Diana Cox Blog

Nearly three weeks have gone by since the Day 8 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event and the nine players who will take their seats at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in November to wrangle for the bracelet have headed back to their respective homes.

Phil Ivey, Darvin Moon, Joseph Cada, Jeff Shulman, Eric Buchman, Steve Begleiter, Kevin Schaffel, Antoine Saout and James Akenhead have about three months before they meet again.

Chip leader Moon, who has only been playing Texas Hold ‘em for about three years and usually plays in friendly home games, will spend the interim doing what he normally does. Moon has returned to his logging business in Maryland and is not planning anything major until the Main Event is over. Being guaranteed at least $1 million, Moon has plans to visit  Alaska and buy his father a Cadillac.

Ivey said simply that he “has some things in mind” when asked what he would be doing until November. As soon as the final table was set Ivey was ready to make his way to the Bellagio for some cash game play. It seems the next three months will be business as usual for the pro of few words who is close to cinching the title as the top tournament winner of all-time.

Akenhead has caused a buzz among poker bloggers in the United Kingdom, all throwing out mass speculation about what it means for Brits to have a player at the Main Event final table and what will happen if the young gun takes the whole thing down.

Frenchman Saout, having made his first career cash by making the November Nine, plans to play the European Poker Tour in order to gain experience. Saout began playing poker just over a year ago and wants to improve his skills even more before the table re-convenes.

Cada, the youngest of the nine, intends to take some time to relax. ”I’m going to spend a Michigan summer on the water,” he said.  

Like Moon, Begleiter is headed back to his day job. The corporate strategist at an investment firm in New York said he has no immediate plans to quit his day job but will take a vacation with his family in Europe before he returns to Las Vegas.

Schaffel said his life has been “surreal” since he made the Main Event final table. Since returning home he has received hundreds of phone calls and text messages from friends and fans.

Buchman will spend his time relaxing. He will not be keeping tabs on the other players or playing more than usual just to get “practice.”

Shulman has somewhat recanted his statements from the first part of the Main Event when he said he would “throw it in the garbage” when asked what he would do if he won the bracelet. Shulman has since said that his comments had nothing to do with Card Player no longer having exclusive rights to the WSOP but were directed at how the WSOP is conducted.

The November Nine will meet again November 7. By November 10 one of the them will be the newest addition to a list of champions dating back 40 years.

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Another round of Sunday Majors has wrapped up in the online poker world. sosnoviy, plankton, vluff and SexSeen won tournaments at PokerStars and DOOLFan, EASY DZER secured wins at Full Tilt.

sosnoviy won the biggest prize of the weekend, outlasting 7,910 players to claim $237,330.01.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 4,288
Prize Pool: $857,600

1. vluff - $134,540.29
2. DAFLYINGKIWI - $99,910.41
3. PetjeXL - $70,752.01
4. Hobbes200 - $48,454.41
5. gokveld - $36,448.01
6. kingpin023 - $27,872.01
7. RichyPal - $19,296.01
8. The-Toilet 0 - $10,720.01
9. jdog_fl - $6,860.81

PokerStars Sunday Millions ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 7,911
Prize Pool: $1,582,200

1. sosnoviy - $237,330.01
2. almaty.kz - $174,042.01
3. shack232 - $118,665.01
4. getdaragzout - $79,742.89
5. Kenneeoin - $63,288.01
6. BigRed0000 - $47,466.01
7. EAlriksson - $31,644.01
8. grebnrets86 - $18,195.31
9. Jakelamotta3 - $12,262.06

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 1,419
Prize Pool: $283,000

1. plankton - $51,311.04
2. Believer82 - $37,177.80
3. consuming - $28,380
4. shaffrey - $21,285
5. Octavian_C - $14,899.50
6. kilphil1975 - $12,061.50
7. ImaLucSac - $9,223.50
8. JackinBox17 - $6,385.50
9. hookembaby83 - $3,973.20

PokerStars Sunday 500 ($200 + 35)
Entrants: 1,044
Prize Pool: $522,000

1. SexSeen - $90,097.20
2. papamat25 - $65,250
3. AJinOK - $49,590
4. DeuceBuster - $36,331.20
5. AABenjaminAA - $25,839
6. chris777444 - $20,619
7. 7DeLuX7 - $15,399
8. copi - $10,179
9. LeoFernandez - $5,742

Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 4,401
Prize Pool: $880,200

1. DOOLfan - $155,434.52
2. truesyalose - $94,093.38
3. jpapola - $61,614
4. bb_ShiNing - $48,411
5. sedore623 - $36,352.26
6. wat-dee - $26,934.12
7. chavarie - $20,244.60
8. leeman26 - $15,843.60
9. njw11 - $11,794.68

Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 1,326
Prize Pool: $265,200

1. EASY DZER - $58,344
2. AmkarPerm - $37,128
3. Kenny Rap - $27,183
4. NoBadBeatsPlz - $21,547.50
5. HaiducF - $16,575
6. croll103 - $11,934
7. CzarBushov - $7,690.80
8. foldorbebroke - $5,569.20
9. acap11 - $4,084.08

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Beginning Sunday Cereus Poker Network will offer Seven-Deuce No Limit Hold on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker.

The game will be exclusively unique to the two online poker sites. In order to be part of the game players must contribute a side bet ranging from 1.5 to 2 times the big blind. The size of the bet depends on the number of players at the table, four, six or nine. The side pot is awarded when a player wins a hand with seven/two hole cards.

“The seven deuce side pot adds an adrenaline pumping element to No Limit Hold ‘em that you need to experience to believe,” said Phil Hellmuth. “I once bluffed Mike Matusow off of two kings with seven/two as my whole cards. Everyone at the table was floored but I was on top of the world after collecting $500 a man for pulling it off with the worst hand in poker. Now this awsome side pot game is available at Ultimate Bet and hold ‘em will never be the same again.”

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In celebration of their latest software upgrade Full Tilt poker is offering the “Biggest Bonus Ever.” The promotion will offer players at least $100 in bonus money just for using the new software.

No deposit is necessary and any player who has earned at least one Full Tilt point before July 28, 2009 is eligible for the promotion. The “Biggest Bonus Ever” will end August 16.

The new software offers advanced filters by game type, table type, limit and stakes. Users can now add the specific filtered games to a “favorites” file, making it easier and faster to find wanted games.

A new lobby view and lobby widgets that allow players to keep track of statistics and promotion are part of the package. A hand replayer that allows players to replay every hand in any game they are seated in is one of the biggest upgrades.

Players at multi-table tournaments and sit & go final tables will also be allowed to make deals with fellow players to determine final payouts. There are now three different methods available for players to make a deal concerning all or part of the final prize pool money.

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Ultimate Bet Poker has announced the Aruba 25 Seat Satellite beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET August 2. 25 seats will be awarded to the Aruba Poker Classic in the$500 + $30 buy-in tournament. Each winner will receive an $8,500 prize package, $3,000 of which will be for travel and accommodations.

The Eight Annual Aruba Poker Classic, hosted by Ultimate Bet, will take place October 3 through October 10 at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino and Spa.

A $60 + $6 satellite will also be offered by Ultimate Bet on August 2, beginning at 2:45 p.m. ET. The top 15 finishers will be awarded prize packages.

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Online phenomenon Justin “BoostedJ” Smith has a new item to add to his list of accomplishments. After placing third in the 2009 Bellagio Cup and earning five cashes plus two final table appearances at the 2009 World Series of Poker, Smith is now a Full Tilt pro.

Smith was a well known online player but cemented himself as a live player to keep an eye on after his live tournament debut at the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe. Since then Smith has made close to $700,000 in live tournament winnings.  

At the conclusion of the 2009 WSOP Smith had proven himself to be a well rounded player, capable of playing with the best live players in the world. Smith’s five WSOP cashes ranged in games from Pot Limit Omaha, heads-up No Limit Texas Hold ‘em to Seven Card Stud Lowball.

Smith made his first WSOP final table appearance in the $10,000 World Championship No Limit 2-7 Lowball (Event 23) on June 10, finishing in ninth. Eight days later Smith was seated at his second WSOP final table, this time the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better (Event 37). Smith finished that event in eighth.  

As a Full Tilt pro Smith joins the ranks of Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Gavin Smith, Chip and Karina Jett and Svetlana Gromenkova.

hris

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Steve Schirripa of “The Sopranos” will host NBC’s first ever poker-themed game show “Face the Ace.”

The show that gives qualifiers the chance to play heads up against some of poker’s best players will debut with back to back Saturday showings on August 1, at 9 p.m. ET. The remaining seven episodes will air Saturday afternoons.

