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.

If you really believe you’re playing online poker for real money against other people & not genius super computers you deserve your future.

— Dane Cook (@DaneCook) January 6, 2013

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.

A review of Sunday afternoon’s action, starting with the first day of the WSOP Tournament of Champions:

Seidel leads after four levels of TOC

With several players in the WSOP Tournament of Champions involved with other bracelet events, it was decided to play four one-hour levels today, another four levels on Monday, then the remainder of the field returning on July 4th to determine a winner. When play resumes at 12pm, it’ll be Erik Seidel holding the lead with 72,075 in chips with 22 players remaining. In the random table draw, Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke were seated next to each other at the feature table as both spent the day avoiding to look at each other, even when involved in hands together. Johnny Chan will start tomorrow second in chips with 71,325, followed by Mike Matusow in third with 70,575. The full list of chip counts is available over at wsop.com.

Odell leads 1500 NL final table

Kevin Odell (4,300,000) will hold a commanding chip lead at the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem final table when play resumes momentarily. In second is Brazilian Thiago Nishijima (1,775,000), with Ray Coburn (850,000) the most notable name remaining. Updates available at PokerNews.

Shak sharp in 5k Omaha 8

The start of day three of the $5,000 Omaha 8 or Better tournament was delayed as Erik Seidel was still involved in the Tournament of Champions, with play eventually underway after 4:30pm. Seidel started the day 20th out of 21 players, but he’s still in the field, although currently 9th with 10 players remaining. Dan Shak has moved into the chip lead with 815,000, followed by Leif Force (725,000), Perry Green (400,000), and Seidel (280,000) among the notables. Follow the action at PokerNews.

Seiver surges into lead in 2500 8-game

Another tournament that experienced a delay because of the TOC was the $2,500 Mixed Event as Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson still playing in that event. Approximately 70 players remain with their dinner break coming shortly. Scott Seiver holds the lead with 122,000 in chips. Other notables include David Steicke (86,000), Bill Chen (85,000), Michael Mizrachi (66,000), Steve Sung (54,000), Dario Minieri (45,000), Harman (41,000), Frank Kassela (39,000) and Ferguson (31,000). Team Pokerati’s Julie Schneider was one of the day 2 eliminations. Further updates and chip counts can be found at wsop.com.

Klier leading day 1b of 1k NL

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem brought 1,369 players to the Rio this afternoon, around 400 remain as the field returns from their dinner break. The report chip leader appears to be Ben Klier with 54,000, followed by Mike Beasley (32,000), Faraz Jaka (28,000), Chris Moneymaker (23,000) and Jeff Madsen (13,200). A little over three levels of play are scheduled, unless the field falls under 200 before that point. More updates and chip counts at wsop.com.

Recapping Sunday night’s WSOP action:

Angle corners Seniors’ bracelet

78-year old Harold Angle of Sun City Center, Florida defeated Michael Minetti heads-up to win the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship and add $487,994 to his bank account. Minetti earned $301,389 for the runner-up finish. As Dan noted in the post below, Tom Schneider finished 14th in his WSOP Seniors’ debut. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at wsop.com.

Mahmood leads 10k Heads-Up final 1-0

The finals of the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship was expected to have finished earlier today, but the first match in the best-of-three final between Ayaz Mahmood and Ernst Schmejkal took over six hours to complete, with Mahmood eventually winning. Play will resume at 7pm tonight as they play to a finish, hopefully.

Juanda leads stacked 3k HORSE

25 players remain on day 3 of the $3,000 HORSE, with John Juanda (393,000) leading the way when play resumes at 3pm. The stacked field includes David “Not Bakes” Baker (373,000), Phil Ivey (205,000), Jeff Lisandro (193,000), Dan Heimiller (180,000), Bill Chen (158,000), David Benyamine (137,000), Chad Brown (108,000), Scott Seiver (105,000) and David Singer (93,000). The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Marchese leads 10k PL Holdem Day 2

A field of 268 players started Sunday afternoon in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship, after ten hours of play, Thomas Marchese emerged as the leader with 334,600 in chips when play resumes at 3pm today. Some of the notables returning include Dani Stern (200,500), John Duthie (171,400), Noah Boeken (136,400), Blair Rodman (92,900), Mike Matusow (77,300) and Shannon Shorr (72,700). The top 27 players get paid, with the winner pocketing $617,214. The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

D’angelo leads 1k NL day 1b field

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 1,119 players, with 165 of them joining the 268 day 1a players when play resumes at 2:30pm. The top 324 players make the money, with the winner picking up $481,760 at the cashier. The full list of chip counts for both days is available at wsop.com.

