Lance Bradley Blog

Poker legend Amarillo Slim passed away Sunday at age 83. (photo courtesy University of Nevada Las Vegas)

Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston, 1972 World Series of Poker Main Event champion and four-time WSOP bracelet winner, died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 83.

In mid-April Preston was admitted to a hospice care facility in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas. His family released a statement Sunday afternoon confirming the poker legend’s passing.

“We hope everyone will remember our beloved Amarillo Slim for all the positive things he did for poker and to popularize his favorite game – Texas Hold’em,” the statement read.

“Slim will forever be remembered as the most famous poker player of the 20th Century. But he was much more than just a poker player and gambler,” said Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director. “He was a real life character, stealing just about every scene on which he appeared on the greater stage of life. There will never be another quite like him.”

Many credit Preston for creating the blueprint for poker players as mainstream celebrities. Following his win in the 1972 WSOP, Preston was a guest of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show – the first of 11 Tonight Show appearances he would make during his career. He was the first poker player to appear on the Tonight Show and helped introduce poker to millions of Americans by appearing on other TV shows including What’s My Line, Good Morning America and To Tell the Truth.

Prior to the first WSOP in 1970, Preston travelled throughout Texas and surrounding states with Doyle Brunson and Brian “Sailor” Roberts playing in cash games. Roberts died in 1995 and Brunson and Preston remained friends, speaking as recently as last week. Sunday, Brunson remembered Preston as a friend, a gambler and a great promoter of poker.

“We had seven years together with Sailor. We spent countless hours after our games broke up dealing different hands, trying to determine the odds, etc. We were years ahead of our time and nobody will ever know how dominant we actually were in the early years of Hold’em,” said Brunson. “While Slim wasn’t quite as good a player as Sailor or myself, he was the best that ever lived at promoting games and getting different players to try us out.”

Preston knew how to use his name to promote a product. In 1979 he launched Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker, a $10,000 buy-in event that ran at various Nevada casinos until 1991. At its peak it was considered the second most prestigious poker tournament behind only the WSOP.

Preston also wrote two books during his career. Play Poker to Win, a strategy book, hit bookshelves in 1973 while Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People, his memoir, came out in 2003.

Along with his 1972 Main Event title, Preston won a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 1974 and $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha events (1985 and 1990). He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992.

Preston is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.

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Full Tilt Poker could be back up and running in no time.

Speculation has been running rampant for months now that Groupe Bernard Tapie was on the verge of finalizing the acquisition of Full Tilt Poker assets.However, early Tuesday morning the company announced they are no longer pursuing a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice. Instead, sources are reporting that the Full Tilt Poker’s largest competitor before Black Friday, PokerStars, has taken its place.

In a move that caught most industry observers off-guard, reports indicate PokerStars has reached and agreement with the DOJ to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker and pay back all players balances stuck on the site since Black Friday, a number in excess of $300 million.

Neither PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker have released any statement confirming or denying that a deal is in place while the DOJ refused to comment on the rumors Tuesday morning.

UPDATE: PokerStars released the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

We’ve had a lot of enquiries and there’s lots of speculation on the forums, so I wanted to address the PokerStars chatter. As you know, PokerStars is in settlement discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice. As such settlement discussions are always confidential, we are unable to comment on rumors. As soon as we have information to share publicly we will do so. – Eric Hollreiser, Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars

The long-rumored deal that had Bernard Tapie buying Full Tilt Poker and re-launching the site in the coming weeks apparently hit a snag this week. Tapie issued a statement early Tuesday afternoon confirming that they are no longer in the running to rescue Full Tilt.

“Groupe Bernard Tapie regrets to announce that, after seven months of intensive work, our efforts to obtain final approval of the United States Department of Justice of the agreement to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker have ended without success,” the statement read. GBT suggested that they were unable to reach an agreement with the DOJ on the repayment of players. It is widely believed that the Tapie Groupe was unable to come up with enough funds to secure the assets and arrange for players to be paid back.

BluffMagazine.com will have more on this story as it continues to develop.

