PokerListings Blog

What do you call it when 16 of the best poker players in the world (and a few gambling businessmen) get together to play a $250k buy-in tournament? 

One hell of a photo opportunity.

Of course Phil Ivey, who just busted from the $10k Main Event in 12^th place, went on to win the historic event for a cool $2 million.

We were allowed a surprising amount of time on the floor to snap photos as players competed for $4 million in prize money.

We didn’t have time to post the photos during the Aussie Millions (we were pretty busy with the whole “Main Event” thing) but we compiled a collection of the best photos below.

Hope you enjoy.

The tournament may have ended early tonight but the real action was happening upstairs in Studio 3 where over $1 million in cash was laid out on the table of a high stakes cash game. 

The game included Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Dan “jungleman12” Cates, Tom Dwan, Sam Trickett, Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen plus Winfred Lu and Richard Young, two wealthy businessmen from China.

The game lasted for over five hours and we caught an epic three-way hand between Negreanu, Antonius and Mercier.

For seven years the Heartland Poker Tour has been showing us what a low buy-in regional poker tour can do and with their recent acquisition by Federated Sports and Gaming things are only going to get bigger.

We spoke to HPT co-founder Todd Anderson about why the HPT is poised for growth, and why it offers a unique opportunity for US grinders who might be feeling the pinch post-Black Friday.

This interview was used along with quotes from FS+G Chairman Jeffrey Pollack in our news feature Heartland Poker Tour: Hidden Gem of US Poker Circuit.

Say what you will about Tony G but the man is always good for a prop bet. 

Yesterday rumors started swirling that The G had offered Melanie Weisner a seat in the $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event if she could ride a unicycle around a poker table twice.

The rumors were true.

We had a feeling when we saw Weisner practicing with a unicycle in the hall earlier today but Tony G confirmed over Twitter that he was indeed offering $10k if she could pull it off.

After the third level of the Day 1c Main Event, in which Weisner is already playing, Tony G, Weisner, the media and about 20 of Weisner’s friends congregated on the Crown Casino promenade outside the casino.

Weisner and Tony G talked for a few minutes about the arrangement. Weisner wanted to go in a straight line instead of around an object and Tony G finally relented.

After a couple test runs Weisner finally took off and came tantalizingly close to winning the bet finally falling of the unicycle within about 15 feet of the makeshift finish line.

We’ve got a couple photos from the event after the jump:

The $100k Challenge began at the Crown Casino today and, as expected, it brought a handful of the best poker players in the world.

Although the 22 entrants fell well short of the 38 players who signed up last year it will still pay four places with $2 million for first, $616,000 for second, $330,000 for third and $242,000 for fourth (all in $AUD of course).

The 22 included Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Alaei, Jonathan Karamalikis, Dan Smith, Mikhail Smirnov, Phil Ivey, Tony Bloom, Masa Kagawa, Jason Mercier, Sorel Mizzi, Gus Hansen, Tony G, Sam Trickett, Erik Seidel, Nam Le, JC Tran, Dan Cates, Tobias Reinkemeier, Tom Dwan, Dan Shak and Mike Watson.

We’re currently mid-way through the third level and eight players have already been relieved of their $100k including Mike Watson, Dan Shak, Tom Dwan, Masa Kagawa, Tony Bloom, Daniel Alaei, Daniel Negreanu and local Jonathan Karamalikis.

Of course the biggest story of this two-day event might be the appearance of poker legend Phil Ivey.

Outside of a trip to Macau, Ivey has been absent from major tournaments since the events of Black Friday so it came as a minor shock when rumors began to swirl that he would make the trip to Australia.

Indeed the former Team Full Tilt Pro showed up an hour late, much to the delight of Daniel Negreanu and various railbirds.

Negreanu and Ivey reminisced at the poker table and swapped new phone numbers.

It appears that Ivey hasn’t lost his edge as he’s been giving his opponents fits all day and at the end of Level 3 he was third in chips with 236,000.

Here’s a collection of photos we’ve taken throughout the day of the massive event:

Australians do things a little differently than everyone else and it goes further than just eating pancakes for dinner and being obsessed with Paul Hogan.

That's why if you find yourself at the upcoming Aussie Millions you're going to hear some phrases thrown around that might confuse you. Don't worry we've got you covered with our guide to the most popular poker hand nicknames Down Under.

In our many years of poker observation we’ve learned never to make flat-out statements about poker skill - and that goes doubly for crossover sports stars like Sergio Garcia.

The Spanish professional golfer is among the 188 players left in the 2012 PCA main event with a stack of 104,500 in chips, though, which is tilting the scales subtly in favor of at least the possibility of Garcia’s poker prowess.

So while it’s unquestionably true Sergio Garcia is good at golf, the most we’ll say is that he might be good at poker.

