All Posts Tagged: Tournament Trail

PokerListings touched down in Lake Tahoe yesterday for the World Series of Poker Circuit main event that starts tomorrow.

Since getting here we haven't spent a whole lot of time in the casino. Given what's right outside that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

We understand that not everyone in the poker world likes going outside, however, and we think Tahoe might be just the place for them.

The photo above was taken from my hotel room, you can even see me in the window's reflection.

That means if you're an online player with a serious aversion to fresh air and normal human activity, you'll still have a chance at seeing some sights.

The WSOP Circuit $5k starts tomorrow at noon and you can follow all the action by checking out our Live Coverage page.

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Even without the four-month break, this year's Main Event final table would have been one of the most talked about in history.

The reason behind that is obvious: Phil Ivey.

In the last two years Phil Ivey has been elevated from regular poker player to this mythical creature whose exploits don't even seem real.

When he made the final table it was guaranteed to be huge. But with the ESPN hype machine working 24/7 during the four-month break, this final table was the most anticipated ever.

Those extra months allowed Ivey and all the November Niners to do interviews and remind people to tune in and watch the WSOP final table.

All the lead up means more viewers. The numbers aren't in yet but it has to be the most watched WSOP final table in history and as far as I'm concerned the more people watching poker the better.

Even without Phil Ivey there were some great story lines at the table. You had the disgruntled Jeff Shulman claiming he would throw the bracelet away should he win. You had the logger from Maryland who ran hotter than the sun in Darvin Moon. Then you had Joe Cada, who could eclipse Peter Eastgate as the youngest Main Event champion ever.

And that's just the short list. The rest of the players all had stories of their own and they could all play poker, so it wasn't surprising that they gave us a great final table.

Some WSOP ME Final Table Highlights:

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Well it's been a long time coming in my poker career, but I've finally made my first televised final table!

I'm really excited but am trying to stay focused on the goal. No matter how much money is on the line this is just like any tournament I play: I came to win.

It's a huge deal to make it this far but there's still a big difference between the $166k I'm currently guaranteed and the $910k first place prize.

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Skill and luck play parts in any poker tournament victory. It's just that sometimes one seems a lot more important than the other.

That was the case at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event as both Darvin Moon and Joe Cada were bailed out repeatedly by the generosity of Lady Luck.

We're not here to make judgment calls on how these two played but one thing is for sure, a few big bad beats stand out in the minds of those that watched the playdown yesterday.

And so, we bring you the four biggest suckouts that helped pave the way to the heads-up match for Darvin Moon and Joe Cada. These weren't the only ones at the final table, but they were the most memorable.

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As you're (hopefully) aware the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event went from nine players to two yesterday in a long-winded 17-hour session.

We were there for every second of it, camera in hand, and we managed to get some good shots of the action.

Instead of making you sort through them all to find the best ones we're going to put them all in one place. Luckily for you that place is right here.

Welcome to the first installment of the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table photo blog.

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Today is Day 4 of the WPT Main Event at Foxwoods. There are 27 players left, I'm 12th in chips right now, with just below average stack.

Today we are supposedly playing down to 10 players, and then day 5 we will play from 10 players to 6 for the TV final table. I am hoping to make my first WPT final table, and hopefully get my first WPT win.

If I am able to pull this one off, I will become the third player to win the triple crown (WSOP bracelet, EPT title, WPT title), and also the first player to ever win a quadruple crown (WSOP bracelet, EPT title, WPT title, and online series title).

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The poker world just had a knife plunged into its heart and that knife came in the form of a bad beat laid on Phil Ivey at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Ivey was the fan favorite, the best player not only at this table but at any table anywhere where poker is played.

We wanted him to win the Main Event and, chances are if you're reading this, you did too.

It wasn't to be however. He played well and despite losing a few key pots he put himself in a great spot to make a run at the title.

In the end he went out like so many of us have, holding the best hand and watching helplessly as the dealer laid his demise down on the felt.

A-K for Ivey against Darvin Moon's A-Q. A queen on the flop and it was all over.

Ivey gets seventh place and $1.4 million and change but the poker world gets nothing but a pervading sense of disappointment.

Ivey, our hats are off to you. You're still the man. Even if we now know for sure that you're mortal.

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Despite the fact that I've played played 4,327,981 tournaments at Foxwoods and cashed in exactly one, I decided to make the trek across country to grind out one more stupid donkament.

