WPT News - The Latest News from the World Poker Tour

Esfandiari, Cody Among Day 2 Leaders at WPT Championship

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:50:08 -0700

With registration now closed, all told 146 runners paid the $25k to create a $3.5m prize pool and $1.1m up top for the winner.

As expected poker's A-list came out in force with Esfandiari, poker's all-time leading money winner, and Cody, the newest PokerStars pro, making their mark on the leaderboard.

Esfandiari won a huge flip at the end of the day against Ryan "g0lfa" D'Angelo to bag up 536,100 and sit in third overall behind WPT bestbet champ Mike Linster (744,000) and poker "hobbyist" Dan Shak poker "hobbyist" Dan Shak (617,300).

Cody finished the day in sixth with 453,500 and took the distinction of ClubWPT Player of the Day.

Steven "Zugwat" Silverman (513,200), recent winner of the EPT Grand Final High Roller, and WPT Spring Championship winner Amir Babakhani (491,000) round out the top six.

Jaka, Hellmuth, Negreanu in Chase Pack

While the recently completed EPT Grand Final final table was considered one of the toughest ever the WPT Championship is shaping up to be more of the same.

Of the remaining 66 no less than 24 are former WPT champions, many of whom earned their seat with a win this season.

Another strong finish shaping up for Cody.

Chino Rheem, Will Failla, Rocco Palumbo, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Marvin Rettenmaier, Matt Salsberg and Daniel Negreanu are just a few of the past winners still alive.

Among the non-winners, tough outs like Faraz Jaka (385,300) and Phil Hellmuth (307,000) are stacked and in position to make a run. The top 10 and chip counts heading into Day 3:

1. Mike Linster 744,000 2. Dan Shak 617,300 3. Antonio Esfandiari 536,100 4. Steven Silverman 513,200 5. Amir Babakhani 491,000 6. Jake Cody 453,500 7. Richard Harrock 399,600 8. Chino Rheem 396,500 9. Rocco Palumbo 395,200 10. Will Failla 386,000

Among the notables to hit the rail today for good included Phil Ivey, Mohsin Charania, Galen Hall, Dominik Nitsche and Nick Schulman.

For a full recap of Day 1 and Day 2 action, check the WPT Live Updates. Play picks up again tomorrow at 12 noon local time.

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Babakhani Locks Up $442k at WPT Spring Championship

Fri, 10 May 2013 06:18:31 -0700

Knocking out all of his opponents at the final table save one, Babakhani rolled to the title fairly easily in just 145 hands, knocking out Barry Kruger heads-up to seal the deal.

On top of the $442k, Babakhani earned a $25k seat in the upcoming WPT World Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Kruger earned $272,555 for his runner-up finish. The official final six and payouts:

1: Amir Babakhani - $442,248 2: Barry Kruger - $272,555 3: Jason Duval - $199,029 4: Bobby Liang - $136,700 5: Martin Leblanc - $102,251 6: Jonathan Bardier - $81,767

Pros Christian Harder and Bryan Piccioli were eliminated just short of the final table.

Check out the winner interview with Babakhani below:

The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the Season XI $25k World Championship at Bellagio with the main event from May 18-24 and the Super High Roller event May 21-23.

Follow along with the live updates at WPT.com.

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Piccioli, Harder Fizzle Just Shy of WPT Spring Championship

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:13:15 -0700

Piccioli, who seemed a lock to make the final table as he accumulated a massive chip stack yesterday, got extremely short-stacked with eight players left and had to make a move.

The New Yorker flopped top-pair with ten-six and that was enough to ship his last 900,000 in the pot. Unfortunately for Piccioli, Amir Babakhani snapped him off with king-ten and the board finished with a meaningless ace on the turn and eight on the river.

Piccioli picked up $52,609 for coming in eighth place but will have to wait another day to win his first WPT title.

It was even more painful for Harder as he hard bubbled the final table coming in seventh place.

Harder ended up smashing pocket nines into Babakhani’s pocket queens. He picked up $66,132 for coming in seventh.

Babakhani’s work busting Harder and Piccioli catapulted him to the chip lead with 6.6 million for tomorrow’s festivities.