Monday’s tournaments

Two tournaments on the schedule today, first is the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout at 12pm. This has a listed cap of 2,000 players, which appears to be a strange number to use for a shootout. If more than 1000 players are registered, 20 additional tables will be added, with some tables being 9-handed. The winners from round 1 will make the money and return on Tuesday, with the winners of those tables playing on Wednesday to determine a winner. With a 1,000 player cap last year, Jeffrey Carris won this event last year, good for $313,673. The 5pm tournament is the $2,500 Razz, won by Jeff Lisandro in a field of 315 for $188,390.

Giving the details of Thursday night’s WSOP, with another bracelet awarded a few hours ago:

Jason Dewitt performs magic against Trickett

After a lengthy heads-up battle, Jason Dewitt outlasted Sam Trickett to take down the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem bracelet, earning $818,959. Trickett picks up $505,725 for the runner-up finish, with Jeff Williams third, good for $328,762. The full list of results can be found at wsop.com.

Bakes leads packed final ten in 10k NL 2-7 Lowball

Ten remain when the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball World Championship resumes Friday afternoon with David “Bakes” Baker leading with 526,000 in chips. The rest of the field is full of big names, including Erik Seidel (280,000), John Monnette (238,000), John Juanda (225,000), Daniel Negreanu (223,000) and Andy Bloch (146,000). To follow the action and get chip count information, check out PokerNews.

Buchman, Matros at Limit Holdem FT

The final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem final table features 2009 November Niner Eric Buchman is chip leader, which also has 2010 limit holdem bracelet winner Matt Matros as part of the 10-player final table. Here’s how they’ll be situated when play resumes at 2:30 this afternoon:

Seat 1: Matt Matros – 224,000
Seat 2: William Jensen – 326,000
Seat 3: Gary Bogdanski – 115,000
Seat 4: Eric Buchman – 453,000
Seat 5: Hansu Chu – 447,000
Seat 6: Flavio Ferrari – 373,000
Seat 7: Brent Courson – 240,000
Seat 8: Daniel Quach – 55,000
Seat 9: Steven Hustoft – 383,000
Seat 10: Matt Grapenthien – 254,000

Little looms large in PLO

Day 2 of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha resumes at 2:30pm with Jonathan Little leading the 95 day 1 survivors holding the chip lead with 129,600. Some familiar names returning include Christian Harder (116,100), Nenad Medic (104,400), Peter Costa (70,400) and Scott Montgomery (57,000). The full list is available at PokerNews.

Seiver super in Seven Card Stud

After eight levels of play during day 1 of the $1,500 Seven Card Stud, Scott Seiver is the overwhelming chip leader (63,800) with 114 players returning at 3pm. The closest competitor is James Kadlec (40,500), with Carlos Mortensen (32,500), Chip Jett (27,000), Cory Zeidman (21,000) and Marco Traniello (19,000) some familiar foes also returning. The full list of chip counts will be online at PokerNews.

Friday’s Tournaments

Starting at noon today is the $1,000 Ladies’ No-Limit Holdem Championship. Last year, Lisa Hamilton defeated a field of 1,060 earning over $195,000 for the win. This event always leads to discussion about ladies’ events, from those who feel it helps get more women into poker, helping to grow the poker community. Those against the events feel it’s patronizing towards women and that it doesn’t really help grow the game, some prefer ladies’ only events instead of having to deal with the attitude some men have against female players. With the recent trend of men playing and winning ladies’ only events, as noted here and here, the question is if any men will try to enter this year’s event and be successful.

The $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max, gets underway at 5pm. Last year’s winner was Brock Parker, who topped a field of 367, picking up $223,697.

Here’s a look at Saturday evening’s WSOP action, starting with the two bracelet winners:

Men Master’s Stud for Bracelet #7

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship was won by Men “The Master” Nguyen defeating Brandon Adams heads-up to win his 7th WSOP bracelet and $394,807, moving him into a tie for 5th place with Phil Ivey and Billy Baxter. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are now online at wsop.com.

Dempsey Flush with a Bracelet

James “Flushy” Dempsey wins his first WSOP bracelet, in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event, defeating Steve Chanthabousay heads-up to win $197,470. A complete list of results plus Nolan Dalla’s report is at wsop.com.

Dwan Durrrrable in $1,500 NL

Day 3 of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has Tom “Durrrr” Dwan the chip leader (1,068,000) with 21 players remaining. Play resumes at 2:30pm to play down to a winner and PokerNews will be following all the action.

Lucky Thirteen Going for Limit Bracelet

Day 3 of the $1,500 Limit Holdem event has 13 players returning at 3pm to play down to a winner. Jason Potter moves into the chip lead (371,000) followed by day 1 chip leader Jameson Painter (307,000) in second. Terrence Chan (288,000), Matt Matros (272,000) and Frank Kassela (162,000) are the other notables returning this afternoon. Find all chip counts and live updates this afternoon over at PokerNews.

