Lance Bradley Blog

Poker programming on mainstream television has always been a two-hour final table broadcast, cash game action or more recently a game show mash-up. However Wednesday night marks a new direction for poker on TV with the debut of Poker2Nite on Fox Sports Net.

Hosted by Joe Sebok and Scott Huff, the 30 minute show will cover all the current events from inside the poker world both online and live. Sebok and Huff have worked together in some capacity for years now most recently on PokerRoad.

Episodes begin airing Wednesday night at 11 pm local time with repeats scheduled for Thursdays at 4 pm and Fridays at 11 am and 6 pm. Check local listings for the time in your area.

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The new look of the online poker tables at UB.com.

Online poker players have used the moniker “UB” for over ten years and now UltimateBet will simply be known as UB Poker an will be found at a new domain name, www.UB.com.

The move from the old company name to UB.com comes complete with some software updates and a much improved tournament schedule. Company executives are promising that the new branding initiative isn’t just about a fancy new logo but a new way of doing business.

“The launch of UB.com represents a turning point for our company. We have assembled a great group of professionals who are passionate about poker to build the UB brand. Our goal is to create products and services that poker players really want,” said Paul Leggett, Chief Operating Officer of Tokwiro, the parent company for UB Poker. “We are trying to listen very carefully to both our players and the poker community to help us achieve this goal.”

Critics will point to the superuser scandal of 2008 as the reason behind the new corporate identity but Leggett stresses it’s all about returning the company to the players.

“The launch of UB.com is not just a new domain with a different logo, it’s much more than that. It’s a complete new direction for UB. It’s software built with the serious poker player in mind,” said Leggett. “And finally, it’s tournaments and promotions that poker players care about.”

Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth and Joe Sebok will continue to represent UB Poker at international tournaments around the world. All three will also have input into the day-to-day operations of the company.

“In the ten years since I have been involved with the UB brand, I have never been prouder to represent the company as much as I am right now. We have great people captaining the ship, we have a great vibe and some serious swagger. I look forward to the day when we are the largest poker site on the planet,” said Hellmuth.

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Seven days ago Joe Cada sat across from Darvin Moon in pursuit of a world championship at the WSOP Main Event. Monday night he sat ringside at Madison Square Garden for World Wrestling Entertainment’s Monday Night Raw along with his agent Dan Frank and fellow Team PokerStars member Dennis Phillips for a Main Event of a different kind.

Towards the end of the two-hour episode RAW the three appeared behind the announcer’s table. Cada is slowly adjusting to life as world champ and the chance to be at Madison Square Garden was, apparently, too good to pass up.

“Life has gotten real interesting all of a sudden. Tonight I was ringside at WWE Monday Night Raw, tomorrow I’m taping with David Letterman and I’ll be playing in a cash game backstage with the Late Show production crew, capping it off with seats on the glass for the New York Ranger game,” said Cada. “I highly recommend playing poker for a living and shipping the Main Event. I’m very grateful”

Cada will be appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday along with Phillips.

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Jeffrey Pollack

Jeffrey Pollack’s run as World Series of Poker Commissioner is over after four years.

Pollack first joined Harrah’s in 2005 and set about to increase the global awareness of the brand. Under his watch the WSOP added events in Europe, partnered with Annie Duke and Don Cheadle to build a top flight celebrity poker event and increased corporate sponsorship of the WSOP.

Pollack also was at the helm when Ty Stewart, Craig Abrahams and Seth Palansky were hired. His final day on the job is Friday, November 13.

“We appreciate Jeffrey’s contributions over the past four years and wish him the best in the future. The World Series of Poker remains the market leader with this year’s tournament exceeding all expectations, and we are well positioned for the future,” said a WSOP spokesperson.

“There is no intention at this time to replace the Commissioner role,” the spokesperson said.

The split comes as little surprise to some observers given that the official website, WSOP.com, is being turned into an online poker room. The hiring of form PartyGaming CEO Mitch Garber put him in charge of the monetization efforts and operations leaving Pollack with less control.