Here’s a look at the rest of the final-table chip counts:

1. Amir Babakhani – 6,635,000 2. Barry Kruger – 4,770,000 3. Jason Duval – 4,770,000 4. Tao Liang – 3,870,000 5. Jonathan Bardier – 1,470,000 6. Martin Leblanc – 1,140,000

Plenty of Canadian Content in Final Six

The 2013 WPT Spring Championship Final Table is not exactly star-studded but it does feature a great deal of Canadian as all six remaining players hail from the country.

Jonathan Bardier has a considerable reputation online as Poker Own U with over $2 million in winnings according to PocketFives.com.

Jason Duval is perhaps the most established live player of the bunch with a final table appearance at EPT Madrid in 2012.

Barry Kruger, Tao Liang, Martin Leblanc and a surging Amir Babakhani round out the final table.

The final table begins at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow with $442,248 still on the line for first place. Check the WPT live updates here.

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Piccioli, Charder Lead Final 18 at WPT Spring Championship

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:59:45 -0700

Piccioli, who won his first WSOP bracelet in Australia last month, ran over the competition on Day 3 and amassed a tournament-leading stack of 3.4 million chips.

Amir Babakhani is second with 3.3 million but right behind him is Harder who picked up 1.9 million chips.

Harder is celebrated online as Charder30 but has yet to break through with a major title. Charder came very close to nailing his first WPT title at the 2011 WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods but eventually finished second for $248k.

Some of the other notables still chasing the latest Montreal title are Ravi Raghaven (1,394,000), Josh “JJProdigy” Field (656,000) and Ronnie Bardah (405,000).

All 18 players left still have a shot at the $438,607 first-place prize.

Will Ma

Klann, Ma Among Busted on Day 3

A total of 26 players busted on Day including noted pros Paul Klann and Will Ma.

Klann was the Day 2 chip leader so his elimination was particularly surprising.

Klann nearly stumbled into Day 4 but instead finished in 21st place when he lost a coin flip for his last 600,000.

Meanwhile Ma busted in 33rd place when his ace-king failed him against Christian Harder’s pocket queens.

Ma actually turned an ace but then Harder rivered a set in heart-crushing fashion.

Action resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET as the final 18 will play down to a final table of six players.

Follow the WPT live updates here.

Here’s a look at the chip counts heading into the penultimate day of the 2013 WPT Spring Championship:

1. Bryan Piccioli – 3,441,000 2. Amir Babakhani – 3,321,000 3. Christian Harder – 1,922,000 4. Brant David Kostandoff – 1,795,000 5. Ravi Raghavan – 1,394,000 6. Carter Swidler – 1,310,000 7. Danny Suied – 1,200,000 8. Allen Butkovic – 1,015,000 9. Jason Duval – 1,015,000 10. Tao Liang – 956,000 11. Martin Leblanc – 822,000 12. Jonathan Bardier – 789,000 13. Brian Beggs – 745,000 14. Josh Field – 656,000 15. Barry Kruger – 628,000 16. Ronnie Bardah – 405,000 17. Jaspal Brar – 345,000 18. Stephane Alaire – 259,000

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Klann, JJProdigy Head Final 44 at WPT Spring Championship

Tue, 07 May 2013 05:52:48 -0700

Klann, who earlier in March won the WPT LA Poker Classic for over $1 million, piled up a massive stack of 1,793,000 on Day 2 to seize control of the leaderboard.

He has a roughly 400k lead on second-place Jonathan Bardier and about 700k on Field, one of the more intriguing players still left in the tourney.

A big winner online before being banned for playing underage, mutli-accounting, ghosting and more, Field was heavily scorned by the community but still makes rare appearances at live events.

He's made good use of his buy-in in Montreal so far, running up a stack of 1,078,000 to sit third overall heading into Day 3.

Raghavan, Hamnett, Harder Still Battling

Plenty of tough outs still block Klann's path to a second WPT title this season with at least three former WPT champs still alive.

Ravi Raghavan, winner of the WPT Five Diamond Classic in December, is in the top 10 with 682,000 while Ben Hamnett, winner of the WPT Borgata Open last year, is right behind with 661,000.

Ravi Raghavan.

Last week's winner of the WPT bestbet Open in Jacksonville, Mike Linster, is still alive with 407,000.

