Full Tilt Poker's Big Little Tournament: 100K Guaranteed For A Buy-in of Only 2 Dollars!

Full Tilt Poker is hosting THE BIG LITTLE TOURNAMENT, which is a $100,000 Guaranteed Pot with a buy-in of only $2 +.20. There will be eight $100,000 Guaranteed tournaments with a guaranteed first prize of $9,000. The tournaments will be held every Sunday (Monday in Manila) starting July 8th up to October 24th.
Satellites are also available for as low as 10 cents if $2 is a bit steep for your bankroll.

Anyway - just click on the Full Tilt Poker banner to download the software and make a deposit. If you need help in making a deposit, then feel free to contact me, and I can give you suggestions, especially for players based in the Philippines.

JJ Duque Books Multiple Wins At BetUS Poker

I joined multiple tournaments at BetUS Poker playing 4 tournament tables simultaneously.

First tourney was the $750 Guaranteed No Limit Hold'em for a $3 +.30 buy-in. 263 players entered with 50 places getting in the money, and the first place prize was a pretty decent $165.69. I played well enough to make ITM at 18th place to win $7.73.

Another tourney was the $4,000 Satellite Turbo Rebuy and Add-On Six-Handed for $2 +.20. 22 players, 29 rebuys and 14 add-ons. First three places would win a $33 seat to the $4,000 Bounty Guaranteed. I played really well enough to make the final table, and with four players left the big stack SB pushed all-in to my BB. I was holding AK and made the call. The SB had Pocket Threes, which held up to eliminate me at fourth place, and short of the ticket. Instead, I win $15.30.

Next tourney was the $1,500 Guaranteed Bounty No Limit Hold'em with a buy-in of $6 +.60, where $2 would be paid for every player you knock out of the tournament. 249 players entered the tournament, which guaranteed 40 places paid and a first prize of $212.44. I made $20 on bounties, and made good use of my big chip stack to make it to 23rd place and win $8.52. Unfortunately for me, my QQ ran into AA, and my AA got cracked by JJ, which made a straight (UGH!!!) to knock me out of the tournament. We pushed on the flop of 10-9-8, and I too would've called the all-in with the JJ. A Lady showed on the turn and that was all she wrote. At least, I made a total of $28.52.

The last tourney I played was the $6,000 Guaranteed Re-buy and Add-On with a buy-in of $10 +1. 204 players entered with 40 places to make it in the money. I made an add-on, and played well enough to make it once again ITM for 18th place and got paid $64.80. I didn't have a big stack here like the other tourneys, and was just content to be tight and maintain with the average. Eventually, I pushed my 77 all in on a flop of 7hJhKd to be called by KhQh, with a top pair and flush draw. The flush hit on the river and I was out at 18th. Had I made it to 15th, I would've made $81. But well, that's the way it goes.

I also played a $5 +.5 Six-Handed 12 Player Max SNG with 3 places paid, but I came short lost at sixth place and did not ITM.

All in all, not a bad morning for poker. I started playing at 6:45 am after I took my son to school , and it's not even 11:00am, and my results are:

Buy-ins: $3.30 + $2.20 + $6.60 + $11 + $11(add-on) + $5.50 = $39.60
Winnings: $7.73 + $15.30 + $28.52 + $64.80 = $116.35
Total Profit: $116.35 - $39.60 = $76.75.
Current Bankroll at BetUS Poker now improved to $307.65

2010 WSOP: Brendan Taylor Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet In Event 53

548 poker players signed up for Event 53 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold'em Shootout tournament that netted a prize pool of $739,800. 64 places were to take a piece of the pie with the biggest piece being awarded to the champion 30 year old poker pro Brendan Taylor, who marked his first WSOP gold bracelet win and a first place prize of $184,950.

The runner up was poker pro Ben Yu  from Henderson, Nevada, who happens to be a good fiend of Brendan Taylor. They actually share the same house in Las Vegas with four other pro poker players.
Ben Yu won $114,484 for his second place finish, and perhaps a lifetime of trash talk from Brendan Taylor at their  house.

