Pokerism

1,397 poker players joined Event 39 of the 2010 World Series of Poker A $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout. The format is that a player has to win his entire table to advance, and the total prize pool reached up to $1.88 Million. The big winner after 3 days of competitive No Limit Hold'em was 21 year old and barely legal Steven Kelly , who marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory and $382,725 in prize money. Steven Kelly is the fifth-youngest WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. The runner up was Jeffrey King from Colchester, Connecticut, who won $237,327. The third-place finisher was Derric Haynie from Lincoln, California, who made his second final table appearance this year, getting paid $161,466 for this effort. The fourth-place finisher was Dustin Dirksen from Las Vegas, Nevada, who marked his eighth time to cash at the WSOP winning $112,455. The fifth-place finisher was Reagan Leman from San Diego, California, who received $78,530 for his sec...

3,102 players competed for a piece of a $2.7 Million pot in Event 36 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament. 324 places got a piece of the prize pool with the biggest piece going to 28 year old poker pro Scott Montgomery of Perth, Ontario, Canada, who won his first WSOP gold bracelet and $481,760. It was the third time for Scott Montgomery to cash in this year's WSOP, and his ninth cash overall, including a big payday when he finished fifth in the 2008 WSOP Main Event. To date, Scott Montgomery has one win, two final table appearances, nine ITM finishes and a moves into the top 25 in career WSOP earnings with over $3.5 Million, surpassing the mark of Dan Harrington. The runner up was 23 year old student Mick Carlson from Plymouth, Indiana, who marked his first cash in a live tournament, and collected $297,996. The third-place finisher was Adam “Admo” Richardson from San Diego, California, who received $210,892. The fourth-place fi...

 Germany started their 2010 World Cup campaign with a bang, winning their opening group stage game against Australia 4-0. Germany were then stunned when Miroslav Klose was red carded in their match against Serbia , and the 10-handed Germany eventually succumbed to a 1-0 defeat. Germany were able to bounce back in their final group stage match against Ghana , booking a 1-0 win that brought Germany to finish at the top of the group with 6 points. Despite the loss to Germany , Ghana book the second spot edging out Australia on goal difference. England were expected to breeze through their group, but found themselves drawing twice in matches against the United States and Algeira , and could've suffered elimination had they not won against Slovenia in their last group stage match. Luckily for England , they did enough to get 5 points and finish at second in the group behind the United States . The second place finish of England puts them up against Germany in the round of 1...

UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will be putting his title on the line against UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion Shane Carwin . Brock Lesnar has not had a fight in the octagon since he kicked the butt of Frank Mir in July 2009 during UFC 100. Brock Lesnar was scheduled to fight Shane Carwin back in UFC 106, but he suffered an illness. The fight was reset for UFC 108, but again Brock Lesnar wasn't healthy. It was then discovered that he needed surgery for something called diverticulitis, which meant that his intestine was leaking fecal matter into his abdomen, causing pain. Meanwhile, since Brock Lesnar could not fight in the octagon, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin were made to fight each other for the UFC Interim Heavyweight championship. Shane Carwin KOed Frank Mir in the first round, and now sits as the UFC Interim Heavyweight champion. The fight between Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin is for the unification of the UFC Heavweight Championship. While Brock Lesnar m...

Argentina , as expected, won all of their matches in the group stage to top Group B with 9 points, and advance to the round of 16 where they will face Mexico . Mexico had a decent group stage, grabbing a crucial 4 points and edging out South Africa on goal difference to make it through to the round of 16. Argentina is clearly the more impressive team than Mexico , and with stars like Lionel Messi, Gonazalo Higuain and Juan Veron playing extremely well. Spanish La Liga top goal scorer Lionel Messi may have not yet scored in this 2010 World Cup , but with most of the defense focused on him when he has the ball, it opens up a lot of other scoring opportunities for his teammates, who have benefited from rebounds to put their mark on the World Cup. Mexico haven't shown their capacity to score goals with only 3 goals scored in 2 matches, and 2 goals scored against them. Mexico also suffered a defeat against Uruguay , and almost missed out on advancing if it wasn't for the...

Poker legend Phil Ivey outlasted 478 players at Event 37 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $3,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament. Phil Ivey won $329,840 in prize money and his   8th WSOP gold bracelet, tying Erik Seidel with the most wins at fifth place. Most impressive about the victory of Phil Ivey was that he had to overcome a final table that included 5 WSOP gold bracelet winners, and they finished 1st to 5th, a first in this year's WSOP. At the age of 33, Phil Ivey has won more bracelets than all except for Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan , and the late Johnny Moss . “I think I can win 30 gold bracelets,” said Phil Ivey   “I think I can reach that if I keep playing and stay healthy.” Phil Ivey now has $5,213,809 in career tournament WSOP earnings. His overall tournament winnings worldwide now approach the $13 million mark, according to some sources, which is the highest amount won by any player in poker history. Phil Ivey ’s 40 WSOP career cashes curr...