Notable pro Christian Harder also survived to see Day 3 with a stack of 441,000.

The top 10 in chips:

1. Paul Klann 1,793,000 2. Jonathan Bardier 1,356,000 3. Josh Field 1,078,000 4. Amirmasoud Babakhani 925,000 5. Brian Beggs 851,000 6. Danny Suied 820,000 7. Jason Duval 805,000 8. Derek Lerner 775,000 9. Robin Bergren 741,000 10. Ravi Raghavan 682,000

Notables to bust out in the money yesterday included Chanracy Khun (52nd - $8,591), Will Molson (55th - $7,124), Matt "ch0ppy" Kay (60th - $7,124), Jeff Gross (65th - $6,076) and Shannon Shorr (71st - $6,076).

Action picks up again from the Playground Poker Club in Montreal at 11 am local time; follow along with the live updates at WPT.com here.

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Boucher, Kay, Roy Roll Into Day 2 at WPT Spring Championship

Mon, 06 May 2013 05:58:12 -0700

Hometown heroes Phillippe Boucher and Jonathan Roy are two of them.

Boucher, the 2011 WSOP PLO Six-Max champ, built his big stack up on Day 1a on Friday and held his spot just off the chip lead in second-place with 278,100.

Roy meanwhile, who stormed his way to the WPT Montreal title late last year, looks primed for a repeat performance with a 218,600 stack built yesterday on Day 1c.

Matt "ch0ppy" Kay, part of the elite Waterloo crew with Mike "Timex" McDonald that has crushed the tournament circuit over the last few years, did his thing on Day 1b and piled up 270,400 for a third-place stack overall.

Gross, Harder, Scott Among Dozens of Notables

Another 299 players survived along with the three leading Canadians to take seats today on Day 2 in search of the first-ever WPT Spring Championship.

Jeff Gross, BFF of Michael Phelps and Antonio Esfandiari, is one of them and will return with an impressive stack of his own at 232,800.

Jeff Gross, BFF to the stars.

Christian Harder (176,600), former PCA champ Poorya Nazari (156,000), November Niner Scott Montgomery (153,900) and Party Poker rep Kara Scott (121,500) all bagged up healthy stacks for Day 2.

Shannon Shorr (119,500), Ronnie Bardah (115,200) and Matt Jarvis (110,300) also topped the 100k mark.

The Top 10 in chips:

1. Nick-Real Seide 322,000 2. Philippe Boucher 278,100 3. Matthew Kay 270,400 4. Jonathan Driscoll 263,800 5. Jeff Gross 232,800 6. Johnson Phanyaseng 224,900 7. Jonathan Roy 218,600 8. Jacob Toole 208,900 9. Daniel Suied 190,000 10. Michael Bartholomew 186,500

Play resumes at 11 am in Montreal today; follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

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Mike Linster Books WPT Jacksonville Title for $321k

Wed, 01 May 2013 06:37:02 -0700

Linster, who plays out of Island Park, New York and is a regular at the Borgata, defeated David Bell in an epic heads-up match to earn $321,521 and a seat in the $25k WPT Championship next month.

The heads-up match between the two lasted longer than the rest of the final table altogether, with Linster starting heads-up down 2-1 but wearing Bell down over 110 hands for the win.

Bell earned $175,512 for the runner-up finish.

Official final-table results and payouts:

1. Mike Linster - $321,521 2. David Bell - $175,512 3. Danny Schechter - $115,311 4. Pete Chwala - $79,619 5. Pete Tinnesz - $58,754 6. David Diaz - $46,673

For a full rundown of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates. Check out Linster's winner interview below:

Next stop on the WPT is the WPT PartyPoker Canadian Spring Championship in Montreal starting Friday, May 3.

Live streaming of the final table will be on Thursday, May 9.

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Salsberg, Cousineau Just Miss WPT Jacksonville Final Table

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:55:08 -0700

The penultimate day of WPT Jacksonville began with 25 players chasing the final table and David Diaz crushing with 1,705,000.

Unfortunately for Diaz, Day 3 wasn’t kind to him and although he secured a spot at the final table, he’ll enter as the short stack with 375,000.