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Cornel Cimpan erased a nearly 4-1 chip defecit to eliminate Soheil Shamseddin heads-up Tuesday night at Foxwoods to take down the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals and collect his second WPT title of 2009.

Cimpan’s share of the prizepool was $910,058 - slightly more than half of the $1,686,760 he won in February for winning the LA Poker Classic. Cimpan chipped away at small pots and eliminated only Shamseddin from the final six players instead letting Shamseddin do most of the heavy lifting.

After shortstack Lee Markholt was eliminated by Matt Stout in sixth place Shamseddin went on a tear with a hot deck. First he got into a coinflip with 2 2 against the A Q of Curt Kohlberg. After the flop of A Q 5 Kohlberg was in control but the 2 on the river allowed Shamseddin to collect his first elimination of the night.

Next on the hit list was Eric Froehlich who was unable to make big slick catch up to the pocket fours of Shamseddin. Cimpan was hanging back as Shamseddin and Stout traded the chip lead back and forth until the two finally met in a big pot. With the board showing K K 4[ 3 all the money went into the middle. Shamseddin held K 9 for trip kings but Stout held 6 5 for a flush. The 9 on the river however filled up Shamseddin. A few hands later Shamseddin finished off Stout with pocket queens against K J.

When heads up play began Shamseddin held 8,020,000 chips to the 2,570,000 of Cimpan. One of the key hands came when Cimpan doubled up with Q Q against the A K of Shamseddin. Shamseddin then ran Ax Jx into the pocket aces of Cimpan to double him up yet again. The final hand came down to the A J of Cimpan against the K J of Shamseddin. The board rand dry and Cimpan added another title to his collection.

The next WPT stop is the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic running from December 14 - 19.

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Payouts

1. Cornel Cimpan - $910,058
2. Soheil Shamseddin - $463,332
3. Matt Stout - $265,710
4. Eric Froehlich - $232,496
5. Curt Kohlberg - $199,283
6. Lee Markholt - $166,069

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Joe Cada becomes youngest WSOP ME Champ in history.

Peter Eastgate, step aside. Joe Cada rode a roller coaster of a chip stack and emotions late Monday night into Tuesday morning to defeat Maryland logger Darvin Moon to win the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. In the process the 21 year old Cada - he turns 22 next week - became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever. 

Many pundits were predicting a quick night and they nearly got exactly that on the first hand of the night. Moon limped from the small blind and Cada raised to 3,500,000 and Moon called. The flop came K 3 2, Cada bet 2,500,000 and Moon raised to 10,000,000. Cada called. The turn was the A, Moon followed Cada’s check with a bet of 10,000,000 and Cada called. Both players checked the K river. Cada tabled 9 9 and Moon showed Q Q to take the 47,000,000 chip pot.

After the first break of the night Moon became a man on a mission. He picked up four of the first five pots by countering Cada’s aggression with even more aggression. Cada’s raises were almost always met with a reraise from Moon forcing Cada to fold without even seeing a flop and the shift caused Cada some concern.

“It threw me off. Every time he did something it was different. every time I did something or made a move it was a misstep. He played perfect poker,” said Cada who saw his chiplead turn into a 3-1 chip deficit at one point.

Cada’s tournament seemed to turn around on the 80th hand of heads-up play. Cada put in a preflop button raise to 3,000,000 and Moon called. The flop came T 9 5 and both players checked. The turn came T and after Moon checked Cada bet 3,000,000. Moon responded by announcing all-in. Cada took some time to replay the hand in his head and after tanking for some time made the call and tabled J 9. Moon showed 7 8 and was behind needing a six or jack to complete his straight draw. The river was the 3 and Cada doubled through to 109,000,000 and the chip lead.

“I was almost positive I was ahead. The only problem was the bet compared to the pot size. It was a big bet, it was like 50 million and I bet 3 million into a 6 million pot,” said Cada. “Once you break down the hand and think about it, it’s not that tough of a call.”