Event #35 of the 2010 World Series of Poker is the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship , which saw a maximum 256 players play heads up with the top 32 getting a piece of the $2.4 Million prize pool. Eventually, 38 year old poker pro Ayaz Mahmood originally from Bangladesh became the winner of the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship after a gruelling 6 hour heads-up final against German-born poker pro Ernst Schmejkal . Ayaz Mahmood won nine straight heads-up matches spread out over four days and night to win  his first career WSOP gold bracelet and $626,674. Ayaz Mahmood is the first Bangladesh-born player ever to win in the WSOP. Ernst Schmejkal , who ended up finishing second, collected a nice consolation prize of $386,900. The top eight  finishers who won six of seven heads-up matches include:  Jason Somerville from Stony Brook, New York, who made his eighth career cash at the WSOP and was paid $219,969. Alexander Kostri...

3,142 seniors (ages 50 and above) joined the $1,000 buy-in Seniors No Limit Hold'em Championship of the 2010 World Series of Poker , which brought the total prize pool to $2.8 Million with 324 players taking a piece of the pot. The big winner was 78 year old retiree Harold Angle of Sun City, Florida, who won the biggest seniors poker event in the history of the WSOP, and claimed his first career WSOP gold bracelet, the Gold Eagle Trophy and $487,994. The famous “Golden Eagle” trophy, which is engraved with the winner’s name(s) is a keepsake that is passed forward from champion to champion, similar to the tradition of the Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League. Harold Angle was the eldest of the nine players at the final table with some of the ones in their 50s "young" enough to be his children. Harold Angle was nearly eliminated in Day One of the tournament when he showed 400 chips left from his 3,000 starting stack. He event told his son-in-law at the rail that...

482 poker players joined Event 33 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , a mixed game that included the variants of Pot Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha. The buy-in was $2,500 and total prize pool reached up to $1.1 Million, with 45 places getting to share a piece of that pie. The biggest piece, of course, went to 46 year old poker pro Jose-Luis Velador from Corona, California, who won his second career WSOP gold bracelet and $260,552 for first place. It was his second final table at the WSOP, and twice he has ended up as a WSOP gold bracelet winner and champion. Jose-Luis Velador now has nine career WSOP cashes, and over $900K in prize winnings. The runner up was four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner David Chiu , who collected $160,902 and now has $2.8 million in career WSOP earnings. The third-place finisher was another former WSOP gold bracelet winner Rob Hollink from Groningen, Holland, who marked his 23rd career cash in the WSOP, and received $116,358. It was the first time...

The 2010 Asian Poker Tour will be coming to Manila this August 23 to August 29 at the Resorts World Manila. As early as now, online satellites and live satellite tournaments are being held for those who wish to win a seat worth $2,700 - the buy-in for the 2010 APT Philippines Main Event . Just recently, the first Resorts World Manila Satellite Series was held this June 13, 2010 with a guaranteed prize pool of PHp500,000, with first place winning a seat to the 2010 APT Philippines Main Event plus Php40,000 in cash. The big winner was Ray Serion . "You have to be able to play many styles and be thoughtful about when the best time is to change gears," said Ray Serion about his play that won him the tournament. Players can still qualify for seats online at PKR , or just wait for announcements of live tournaments at the offiial site of the Asian Poker Tour .

568 poker players signed up for Event 32 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , a $5,000 buyin No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed tournament. The prize pool went over $2.6 Million with 54 places paid, and a first prize of over $650K. The big winner was 25 year old Jeffrey Papola , a third year law student from Pace University in White Plains, New York. Jeffrey Papola flew in from New York to Las Vegas, and upon arriving, signed up for Event 26, a $2,500 buyin No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed tournament. In that tournament, he placed second to win $391,068. He got a few hours of sleep, and then signed up again for Event 32, a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed tournament - similar strcuture, but a bigger buy-in. And this time, he won it - winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and a first place cash prize of $667,433. The 1-2 finish of Jeffrey Papola in Six-Handed events is a first in WSOP history. Overall, Jeffrey Papola now has four WSOP cashes with two of the biggest happening...

