Matt Hennig
Photo: HPTPoker.com

Today’s Boxscore

Ruben Visser £595,000 – EPT London Main Event
Justin Schwartz $112,582 – Foxwoods Poker Classic
Matt Hennig $57,709 – HPT Iowa-Prairie Main Event

Turned out to be a very interesting few days with some big runs and one impressive comeback. Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler made the HPT Iowa-Prairie final table with as much applause as the fanboys could muster. Unfortunately he was eliminated in 9th place for a quick exit. I’m sure his table banter has improved and it would have made for some interesting television.

Ryan Eriquezzo continued his nice run over the last few months with a final table appearance at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. He finished runner-up to Justin “Stealthmunk” Schwartz who earned another 6-digit payday, moving one step closer to owning a big boy wardrobe.

The most compelling story recently was the return of Danish poker legend Theo Jorgensen to a tournament field. Jorgensen and his family were the victim of a vicious home invasion last December where he was brutally beaten. After some long stays in the hospital, he returned to the game for the EPT London Main Event and picked up right where he left off. He finished in 4th place for a nice £183,000 welcome back bonus. Howard Swains has the excellent Theo Jorgensen comeback story over on the PokerStars Blog.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – The initial reaction to this post was skepticism followed by thinking it was practical jokery followed by a chuckle. Turns out it’s true and Allen Kessler has joined 30 others pros (so far) on Team Ivey.

Hot @iveypoker News: @allenkessler joins #TeamIvey! See live final table coverage of him playing @hptpoker here: bitly.com/wliEDz

— IveyPoker (@iveypoker) March 18, 2013

Caesars Fined for Role in 2007 Gambling Spree – Man tears through $120 million on a Las Vegas gambling spree and the state of New Jersey fines Caesars Entertainment for it’s part in letting it happen. Seems reasonable, congrats New Jersey.

Nevada Gaming Commission is seeking your help – The NGC is looking for public comments about interstate agreements to expand online gaming. I expect they will get a lot of responses to this request. Have at it.

U.S. says cocaine and Internet gambling are the main sources of money laundering in Costa Rica – Nothing like throwing in online gambling in the mix with cocaine, human trafficking, and corruption. Well played Costa Rica, nice hand.

Tony G Leaves PartyPoker, Stirring Pot As He Exits – God bless Tony G and that jaw of his which never stops moving. Done at PartyPoker to concentrate on his own gambling site and then takes a few pot shots at other players on the way out the door.

EPT9 London: Team PokerStars Theo Jorgensen – Sarah Grant from PokerNews caught up with Theo Jorgensen about his comeback and EPT final table.

Giacomo Fundaro
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Giacomo Fundaro $166,704 – WPT Mazagan
Sam Grafton £102,700 – Grosvenor UKPT Grand Final
Jeremy Ausmus $78,572 – WPT Five Diamond Prelim
Dwyte Pilgrim $43,453 – WPT Five Diamond Prelim

It wasn’t the most exciting week in poker but there was a nice turnout for the Deepstacks tournament at Mohegan Sun and there were also a bunch of current/former/rockstar poker bloggers tearing around the bars in Las Vegas for the annual WPBT blogger drinkfest and tournament. While most of those fine folks were indulging their bacchanalian impulses at various bars, restaraunts, and games of chance, there were a few crazy people who ran in the Rock n’ Roll Vegas Marathon.

Things were also ramping up at the Bellagio this weekend as they prepare to host the full WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. A full roster of iffy structures, smokey tables set up in the casino, and various other legitimate complaints. It’s probably time to unfollow Allen Kessler on Twitter.

# Wherever you are, the game is 21. #
Get ready to play real blackjack online by playing free blackjack at onlineblackjack.com.

Link Dump

Tweet(s) of the Day – Even though that whole Epic Poker Standards & Conduct thing went swirling down the drain, looks like Matt Glantz has kept up his role in the poker world and brought together David and Goliath.

Regardless of how @savagepoker feels about me right now, I still have the utmost respect for him as a TD & the impossible job he has.

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) December 1, 2012

While I do believe all of my points are still valid,I would like to apologize to my friend @savagepoker if I upset him in any way.

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) December 1, 2012

Thank You @allenkessler, I will speak to you @bellagiopoker and please know that your “concerns” were not ignored by me or @playgroundpoker.

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) December 1, 2012

Poker Pro Theo Jørgensen Shot Three Times in Home Invasion – Horrifying breaking news this morning about Danish PokerStar pro Theo Jørgensen. He was the victim of a home invasion, robbery, and shot several times in the leg. Injuries are said to not be life threatening and a full recovery is expected.