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Monte Carlo is the city for extravagance. The streets are filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys and $50 gets you a cheeseburger (no fries). That makes it the perfect host for EPT Grand Final Super High Roller which comes with a buy-in of €100,000 or roughly $130,000 US.

The event, which is a re-entry event, brought out 38 players on Day 1 including four who busted out only to find the courage – and bankroll – to fire another bullet.

The name on the top of the leaderboard after Day 1 is Talal Shakerchi. He bagged up 1,165,000 and is the only player over the million chip mark. Anybody who has closely followed poker in 2012 won’t be shocked at all to hear that Jonathan Duhamel sits second with 779,000.

At the end of Day 1 ten players were left with no chips to play with. Sam Trickett, Mike McDonald, Daniel Cates, Jason Mercier, Artem Litvinov, Govert Metaal, Viktor Blom, Gus Hansen and Leon Tsoukernik all busted on Day 1.

Players can re-enter until the end of Level 8 on Tuesday and two players, Hansen and Tsoukernik, plan to do just that. Blom, who busted on one of the final hands of the night, may also drop another €100,000 for a shot at the winner’s share of the roughly €4.5 million ($5.9 million US) prizepool.

EPT Grand Final Super High Roller Chip Counts

1. Talal Shakerchi – 1,165,000
2. Jonathan Duhamel – 779,000
3. Dan Shak – 670,000
4. Tobias Reinkemeier – 639,000
5. Sorel Mizzi – 593,000
6. Phil Ivey – 532,000
7. Philipp Gruissem – 487,000
8. Vanessa Selbst – 485,000
9. Bryn Kenney – 455,000
10. Tony G – 442,000

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Season 8 EPT Campione Champion Jannick Wrang (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddart)

It seems like the Danes are taking over the European Poker Tour. Jannick Wrang became the third consecutive EPT champion on Saturday afternoon when he beat a final table that included Fabrice Soulier and Olivier Busquet.

Wrang takes home $854,000 US and a Shamballa Jewels bracelet for the win. He joins fellow Danes Mickey Peterson, who won EPT Copenhagen in February, and Frederick Jensen, who won EPT Madrid in March as EPT champions.

Busquet, who has a WPT title to his credit, finished runner-up for $574,000. The American poker pro now has over $3 million in lifetime live earnings. WSOP bracelet winner Soulier finished third for $320,000.

The final table took nearly 14 hours to finish with Wrang and Busquet playing heads-up for just 90 minutes.

The next EPT stop is April 16 – 21 in Berlin, Germany.

EPT Campione Final Table Payouts

1. Jannick Wrang – £640,000 ($854,000 US)
2. Olivier Busquet – £430,000 ($574,000 US)
3. Fabrice Soulier – £240,000 ($320,000 US)
4. Balazs Botond – £157,000 ($210,000 US)
5. Koen De Visscher – £124,000 ($165,000 US)
6. Mario Nagel – £92,000 ($123,000 US)
7. Stefano Puccilli – £71,500 ($95,400 US)
8. Robin Ylitalo – £54,000 ($72,000 US)

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Leading the EPT Campione is none other than Fabrice Soulier.

The final table of the first ever European Poker Tour stop in Campione, Italy can really only be described in one way: star-studded. The two men at the top, Fabrice Soulier and Olivier Busquet, have combined for over $6,000,000 in lifetime earnings, a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title.

Soulier leads the way with 3,480,000 with Busquet not far behind with 3,011,000. Busquet rocketed to second overall when he eliminated Simeon Naydenov on the last hand of the day. Jannick Wrang, who was chipleader when play began, is not far off with 2,882,000. The remaining five players all fall behind the 2,137,500 chip average.

That group of five players includes former Italian Poker Tour Player of the Year Stefano Puccili, an SCOOP Champion in Mario Nagel and Balazs Botond who can brag over $1.3 million in online MTT earnings.

The final 24 players took only 4.5 hours to play down to the final eight. Along the way two former EPT champions, David Vamplew and Ronnie Kaiser, were eliminated. Vamplew, who finished 10th, and Kaiser, who finished 22nd, were looking to become the first ever two-time EPT champion.