828 players signed up for Event 31 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , which made the total prize pool a whopping $1,117,800. 80 places would get paid with the first place winning over $250K. Event 31 is a H.O.R.S.E. event, which means that it includes the variants of poker, such as Hold'em (H), Omaha High Low Split Eight or Better (O), Razz (R), Seven Card Stud (S), and Stud Eight or Better (E).   The event winner was Konstantin Puchkov of Moscow, Russia, who won his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory and over $250K for the first place cash prize.  58 year old Konstantin Puchkov actually enjoys racing horses, and owns a stable of races which he names after poker terms. And it's just a bit fitting that he joined a H.O.R.S.E. tourney and won! The final table clocked over 10 hours with Konstantin Puchkov overcoming a huge chip disadvantage in heads-up play to emerge victorious. The runner-up was  Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri , a Los Angeles native who has been act...

With two matches played and one more match to go in the group stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup , it seems we're getting some kind of semblance of who will advance to the round of 16 knock out stages. In Group A, France and South Africa have a point each, and Uruguay and Mexico both have 4 points to lead the group. France plays South Africa, and both will be looking to win. However, if Uruguay and Mexico just draw their match, then both will advance with the goal difference to decide who sits on top. Lot of math left, should Mexico or Uruguay lose a match, but I'm thinking both will advance anyway. In Group B, Nigeria is definitely out, and Argentina have their foot in the door with 6 points. South Korea and Greece both have 3 points, and South Korea can snag the spot if they win against Nigeria. If Greece beat Argentina - highly unlikely, but you'll never know these days - then, it'll go down to goal difference. Argentina have that base covered, but it could get tri...

What's up with the French? Well, one thing's for sure - the French national football team has taken center stage in the 2010 FIFA World Cup , and it's not because of their success in the games. France is making headlines because of their controversial behavior. First, Nicholas Anelka was sent home back to France after he refused to apologize for his expletive-loaded remarks to coach Domenech. Following that controversy, Team France went to the training grounds in Knysyna in their bus, but they led by  refused to begin their training session. France team captain Patrice Evra then had a shouting match with their fitness coach Robert Duverne . French head coach Raymond Domenech tried to intervene, but he himself became agitated and threw down his stopwatch in full view of the media. The players prepared a letter to be addressed for the media, and it read that "All the players in the French squad without exception wish to affirm their opposition to the decision t...

The 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions is the very first fan-voted event in the history of the WSOP, and perhaps in the history of poker. Look at it as the all-star game of poker. 355,081 votes were cast online through WSOP.com from March 15 to June 15, and the top 20 players would be included in the Tournament of Champions along with previous TOC Champions, the 2009 WSOP Main Event Champ, 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Champ, the WSOP Academy Playoff Winner and the WSOP.COM UK Qualifier. The tournament of champions was started by the WSOP in 2004 and was an invitational for the top ten names in poker in a winner-take-all competition. The first winner was Annie Duke . In 2005, the Tournament of Champions was expanded to 114 players, all of whom were WSOP gold bracelet winners. Mike Matusow was the champion of that event, while 9 others were also paid. In 2006, 27 of the most accomplished WSOP poker players were invited to play with final table players walking away with prizes. The...

I was a big fan of France. One of my all-time favorite football players in the world is Zinedine Zidane . Taking a look at their recent record, you'll find that France were 1998 World Cup Champions, 1984 European Champions, 2000 European Champions, 2003 Confederarions Cup Champions and then finalists in the 2006 World Cup. But lately, France hasn't been living up to their reputation as a solid team. They've lost all their matches so far in the 2010 World Cup, and then Nicholas Anelka was just fired from the team for saying bad things to their coach. What can I say - France just doesn't have it together, and it's all been downhill since their loss int he 2006 World Cup. They haven't been contenders in anything since - not in the Euro Cup, and almost not even qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. And the big stars of France - Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, Nicholas Anelk a - it's just sad that they've been subject to controversy. Just look at it - Zi...

Event 14 of the 2010 World Series of Poker featured a $1,500 buy-in  No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball tournament.  Basically, Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball means the worst, or lowest-ranked, hand wins the pot. The very best possible 2-7 lowball hand is 2-3-4-5-7 of mixed suits. An ace counts as a high card. Flushes and straights count against the player. While a wheel (A-2-3-4-5) is the perfect hand in standard lowball, in Deuce-to-Seven it is usually a losing hand since the straight counts against the player. According to Event 14 WSOP gold bracelet winner Yan Chen : “A good poker game requires a balance. For example – I’m not putting down other games – but No-Limit Hold’em, especially tournaments, rewards aggression. But aggression is only one component of the full set of skills that are required for a balanced game. Lowball requires a very balanced set of skills. You can’t just try to run over the game. You cannot. You can do that less in this game than in any other g...