It’s like we’ve said time and time again, we don’t like to make flat-out statements about how good poker players are. Poker’s a complicated game, and even after years and years of winning, millions of hands played, the farthest we’ll go is to say someone might be good at poker.

This week we’re bestowing that dubious honor on Isaac Haxton.

We’ve always been wary of making all-out assertions when it comes to things like poker. Too much luck we say.

That’s why even when someone like Steve O’Dwyer goes on a super-heater and wins $1.42 million in a single year the farthest we’ll go is to say they might be good at poker.

In 2012 Guy Laliberté and the WSOP are taking tournament poker to astronomical new heights with the world’s first $1 million buy-in event.

So far 22 players have committed to playing, which begs the question, “Who in their right mind would spend a million dollars on a poker tournament?”

Well, we’re here to answer that question, along with everything else you might be wondering about this super-mega-ultra high roller WSOP bracelet event.

It’s good to be the king of poker.

22-year-old German Pius Heinz has had a couple of weeks to settle in to his new role as World Champion (and defacto ambassador) of poker, and so far so good.

As he outlined in our news feature yesterday, Germany is showing signs of embracing the game of poker on a wider scale and Heinz hopes to be a big part of it.

Read on for the full transcript of our interview that includes the story behind the white hoodies, the Pius Heinz chant and his thoughts on the now infamous KJ hand between Ben Lamb and Martin Staszko.

By now you know that Pius Heinz won the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

You probably watched the live stream, the full broadcast and have memorized every single bustout hand.

There were a few things they didn't focus on in the broadcast, however, and we’ve compiled a list of the various happenings you may have missed if you weren’t in Las Vegas for the grand finale.

After the jump you’ll find nine stories that went a bit under the radar. Also be sure to check our 2011 WSOP Main Event picturebook.

The 2011 WSOP Main Event final table is here and PokerListings.com is on the scene in the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas.

We'll be reporting live on the final table all day, but in addition to that we'll be posting the highlights in photo form right here in our WSOP blog.

Check back frequently because we'll be posting batches of snapshots as they happen, complete with explanations and storylines from the 2011 November Nine final table.

The November Nine break is days from being done and Sam Holden is making the trip from his home in London to Las Vegas to compete for the biggest prize in poker.

We spoke with him at the recent EPT London main event for this feature on Sam Holden, and since there was so many extras that didn't make it into the story, we're publishing the full interview transcript right here.

Read on to hear what it's like to sweat the biggest day of your poker career for four months.

You know that old poker saying, “If you can’t spot the mark in your first 30 minutes at the table …”?

We're on location at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe main event and this table brought that old adage to mind.

Connect the numbers with the explanations below and see if you can figure out who's sitting at this table with a target on hsi or her forehead.

Niall “onehandturks” Charlton is in Cannes playing the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe and he sat down with us to talk about the online grind and life outside of the game.

Charlton plays high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha online, up to $100/$200, and according to highstakesdb.com he’s profited to the tune of $320,000 so far this year.

Charlton took a few minutes to chat on a break from the €5k PLO WSOPE event to speak with us. For more information check out the feature story we did.

The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe has arrived and PokerListings.com is going to be on the scene for the duration.

Taking place over the next two weeks at the Hotel Majestic in Cannes, it's safe to say this location is a step up from Leicester Square in London where the event was previously held.

PokerListings.com has installed itself just a few hundred meters down the promenade at the palatial, and aptly named, Palais Miramar. We'll be conducting all our business from the comfort of this waterfront apartment, and we thought it only fair to give you a walkthrough, even if you can't be here to see it yourself.

Starting with the view from our front door above, check out the following photos to meet the team and get an idea of what it's like to "work" on the international tournament circuit.

Poker’s  a changing game, you hear it every day. No longer are you guaranteed to have even one weak spot at your table in a big buy-in tournament.

To give you an idea of what we mean, consider this patch of felt we captured on film from Day 3 here at the EPT London Main Event.

This is the kind of competition you’re going to face if you ever find yourself taking shot at a European Poker Tour or similar event.

This is the EPT London Day 3 table of death, by the numbers.

Two years ago we reported on Luke Schwartz's second ban from all Grosvenor Casinos over the alleged theft of a pickle and cheese sandwich.

That was after getting a previous ban for refusing to take his hat off lifted in order to play the 2009 EPT London main event.

Schwartz is back with a new sandwich, leaving us to wonder if he came by it legally or unlawfully.

It's hard to believe there's anything left in the poker world that Doyle Brunson hasn't done but as it turns out that list includes playing on the EPT.

That is, until today.

Doyle Brunson is here in London playing his first-ever EPT event and to mark this momentous occasion we spent a few minutes around his table snapping photos.

It's going to be a busy month for Brunson as he'll be heading down to Cannes for the WSOPE right after this tournament is over.

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