Nov
10
by Chad Holloway
PokerNews recently flew me down to Biloxi, Mississippi to cover the WSOP-Circuit Main Event at the IP Casino Resort & Spa. The hotel and casino were impressive and I was happy to cover the event with my PokerNews teammate, Mickey “123md” Doft, the best tournament reporter in the business. Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum was also there taking care of the WSOP website, so I knew I was in for a good time. Even though I was looking forward to being in Mississippi, the real excitement and place I really wanted to be was in Las Vegas for the return of the November Nine.
I followed along on PokerNews and watched the streaming feed on Saturday as Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi positioned himself to win the whole thing by claiming the chip lead. The hand between him and Matthew Jarvis was the sickest hand since the 2005 WSOP when Mike Matusow’s pocket kings ran into the pocket aces of Scott Lazar. There were quite a few sick hands that developed, mainly because everyone was playing so well. I think this year’s final table had the highest quality play in years. Unfortunately Mizrachi couldn’t win the title, ultimately finishing in 5th place. Nonetheless, he has the series of a lifetime and his success will surely go down in poker history.
As for the WSOPC in Biloxi, the tournament itself wasn’t too exciting. T.J. Cloutier was there and cashed in 18th place. The final table was also pretty wild. We went from nine-handed play to heads-up in 90 minutes, but then variance caught up and the final two players played back and forth for five hours. Ultimately the winner was Travis Lutes, who took home $95,253 and locked up a spot in the Circuit National Championship $1 Million Freeroll which will take place at Caesars sometime in May.
During Day 2 of the tournament, action ended early and we were able to watch the live feed of the WSOP Main Event heads-up match between Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener. I personally want Racener to win, but he started with a 6-1 chip disadvantage so we knew his chances weren’t great. Regardless, it was fun watching it with Doft and WhoJedi while enjoying a few drinks. Our cocktail waitress, named Blair and in my opinion the cutest server working at the IP, brought WhoJedi and I a steady flow of drinks. Her southern accent kept us amused as did her outfit, or lack thereof. Pretty soon we were feeling good and decided to play a little roulette. I rarely play anything in the pit, but we both managed to win a little.
Before I forget to say it, congratulations to Jonathan Duhamel on becoming the first Canadian to win the WSOP Main Event. This can only be good for poker and although I’ve never met him, I hear Duhamel is a really nice guy and will be a great ambassador to the game. I’m sure I’ll get the chance to write some things about him over the course of the next few weeks. Speaking of which, I have articles posted daily over at PokerNews.com, so check them out and let me know what you think.
As I write this, I have a day to spend in Biloxi playing poker before I fly out to Los Angeles for the NAPT event at the Bike Casino. I’ve never been to L.A. before and am looking forward to the trip. Unfortunately, I’m not going to have much time to see the sights. I might wake up extra early and pay a visit to Hollywood Boulevard though. I know if I don’t that I’ll regret it later. I’ll be sure to blog from L.A. about any and all exploits, and I guarantee there will be some.
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Tags: wsop, biloxi
Sep
16
by Jake
Phil Laak came into the 2010 WSOPE £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Holdem Event #1 with the third most chips and found early momentum that rarely faltered. He eventually went heads-up against Andrew Pantling before finally winning not only his first WSOPE bracelet but his first WSOP bracelet period. Laak also pocketed a tidy £170,802 to go along with the hardware.
The sold out event saw 244 entrants battle it out over three days. The final table saw Willie Tann eliminated first in sixth place(£23,900), followed by Ilan Rouah in fifth place (£33,617), David Peters in fourth (£48,202), and Chris Bjorin in third (£70,473) leaving Andrew Pantling and Phil to go heads-up.
Pantling started with a lead of 1,078,000 to Laak’s 759,000. The tables turned fairly quickly as Laak evened the score and then took the lead. From there the two went back and forth for a while before a decisive hand gave Laak a significant lead.
With a relatively small pot of about 50,000 and the board showing 10c-7c-6c-Ks, Phil made an overbet of 180,000 which brought an all-in push from Pantling. Phil made the call to put his tournament life on the line.
The men flipped their cards to show bottom pair with flush and straight draws for Pantling who held 6s-8c while Phil led with two pair with 6h-7h. The river missed Pantling’s draws with a 10h doubling Phil up to 1.4 million and leaving Pantling with 430,000.