American Gaming Association ups the ante on online poker – Another day, another press release about freeing the world from the oppressive online poker prohibition. This time it’s the American Gaming Association saying let my people go.

Pokie headphones banned in Victoria – Before now I had never heard of video poker machines with headphone jacks built in so the player can fully concentrate on the action. The Canucks want to ban them and I imagine the Vegas hookers wouldn’t like them very much either. Tough to scam when the mark isn’t paying attention.

Ghaziabad man arrested for gambling wife – I hope this doesn’t become a trend in Las Vegas or there are going to be some very unhappy wives, or a whole new way of paying off gambling debts. There is a bad “makeup” joke about staking in there somewhere I’m just not willing to make.

TB5 “Poker Face” – I hate HATE the orginal version of this song by something called a Lady Gaga. Here’s a version I can sort of get behind because it isn’t her but mostly because it includes Clare Grant.

The Main Event will resume around 8:30pm with 42 players remaining, playing down to 27. The chip leader is Cuong Nguyen, who won the biggest pot of the tournament so far off of Theo Jorgensen on the last hand before the break when his Kh-Jc outflopped Jorgensen’s Ac-3c when it came down Kc-5h-9c to take the lead with 19,520,000 in chips. Joseph “subiime” Cheong is 2nd with 14,000,000 in chips. Play resumes at 8:30 with the start of level 29 with the blinds at 50/100/10k, follow the updates over at wsop.com

Notables:
William Thorson – 12,290,000
John Racener – 9,275,000
Bryn Kenney – 7,400,000
Matt Affleck – 5,535,000
Adam Levy – 5,180,000
Scott Clements – 4,200,000
Michael Mizrachi – 3,655,000
Johnny Lodden – 3,495,000
David Baker – 2,960,000
Theo Jorgensen 2,300,000
Hasan Habib – 520,000

Notable Eliminations:
Jacobo Fernandez
Tony Dunst
Alexander Kostritsyn
Peter Jetten
David Benyamine
Eric Baldwin
Jean-Robert Bellande

Day 7 Table Draw

Theo Jorgensen will lead the remaining 78 players of the WSOP Main Event when play resumes at the Amazon room shortly after 12pm today. Jorgensen starts the day with 9,300,000 in chips followed by Michael Mizrachi with 7,535,000 and John Racener with 7,200,000 with play starting today on level 26, 25,000/50,000 blinds with a 5,000 ante. Play will continue until 27 players remain, then return Saturday to play down to the November Nine.

Other notables returning today:

William Thorson – 6,525,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 5,715,000
Matt Affleck – 5,315,000
Bryn Kenney – 3,830,000
Eric Baldwin – 2,135,000
Johnny Lodden – 2,105,000
Adam Levy – 1,685,000
David Baker – 1,635,000
Tony Dunst – 1,550,000
David Baker – 1,540,000
Hasan Habib – 1,165,000
Scott Clements – 1,085,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 700,000
Peter Jetten – 675,000

Notable eliminations from last report:
Juha Helppi
Todd Witteles
Fokke Beukers
Christian Harder

Full results here, and follow the updates over at wsop.com.

Bellagio Cup VI results

Moritz Kranich, a previous winner on the European Poker Tour, added a WPT title by defeating Justin “Boosted J” Smith heads-up to win the Bellagio Cup VI Main Event for $875,150. Smith earned $594,755 for the runner-up finish, with Phil Ivey finishing third for $363,650. Full results can be found here.

I know what you’re thinking… I never see enough of Gus Hansen. I wish I could see videos of him going about his daily life. I miss Gus!

Okay, could be wrong on that, but Gus TV is coming to a computer near you anyway, beginning on February 21. It seems that the Great Dane has a side to him that he wants to show to the world and has created Gus TV for just that purpose. “Gus TV is for poker players, by poker players,” the front page of the website says. “When you watch, you support the making of a free poker TV channel.”

The first video will be the much-talked-about boxing match between Hansen and Theo Jorgensen, a fight that will take place live on Gus TV in Copenhagen on the same day as the final table of the EPT Copenhagen. The two will duke it out for 200,000 DKK, which is approximately $35,000 in U.S. buckaroos, though Hansen is so convinced of his physical superiority that he claims he will only accept $25K if he wins.

According to Casino City Times, the boxing match on February 21 will launch the online TV site, after which new content will be posted on a daily basis. Gus fans will see him at tournaments, discussing strategy, and hanging out with friends.