The final table will be broadcast live on PokerStars.tv beginning at 8 am EST Saturday.

EPT Campione Final Table Chip Counts

1. Fabrice Soulier – 3,480,000
2. Olivier Busquet – 3,011,000
3. Jannick Wrang – 2,882,000
4. Balazs Botond – 2,080,000
5. Koen De Visscher – 1,856,000
6. Stefano Puccilli – 1,450,000
7. Mario Nagel – 1,210,000
8. Robin Ylitalo – 1,153,000

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EPT Campione Day 3 chipleader Jannick Wrang (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddart)

Jannick Wrang finds himself on top of the leaderboard at EPT Campione with only 24 players remaining following Day 3 action. Wrang bagged up 1,742,000 chips when play was halted Wednesday and is well out in front of Fabrice Soulier who finished with 1,230,000 and the second biggest remaining stack.

Olivier Busquet could be in line for his second major title after finishing with 973,000 – the seventh biggest stack. Busquet won the  WPT’s Borgata Poker Open in 2009. Two former EPT winners are still in contention for the title. David Vamplew, who won EPT London in 2010, and Ronny Kaiser, who won EPT Tallinn in 2011 both survived the day and could become the first player to win two EPT events. Vamplew has 747,000 chips and is just above the 712,500 average stack while Kaiser is the shortest remaining stack with 169,000.

The 75 players eliminated on Wednesday included 11 players that busted prior to the bubble but Liv Boeree, Betrand Grospellier and Day 1b chipleader Nicolas Chouity all busted Campione with another cash on their record.

The final 24 players return to action Thursday to will play down to an eight-handed TV final table which will be broadcast live on PokerStars.tv on Friday beginning at 8 am EST.

EPT Campione Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Jannick Wrang – 1,742,000
2. Fabrice Soulier – 1,230,000
3. Robin Ylitalo – 1,221,000
4. Mario Nagel – 1,125,000
5. Simeon Naydenov – 1,076,000
6. Ramin Hajiyev – 1,000,000
7. Olivier Busquet – 973,000
8. Alexandre Andermatt – 968,000
9. Koen De Visscher – 858,000
10. Giuseppe Biancoviso – 820,000

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Campione, Italy is known for being one of the most beautiful settings in Europe but on Tuesday the European Poker Tour stop there looked more like poker’s version of the killing fields. The day began with 325 players all vying for the €640,000 ($852,838 US) first place prize but through eight levels of play only 99 were left standing.

Sitting atop the chip counts after a hectic Day 2 is Balazs Botond. The Hungarian bagged up 646,000 chips at the end of the day and now finds himself well ahead of the rest of the field. Ronny Kaiser, Botond’s closest competitor, finished with 506,500.

There are some familiar faces near the top of the leaderboard. None more familiar than former EPT champion David Vamplew. The former EPT London winner sits fourth with 412,900 while Olivier Busquet’s stack of 353,100 puts him in seventh overall. Liv Boeree sits just outside the top 10 with 300,900.

The 226 players that busted included Melanie Weisner, Patrik Antonius, Alex Kravchenko, Steve O’Dwyer, Faraz Jaka, Chris Moorman and David Peters. Former MMA fighter Heath Herring also saw his tournament end on Day 2.

Day 3 action resumes at noon local time and will play another eight levels. The money bubble should burst early in Day 3 with 88 players cashing.

EPT Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Balazs Botond – 646,000
2. Ronny Kaiser – 506,500
3. Alexander Andermatt – 436,000
4. David Vamplew – 412,900
5. Stefano Demontis – 382,400
6. Massimiliano Bellon Bellucci – 364,000
7. Olivier Busquet – 353,100
8. Roberto Romanello – 331,000
9. Ivo Donev – 317,500
10. Primoz Adamie – 307,000

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As is the case with most European Poker Tour events it was Day 1b that brought out the crowds and the big names. The second of two starting days brought out 392 players – more than double the Day 1a starting field – and at the end of the day it was Lebanese poker pro Nicolas Chouity who topped them all.