Day 3 wasn’t kind to the big name players in general. David Sands was one of the first players to hit the rail as he lost two pivotal coin flips in a row to bust in 20th place.

Matt Giannetti (22nd) and Raj Vohra (14th) were also among the early eliminations.

Here are the final-table chip counts:

1. Danny Schechter – 3,825,000 2. Michael Linster – 2,150,000 3. David Bell – 1,980,000 4. Pete Chwala – 1,180,000 5. Pete Tinnesz – 1,035,000 6. David Diaz – 375,000

Salsberg Denied Fourth Final Table Appearance

Tony Cousineau

Salsberg appeared destined for yet another WPT final table but got into trouble just five players from the final table.

The Hollywood writer/producer ended up smashing ace-nine into Pete Tinnesz’ ace-king to finally bust in 10th place for $14,277.

Can’t feel too bad for Salsberg as he won WPT Paris for $478,415 last fall.

Salsberg was already leading WPT Player of the Year but adds another 50 points for his 10th place finish in Jacksonville and is now up 150 points on closest competitor Paul Volpe.

Long-time grinder Tony Cousineau ended up being the final table bubble boy as he flopped a pair of queens with queen-nine and shoved only to be snapped off by David Bell who had pocket aces.

The final six players are certainly lesser-known, outside of David Diaz, but there’s a good chance the title will remain in Florida as many of the players are local.

Action begins at 2:30 p.m. ET and you can follow WPT live updates here in addition to a live stream.

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Diaz Running Away with WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:12:46 -0700

The Honduran-born Diaz, who won the $1,500 Triple Chance event at the 2011 WSOP, ended Day 2 yesterday with a towering 1.7 million in chips - more than twice his next closest competitior.

Even more impressively, Diaz had dropped to just 20k in chips at one point before running his stack all the way up to the chip lead.

Diaz does already have a WPT final table to his credit, from the WPT Borgata Open last September, but that run ended in sixth place.

With 25 players left there's still plenty of hands to play and a few major hurdles in his path - including David "Doc" Sands - but with 170 BBs Diaz certainly holds the upper hand.

Sands, Salsberg, Giannetti Still Alive

As for the "name players" still contending the one front and center is David "Doc" Sands.

Recently returned from his honeymoon with Erika Moutinho, the rest apparently served him well as he also bagged up a top 5 stack at 692,000.

Michael Linster (816,000), Benjamin Zamani (725,000) and Tim Reilly (591,000) round out the top 5.

The leading candidate for WPT Player of the Year, Matt Salsberg, is also still battling with 405,000.

David "Doc" Sands

Importantly for Salsberg he's already guaranteed himself another 50 points in the POY race, stretching his lead out over Paul Volpe with just two events to play.

WSOP November Niner Matt Giannetti also managed to bag up a stack to end Day 2, albeit a small one at 275,000.

The top 10 in chips:

1. David Diaz 1,705,000 2. Michael Linster 816,000 3. Benjamin Zamani 725,000 4. David Sands 692,000 5. Tim Reilly 591,000 6. John Dollinger 537,000 7. David Bell 524,000 8. Raj Vohra 501,000 9. Chad Deberry 491,000 10. Aaaron Lucas 477,000

Action picks up again at noon ET from Jacksonville and will get down to a final table of six tonight. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates team here.

Check out the end of day interview with Diaz below:

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Eyster Holds On for WPT Seminole Win, $1m Month

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:09:25 -0700

With a Sunday Million win online and a runner-up finish at the WSOPC Circuit event in Colorado, Eyster locked up $1 million in earnings in less than a month

"I guess it'll hit me in a few days, cause that's pretty unexplainable you know," Eyster said in his WPT winner's interview.

"To just go from zero to hero in two weeks, just like that...it just goes to show it can happen to anyone. It feels like a little mini Moneymaker story"

Karim Finishes Third, Madsen Busts Sixth

Eyster, who had the chip lead coming into the final table at WPT Seminole, held off all challengers - including his roommate and friend Zo Karim - in just under 200 hands for the win.

Entering heads-up with a 4-1 chip advantage over Ben Tarzia, Eyster needed just 11 hands to finish things off

Along with the $660,395, Eyster earned a $25k seat in the WPT Championship, a WPT Champions trophy and a customized electric guitar. Tarzia earned $389,750 for his runner-up finish.