According to Brendan Taylor and his thoughts on winning the much coveted WSOP gold bracelet, he said, “When I came out here in 2005, I told myself ‘I am going to win a gold bracelet this year.’ My goal was to win a limit event. Of course, I didn’t do it that year. I didn’t do it the next, and the next, and the next (laughing). Two years ago, we got down to four-handed and I had an average chip stack and I think I was the best player at the table. And, sure enough I was the next player out within 10 hands. So, this is a great feeling.”

The third-place finisher was Jonathan Little from Las Vegas, Nevada, who marked his fifth time to cash at this year’s WSOP to win $73,218. Jonathan Little has accumulated more than $4 million in overall tournament winnings but has yet to achieve a breakthrough win at the WSOP even though he has 11 WSOP cashes.


The fourth-place finisher was Joseph McGowan who made his 13th career WSOP in-the-money finish in this event to win $48,546.

The fifth-place finisher was Brian Tate from Tempe, Arizona, who marked his first time to cash at the WSOP, worth $33,276 in prize money.

The sixth-place finisher was Michael “Car Wash” Schneider from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who has more than $400,000 in overall career tournament earnings, winning $23,563 for this effort, on his fifth WSOP ITM finish.

The seventh-place finisher was Sijbrand Maal from Amsterdam, Holland, who won the Belgium Poker Championship in 2008, and marked his first time to cash at the WSOP to win $17,215.

The eighth-place finisher was Terrence Chan from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who marked his 15th time to cash at the WSOP worth $12,961 in prize money.

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Chau Giang, Jeff Ahmadi, Jimmy Shultz, and Tomas Alenius.

2010 WSOP: Dan Kelly Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet In Event 52

Event 52 of the 2010 World Series of Poker was a $25,000 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em tournament, which netted a prize pool of $4.5 Million. 191 players entered with 18 places getting paid in the money. The biggest winner of all was 21 year old Villanova college student Dan Kelly, who won his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a whopping $1,315,518. Dan Kelly had been winning online tournaments, and had yet to prove himself in a live tournament, and no better way to do it than with a huge pot at the $25,000 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em event.

The runner up was poker pro Shawn Buchanan from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who has now cashed 17 times since 2007, and currently has eight cashes this year with this one paying out $812,941.

Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Frank Kassela was the third-place finisher, who came close to winning his third bracelet this year.  Had Frank Kassela won, that would have matched the WSOP record for wins in a single year, held by Phil Ivey, Puggy Pearson, Ted Forrest, Phil Hellmuth and Jeffrey Lisandro. Frank Kassela is now the player to catch in the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year race. Third place paid $556,053 giving him $1.3 million in earnings at this year’s WSOP.

The fourth-place finisher was Jason Somerville from Stony Brook, New York, who marked his ninth time to cash at the WSOP. He now has a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th-place finish at the WSOP over the past three years alone – and earned $386,125 for his fourth place effort.

The fifth-place finisher was Mikael Thuritz from Las Vegas, Nevada, who final tabled the Poker Players Championship held earlier this year and finishing eighth. This time Mikael Thuritz got paid $272,084.

The sixth-place finisher was Eugene Katchalov from New York, New York, who has made three final table appearances this year alone. Eugene Katchalov has earned more than $500,000 at the 2010 WSOP after adding another $194,559 to his poker bankroll.

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Daniel Negreanu (11th), Abe Mosseri (12th), and Carlos Mortensen (17th).

With his 11th-place finish, Daniel Negreanu now has 47 career cashes. This currently ranks in a tie for 12th place on the all-time WSOP cashes list.

2010 WSOP: Chance Kornuth Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet In Event 50

460 poker players competed for Event 50 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event, which had a total prize pool of $2.1 Million. 45 entries would receive a part of that pot, and the biggest winner of them all was 24 year old poker pro Chance Kornuth from Denver, Colorado, who won his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a first place prize of $508,090.

The runner up was Kevin Boudreau from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who marked his fourth time to cash this year, and fifth cash overall, winning $313,792 for this effort.

The third-place finisher was 26 year old poker pro Danny Smith from Folsom, California, who won $226,923.

The fourth-place finisher was Ted Martin from New York, New York, who marked his second time to cash at the WSOP and biggest poker payout ever worth $165,825.