Only eight hands later the tournament was over. Cada raised to 3,000,000 from the button and Moon followed the pattern he’d been following with a re-raise to 8,000,000. Cada announced all-in and Moon called almost instantly. Cada showed 9 9 and Moon tabled Q J and all of Cada’s cheering section went wild. The flop came 8 7 2 and Cada stayed ahead. The turn was the K and the river was the 7 and with Moon missing his draw Cada was world champion.

“It’s a pretty sick flip that you have to wait,” said Cada. “I thought he had queens at first when he flipped it over. Once I saw queen-jack it was one of those things, if I win I win, if I lose I lose.”

For his part Moon realized he was behind but was prepared to race in hopes of taking back the chip lead.

“I knew where I was at. I was in better shape than I thought. I thought I was 40/60. He told me I was 48/52,” said Moon. ”There’s my shot to take a tremendous chip lead. I didn’t get it.”

The two-hour final table broadcast will air on ESPN on Tuesday night beginning at 9 pm ET.

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The poker world’s attention might be focused on the World Series of Poker Main Event finale in Las Vegas but there is a World Poker Tour event that also has a final table worth getting excited over.

Leading the way at the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals  is Cornel Cimpan with 3,691,000 of the 10,588,000 chips in play. This is Cimpan’s second WPT final table of 2009. In February he won nearly $1.7 million by taking down the L.A. Poker Classic.  If he’s going to collect his second title of the year he’ll need to fight off a BLUFF Player of the Year contender, a WSOP bracelet winner, a former WPT champion and a highly respected online poker tournament specialist.

His closest challenger is the BLUFF Player of the Year contender Soheil Shamseddin. The Iranian native sits ninth for POY but with 2,954,000 chips he’s in position to add to his POY points total. A win would be worth 337.5 points which would move him into second place behind current leader Jason Mercier.

The online tournament specialist, ” Matt “Allinat420″ Stout ”, sits in third with 1,579,000 chips. Despite being known as an online player Stout has live career winnings of $686,428 including a win in a WSOP Circuit preliminary event in 2008.

Sitting in fourth is the unknown entity at the table. Curt Kohlberg has 1,086,000 chips which gives him a narrow advantage over the WSOP bracelet holder at the table, Eric Froehlich. “EFro” will start play Tuesday night with 1,014,000.

The last player is the short stack Lee Markholt. With only 264,000 chips Markholt will be hard-pressed to walk away with the title and the $910,858 first place prize.

The TV bubble boy was Kenna James who went out in seventh when his pocket sixes were cracked by Shamseddin’s J T.

The final table gets underway Tuesday at 4 pm ET.

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Chip Counts

1. Cornel Cimpan - 3,691,000
2. Soheil Shamseddin - 2,954,000
3. Matt Stout - 1,579,000
4. Curt Kohlberg - 1,086,000
5. Eric Froehlich - 1,014,000
6. Lee Markholt - 264,000

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Darvin Moon started the day with the chip lead. Joe Cada started the day with a chip and a chair. After an 18 hour day Saturday the two Americans are the final two players in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Play will resume Monday night at 10:00 pm PT with Cada holding the chip lead with 135,950,000 chips to the 58,850,000 of Moon.

Cada’s day came down to three seperate all-ins where he was behind with his tournament life on the line. Once with pocket threes against Jeff Shulman’s pocket jacks, once with pocket deuces against Saout’s pocket queens and on the final hand of the night with A-K against Saout’s pocket eights. Each team Cada got there, flopping sets against both Shulman and Saout and rivering a king against Saout to end his tournament.

“If anyone ever hears me complain about poker again, the can knock me out,” joked Cada, referencing his ability to come from behind.

Moon had a different kind of day. The overwhelming chipleader had an inexplicable fold during the early part of play Saturday followed by an even stranger play with A 4. But the logger from Maryland managed to rebound and regroup to get himself into heads-up play with Cada.

“I can’t get nervous at a card table, you don’t benefit from,” said Moon. “You can’t get worse.”

Action resumes Monday evening and you can listen live at www.bluffmagazine.com/live

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Antoine Saout’s roller coaster at the WSOP Main Event Final Table has come to an end. Saout was eliminated on the final hand of the night by Joe Cada.