Not in the cards for Madsen.

Jeff Madsen, the most recognizable player at the final table, couldn't get anything going and busted in sixth.

Official WPT Seminole results:

1st: Kevin Eyster - $660,395 2nd: Ben Tarzia - $389,750 3rd: Zo Karim - $252,190 4th: Paul Dlugozima - $171,950 5th: Daniel Letts - $122,275 6th: Jeff Madsen - $100,000

For a full recap of all the final table hands, check the WPT live updates. Interview below:

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Kevin Eyster, Jeff Madsen Headline WPT Seminole Final Six

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:10:46 -0700

Eyster, who just bagged a Sunday Million win at the end of March to add to his millions in online earnings, is the overall chip leader with 5,680,000.

Madsen on the other hand, most known for being the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year, is fifth in chips with 1,385,000 and will have some work to do to catch the leaders.

Eyster: In command.

After a relatively quiet couple of years, this is Madsen's second WPT final table in less than a year after a sixth-place finish at last year's WPT Legends of Poker.

Rounding out the final six are Paul Dlugozima (4,470,000), Ben Tarzia (2,380,000), Daniel Letts (1,665,000) and Zo Karim (685,000).

Notables to just miss the final table included Faraz Jaka (9th - $38,213), Matt Salsberg (13th - $22,927) and Matt Giannetti (21st - $16,558).

The final six and seating assignments for tomorrow:

Seat 1. Daniel Letts - 1,665,000 (41 bb) Seat 2. Paul Dlugozima - 4,470,000 (111 bb) Seat 3. Kevin Eyster - 5,680,000 (142 bb) Seat 4. Jeff Madsen - 1,385,000 (34 bb) Seat 5. Ben Tarzia - 2,380,000 (59 bb) Seat 6. Zo Karim - 685,000 (17 bb)

Final-table action picks up at 4 pm ET with hand-for-hand live updates availabe at WPT.com.

Salsberg Takes Over WPT Player of The Year Lead

Matt Salsberg

While he may have just missed the final table Salsberg did take over the WPT Player of the Year lead from Paul "paulgees84" Volpe.

Both played the tournament but Volpe busted in 27th for just 50 points, leaving him at 2,400 overall.

The 150 points Salsberg earned for 13th pushed him up to 2,500 with three events remaining in the season.

Check back on PokerListings later this month for our full Easy Game mini-documentary on Salsberg.

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Chanracy Khun KOs Ben Pollak for WPT Barcelona Title

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:50:04 -0700

Khun, who had about $100k in live earnings prior, carried over his chip lead and his momentum from Day 3 to knock out each of his opponents at the final table.

The win is by far Khun's biggest, although he did narrowly miss a $1m seat in a Big One for One Drop satellite at the WSOP in Vegas last year.

Pollak, a veteran pro from France who won his buy-in from the cash games at Casino Barcelona before the event, couldn't overcome a big chip disadvantage heads-up and took home $162,822 for his runner-up finish.

The official final six and payouts, courtesy of WPT.com:

1. Chanracy Khun $258,448 2. Benjamin Pollak $162,822 3. Antonio Alfaia $107,256 4. Tahiri Hassani Najib $80,119 5. Bruno Garcia Cotelo $59,443 6. Sergio Fernandez $47,813

Notable names to go deep but miss the final table were Paul Testud (8th - $31,014), Erich Kollmann (11th - $17,455), Manuel Bevand (17th - $12,406), reigning WPT Barcelona champ Lukas Berglund (19th - $10,726), Kevin Vandersmissen (22nd - $9,692) and Bryn Kenney (26th - $8,658).

For a full recap of all the action, check the WPT Live Updates. The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Open starting tomorrow in Florida.

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Palumbo Holds Off Montagner, Sexton for WPT Venice Title

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:31:28 -0700

Palumbo, who won a bracelet at the 2012 WSOP in a $1k Hold'em event, earned €140,000 ($180,097 USD) and a seat at the $25k WPT Championship in May for the win to push his career earnings up past $1 million.

The 24-year-old former accountant from Genova defeated Marcello Montagner heads-up after dominating play three-handed and Montagner turned two pair to oust poker icon Mike Sexton in third.