The final hand came when Pantling raised from the button and pushed back with his entire stack. Pantling called for his final 350K and showed Ah-9h to lead over Phil’s Kd-5c. The flop fell 7h-4h-4c giving Pantling plenty of hope by adding a flush draw. But the turn brought a 5d and the crowd roard with excitement as Phil took the lead. The Qc on the river changed nothing for Pantling and Phil Laak took down his first WSOP bracelet.
Congratulations to Phil and here’s to further success at the 2010 WSOPE!
Aug
18
by Chad Holloway
Well, I am back in Wisconsin. I had a blast spending the past seven weeks at the WSOP, but it sure feels good to get home. My last shift for PokerNews was on Day 4 of the Main Event, meaning I missed the last couple of days. Luckily, I was able to keep updated checking PokerNews and was pulling really hard for Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. He has had an awesome WSOP, winning his first bracelet in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and making several more final tables, and it was good to see him make the November Nine.
I must admit that I wanted him to make the final table for personal reasons as well. You see, I picked up Mizrachi in the 2010 ESPN Fantasy League where I am competing against the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Dennis Phillips, Eric Baldwin and Bernard Lee. I’ve been among the leaders throughout the summer thanks to strong performances by Mizrachi, Jason Somerville and Amit Makhija. I knew I needed a strong performance in the Main Event and Mizrachi provided just that. He made the final table which is worth major points, plus it is a championship event which doubles any points earned. The real kicker though is that I earn a point for every 100 people in the event. This means that with 7,400 people in the Main Event, I will earn 74 points times two (for it being a Championship event). This was a huge performance and might just win it for me. It has been awhile since our commissioner updated the scores, so I am anxiously awaiting the numbers.
The Main Event itself was insane. It really is something every poker player should see at least once in their lifetime. The competition is fierce and the entire poker world is in the Rio. It was nice to see David Benyamine, Tony Dunst, Phil Galfond, Adam Levy, Scott Clements and Johnny Lodden make deep runs. Things were looking bleak that an established pro would make the final table as they have since 2005, but luckily Mizrachi pulled through and is no doubt the fan favorite. Now we just have to wait until November to see how it turns out. My personal Main Event came in the form of the PokerNews Freeroll that was held for the staff at the Hard Rock Poker Lounge on Sunday July 11. This was the first time the PokerNews team was able to get together and enjoy each other’s company. There was free booze and delicious cheeseburger sliders and mini corndogs. Everyone was guaranteed some money but those who finished higher got more, with the top five receiving brand new iPads. I won’t lie, I had my eye set on one of those iPads the entire summer. We we’re broken down into three tables and I was in Seat 7. My table was the following:
Seat 1- Mike Goldstein (the driver) Seat 2- Neil Fray (field reporter) Seat 3- Ben Conoley (blogger) Seat 4- Greg Lewis (field reporter) Seat 5- Tim Duckworth (blogger) Seat 6- Sarah Grant (Administrative extraordinaire) Seat 7- myself Seat 8- Elaine Charvarlis (blogger) Seat 9- Donnie Peters (veteran blogger/management) Seat 10- Alex the cameraman
I got things started early when I was holding Kx Qx and saw a flop of 4x 2x Qx. I had called a preflop raise from Neil and he moved all in on the flop. This was a big decision early on and I was in a tough spot. I looked at Neil and realized he had spent the day watching the World Cup final and probably had had a lot of alcohol. I asked him if he watched the game and when he said yes, I made the call. I figured he would push with almost any hand in that spot considering he was a little tipsy and impatient. He showed Ax Kx and I took down a nice pot while eliminating the first player from the tournament.
Another big hand developed a few orbits later when Elaine raised in early position and I called from the big blind with Jx 10x. The flop came ten-high and I opted to slow play. After I checked, Elaine threw out a big bet and I decided to move all in. She had been talking about getting out of the tournament so she could go shoe shopping, so I figured she was continuation betting with a big ace or the like. To my surprise, she snap-called me and turned over pocket aces! I was in big trouble but managed to hit a ten on the river to send her to the shoe store and increase my stack to one of the biggest in the tournament. I continued to cruise along eliminating a number of my friends along the way including Donnie, Sarah, Kristen, Heath and Rich (I think). I ended up making the final table, which looked like this:
Seat 1- Ben Conoley (blogger) Seat 2- myself Seat 3- Matthew Parvis (da boss man) Seat 4- Kristy Arnett (presenter) Seat 5- Andrew Bogner (marketing director) Seat 6- Adam ‘Snoopy’ Goulding (blogger & British) Seat 7- Tim Duckworth (blogger) Seat 8- Elissa Harwood (blogger) Seat 9- Alex Villegas (field reporter) Seat 10- Adam Brown (cameraman)
By this point, the blinds and antes were high and I was becoming a bit short-stacked. Since Parvis and Bogner were ineligible for the iPads (they were management), we only needed to lose three people to reach the iPads. I played my small stack as best I could until Brown and Harwood hit the rail. At this point, I was the extreme short-stack and looked like I might bust on the iPad bubble. Luckily, Duckworth had a fine idea. He was the big stack and wasn’t really interested in an iPad. He suggested we each give him a portion of our prize money and he would take himself out of the iPad running, ensuring the rest of us one. As the short-stack, I was all for the idea. A bunch of negotiating ensued and it was determined we would each give him $75 to ensure the deal (we were guaranteed at least $100 in prize money by making the final table anyway). So I locked up the iPad but was still playing for a last longer bet and personal pride.