The 15% Solution

Day 1a of the second$1,000 No-Limit Holdem played about halfway into level 9 this morning, with 278 players, about 15% of the field, returning Monday at 2:30pm. This decision was made after last weekend’s $1,000 event had players getting eliminated too quickly, a problem Tao of Pokerati discussed with Ty Stewart. The current chip leader is Andy Black (90,275), with Phil Gordon (44,225), Jena Delk (34,300), Shaun Deeb (26,850), Victor Ramdin (23,350) and An Tran (20,350) are some of the recognizable names returning Monday at 2:30pm. The full list of players and their chip counts is now available over at PokerNews.

Binger Best in 2-7 Lowball

A field of 67 returns Sunday afternoon at 3pm for day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball, Single Draw with Nick Binger the leader with 54,300 in chips. Scott Seiver is in 2nd with 46,875, with Chino Rheem in 3rd with 42,725. Other notables include Dario Minieri (31,725), 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball winner Peter Gelenscer (21,925), Michael Binger (17,350) and Erick Lindgren (16,600). Only 28 make the money, with the winner earning $92,817. The full list of players counts is at PokerNews.

Sunday’s Bracelet Action

Starting at 12pm is day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event, will there be a smaller field like last week? The 5pm tournament starts the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship. Jeff Lisandro won this event last year in a field of 164, one of the three he won in 2009. Plenty of big names are expected to turn out for their chance to win a bracelet without so many donks in the field.

The final table of the $5,000 PokerStars NAPT Main Event at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut will be starting at noon Eastern time. Here’s how the final table will be situated, with live streaming available at www.pokerstars.tv:

Seat 1: Scott Seiver (1,125,000)
Seat 2: Cliff Josephy (1,940,000)
Seat 3: Vanessa Selbst (4,545,000)
Seat 4: Derek Raymond (1,545,000)
Seat 5: Mike Beasley (4,985,000)
Seat 6: Michael Woods (2,950,000)
Seat 7: Jonathan Aguiar (1,535,000)
Seat 8: Alistar Melville (2,940,000)

Beasley took the chip lead on the final hand of play on Saturday when he eliminated Brandon Hall in 9th place. The four WSOP bracelet winners (Selbst, Josephy, Raymond and Seiver) will look to add a NAPT title to their results. When play resumes, there will be about 30 minutes left at level 26, 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante. The poker world will still be focused at the Mohegan Sun on Monday as the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout will get underway, with the shootout winners playing Tuesday to determine a winner. Full coverage will also be available at pokerstars.tv, with edited coverage to air in the coming months on ESPN2 of both the Main Event and Shootout.

The North American Poker Tour at the Venetian is coming to its inevitable conclusion with the $5,000 main event final table, scheduled to start at 2pm PT today, with live streaming available at www.napt.com/tv. Here’s how the final table of 8 will look when play resumes:

Seat 1: Daniel Clemente (1,345,000)
Seat 2: Sam Stein (6,145,000)
Seat 3: Thomas Fuller (4,735,000)
Seat 4: “Miami” John Cernuto (1,300,000)
Seat 5: Yunus Jamal (3,940,000)
Seat 6: David Paredes (4,700,000)
Seat 7: Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese (2,370,000)
Seat 8: Eric Blair (1,690,000)

On Thursday, the final table of the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Invitational Shootout will play out, also scheduled to start at 2pm PT. Here’s the final table, with the number of $5,000 bounties each collected:

Scott Seiver (6)
Hoyt Corkins (4)
Faraz Jaka (4)
Joe Cassidy (4)
Brett Richey (3)
Peter Eastgate (2)
Ashton Griffin (2)

Each player earned $75,000 for winning their table, with the last man standing on Thursday pocketing $455,000 in the winner-take-all format. All seven players are also eligible to win an additional $100,000 from PokerStars.net for having the most bounties.

For those looking to follow the action, check out www.pokerstarsblog.com w/ ShortStack Shamus, Jennifer Newell and Otis, or the live reporting over at PokerNews.

A recap of the events from earlier this morning, trying something new to avoid the wall of text my morning reports have become:

Harb-oring a bracelet

Congratulations go out to Anthony Harb who took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event for $569,254 earlier this morning, outlasting Peter Rho and Jim Geary. All three players had cashed in earlier events in the WSOP as Harb and Rho cashed in the $1k NL Stimulus Special), while Geary finished 7th in the $1,500 OHL event.

Off to a Flying Finn-ish start

Onnittelu to the first Finn to win a WSOP bracelet, as Ville Wahlbeck, who had an earlier 3rd place finish in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship bested David Chiu in heads-up play to take home the bracelet that eluded him earlier in the week, collecting nearly $500,000. He also moves into the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race with 160 points, ahead of Phil Ivey and Vitaly Lunkin’s 110 points.

