee

— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) January 29, 2013

Poker Players Alliance chief meets with NJ Governor Christie aide in Trenton – John Pappas met with Christie on Tuesday afternoon to make a push for the online gaming bill currently awaiting his decision or indecision.

Investor urges IGT to rethink online gaming move – Not everybody with stock in International Gaming Technology is into their direction with online gaming. Someone is getting twitchy.

Addiction soars as online gambling hits £2bn mark – Oh no, the sky is falling and there is another article out about the vast sea of gambling addicts. This one over in the U.K. where apparently every dollar spent gambling is by an addict.

Mississippi Online Gambling Effort Resurrected – Another giving it another shot to get into the online gaming business, but things don’t look too peachy for the prospect of it happening in Mississippi.

2013 Aussie Millions: Welcome Party – The crack video team at PokerNews caught up with a few stars at the Aussie Millions Welcome Party.

Baptiste Chavillaz
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Baptiste Chavillaz $216,275 – WSOP-C Bicycle Main Event
James Henson $31,021 – WSOP-C Choctaw No Limit Hold’em
Ross Bybee $168,433 – WSOP-C Choctaw NLHE Re-entry
Erin Slaughter $23,660 – WSOP-C Choctaw Tubro
Kevin Eyster $27,573 – WSOP-C Choctaw NLHE 6-Handed

The first WSOP Circuit event of 2013 wrapped up this week with the Bicycle Casino Main Event which drew a nice 721 entrants, up from the 549 last year. Baptiste Chavillaz turned his first ever WSOP-C tournament cash into a $216,275 title and a seat in the National Championship. In almost bigger news, poker reporter/blogger/photographer/tweeter/hair model Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum managed to make it through most of the field to finish an impressive 57th. A close friend was quoted as saying “What a lucksack.” *

On the east coast, the Borgata kicked off their Winter Poker Open festival with a record breaking field. They opened with a $560 re-entry tournament with two starting days and a $1,000,000 guarantee that drew a huge crowd. By the end of registration there were 3,871 entrees which nearly doubled the guarantee. The BWPO continues in balmy, scenic Atlantic City until the WPT televised Main Event starts on the 27th with a $2,000,000 guarantee.

* – Guilty

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Tweet of the Day – After going over the list of players in the National Heads Up Poker Championship, the most obvious omission was Vanessa Selbst. She answered all the questions in one simple tweet.

To answer people’s questions, I was invited to NBC HU but declined. Great tournament but decided to go to Aussie Millions instead this year.

— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) January 18, 2013

NHUPC 2013: Field of 64 announced – And here is the list, nicely typed out by Andrew Feldman. No real big eye raisers here except maybe the presence of Jean-Robert Bellande. He’ll add a little TV flair but at the expense of more deserving players like David “Doc” Sands and others. I like the inclusion of Shaun Deeb, Kyle Julius, Mohsin Charania, and Dan Smith.

The Best Poker Movie Scenes of All-Time – The Poker Archivist(tm) Nolan Dalla put together a great list of poker scenes. Give it a look and then your two cents.

Want This Job? Wear Your Poker Face – Caesars Entertainment running a management recruiting program dressed up as a poker series? Well played.

Sergio García: ‘I am as competitive as possible in anything I do’ – Garcia gave an interview to The Guardian while in the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure where he talks about poker and competitiveness.

Photo: PokerStarsBlog.com

Today’s Boxscore

Vanessa Selbst $1,424,420 – 2013 PCA High Roller
Dimitar Danchev $1,859,000 – 2013 PCA Main Event
Travis Williams $49,581 – Delaware Park Winter Classic

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure knows how to end things with a bang. After an entire festival of big results, it was the final tournament to supply the biggest story. Vanessa Selbst entered the $25,000 High Roller final table needing a 5th place finish or better to pass Kathy Liebert as the highest earning female poker player. Selbst did much better than 5th as she rolled to the title for another impressive victory putting her over $6,000,000 in lifetime earnings. The stacked final table included Shaun Deeb, Mike Watson, Chris Klodnicki, Brynn Kenney, Micah Raskin, and Tobias Reinkemeier.

Selbst adds the PCA High Roller victory to her two WSOP bracelets, two NAPT Mohegan Sun (back-to-back) wins, a Partouche Poker Tour win in 2010, and a boatload of other titles.

Interesting results during the 2013 PCA included wins by Scott Seiver, Peter Jetten, John Dibella, and Alexis Gilbard plus two trophies presented to Marcel Luske. With the wrap-up of the popular event, players will now take off for various parts of the world including the Borgata Winter Open, the LAPC, and getting ready for the Aussie Millions.

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Tweet of the Day

RT @vanessaselbst: Ran hotter than the sun. Won the tournament.<~Congratulations Vanessa, Welcome to the women’s all time money lead.

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) January 15, 2013

PCA 2013: Vanessa Selbst makes history to win PCA High Roller – Might as well go to the experts on the Selbst victory, this time it’s Master Stephen Bartley at the keyboard with the tournament recap.

National Heads Up Poker Championship confirmed list – (Seriously, the list was released as a Google doc?) The popular NHUPC is back after a year off and we now know the first 32 confirmed players for the event including one Mr. Phil Ivey. No big surprises so far but it’s good to see Will “The Thrill” Failla and Maria Ho in the first release. A few other names have already stated they received an invite including Weeds producer Matt Salsberg.

WSOP Asia-Pacific Announces 2013 Schedule – Another big festival is now officially scheduled for Melbourne, Australia following the popular Aussie Millions. There will be 5 events including the Main plus a $50,000 High Roller (with rebuys) plus another go at the Caeasars Cup Invitational.

PCA 2013: High Roller Champion Vanessa Selbst – Kristy Arnett from PokerNews caught up with the winningest (is that really a word?) female poker player in history.