“Face the Ace” contestants have been selected from a group of qualifiers at facetheace.net and fulltiltpoker.net. Each contestant will get the chance to battle against three professional players for top prize of $1 million.

Contestants will select a pro from behind smoked-glass doors to play an initial heads-up No Limit Hold ‘em match with a prize of $40,000. If the contestant wins that match they will go on to another match with a different pro to play for $200,000. If the second match is won the contestant can play a third match against a third pro for $1 million. The contestants can choose to walk away with the money after each match. If they lose at any point, they walk away with nothing.

The pros will secure $10,000 for their charity of choice for each match they win.

The “Aces” will consist of Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel and Gavin Smith.

As a group the “Aces” have won 41 World Series of Poker bracelets, 11 World Poker Tour titles and amassed nearly $100 million in tournament winnings.

“Most people don’t get to compete against their favorite athletes in sports like football or basketball,” Schirripa said. “This show gives contestants and incomparable opportunity to test their skills against some of the best poker players in the world. The same people they’ve read about or watched on TV are the ones they have to defeat for a chance at life changing money.”

In addition to Schirripa, Ali Nejad of “Poker After Dark” will serve as tournament director and Megan Abrigo, Breifcase Model Number 6 on “Deal or No Deal” will be the hostess.

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ESPN will give poker fans the chance to get an inside glimpse at the lifestyles of some of their favorite pro poker players with the debut of “ESPN Inside Deal”, a web-only poker show at ESPN.com.

The three month series will begin on August 4 and will be hosted by ESPN The Magazine contributor Laura Lane, poker player and ESPN.com columnist Bernard Lee and ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman.

Viewers will be able to see never before seen hands and features from the World Series of Poker broadcast and have access to the latest poker news of the week. Viewers can also submit questions to their favorite players via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. The show will also feature a sweepstakes for fans to win a chance to witness the November Nine.

The show will conclude with the WSOP Main Event Final Table after analysis of and interviews with the  November Nine along the way.

The man often credited for the poker boom, 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymakerwill be the shows feature guest. 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem and 2004 Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu will also make appearances.

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Sports and poker fans will have the chance to compete for $10 million in prize money with the launch of the Sports Legends Challenge September 14 through 17 at the Atlantis Paradise Resort and Casino in the Bahamas.

Participants will compete with 25 top professional athletes and 25 top professional poker players in No Limit Hold ‘em, Blackjack, golf and slots over four days.

The event will culminate with the No Limit Hold ‘em Sports Legends All-Star Poker Challenge, matching up  the professional athletes with the top 25 players and poker pros as their coaches.

Athletes set to participate include Troy Aikman, Mike Ditka, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty, Sugar Ray Leonard, Emmitt Smith, Reggie Jackson, Tony Hawk, Randy Couture, Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.

Johnny Chan, Kathy Liebert, Mike Sexton, TJ Cloutier, David Singer, Gavin Smith, Layne Flack, Chip Jett, Karina Jett, Robert Willliamson III, Marco Traniello, Barbara Enright, Jamie Gold, Cyndy Violette and Antonio Esfandiari will represent professional poker players for the event.

“For most sports fans, the opportunity to meet just one of these athletes is something they would remember and talk about for the rest of their lives,” said Bruce Bibbero, founder and chief executive officer of Sports Legends Challenge. “We are creating an opportunity for participants to not only meet all of these athletes, but to spend significant amount of time with them playing poker, golf and hanging out for four fantastic days.”

Interested participants can find more information at sportslegendschallenge.com.

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PokerStars has announced the inaugural 2009 Americas Cup of Poker, a battle between 16 nations broken up into four teams.

Players from the countries of the United States, Canada, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay can play in any of PokerStars ACP daily freerolls, $.20 or $5.50 online qualifiers to earn points for their countries. Players from other nations can play for the three Wildcard spots.

The countries are broken up into four groups:

• Group A - United States, Mexico, Ecuardor, Wildcard 1
• Group B - Canada, Columbia, Uruguay, Wildcard 2
• Group C - Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica
• Group D - Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Wildcard 3

The two Nations with the most wins in each group will compete in the live final in the Argentine ski resort of Cerro Catedral in Bariloche set against the Andes mountains.

The five players with the most wins will make up the roster for the final tables and battle for $250,000 in prize money. The winning team’s players will split top prize of $100,000.