After my run in such a tough field at Bellagio and being so close to my first WPT main event final table that I could taste it, I just couldn't talk myself out of playing one of the softest WPT events of the season.

The structure of the event is pretty good when it matters, even though it's a bit fast early on. We start with 30k chips at 50/100 and it's 200/400 (50) by level four, but they don't skip the 2400, 5k, or 10k big blind levels.

My table draw for day one wasn't exactly what I was hoping for in a Foxwoods tournament. It would be a great draw at Bellagio, don't get me wrong, but the field is a LOT different here.

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Yesterday was Day 1 of the WPT Foxwoods Main Event. I finished the day well above average stack with 84,750 chips. The average is around 51k.

I had a fairly interesting table draw, with Kathy Liebert, who I really enjoyed talking to all day. She was very entertaining and funny.

She even made a bet against the guy next to her who was saying that Miami John is a really good player. She took me vs Miami John, but only if one of us wins the tournament. Obviously, I would be the favorite in this bet.

I think she was also really impressed with the way I played, as I pretty much played perfect all day. Not to mention the fact, I called her hand about 5 times.

I just looked at my table draw for day 2 and it seems to be a fairly tough one. I have Adam Levy, Tommy Vedes, John Hennigan, and Isaac Baron all at my table, who are all pretty solid players from what I've seen.

Isaac is the only one with position on me and I have the whole table covered, so it's not a terrible draw.

Hopefully I can get off to a good start and make my first day 3 on the WPT, then day 4, 5, final table, shippage. WPT title yesssir! You can follow my personal updates on either my twitter page or on www.jasonmercier.com

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Darvin Moon is a man of few words. If he was writing this article it's likely that's where it would end.

He absolutely bulldozed the playdown to the final table back in July, building an enormous chip lead he'll carry into the final table.

58,930,000 represents about 30 per cent of the chips in play and they're all sitting on the patch of felt in front of the logger from Maryland.

Considering Eric Buchman is second with just 34.8 million, Moon has a distinct advantage in the chip department.

Despite his commanding lead few people see Darvin Moon winning this tournament. Moon himself, funnily enough, can be counted among the skeptics.

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The players at the final table of the 2009 Main Event have a serious problem: Millions of dollars and nothing to blow it on.

Sure, they'll be in Las Vegas and they could burn it up in a haze of pit games and luxury suites, but they'll want something to remember their extravagance with.

We're going to suggest that they do what we do every time we come into a large sum of money, spend it all in once place!

You've probably been told repeatedly to do exactly the opposite and NOT spend it all in one place but that shit doesn't play in this day and age.

Here's our one-stop shopping list to help the November Nine get rid of those pesky millions.

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Entering the 2009 WSOP November Nine final table third in chips and guaranteed $1.26 million, Steven Begleiter has been forced to take poker a little more seriously than he has in the past.

The Chappaqua, N.Y. native enjoys poker recreationally, mainly on the East Coast, and won his seat to the 2009 WSOP Main Event through an amateur league he plays in with his friends.

Their home games run in unison with the school year, September to June, and a portion of each tournament they play is put towards one $10,000 entry to the World Series Main Event.

His buddies can't be too disappointed that Begleiter is representing them in Vegas, since they all have a piece of his action.

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Things have changed for Kevin Schaffel since he made the WSOP 2009 Main Event final table. After a tough start to his pro career almost two years ago he's managed to turn things around in a big way over the last four months.

At the beginning of 2008 Schaffel pulled the plug on his family direct mailing and printing business, turning to poker to pay the bills.

A profitable cash game player in the years leading up to going pro Schaffel was nonetheless challenged by the daily grind of playing for a living. He posted small cashes on the EPT and the WPT before playing the 2009 Main Event.

Schaffel already had some Main Event experience, having cashed twice before with a 42nd place finish all the way back in 2004 being his best result. This year he broke through and now finds himself numbered among the nine players with a shot at this year's world championship.

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We began day four of the $15k WPT Festa al Lago main event at Bellagio with 37 players remaining and 27 spots to be paid. I had ~500k going to 5/10k, which put me 14th in chips and slightly above average.

My table for the money bubble of the tournament included Chau Giang, Prahlad Friedman, Brandon Cantu, Mark Seif, Matt Glantz, and Tommy Vedes.

Another table with several million in combined winnings, and definitely a table that wasn't going to nit it up and be scared bubbling the tournament.

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I don't know what it is about WPTs, but somehow in almost every single one I play, I bust on day 2 playing a hand in a way that I normally would not.