Sexton Earns Highest-Ever WPT Finish

Sexton, known more these days for being the voice of the WPT but with a 30-year career at the felt behind him, proved he's still at the top of his game and took home $69,723 to add to his $5.3 million in career earnings.

Sexton: Still got it.

The third-place finish is also Sexton's highest ever on the WPT.

The 38-year-old Montagner, who put bad beats on both Ludovic Lacay (AK>AA) and Matt Salsberg (Rivered straight > Salsberg's flopped set of 3s) to take the chip lead into the final table, earned $108,316 for his runner-up finish.

The official final-table results at the WPT Venice Grand Prix and payouts:

1. Rocco Palumbo $180,097 2. Marcello Montagner $108,316 3. Mike Sexton $69,723 4. Roberto Begni $51,585 5. Xia Lin $38,721 6. Erion Islamay $31,002

For a full recap of all the action, check the WPT Live Updates.

The next stop on the WPT is at Casino Barcelona for bwin WPT Barcelona from April 5-10.

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Sexton In, Salsberg Bubbles WPT Venice Final Table

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:55:28 -0700

Dominating for much of Day 4 today in Venice, Sexton finally settled back to just over a million in chips to be the third-biggest stack at the final table.

The other five stacks joining him?

All belonging to Italian players as fellow American Matt Salsberg - a three-time WPT final tablist in the last six months - hit the rail in seventh to be the unfortunate bubble boy.

Hero Call Hurts Salsberg, Bracelet-Winner Palumbo Hangs In

Salsberg, one of the leading candidates for WPT Player of the Year, looked primed to make his fourth final table before a hero call against Giuseppe Pastura dropped him down to just 10 BBs.

Bad breaks for Salsberg.

Correctly sniffing out a bluff until the river when Pastura hit a queen for second pair, Salsberg made a valiant comeback afterward but had to settle for seventh when another river card - this time giving Marcello Montagner a straight - sent him packing.

Salsberg heads home with €20,800 for his run while Montagner will take the chip lead at 1.8 million into tomorrow's TV table.

Joining him and Sexton in the final will be Robert Begni (1.2 million) and a trio of small-stacked Italians in Day 3 chip leader Erion Islamay (406,000), WSOP bracelet winner Rocco Palumbo (406,000) and Xia Lin (309,000).

The official WPT Venice Grand Prix final table and seat assignments.

Seat 1 - Xia Lin - 309,000 Seat 2 - Rocco Palumbo - 406,000 Seat 3 - Mike Sexton - 1,079,000 Seat 4 - Erion Islamay - 406,000 Seat 5 - Marcello Montagner - 1,805,000 Seat 6 - Robert Begni - 1,203,000

Final-table action picks up again at 2:30 local time with live updates and a live stream available on WPT.com here.

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Scott, Sexton Charging as WPT Venice Down to 18

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:36:16 -0700

Scott, more known for being the tableside host of ESPN's WSOP broadcast but who has a second-place finish at the 2009 Irish Open on her résumé, had an impressive day to move up all the way to fifth overall heading into Day 5.

With 414,000 in chips, she's actually in a dead heat with fellow Party Poker rep and poker legend Mike Sexton, who also bagged 414,000.

The two trail chip leader Erion Islamay by about 60k heading into tomorrow.

Lacay Hangs On, Boeree Busts

Day 3 chip leader Ludovic Lacay wobbled over the day but managed to pull back a few big pots late and finish seventh overall with 402,000.

Also keeping a stack alive to make a run at the final table are Italian up-and-comer Rocco Palumbo (378,000), WSOP Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko (251,000), WPT Paris champ Matt Salsberg (196,000) and Finn Lauri Pesonen (195,000).

Short day for Boeree.

Notables busting out just short of the money today were Max Pescatori, Marvin Rettenmaier, Dan "Jungleman12" Cates and Liv Boeree.

The top 10 in chips heading into Day 5:

1. Erion Islamay 470,000 2. Marcello Montagner 460,000 3. Giuseppe Pastura 432,000 4. Xia Lin 425,000 5. Mike Sexton 414,000 6. Kara Scott 414,000 7. Ludovic Lacay 402,000 8. Rocco Palumbo 378,000 9. Ivan Gabrieli 295,000 10. Martin Staszko 251,000

Action picks up at the Casino de Venezia at 2:30 pm local time and will play down to the final TV table of six. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates team and watch the final table live stream on Saturday.