To add to the excitement a PokerStars Team Pro will be join the members of each team during the live final.

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Tuesday July, 28 will mark the beginning of ESPN’s weekly coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker. The action will get underway at 8 p.m. ET with the broadcast of the $40,000 No Limit Hold ‘em, an event special to the 2009 WSOP.

The 201 player field made up the biggest non-Main Event prize pool in WSOP history with a total of $7,700,000. The winner walked away with $1,900,000 after three days of play.

Coverage will begin with commentators Norman Chad and Lon McEachern walking viewers through the final table that featured 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer and five-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest.

ESPN will air coverage of the 2009 WSOP every Tuesday until the Main Event live final table on November 10.

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The G4 Network will air the first episode of “2 Months, $2 Million,” August 16th at 9 p.m. The show followed online pros Dani “Ansky” Stern, Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, Emil “Whitelime” Patel and Brian “Flawless_Victory” Roberts for two months as they attempted to earn $2 million.

The four players used their own money to finance their buy-ins and resided in a 10,000 square foot mansion equpied with a “War Room” and “Tilt Room.”

The “War Room” was a converted home theater holding four 50 inch plasma monitors connected to each players computer through hi-definition converters. The “Tilt Room” was stocked with hockey sticks, baseball bats, watermelon and heads of lettuce, at the ready when the players needed to blow off steam.

The premier episode will show the four players moving in and getting acquaintedwith their new place of residence. The remaining nine half hour episodes will follow the players as they rack up $5,000 bar tabs and look for ladies at the hottest pools on the strip.

The four will also play a live cash game with Erica Shoenberg, play high stakes online games with David Benyamine and have dinner with Tom “Durrr” Dwan.

The show will be full of poker player antics as well. Each week the player who loses the most will find himself on the wrong end of a prop-bet, each bet getting more extreme as the weeks go on. One player will end up wearing a tu-tu to an expensive restaurant while another will be forced to play a harp on the Strip in exchange for tips from tourists.

The four young guns, Patel, 25, Rosenkrantz, 25, Stern, 22 all from New York and Roberts, 26 from Texas will give viewers an inside look at the lives of online professional poker players.

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Sunday was a big day for some of online poker’s pros during the PokerStars and Full Tilt Sunday Majors. Aguskb, Danneville and GAkingChaser each rounded out their weekends as winners in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15), the sunday Million ($200 + $15) and the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15).

All three players made their largest career cashes with their respective wins.

KtownCicero, Liinda14 and 21boo21ended the weekend on high notes as the victors in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 guarunteed ($200 + $16), the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16) and the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl ($240 + $16)

The results from the final tables of the Sunday Majors are:

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 4,303
Prize Pool: $750,000

1. Aguskb - $135,010.93
2. Daddddymufff - $100,259.91
3. HEMIpowerSWT - $70,999.51
4. Jane Smith - $48,623.91
5. UNCGuy - $36,575.51
6. Wackworm - $27,969.51
7. dippedydawg - $19,363.51
8. ILAN17 - $10,757.51
9. blend84 - $6,884.81

PokerStars Sunday Million ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 8,342
Prize Pool: $1,500,000

1. Danneville - $245,421.65
2. Skammes - $179,353.01
3. domino16 - $125,130.01
4. ThePokerBody - $83,420.01
5. KingGorn - $66,736.01
6. BREAKURFACE - $50,052.01
7. asbo22 - $33,368.01
8. FreeLancerZZ - $18,352.41
9. buttonsAAAA - $12,930.11

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 1,440
Prize Pool: $200,000

1. GAkingChaser - $52,070.40
2. LuKeYnOey - $37,728
3. jakehekejnr - $28,800
4. zakooza - $21,600
5. BleedBlue33 - $15,120
6. jovo-kk21 - $12,240
7. tnetter - $9,360
8. Anbessa9 - $6,480
9. Fiskin1 - $4, 032

Full Tilt Poker $750,000 guarunteed ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 4,401
Prize Pool: $880,200

1. KtownCicero - $155,342.52
2. HITTHEPANDA - $94,093.38
3. Crazyz987 - $61,614
4. feltingfools - $48,411
5. wvumaniac2 - $36,352.26
6. jba1986 - $26,934.12
7. Kishotti - $20,244.60
8. 00s - $15,843.60
9. chkrazethedevil - $11,794.68