Another Finn looking for some glory of his own will be Tommi Horkko, who is the chip leader (509,000) with 11 left when the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway at 1pm today. Daniel Negreanu (470,000) is close behind in 2nd place. Barry Shulman, Brock Parker, Shawn Buchanan and Nikolay Losev are the more notable names remaining in the compact field.

NAFTA: $2,500 NL version

The $2,500 NL Holdem event will also return at 1pm today with 20 players returning to play down to a winner. It”ll be like the Ross Perot v Al Gore debate all over again as Texan Gregg Merkow starts play as the chip leader (932,000), with Mexico’s Angel Guillen (860,000) and Canada’s Bahador Ahmadi (800,000) are the top three stacks fighting it out in the name of free trade and poker supremacy. Other international invaders who’ll be trying to take the bracelet to their own trade zone includes the UK’s Roland de Wolfe (400,000) and Russia’s Kirill Gerasimov (390,000).

Brazilian waxing 5k NL holdem

Brazilian Clemencau Calixto, not to be confused with the New Mexico band Calexico, is the chip leader (186,300) at the end of day 1, as 164 players will return at 2pm. Frere Jacques Faraz Jaka is 3rd in chips at 172,200. Other notables who are in the top half of the field: defending champion Scott Seiver (118,600), Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (112,200), Isaac Baron (101,300), David Benefield (85,200), Gavin Griffin (69,100), Erik Seidel (65,900), and Dan Heimiller (56,200).

$1,500 7 Card Studs

From a field of 359, only 97 will make their way back into the Rio at 2pm to attempt to reach a final table. The day 1 chip leader is David Levi (49,600). Among those in the top 10: Dutch Boyd (47,700), Jeff Lisandro (40,700), Jason Mercier (35,000), and Eli Elezra (31,100). Other notables include: Sam Grizzle, Nick Frangos, Pokerati’s own Robert Goldfarb, and Barbara Enright.

Hey Ladies!

Today’s event at 12 noon is the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies’ World Championship, which was won last year by professional Svetlana Gromenskova in a field of 1,190 to collect just over $220,000 in cash. It remains to be seen if any guys will attempt to enter the field like last year, but it’ll surely make a great photo op for someone bold enough to give it a try.

Omaha, 8? You better!

The 5pm event today will be the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship which was won last year by David Benyamine in a field of 235 to add over $535,000 to his tournament stats.

Projections

$1,000 Ladies World Championship – 1,190 (take the over, saying 1,254)
$10,000 OHL World Championship – 247 (take the under, guessing 231)

Follow the updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for the other stuff.

Another day, another two final tables delayed at the WSOP yesterday. Starting with the $2,000 No Limit Holdem event, 25 players return at noon on Saturday to play down to the winner. The reason for the early start is in the hopes that a final table will be reached around the scheduled 2pm time that the final table would air on ESPN360 (http://wsop.pkr.com for those outside the US). The chip leader when play resumes will be Mike Carlson with 858,000 in chips. Others people may have heard of include Jim Geary (511,000), and Jose Rosenkrantz (187,000).

The other event will definitely have a more intriguing final table, as the $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship is down to its final 20 players, all of whom are in the money. Huck Seed will be the chip leader at 645,500. In a father-son battle, it’s Todd Brunson (374,500) with a slight chip lead over Doyle Brunson (335,000). Other notables remaining include Mark Gregorich (266,000), Mike Wattel (210,000), Michael Binger (132,000), Eric Froehlich (102,000) and a mystery person who name and chip count wasn’t reported. They’ll get to return at 1pm, and with the average stack having just 10 big bets, a final table may not be that long in the offing.

In the two final tables that concluded earlier this morning, Ken “Teach” Aldridge schooled the final table to win the $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event for $428,259, and Rami Boukai took down the $2,500 PLO/PLH (HA) event, which was worth $244,862.

More tournament news after the jump:

More…

Without having to calculate exact days or tournament numbers, let’s consider the WSOP to be at the halfway mark.

Taking a look at the WSOP Player of the Year overall points standings, Erick Lindgren is in a pretty solid first place spot right now. Jacobo Fernandez-Hernandez is in second place, followed by Scott Seiver, Daniel Negreanu, and Theo Tran. A certain Tom Schneider looks to be in 31st place, but the current standings do not include his 12th place razz finish last night; that addition might move him up 15-20 spots.

As far as the number of cashes, Tom just moved up to a three-way-tied first place with Nikolay Evdakov and Alex Jacob – all of them have five cashes thus far. The all-time record for cashes at the WSOP in a single year is eight, and with quite a few tournaments to go, the goal of beating that record is definitely attainable.