The fifth-place finisher was Scott Mandel from Chicago, Illinois, who won $122,455.

The sixth-place finisher was Julian Gardner from Manchester, England, who has 14 in-the-money finishes and nearly $1.7 million in WSOP earnings, winning $91,387 in this tournament.

The seventh-place finisher was Eric Liu from San Francisco, California, who came in tenth last year in the WSOP Europe Main Event championship, and marked his sixth time to cash at the WSOP to win $68,902.


The eighth-place finisher was former gold bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi from Miramar, Florida, who marked his fifth time to cash this year and third final table appearance, winning $52,471.


The ninth-place finisher was Jose-Nacho Barbero from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who marked  his eighth time to cash at the WSOP to win $40,364 in prize money.

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Robert Mizrachi (8th), Jason Mercier (16th), Joshua Tieman (21st), Ayaz Mahmood (22nd), and Annette Obrestad (36th).

2010 WSOP: Mike Linn Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet For Event 49

2,543 poker players competed in Event 49 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament. 270 places would win a piece of the $3.4 million pot, and the biggest winner of all was 22 year old English major college student Mike Linn, who won his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and $609,493.

Mike Linn already cashed three times at the WSOP, and his most notable achievement before this was placing 191st out of 6,494 players in last year's WSOP Main Event championship.

Winning in poker seems to be running in Mike Linn's blood as he is the nephew of poker star Barry Greenstein. However, despite this close connection, Mike Linn has never received advice or financial assistance with regards to poker. According to Mike Linn, Barry Greenstein advised him that he would have to graduate from college before he would receive any advice or even financial backing to stress the importance of finishing college. Luckily for Mike Linn, he already has proven his worth in poker without the masterful advice of Barry Greenstein, who was cheering at the rail during the final table.

According to official records, Mike Linn now has one win, one final table appearance, and three cashes at the WSOP. His career WSOP earnings now total $649,341. Oddly enough, Mike Linn’s prize money won in this event, amounting to more than $600,000, is more than all three combined gold bracelet payouts achieved by Barry Greenstein.

Mike Linn even jokes, "I always knew my uncle was a gambler. But I had no idea he was a very good poker player. Six months into me taking poker seriously, I realized he had a lot to do with the game. To be honest, his deal with me is that he will not mentor me or coach me in any way until I graduate from college. But now that I think about it, when I graduate from college I should teach him! (laughing)”

The runner up was Taylor Larkin from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, who marked his first time to cash at the WSOP to win $378,905.

The third-place finisher was Mihai Manole from Targoviste, Romani, who got paid $268,189.

The fourth-place finisher was Ben Smith from West Palm Beach, Florida, who won $193,418 for his first final table appearance.

The fifth-place finisher was Chad Grimes from Greenville, North Carolina, who won $141,235.

The sixth-place finisher was Alexander Kuzmin from Moscow, Russia, who marked histhird time to cash at the WSOP and his second final table appearance to win $104,354.

The seventh-place finisher was Justin Zaki from St. Petersburg, Florida, who earned $78,067.

The eighth-place finisher was Erle Mankin from Sacramento, California, who marked his third WSOP cash and biggest payout ever to win $59,082.

The ninth-place finisher was John Myung from Vienna, Virginia, who has more than $2 million in overall career tournament winnings, and added $45,247 for this effort.

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Roland de Wolfe (60th), Marc Naalden (134th), Robert Cheung (183rd), Matt Matros (194th), David Daneshgar (201st), and J.P. Kelly (208th). Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler (191st place) became the first player at this year’s WSOP to cash eight times. The record for most cashes in a single year is 10, held by Nikolay Evdakov in 2008.

2010 WSOP: Sigur Eskeland Wins Event 48

Event #48 of the 2010 World Series of Poker was a $2,500 buy-in Mixed Games event. Among the games featured in this poker tournament included Triple Draw 2-7, Hold'em, Omaha 8 or better, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha.

In other words, the poker player who wins this has to be a master at all forms of poker games. 453 poker players went to prove their worth and a piece of the $1 Million pot. However, only 48 places would be paid. The biggest winner of all the 48 was none other than Norwegian poker pro Sigur Eskeland, who won his first WSOP gold bracelet and a healthy first place prize of $260,497.

