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Let the Games Begin: APPT Macau Day 1a

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:36:02 +0100

With slightly less fanfare than the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, the PokerStars APPT kicked off its second season at the Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino in Macau, China today.

In lieu of multimillion-dollar digitally enhanced fireworks displays and a cast of thousands, the APPT chose to let World Champions Joe Hachem and Johnny Chan bang on the drum today, leading a crew of half a dozen in a traditional Chinese dragon dance demonstrating power and dignity.

While definitively more reserved than that of those other games held in China's capital last month, it was a fitting opening, considering power and dignity is what the APPT is all about here in this second season.

At a morning press conference right before play began, a dignified tour president Jeffrey Haas said the APPT expects as much as 100% growth in Macau over last year's event. A powerful statement, to say the least, but one backed up by the numbers.

Not only did 125 players drop the $3,200 for a few chips and a chair on this first of three Day 1's, but the tournament staff announced there are already close to 500 total rounders ready to go. Nothing is written in stone yet, but early indications are they may come very close to doubling the 352 entrants from APPT Macau Season 1 in November of last year.

Once the legendary Chan had made the call to shuffle up and deal just after 1:30 p.m. local time, the first of a planned seven 60-minute levels began, and it wasn't long before we were witnessing some serious action.

While the amateur-laden field looked to be a pro's dream, it quickly turned into a nightmare for the only Team PokerStars pro to get it going on Day 1a. Barry Greenstein flopped a set of threes in the second level of play and managed to get it in good against an opponent holding nothing but a pair of fives before a miracle five fell on the river to send him packing.

Meanwhile PL.com blogger Liz Lieu came into the event with high hopes, having made the final table of both the High Roller competition and the Main Event in Season 1 here in Macau, but it didn't take long for her dreams to be dashed.

Lieu had a tough table draw, seated as she was two over from EPT Dortmund champ Mike "Timex" McDonald, and after losing an early clash with the young Canadian, she found herself short and looking to shove. In the end she ran pocket sevens into an opponent's tens and could not improve.

For his part, McDonald survived the day, but with only $3,500 in chips his is the shortest stack of the 46 players in the group who made it to Day 2.

The winner of the PokerStars APPT Macau Season 1 High Roller Event seemed to share Lieu's luck of the draw. Aussie Eric Assadourian found himself on the felt with WPT Season 6 North American Poker Championship fifth-place finisher Kofi "redsoxsox" Farkye and the online poker whiz kid proved way too hard to handle. Assadourian tried slow-playing pocket kings against Farkye, but hit the rail when Kofi sucked out a straight.

As for Farkye, he ran his stack up to $78,700 by the end of play, finishing the day second only to chip leader Andre Wagner ($109,700).

Wagner himself is no stranger to Day 1 chip leads in burgeoning poker tour main events - the German led the field on the first day of the PokerStars LAPT San Jose event in Costa Rica where he eventually finished 20th.

There were a smattering of other big names in the field today including Full Tilt pro John Juanda and the U.K.'s Harry Demetriou, who both played solid if unspectacular poker, ending in the top 20 and right around the average stack size.

Meanwhile, Everest Poker's Wooka Kim sits just below those two on about $18k.

All 46 survivors will have the next two days off, getting back on the felt on Day 2 Thursday, but the PokerStars APPT Macau Main Event rolls on tomorrow with a whole new crop of hopefuls on Day 1b. Things will kick off around 1:30 p.m. Macau time and we're told the field will be larger and even more star-studded when they do.

Fuelled by a hearty Chinese breakfast of Lettuce Fish Congee and green tea, PL.com will be on the scene, so tune in early and often to make sure you don't miss a thing.

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2008 WSOP: Day 31 Recap

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:31:13 +0100

Day 31 at the 2008 WSOP was one for the ages. Although there were five events on the docket, everyone had their eyes planted firmly on the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.

With names like Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen and Barry Greenstein all gunning for what has arguably become poker's most prestigious event, it was difficult for poker fans to look elsewhere.

The day started off with another highly prestigious event (especially to Europeans). Event 50, $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em, started at 12 p.m. and was chock-full of extremely high-level poker talent. Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson, Robert Mizrachi and Tom Dwan were in attendance, to name a few.