Kristy soon busted, leaving three of us in the last longer (Parvis, Bogner and myself). The last man standing would receive $240, second to last $140, and third to last $90. I looked at the chip stacks and positioning and realized that if I folded, the blinds would hit Bogner and force him all in before me, possibly netting me an extra $50. That is exactly what I did, even causing uproar when I folded an ace in the small blind and left myself a single 500 chip (which was the smallest in play). Fortunately, it paid off as Bogner moved in and was eliminated by Duckworth, who also eliminated Alex in the hand. I soon lost my last chip and finished in fifth place, a little richer and with a new iPad. Duckworth went on to win the event and wrote an excellent of his victory on his blog that you can read here: http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/random/freeroll-champion-and-partying-it-up-with-snoop-dogg/
All in all, the freeroll was among the highlights of an incredible summer. I’ve only been home for a few days now, but I am already looking forward to the 2011 WSOP. Hopefully I’ll be able to play a few events that year and maybe take home some gold. In the meantime, I’ll have to remain content and wait patiently for this year’s final table in November.
Jul
12
by Chad Holloway
Gavin Smith wins his first WSOP bracelet.
I played in the All-In Magazine Media Freeroll earlier this week. It was a super turbo, and I mean it was extremely fast. There were 89 entrants and a few of us from PokerNews entered. There were also a number of poker professionals and notables in the field including Carlos Mortenson, Robert Williamson III, Barbara Enright, Montel Williams, Gavin Smith and Jerry Yang. I’m proud to say I was the last PokerNews member standing and went on to make the final table, which included Corey Zeidman and Marsha Waggoner. Zeidman busted in 7th place and I was right behind in 6th. Waggoner ended up chopping the win and took home some prizes. All in all it was a great event and I had an awesome time.
On the 4th of July, I attended the Bluff Magazine party at Sapphire, the World’s largest gentleman’s club. The strip club itself was alright, not overly impressive, but the party was a great time. A lot of people from the poker industry were there and it was open bar, so it all made for a great time. I met and hung out with John Blowers, the author of Life on Tilt. His book will likely be made into a movie soon and that was a fun topic of conversation. John is a fun guy and it fun getting to meet him, especially considering we both write for Poker Pro Magazine.
As for the WSOP itself, I watched Gavin Smith win his first bracelet. That was something special and among my favorite things I’ve gotten to see out here. The featured table was packed with supporters and it was a very emotionally charged atmosphere after he won, one of those rare moments you look back on and are glad you were part of it. Congrats to Gavin on his first bracelet. Other highlights recently have included Daniel Alaei winning his third bracelet. He is only 25 years old and the only person to have won that many bracelets by that age was, guess who . . . Phil Ivey. Alaei is the real deal and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him dominate for years to come. Also, apparently Peter Eastgate, the 2008 Main Event Champion, quit poker on the eve of the Main Event. He is giving up his sponsorship deal and moving on from the poker world to focus on other things. It sounds like he is for real since he didn’t play the Main Event. I guess only time will tell.
The Main Event itself has been insane. The Rio is packed and everyone in the poker world is has shown up. As I write this, it is Day 1d and NFL superstar Emmitt Smith did the famous “Shuffle Up and Deal” announcement before playing. The cameras were surrounding him and I even managed to snap a few photos myself. Also, the table right next to me was home to Chris Ferguson, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith and John “The Razor” Phan. For a Day 1, that is a stacked table. It should be interesting to see who can navigate this massive field. I’ll be sure to document anything worthwhile in my next blog.