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 1,348
Prize Pool: $269,600

1. Liinda14 - $59,312
2. robert07 - $37,744
3. CzGLoRy - $27,634
4. TheGuerreiro - $21,905
5. Mike McDonald - $16,850
6. theAlternate - $12,132
7. Anguz - $7,818.40
8. matthew66 - $5,661.60
9. MrQuist - $4,151.84

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl ($240 + $16)
Entrants: 2,600
Prize Pool: $520,000

1. 21boo21 - $105,560
2. Vincent1204 - $68,120
3. bullrotx313 - $50,440
4. lakenut42 - $37,960
5. artbrancusi - $26,520
6. s33dsnb33r - $17,680
7. qasem2000 - $11,960
8. JohnnyM77 - $ 8,320
9. Edelweys - $6,240

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After Russia’s announcement that the designation of “sport” had been removed from the game of pokermany players were left wondering what would become of the European Poker Tour event scheduled in Moscow August 17 through 23.

PokerStars has announced the late August stop on the tour has been moved to Kiev, Ukraine. The event will run from August 18 through August 23 and take place at the Kiev Sports Palace. The event will be under the authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth, Family and Sport in partnership with the Ukrainian Poker Federation.

With the closing of all poker clubs in Russia, PokerStars decided to move the tournament due to doubts about the ability to run a successful event.

PokerStars is now encouraging players who were planning on attending the Moscow event to consider attending the alternate event in Kiev.

Players who qualified through satellite tournaments for the Moscow event will have their tournament packages converted, including buy-in and hotel, to EPT Kiev packages. If satellite qualifiers do not wish to attend the new event they can chose to be given a credit to a future event or receive a cash equivalent.

Unlike Russia the Ukraine does not require players from the United States, the European Union and Canada to obtain a visa before entering the country for less than 90 days.

The buy- in for the EPT Kiev Sports Poker Championship Main Event will be 5,000 Euros. The event is expected to be the largest poker tournament ever held in the Ukraine.

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Leo Margets was presented with the Last Woman Standing Cup by WickedChopsPoker.com at the end of Day 6.

At the end of Day 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event 98.4 percent of the field was made up of X and Y chromosomes. The other 1.6 percent, the lone player with two X’s in a field of 64 players, was Leonor “Leo” Margets of Barcelona.

Playing in her first major tournament Margets now has the distinction of being the last woman standing in the WSOP Main Event. With her stack of 3,410,000 chips in front of her, Margets joins the ranks of Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Marsha Waggoner and Annie Duke.

“I am playing the best poker I have ever played and it is paying off, I’ve actually never played so good. Sometimes you can play good and it doesn’t pay off but this time it is,” Margets said.

She was aware that she was one of two women remaining when it came down to her and Nichoel Peppe. “Everyone was commenting on it and I saw the last hand Nichoel played.” But Margets was not in it to be the last woman standing. “I would rather lose to Nichoel heads up, because she is a great player, than finish in 100th and be the last woman in,” she said.

The petite beauty from Spain outlasted former Main Event winners Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Greg Raymer and reigning champion Peter Eastgate. For her commendable achievement Margets was awarded a special trophy from the Entities at WickedChopsPoker.com. The trophy is a gold cup with the names of all the last ladies standing since 1986 when Wendeen Eolis came in 25th.

When play concluded for the day Margets was presented with her prize just after she finished bagging her chips. She smiled and held the trophy above her head. “This is my cup,” she proclaimed as she showed it to her friends who had been fixed at the rail all day cheering her on.

There are two years missing from the trophy, 2001 and 2002, because not a single woman cashed those years. With her deep run in 2009 Margets has added one more year to the list for ladies in the Main Event.

In order to break the record for the highest finishing woman in the Main Event Margets will need to finish in fourth place or higher. If she busts in fifth she will tie the record set by Enright in 1995.

If she has the unfortunate distinction of bubbling the final table she will not be the first female to come so close but not go all the way. Tenth place belonged to Barbara Samuelson in 1994, Isaacs in 1998 and Duke in 2000.

Margets has only been playing poker for three years and said it was “satisfying” to be doing so well in such a big event. Her only other cash was on June 12 at the 2009 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III when she came in 39th in the $500 No Limit Hold ‘em (Event 16).

She will return for Day 7 on Tuesday at 12 p.m. and continue in her attempt to become the first female Main Event winner.

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