In the end it was none other than Omaha master Josh Arieh who had managed to grab the chip lead with approximately $350,000 chips. Tune in tomorrow at 2 p.m. to see who makes the final table.

At 2 p.m. the final table for Event 48, $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em, kicked off with "CrazyMarco" Marco Johnson leading a pack of nine players in the quest for a bracelet. Although the final table was overshadowed by the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E., there were some sick hands that took place in Event 48.

Perhaps the worst was when Alan Cutler shoved with A-Q and Brazilian poker pro Alexandre Gomes called with 7 6. The flop came A Q J to basically give Cutler the pot ... but wait. The turn came 6 to give Gomes a shot at the miracle one-outer. As luck would have it, the 6 fell on the river, garnering Gomes the pot and eliminating Cutler.

Gomes would later crack Marco Johnson's AA with A-T to continue his sick run. Gomes eventually won Event 48 and became the first Brazilian to win a bracelet.

Also starting at 2 p.m. was Day 2 of Event 49, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Although we here at PL.com don't care for venturing into the Brasilia Room, we did so to see if Greg Mueller or J.C. Tran could secure a spot at the final table.

In the end Mueller didn't make the final table, but J.C. Tran did, in grand fashion: he'll have $980,000 to work with there. The chip leader, however, will be Danish pro Rasmus Nielsen with a solid $2.6 million.

At 3:45 it was time for the event that everyone had been waiting for - the final table of Event 45, $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Only one player of the final eight would be the first to get his name engraved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy and make poker history.

Patrick Bueno, Huck Seed and Barry Greenstein were the first to fall in the epic poker contest. Lyle Berman and Matt Glantz busted after the dinner break, but it was then the real fun began.

Three-way action between Erick Lindgren, Michael DeMichelle and Scotty Nguyen lasted for hours with massive fluctuations in the chip stacks. DeMichelle held the chip lead several times but by the later portion of the night they were all almost equal.

Finally Nguyen laid off the beers and started playing some power poker. He built up a massive stack and at nearly 5 a.m. managed to eliminate Lindgren. Going into heads-up play Nguyen held a 6-1 chip lead and made no missteps, finishing the event with a bang.

Nguyen got all-in with A-9 versus DeMichelle's A-3 and made it stack. Nguyen won Event 45 and became the first player to get his name on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, and with the $2 million for first place he'll be able afford a lifetime of Michelob Light. Congratulations to the Prince of Poker.

It was probably the most H.O.R.S.E.-themed day in the history of the WSOP, as the first $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event started at 5 p.m.

The baby H.O.R.S.E. (which counted as Event 51) brought out all the usual suspects including Vanessa Rousso, Shannon Elizabeth and recent two-time bracelet winner Ryan Hughes. Many pros showed up who'd busted from the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. in previous days, including Daniel Negreanu, Tom Schneider and Chris Ferguson.

In all there were a total of 815 players who came out to try their luck in the equine-titled event. Phil Hellmuth, who is not known for his skill at mixed games, inexplicably ended the day as the chip leader with $43,000, and Joe Hachem and Victor Ramdin were also among the chip leaders.

Join us tomorrow for more poker action than you can believe as we try to shake off our $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. hangover.

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Czech, Mate: PokerListings.com's Prague Winter

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:43:28 +0100

PokerListings.com is on the ground in the land of goulash, gothica and Christmas carnivals, touching down in a corner of the former Eastern Bloc for a winter poker extravaganza in the cultural capital of the Czech Republic. It's the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 4 tournament in Prague, a five-day feast of felt-based delights leading up to a €4,700 main event of No Limit Hold'em Poker.

The tournament began today from the Golden Atrium Casino in the basement of the beautiful Hilton Prague with the first of two Day 1's attracting a near-sellout field of 240 entrants (the cap for this event is 500). Among those making the trek to the Czech were Eurostars Johnny Lodden, Katja Thater, Martin Smyth, Nicolas Levi, Rolf Slotboom, Kristian Kjondal, Bengt Sonnert, Julian Thew, Gunnar Ostebrod and Rob Hollink, as well as North American pros Marc Karam, Shaun Deeb and Pete "The Beat" Giordano.