I have had countless brain farts, if you will, early in WPTs. I still have not even sniffed the money of a WPT. Granted I have only played like 10-12 of them, but still it has been frustrating.

I busted WPT Festa al Lago on the 5th hand of Day 2. I put basically 100 bbs in on the river on a massive bluff, risking my tourney life. It was atrocious, and I was very disappointed with myself and my play, and it was a tough one to swallow.

I have no problem when I bust a tourney losing a flip or get cooled off, or take a bad beat, but when it's something that I know that I could have changed and know that I shouldn't have done, that's the most difficult thing to deal with.

I decided I was going to wait until Saturday before I played anything online. Yesterday, I played all the big MTTs and sattys on Stars during the day.

I had an extrememly frustrating day in which I got 11th in the 162, and 11th in the 100 cubed turbo. I also came close and should have won 2 packages. I got 14th in a satty to EPT Portugal which was awarding 6 seats, my AQ crushed by AJ all in pre for a top 3 stack.

I also got 4th in a PCA satty in which I lost QQ vs KJ all in pre for 70% of the chips 5 handed. J turn J river… MEH! It was an all around rough day, looking for much better results today. I will be playing all day today, tons of big MTTs and sattys on Pokerstars.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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I began the third day of the $15k WPT Festa al Lago main event at Bellagio with 205k at 1500/3k. I started the day at a table with Barry Greenstein, Corwin Cole, Justin Bonomo, and Bob Safai.

I was picking up a ton of big hands but was taking most down with raises and re-raises before the flop.

But just when I was getting comfortable (and it's hard not to when you have a big pair every fourth hand or so), they came to break the table.

Here was the lineup at the new table, who I believe have about $974,206,239,234 in combined earnings.

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Before the first hand of the EPT Warsaw High Rollers event had been dealt every player in the field was high-fiving each other patting each other on the back, since they had all made the final table.

Sure there were only eight people in the event, the exact number of seats at the final table on the EPT, but who are we to rain on their parade?

Making the final table is a big accomplishment, regardless of how many players enter. To your right is Sami Kelopuro at his most excited, stoked about making a real live EPT final table. This is the happiest we've seen him in years.

Dario Minieri, Florian Langmann, Gianni Giaroni, Illia Kainov, Michael Lundell, Oleh Okhotskyi, David Steicke and the aforementioned Kelopuro were the only ones to drop the €13,000 to get a seat.

The action just got going in this event and it's scheduled for three days of play which is probably a bit generous. We're not sure how long it's actually going take but check back here on the blog for more updates.

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I began the second day of Festa al Lago's $15k WPT event with 58k @ 600/1200, and arrived to find about as soft of a table draw as I could ask for on day two of this particular tournament.

In fact, the pittsy calling station that Paul Wasicka had been telling me about hands with the night before was conveniently located on my left!

I was able to chip up a bit when the station, who was a really nice older businessman, chased the nut flush draw against my top pair/top kicker and bricked. But, sadly, they broke my table about a level into play.

Even more sadly, I arrived at my new table to find some VERY familiar faces: Marco "CrazyMarco/NoraFlum" Johnson, Steven "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer, Barry Greenstein, and Phil Ivey. I was definitely not happy with my new table, even with a few soft spots to my left.

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Just finished up play for day one of this year's Bellagio Festa al Lago main event. Despite the comically pathetic turnouts for the preliminary events, there were about 260 entrants today.

Strangely enough, Bellagio has also decided to allow players to buy in during day two of the tournament. This is the first time I've ever seen this in any live tournament.

Players will start with a full starting stack of 60k, and may register up to the end of level 8 (600/1200), which will be the third level of play tomorrow.

I've also begun updating from the table on breaks on Twitter ... which I finally caved and decided to join. You can follow me at @MattStoutPoker since @MattStout is taken by some guy who apparently regrets not acting on his dream to be an astronaut ...

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While the PokerListings reporting machine is busy in Las Vegas right now with WPT's Festa al Lago, a main event has begun on the EPT in Warsaw.

This is one of the non-televised stops on the PokerStars European Poker Tour, and generally a smaller tournament compared to the more central destinations.

Our friends at the PokerStars Blog are doing a valiant job covering the action so if you're dying for live coverage check them out here.