Chouity finished the eight levels of play with 165,800. Just behind him is Andrea Benelli with 163,400. Neither one of those players though were able to best the Day 1a performance of Davide Andreoni who bagged up 175,100 just one day earlier.

The 570 player field put the total prizepool at €2,764,500 ($3,683,717 US) with 88 players cashing and first place taking home €640,000 ($852,838 US). Only 218 players made it through Day 1b for a total of 325 players returning for Day 2 action.

There are more than a few of the game’s best who won’t be making it back after seeing their tournament end early. Bertrand Grospellier, Steve O’Dwyer, Andy Frankenberger, Vanessa Selbst, Martin Staszko, Michael Tureniec and Filippo Candio all busted before the end of play Tuesday.

EPT Campione Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Nicolas Chouity – 165,800
2. Andrea Benelli – 163,400
3. Stefano Demontis – 154,700
4. Andrey Gulyy – 138,000
5. Andras Kovacs – 131,900
6. Calvin Anderson – 126,500
7. Andrey Demidov – 125,500
8. Jannick Wrang – 121,400
9. Fabrice Soulier – 115,700
10. Bryan Piccioli – 112,900

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EPT Campione Day 1 chipleader Davide Andreoni. (photo courtesy Neil Stoddart / PokerStars)

One of the newest stops on the European Poker Tour kicked off Monday and to nobody’s surprise a homegrown hero leads the way after Day 1a in Campione, Italy.

Italian Davide Andreoni finished the day with 175,100 which gives him slim lead over Nick Yunis who finished with 169,200. Chile’s Yunis has two previous EPT cashes both in San Remo, Italy.

The first of two starting days drew 178 players and 107 managed to make it through the eight levels of play. A couple of notable players included in the 107 survivors include Alex Kravchenko (23,600) and EPT cashing machine Luca Pagano (16,200).

There were also few familiar faces to bust out on Day 1 including  McLean Karr, James Dempsey, Pierre Neuville, Mads Wissing and Theo Jorgensen.

Day 1b is likely to be a much busier day with a number of players making their way to the small Italian city for the €5,300 buy-in event.

EPT Campione Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Davide Andreoni – 175,100
2. Nick Yunis – 169,200
3. Grigorij Orlov – 154,200
4. Primoz Adamie – 138,400
5. Claudio Leonardo Pagano – 130,700
6. Panagiotis Gavriulidis – 125,700
7. Jose Severino – 121,200
8. Jean Philippe Peyratoux – 119,800
9. Ivan Skobolov – 114,700
10. Dario Nittolo – 107,600

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Poker fans love to sweat their favorite players. Up until now that meant simply cheering from the sidelines with nearly no vested interest but a new venture launched by Poker Royalty looks to change that and they’re bringing some heavyweights of the poker world with them. iSeriesLIVE allows fans to watch online with hole cards and bet on their favorite players and the action live as the tournament unfolds in front of them

The brainchild of Poker Royalty founder Brian Balsbaugh, iSeriesLIVE features some of the world’s most well known poker pros in events designed to give fans a completely new poker-viewing experience. Fans can place bets throughout the event on not just who will win, but who will be the next player eliminated, the color of the flop and last-longers between any two remaining players on PaddyPower.com.

The first event is a winner-take-all ten person sit-n-go scheduled for April 5 in Dublin, Ireland. The buy-in for the event is €10,000 ($13,200) and will include ten players: Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen, Maria Ho, Faraz Jaka, James Dempsey, Eoghan O’Dea, Tobias Reinkemeier, David “Devilfish” Ulliott and Marvin Rettenmaier.

“For poker to continue to grow, the game needs to become more immediate to our fans,” said Hellmuth. “By allowing fans to view a poker event as it actually happens, with hole cards exposed, and bet on the action just as they would on football or horse racing, iSeriesLIVE can help take our game to the next level. ‘”

All players will be sequestered throughout the tournament and will not have any access to mobile devices or the internet to ensure the players are not getting hole card information until the tournament is over.

The revenues from the live betting will be split amongst the players in accordance with how much was bet on them and against them and that was a key in the development of iSeriesLIVE for Balsbaugh.