Sigur Eskeland explained that live poker is illegal in Norway, and he hopes that wins like his and his fellow Norwegians before him - like Thor Hansen and Annette Obrestad - will make them realize that it isn't gambling, but a sport which uses a lot of elements of skill.

The runner up was former WSOP gold bracelet winner Steve Sung, who won the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship at last year’s WSOP for $771,338. For this cash, Steve Sung earned $160,952, and he now has in excess of $1.3 million in WSOP earnings.

The third-place finisher was 21 year old Alexander Wice from Toronto, Ontario, Canada , who marked his first time to cash at the WSOP, winning $102,314.

The fourth-place finisher was Nikolai Yakovenko from Brooklyn, New York, who marked his third WSOP cash in the last two years to win $73,776.

The fifth-place finisher was Stephen Su, from Houston, Texas and was paid $54,032.

The sixth-place finisher was WSOP gold bracelet winner Scott Seiver from Las Vegas, Nevada, who cashed for the fourth time at this year’s WSOP, winning $40,175.

The seventh-place finisher was Jared Jaffe from Brooklyn, New York, who won $30,319.

The eighth-place finisher was Kirill Rabtsov from Moscow, Russia, who made his second final table appearance this year to win $23,223.

Aside from Steve Sung and Scott Seiver who both made the final table, former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Todd Brunson (10th), Alexander Kravchenko (11th), Dario Minieri (14th), Kirk Morrison (16th), David Singer (23rd), Michael Mizrachi (26th), Dario Alioto (27th), Frank Kassela (36th), Vitaly Lunkin (39th), Diego Cordovez (42nd), and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (48th).
2000 world champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s 48th place finish gives him 63 in-the-money finishes for his career, which ranks third on the all-time WSOP cashes list.

2010 WSOP: Shawn Busse WinsFirst WSOP Gold Bracelet at No Limit Hold'em Event

3,128 players signed up for Event 47 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament to compete for a pot worth over $2.8 Million. 324 players received a piece of the pot with the biggest winner being a 21 year old poker pro Shawn Busse of Massapequa, New York. Shawn Busse won his first WSOP gold bracelet in his 16th try this year to win a WSOP tournament. Shawn Busse failed to cash in the first 15, but in this one, he cashed the top prize of $485,791, which is certainly enough to make up for his other losses.


His family had not been too fond of him taking up poker at the young age of 21, but it's really what Shawm Busse wanted to do, and a WSOP gold bracelet and almost half a million dollars should earn the nod of approval from his parents.

The runner up was Owen Crowe from Darmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.who markled his eighth time to cash at the WSOP to win $300,494. Owen Crowe’s most notable previous achievement was a 15th-place finish in the 2008 WSOP Main Event championship.

The third-place finisher was Pekka Ikonen from Helsinki, Finland, who has cashed in a few European tournaments, but this marked his biggest score to win $212,660.

The fourth-place finisher was 21 year old student Chuan Shi from Plano, Texas, who marked his first time to cash at the WSOP and win $153,935.

The fifth-place finisher was Wenlong Jin from Shanghai, China, who made his highest career cash to date to win $112,720.

The sixth-place finisher was Ilya Andreev from Roster-on-Don, Russia, who marked his first time to cash at the WSOP to earn $83,498.

The seventh-place finisher was Jason Mann from Hermitage, Arizona, who marked his first WSOP final table appearance, and won $62,553 in prize money.

The eighth-place finisher was Allan Baekke from Fredriksberg, Denmark,  who won $47,379.

The ninth-place finisher was Adam White from Tempe, Arizona, who cashed for the eighth time at the WSOP to win $36,287. Adam White now has more than $500,000 in career earnings, among the notable cashes were a second place finish at the 2005 WSOP and at the 2007 Main Event championship.

Aside from those who made the final table, former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Scott Montgomery (29th), Antonio “the Magician” Esfandiari (73rd), Peter Traply (75th), Simon Watt (118th), Mickey Appleman (156th), Jeff Madsen (200th), David Sklansky (247th), and Al Krux (276th).