Saout entered the day 8th in chips and after what seemed like an endless string of double-ups found himself with the chip lead when three-handed play began. The Frenchman’s 80,600,000 had him ahead of Darvin Moon’s 75,900,000 and nearly double the 39,200,000 of Joe Cada.

The first hand of three-handed play saw Cada and Saout get all their chips in the middle with each player holding a pocket pair. Cada was behind with pocket twos while Saout held pocket queens but a two on the flop left the Frenchman hoping for a favorable turn or river. When neither came the roles had been reversed with Cada now holding the chiplead.

Four hands later Saout’s night was over and not surprisingly it was at the hands of Cada. The two players again got all the money in preflop with Saout ahead with pocket eights to the ace-king of Cada. The flop and turn were both harmless but the K on the river sent the remaining fans inside the Penn & Teller Theatre into a tizzy. Saout was the final player eliminated before play broke for the night.

He leaves with an extra $3,479,670 to his name for his third place finish. The 25 year old posted a 7th place finish at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table and over the past three months has learned as much about himself as he has about his poker game.

“I’ve learned to be more aggressive, more confident and more comfortable around the cameras and lights,” said Saout. “I’m very happy with the way I’ve played.”

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Eric Buchman was in control of the 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table for most of the day Saturday, but early Sunday morning things took a turn for the worse.

In what was at the time the biggest pot of the tournament Buchman button raised to 2,500,000, Antoine Saout reraised to 9,000,000 and Buchman moved all-in. Saout made the call, creating a pot of 89,000,000, and flipped over A K and found himself ahead of Buchman who showed A Q. The flop came K T 7 and Saout made top pair but would have to fade Buchman’s newfound broadway draw. The K on the turn and 6 on the river gave Saout the pot and overall chiplead while Buchman was left with just shy of 9,000,000.

Six hands later Buchman moved all-in and was called by Darvin Moon. Buchman was behind with K T to Moon’s A 7 but the board ran out K 9 5 K Q and Buchman doubled up. On the very next hand he got all his money in against Moon again but this time held the upper hand. Buchman had A 5 while Moon held K J but after a flop of Q 9 2 Moon made top pair when the K came on the turn. The river blanked for Buchman and the 30 year old New Yorker was out in 4th with a $2,502,890 payday.

Eric Buchman was eliminated by Darvin Moon.

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Jeff Shulman’s run at a WSOP Main Event title is over. Shulman was eliminated by Antoine Saout in fifth place just after 3 am PT Sunday morning.

Shortstacked for the better part of four hours Shulman found himself all-in after Antoine Saout raised to 5,400,000 from the small blind. Shulman called all-in from the big blind and turned over 7 7 and found himself racing against the A 9 of Saout. The flop came T 9 6 and Saout was head with a pair of nines. Neither the Q on the turn or the 4 helped Shulman and he was eliminated in fifth place. He earned $1,953,452.

Following his elimination Shulman, whose father Barry won the WSOP Europe Main Event in September, joked that the family patriach was less than impressed with his premature exit.

“How disappointed he was. No, he was pumped. Everybody was pumped,” said Shulman.

“I think they’re all playing well right now. I think Darvin made some mistakes early. Joe is relentles, he keeps on raising and Buchman has been playing perfectly since he hit his kings,” said Shulman. “Saout is playing great also. They’re all playing really well right now.”

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Steven Begleiter made the same mistake Phil Ivey made only minutes earlier. He tangled with Darvin Moon and watched as the best hand preflop fell to the wayside.

Begleiter raised t0 1,600,000 and Moon responded by moving all-in. Begleiter called instantly and tabled Q Q while Moon showed A Q. The flop came 8 7 4 giving no help to Moon. The 3 on the turn meant only an ace on the river could eliminate Begleiter. Sure enough, the A hit the river and while Begleiter’s supporters went silent the rest of the Penn & Teller Theatre went nuts as Moon collected his second consecutive elimination with A-Q.

Walking away with $1,587,160 Begleiter was still in shock as he exited the theatre.