The Bottom Line

- Total field of 203

- 148 remain going into Day 2

- €358,644 for the winner

- €1,145,826 total prize pool

- Carter Phillips is chip leader

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I promised a blogpost after I shipped the 10k PLO at Bellagio. Unfortunately, I was not able to ship the whole thing.

I did however manage to get 3rd place out of the tiny 16 player field, which was good for $31k. Only 3 players made the money, which made the tournament very interesting and also very excruciating to play.

We went from 16 to 6 players on Day 1, which took only 14 hours lol. We also played about 3 hours of 4 handed play on the bubble.

I skipped playing on Sunday, and then on Monday I put in basically a 16 hour session, which including playing the 5k prelim at Bellagio, a 1500 satty, 10/20 NL, and 200/400 mixed. In short, it was a decent end to a long painful day.

I plan on possibly going to play the 1k Caesars heads up event tomorrow (Tuesday), and then the 15k main at Bellagio the following day. Looking for that first WPT title son!

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I'm heading off to Vegas in a few days for WPT Festa al Lago at Bellagio. I'm probably only going to play the 10k plo event and the 15k main event.

I'm really excited to play this event as I haven't played a WPT since Bay 101 in March. This will be my first shot at becoming the next player to win a triple crown, or the first to ever win a quadruple crown (FTOPS win).

I am hoping to stay on a heater for the rest of the year.

The last time I posted I had made day 2 of a side event at EPT London. With 23 players left, I said I was going to win it, and I talked about how I don't plan on ever settling and I plan on always being a grinder.

I did just what I said, I won that event for 115k pounds. It was a great way to end my trip and I came home completely satisfied. I have just been chilling since I have been home, only putting in a few hours here and there playing PLO cash.

Next blogpost will probably be after I ship the 10k plo at Bellagio. I'm thinking it will probably be a really small field 40 players or so, but who knows could get a lot. Later!

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Finally got home from my Jersey and London adventure the day before last. I'll get to telling all the tales from the road eventually, but for now I just wanted to post a quick blog before I fire up another lonnnnnng Sunday session.

In my last blog I mentioned the guy who absolutely lost it and berated me when I bubbled him during the Borgata $400NL preliminary event. It was truly entertaining to me in a way...

While we were getting close to the bubble there were several players who were playing ridiculously tight to try to squeeze into the money. One of whom, a short stocky white guy from New York, was down to about ten big blinds and seated on my left.

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If someone told me at the beginning of the WSOPE, "You're going to get 4th in the WSOP Europe main event," I would have said, "Awesome, I hope you are right, I would be ecstatic with 4th place."

On the same note, if that same person told me that I was going to get 4th place right before the final table started, when I had 32% of the chips in play and 3x average stack. I probably would not have liked that, and would hope that they were wrong.

I was fairly disappointed with my 4th place showing at the final table of the WSOPE main. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that I made the final table, very happy with how I played, very happy with how much exposure I got during the event, and very happy with the money I won.

All that being said, it does not mean I have to just settle and it doesn't mean I should give up. I treat EVERY tournament like I NEED to win it. And I feel like I'm going to do well in EVERY tournament I play.

I busted EPT London in the beginning of the 8th level. I had a pretty ridiculously soft table draw, but just couldn't get anything going. No worries though, because I'm just going to ship the first side event I play.

I jumped in the 2500 pound side event yesterday, and finished day 1 with a top 3 stack. 23 players left from the 147 that entered and 16 get paid. It's going to be quite a crapshoot as they are missing many levels from the structure and also it's only 50 min levels, but hey I own crapshoots!

GL me… never settle, always grinding, never stop.

PS thanks to everyone who supported me on my run in the WSOPE, your f/b comments were inspiration to me. Thank you

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Every year since its inception the EPT London main event has been at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, "The Vic". This year it's been moved a few blocks down Edgware road to the Hilton Metropole hotel and we've got to say, it was a good decision.

As you can see from the photo above there's plenty of room for the 400+ players at the felt on this Day 1b.

While this room is big and airy the Vic was small and cloistered. The media room was miles away from the tournament area but even worse, the players in the tournament just didn't have enough room to feel comfortable.

When a tournament table broke, instead of giving players a bit more room, they would immediately fill it with a cash game.

It's indicative of most casinos in Europe, the size that is. North Americans who have been to Vegas or Foxwoods are used to a sprawling metropolis of a casino but out here there just isn't enough space.

The Hilton will do the job and since we'll be here reporting on EPT London for the next week we're glad for it.

Click through to check out all the live coverage.

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