Also spotted skulking around the tournament area at the Hilton were the likes of Paul Jackson, Annette Obrestad, Peter Jepsen (and Frieda!), William Thorsson, Paul Gourlay, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and the most Smilingest man in poker, Age Spets, all of whom will saddle up for a few rounds of poker on Day 1b of the event on Tuesday.

For now, however, the focus centered on Day 1a's participants, who if they were lucky found themselves in the middle of a maelstrom of poker excitement for eight 60-minute levels during Monday's afternoon and evening.

Jumping out to a quick lead on the chip leaderboard was Canada's Marc Karam, who won a rather unchallenging pot that would stand as emblematic of the caliber of play early in this event. Karam and a single opponent would see a flop come K-Q-9, with Player 1 betting out $200 and Karam raising to $800. The turn was an off-suit ace, prompting a $500 wager from P1 and a $2,500 raise from Myst. The river was a jack and Player 1 opted to check-call Karam's $4,000 bet, quickly mucking her hand when her rival turned up J-10 for the flopped nut straight.

Play throughout the day would be characterized by strange decisions and very loose calls, with plenty of players seeing flops with K-2 and weak paint cards and chasing gut-shot straights to the river, thus adding their chips to the coffers of those who actually knew what was going on. In contrast, other players found themselves underplaying strong hands, as exemplified by the player who checked his option in the big blind with A-K and then check-called, checked and checked on a K-7-5-2-9 rainbow board.

Rolf Slotboom, one of the most animated and eccentric players in the room (and for a few hours, the bane of Katja Thater's existence, having been seated beside her after a late-afternoon table break), seemed to be feeling a bit of the weak-tight jitters himself by his own admission. PL.com observed him playing pocket aces in an eccentric fashion (re-raise pre-flop, bet the flop, check the turn and check the river on a 9 6 3 T K board) that had the author of Hold'em Poker on the Come muttering about his "wimpy" play afterwards.

EPT3 Copenhagen champ Magnus Petersson would get the best of Slotboom in a later hand, getting the last of his chips in the middle pre-flop in a three-way all-in while holding A Q to Slotboom's T T and Oystein Jensen's K K. The board would run J 6 3 7 A and Petersson would river survival while Slotboom would not even be able to claim the side pot as his own.

Meanwhile, Norwegian nosebleed-stakes pro Johnny "Bad_IP" Lodden found himself rendered eliminato early, busting after struggling with a short stack for most of the proceedings when he got all-in with big slick against an opponent's pocket nines and failed to improve after an A-9-x flop.

Joining Lodden on the rail was Nicolas Levi, who went broke in a bizarre hand that saw him bet the flop on a 4-3-2 board with two diamonds and get one caller to the turn, which was an off-suit king. Levi open-shoved for his last $7,000 into a pot of roughly the same and was called by an opponent with K8o to his own pocket sevens. The river bricked out and that was the end of the hat pimp, who can maybe console himself with a few of his Sklansky bucks...?

As the hour-long levels and increased blinds and antes began to take their toll on the field, a number of big-name pros hit the bricks late in the day. Shaun Deeb played small ball for most of the day but finally expired early in the seventh level. He'd be joined by Pete Giordano, Irish Poker Open champ Marty Smyth, Bengt Sonnert and heartthrob of the British media Gunnar Ostebrod.

Meanwhile, Marc Karam found himself riding a huge roller-coaster that saw the EPT2 and EPT3 Grand Finalist down to his last $2,500 or so midway through the day before doubling, doubling and doubling again. Playing his trademark aggressive style of play, Myst was able to straight terrorize his table once he'd accumulated even a moderate stack, winding up 21st in chips at day's end with $36,700.

At the top of the chip leaderboard after eight hours of play is Germany's Adrian Koy, whose $115,500 gives him a slight advantage over runner-up Maciej Mazur's $104,300. Luigi Rizzi is third with $72,800 and Magnus Petersson is fourth with $72,300. Other chip counts of note include Kristian Kjondal ($43,800), Martin Wendt ($43,600), Rob Hollink ($30,700), Katja Thater ($28,400), Johannes Korsar ($16,500) and Rolf Slotboom ($10,700).

Action will resume tomorrow at noon Central European Time for another eight levels of fun with an entirely new cast of players. As usual, PokerListings.com will be on-scene and on-point throughout the day to fulfill all of your live update needs, so tune in early and tune in often as we bring the pwnage from Prague, comrade.

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