“After Black Friday, we were determined to find a way to add new revenue streams for our world class roster of talent,” said Balsbaugh. “We are fronting the expenses, then sharing the wagering profits with the participating players. There are countless additional ways for us to monetize this model and we look forward to rolling them out over the course of the next year. Our end goal is to pay players for playing iSeriesLIVE events.”

The live betting option is not available to U.S. customers but the live broadcast will still be available. iSeriesLIVE has plans to add more events in the future including six-max and heads-up events. For more info visit www.iSeriesLIVE.com.

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EPT Madrid Champ Frederik Jensen. (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddart)

After a little more than 12 hours Jensen had watched Ibañez bust in fifth and after the final three players agreed to a deal and Andrei Stoenescu was eliminated in third, Jensen was heads-up with MacIntyre for the €110,000 left on the table to play for and the title.

Jensen made quick work of MacIntyre to clinch the first major title of his poker career and €495,000. MacIntyre, who started the day second in chips, pocketed €290,000 thanks to the deal. Stoenescu wound up with €330,000.

Ibañez, who couldn’t continue the momentum he had to end Day 4, finished fifth for €115,000.

The next EPT stop is in Campione, Italy from March 26 – 31.

EPT Madrid Final Table Payouts

1. Frederik Jensen – €495,000*
2. Fraser MacIntyre - €290,000*
3. Andrei Stoenescu - €330,000*
4. Bruno Lopes - €140,000
5. Ricardo Ibañez - €115,000
6. Ilan Boujenah - €92,000
7. Nicolas Levi - €69,450
8. Jason Duval - €48,000

* Numbers reflect a deal made between the final three players.

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EPT Madrid Final Table chipleader Ricard Ibanez. (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddard)

The railbirds in Madrid are going to go crazy come Saturday afternoon when the final eight players return to the action at EPT Madrid. The last Spaniard remaining, Ricardo Ibañez, is leading the way after Day 4 action wrapped up Friday afternoon. Ibañez finished with 3,216,000.

Fraser MacIntyre is the closest threat to Ibañez with 2,473,000. Frederik Jensen sits in third with 2,144,000. Andrei Stoenescu, with 1,974,000, is the only other player above the average chip stack  of 1,788,750. Stoenescu is the man responsible for denying Michael McDonald’s shot at history on the final table bubble. McDonald, hoping to become the first person to win two EPT titles, was eliminated when his pocket tens couldn’t hold against the A K of Stoenescu.

The shortest remaining stack belongs to Nicolas Levi. The French poker pro will have his work cut out for him with only 709,000 and blinds of 15,000/30,000 with a 4,000 ante.

The player that came into Day 4 with the lead was João Paulo Simão but he wasn’t able to maintain it and was eliminated in 15th place.

The final table begins at 7 am ET and will be streaming live on PokerStars.tv.

EPT Madrid Final Table Chip Counts

1. Ricardo Ibañez – 3,216,000
2. Fraser MacIntyre – 2,473,000
3. Frederik Jensen – 2,144,000
4. Andrei Stoenescu – 1,974,000
5. Bruno Lopes – 1,452,000
6. Ilan Boujenah – 1,382,000
7. Jason Duval – 963,000
8. Nicolas Levi – 709,000

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Only 23 players stand between João Paulo Simão and the EPT Madrid title after Day 3 action at the Casino Gran Madrid. Simão finished the day off by eliminating two players and bagging up 1,973,000 chips.

Only two other players have crossed the 1,000,000 chip mark. Ilan Boujenah, who has had a top ten chip stack each day of EPT Madrid, finished with 1,153,000 while Bruno Lopes is hot on his tail with 1,103,000.

Mike McDonald sits in fifth place and has a shot at being the first former EPT champion to claim a second crown. McDonald, who won EPT Dortmund in 2008 wrapped up Day 3 play with 883,000. Nicholas Levi is the most recognizable name outside of the top ten. The Frenchman’s 526,000 chips sits just below the nearly 596,000 average.