Over $3 Million was the total prize pool from 2,394 players in Event 30 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tourney.243 places were paid with the top spot going to 45 year old financial trader Mike Ellis of London, England, who won his first career WSOP gold bracelet and the first place cash prize of $581,851 after topping the final table in over eight hours. The runner up was Christopher Gonzalez from Fremont, Calfiornia, who put up a valiant heads-up battle, but succumbed to Mark Ellis to walk away at second with $360,906. The third-place finisher was recent law school graduate David Wilkinson of Boulder, Colorado, who previously won a WSOP Circuit gold ring at Caesars Palace Las Vegas back in 2007. David Wilkinson also cashed twice at this year’s WSOP with his third place finish of $254,996 being his best cash so far. The fourth-place finisher was 22 year old Martin Jacobson from Stockholm, Sweden, who has cashed in the final tables a...

171 top poker players each put $10,000 to compete for the 2010 World Series Of Poker Limit Hold'em Championship to create a prize pool of $1,607,400. Only the top 18 would get a piece of the prize pool with the first placer winning a WSOP gold bracelet and $425,969 to go along with it. With a lot of top poker pros and big poker names playing the 2010 WSOP Limit Hold'em Championship, it was 42 year old poker pro Matt Keikoan of San Rafael, Califronia, who emerged as the winner after over 12 hours at the final table. Matt Keiokan won his second WSOP gold braceletwas the winner of the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker. This marked his second career WSOP gold bracelet, winning previously in 2008 for a $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event. Matt Keikoan now has in excess of $3.2 million in overall career tournament winnings. The runner up was 27 year old poker pro Dan Idema from Vancouver, Canada, who won $263,243 for his effort...

596 players signed up for Event 28 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , a $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event, which netted a total prize pool of $1,370,800, and 54 getting paid with first place winning a WSOP gold bracelet and $315,311 in cash. Quebec-based poker pro Miguel Proulx of Canada emerged as the winner, which marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet and his first cash at a WSOP event worth $315,311. Miguel Proulx became the third Canadian to win a gold bracelet this year after Aadam Daya and Pascal Lefrancois won their WSOP victories. The runner up was Las Vegas poker pro Loren Klein , who had cashed six times at the WSOP over the past three years, and received $195,147 for second place. The third-place finisher was British soap opera actor Michael Greco from London, England, who won $129,691, marking his second time to finish third in a WSOP event. The fourth-place finisher was Stephane Tayar from St. Mande, France, who made his second final table appearance, ...

644 poker players entered Event 27 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud High-Low Split tournament. 64 places were to be paid with the first place prize earning a very healthy $208,862 and a WSOP gold bracelet. The big winner of the 644 players was poker pro David Warga , who won his second WSOP gold bracelet following a previous win in 2002, when he won the 2002 Casino Employees Championship.   41 year old David Warga won his first bracelet in the 2002 Casino Employees Championship when he was a dealer at an Arizona casino. He used his winnings to become a real estate investor before deciding to become a poker pro. David Warg a is the only player in WSOP history to win the Casino Employees championshp and an open event. The runner up was Maxwell Troy , a professional poker player from Los Angeles, California, who plays Seven Card Stud daily at the Commerce Casino. His experience did him well as he cashed in $129,253 for his second place finish. ...

1,245 poker players signed up for Event 26 of the 2010 WSOP , a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed . Instead of having the regular 9 players at a poker table, this variant of poker only goes six-handed. When playing six-handed, the poker game emphasizes short-handed poker skills at play, especially when it comes to post-flop play since most players get to play a wider range of hands from the standard starting-hand requirements. Of the 1,245 players, it was 23 year old poker pro Will Haydon from San Francisco, California, who outlasted everyone to win his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a first place cash prize of $630,03. Willl Haydon started the final table of six with the smallest stack, and climbed his way up after eight hours of competitive poker to eventually emerge as the winner. The runner up was Jeffrey Papola from New York, New York, who won $391,068, marking his third cash in three straight years at the WSOP . The third-place finisher was Joe Baldwin ...

SIX SIX SIX! A week ago, I won a tournament to claim a seat to the Daily $6,000 Guaranteed Six-Max at BetUS Poker , which was a No Limit Hold'em tournament with 6 players maximum per table. 112 players entered the tournament which guaranteed 20 places paid at least $87 all the way to first place for $1,440. The tourney was played here in Manila at 3AM. I had stayed up to watch the England vs Algeria World Cup match, and decided to play the tournament ticket I won a week ago. The starting stack is 3000 in chips with the blinds at 10/20 in the first level (increasing every 15 minutes), which is a good structure for a long tournament. In the first hand, UTG oddly raises 10x the blinds to 200 with the cutoff calling, and me sitting on the BB with 7c7d calling to see the flop. Three people in the hand, and the flop comes 7s7h2h, and I flop quads!!! I check, UTG overbets 800 probably to protect against the flush-draw, the cutoff raises all-in for 2,800 more, and all I have to do is...