“I’m a little numb obviously, I would have liked to have won that pot,” said Begleiter. “But what else can I do, I got my money in really good and I was one card away from being right back in the thick of it.”

Despite suffering a bad beat and not being able to collect his first WSOP bracelet Begleiter was happy with the way he played and takes comfort in having gone out with the turn of a card rather than his own mistake.

“In a way going out like that is actually easier than making some horrendous play and ending up with 3,000,000 chips and having to push with nothing. That was my fate.”

Begleiter, who talked publicly about being coached by Jonathan Little leading up to the final table, admitted afterwards he also spent some time working with 2008 November Niner Ylon Schwartz.

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Phil Ivey will have to wait another year for a shot at the one bracelet he desires the most. Ivey, shortstacked at 6,350,000, moved all-in on the first hand back from a break and found a caller in Darvin Moon. The resulting bad beat ended his 2009 WSOP Main Event run with a 7th place finish.

Ivey tabled A K and found himself dominating Moon’s A Q. The flop however brought horror for the Ivey fans inside the Penn & Teller Theatre as the doorcard was the Q followed by 6 6. The air was sucked from inside the theatre with the collective gasp of all of Ivey’s fan club. The turn and river brought no help for the seven time bracelet winner and his quest for a third bracelet this year was snuffed out by the logger from Maryland.

Following the hand Phil Ivey gave a quick interview to WSOP officials but decided against speaking to the assenlbled media. Within an hour of his elimination Ivey was on FullTiltPoker.com playing $2,000/$4,000 Stud Hi Lo.

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Kevin Schaffel got all his money in with the hand most poker players dream of; pocket aces versus pocket kings. Only the hand turned into a nightmare in a hurry.

Schaffel opened the betting with a raise to 1,250,000, Steven Begleiter called from the cutoff and Eric Buchman re-raised to 5,750,000. Schaffel moved all-in for 17,000,000 causing Begleiter to fold. Buchman went into the tank, stood up and after asking for a count of Schaffel’s bet made the call. Buchman tabled K K but Schaffel showed A A and for the second time at the final table we had aces versus kings.

The flop came K Q J giving Buchman a set but giving Schaffel the four remaining tens as outs to a straight as well as the final two aces for a higher set. But the K on the turn gave Buchman quad kings and rendered the river meaningless.

“Up until (today) I think one of the biggest things is I haven’t gotten unlucky and that always helps,” said Schaffel. “I’m a little speechless right now. It’s really hard to take in.”

Buchman walked away with $1,300,231 which he will add to his $607,421 lifetime earnings.

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It took longer than expected and included a roller coaster ride but James Akenhead was eliminated in 9th place at the WSOP Main Event Final Table.

The 26 year old Englishman started the day as the short stack with only 6,800,000 but found himself moving up the chip counts thanks to a timely triple up with K-Q. After moving all-in for just over 4,000,000 Akenhead found himself in trouble after Steve Begleiter called and Eric Buchman re-raised to 12,000,000. Begleiter folded and the two players flipped over the hands. Buchman held A K to the K Q of Akenhead.

The flop came J 3 2 helping neither player. The K on the turn gave both players top pair. The crowd went silent waiting for the turn to come and then errupted as the Q hit to give Akenhead two pair and triple him up.

“I was getting dealt so much trash. I find king-queen and I’ve got ten big blinds so to me it’s automatic push,” said Akenhead.

Only ten hands later though the cards turned on Akenhead and a cooler sent him back to short stack.

Kevin Schaffel opened with a raise to 1,150,000 and Akenhead called from the big blind. The flop came J 9 4 and Akenhead lead out for 1,600,000. Schaffel announced all-in and Akenhead made the call. Schaffel tabled A A and Akenhead showed K K. The turn and river both failed to produce one of two remaining kings and Akenhead was right back to being shortstacked.

On his final hand of the night he moved all-in for 4,450,000 with 3 3 and his nemesis from earlier, Kevin Schaffel, called with 9 9. The board came T 7 2 2 9 to give Schaffel a full house and send Akenhead home in 9th place with $1,263,602.

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