A few notable names found their tournament come to an end on Thursday but a few managed to make their way to the cashier cage to pick up some hard earned cash. Melanie Weisner finished 28th, Olivier Busquet finished 34th, Alex Kravchenko finished 35th and Kevin MacPhee 36th – all taking home €11,000. The unfortunate bubble boy was McLean Karr.

The final 24 players will return to the felt at 7 am ET Friday morning to a final table of eight.

EPT Madrid Top Ten Chip Counts

1. João Paulo Simão – 1,973,000
2. Ilan Boujenah – 1,153,000
3. Bruno Lopes – 1,103,000
4. Jason Duval – 946,000
5. Mike McDonald – 883,000
6. Siyu Sha – 848,000
7. Clayton Mozdzen – 783,000
8. Taylor Paur – 734,000
9. Fraser Macintyre – 717,000
10. Ricardo Ibanez Rodriguez – 635,000

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WSOP Circuit Atlantic City winner Ryan Eriquezzo.

Monday was a big day in the life of 27-year-old Ryan Eriquezzo. The poker pro from Connecticut booked the biggest cash of his career by taking down the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Atlantic City.

Eriquezzo finished atop the 641-player field, the largest WSOP Circuit Main Event ever held in Atlantic CIty, for the second gold ring win of his career and an impressive $191,194.

“No doubt, this was the biggest win of my life,” Eriquezzo said. “This was as tough a table as I’ve played and I could not be happier.”

The win pushed Eriquezzo’s lifetime earnings over $500,000. His previous biggest score was $71,978 from a win at the Borgata Winter Open in 2011.

David Zeitlin finished as runner-up and earned $118,307. Former poker reporter Garry Gates finished fourth for $64,530 – the single biggest cash in his career. Roland Israelashvili, who won this event in 2010, finished sixth for $37,148.

The field size this year was up 45% over 2011′s Main Event thanks to the re-entry format for the Main Event. Players who busted from the first flight on Day 1 could play in the second flight as well.

The next stop on the WSOP Circuit is at Harrah’s Rincon beginning on March 15. The $1,620 buy-in Main Event gets underway on Saturday, March 24.

WSOP Circuit Atlantic City Final Table Payouts

1. Ryan Eriquezzo – $191,194
2. David Zeitlin – $118,307
3. Troy Erickson – $86,774
4. Garry Gates – $64,530
5. Eugene Fouksman – $48,638
6. Roland Israelashvili – $37,148
7. Jeremy Halaska – $28,744
8. Ryan Higgins – $22,533
9. Tyler Kenney – $17,888

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The Day 1a leader at EPT Madrid: Sergiy Baranov. (photo courtesy Neil Stoddard)

Of the 125 players who played on Day 1a of EPT Madrid it was Ukranian Sergiy Baranov who wound up with the most to show for it. Through the eight levels of play Baranov finished with 152,500 and the end-of-day chip lead.

The opening day field was small due in part to the massive field in the special Sixth Anniversary Sunday Million on PokerStars Sunday which had a 33,732 player field. The Day 1b field is expected to be much larger.

Baranov has some company at the top however as Anton Ionel sits only 10,000 behind with 142,500. Only 67 players survived the day including Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman (51,900), Alex Kravchenko (28,900) and Arnaud Mattern (18,500).

Two members of the 2011 November Nine took the felt on Monday but Eoghan O’Dea and Martin Staszko both found the rail before day’s end. Other notable players that didn’t see the end of the day included J.C. Alvarado, Pierre Neuville, J.P. Kelly and James Dempsey.

Day 1b gets underway at 7 am ET. The final two days of EPT Madrid will be streamed online at PokerStars.tv.

EPT Madrid Top Ten Day 1a Chip Counts

1. Sergiy Baranov – 152,500
2. Anton Ionel – 142,500
3. Efren Louzao – 130,100
4. Andries Swart – 119,800
5. Alexander Petersen – 113,500
6. Javier Etayo – 112,000
7. Dobromir Nikov – 101,900
8. Martins Adeniya – 95,000
9. Anton Kraous – 94,900
10. Ziv Caspi – 94,400

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