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Lacay in Control as WPT Venice Shrinks to 36

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:42:53 -0700

The well known Winamax pro, winner of last year's EPT San Remo main event, bagged up 351,400 after a dominant day at the felt to sit a good 60k ahead of second-place Lauri Pesonen.

Also having an impressive day at the felt was WPT broadcasting anchor Mike Sexton, who showed he still has a lot of chops at the tables by bagging up a sixth-place stack of 241,500.

Pros Still Holding Ground

Despite the relatively small starting field of 173 no shortage of pros will join the frontrunners tomorrow as they play down to the final table.

Back-to-back WPT champ Marvin Rettenmaier moved up the field to finish with a top 15 stack of 187,700.

Battle of Malta host Kara Scott (113,400), WPT Paris champ Matt Salsberg (100,100), PokerStars pro Liv Boeree (93,600), high-stakes crusher Dan Cates (87,600) and the Italian Pirate Max Pescatori (57,800) also made it through, as did WSOP Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko (43,900).

Cates: Still swinging.

Notables busting out today short of the money (which starts at 21st place) included John Eames, Andrea Dato, Andrey Pateychuk, Alessio Isaia and Dario Alioto.

The top 10 in chips heading into Day 3:

1. Ludovic Lacay 351,400 2. Lauri Pesonen 287,300 3. Erion Islamay 281,200 4. Steve Behm 263,800 5. Giuseppe Pastura 254,000 6. Marcello Montagner 249,000 7. Mike Sexton 241,500 8. Francesco Delfonco 225,000 9. Gianluca Speranza 205,400 10. Angelo Recchia 205,000

Action picks up again from the Casino de Venezia at 2:30 pm local time tomorrow. Follow along with the live updates on WPT.com.

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Grand Entrance, Early Exit for Hellmuth on WPT Venice Day 1b

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:25:49 -0700

Instead Italian circuit regular Fernando Cimaglia stole the spotlight as he ascended to the top of the chip counts with 170,000.

Ludovic Lacay (118,000) and Quoc Trung Nguyen (113,800) and Giacomo Fundaro (93,700) also made their way into the top 10 chip counts.

Hellmuth arrived at the Casino de Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi in a classic Venetian get-up with a mask, tuxedo, black cape and silver cane, flanked by the Royal Flush Girls.

Ludovic Lacay in the hunt

The Poker Brat took a gold gondola on the Grand Canal to get to the casino during the second to last level of play on Day 1b.

It turned out to be an anti-climatic appearance for Hellmuth as he barely lasted a level and ended up busting with top-pair and a weak kicker.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts after Day 1b of WPT Venice:

1. Fernando Cimaglia – 175,000 2. Massimo Mosele – 132,500 3. Simone Ferrettl – 122,600 4. Ludovic Lacay – 118,000 5. Quoc Trung Nguyen – 113,800 6. Francesco Delfanco – 100,000 7. Ivan Gabriell – 97,900 8. Roberto Begnl – 96,200 9. Giacomo Fundaro – 93,700 10. Jorgen Paullsch – 93,000

Guillaume Darcourt, Galen Hall Eliminated on Day 1b

Phil Hellmuth certainly wasn’t the only player to bust on Day 1b as 49 of the starting 108 players were all relegated to the rail.

Galen Hall, Guillaume Darcourt, Giovanni Rizzo and Dario Sammartino were among the numerous players who busted.

The 108 players that entered Day 1b brought the overall field size up to 173 players. The remaining players are competing for a $576,74 prizepool with $180,097 dedicated to first-place.

Poker pros Max Pescatori, Dario Alioto, Andrey Pateychuk, Liv Boeree, Alessandro Longobardl all booked their ticket to Day 2.

All the remaining players in WPT Venice will meet under the same roof for the first time tomorrow as action recommences at 14:30 (CET).

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Rettenmaier, Sexton Among WPT Venice Day 1a Leaders

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:34:10 -0700

Rettenmaier amassed 129,600, good enough for second place overall, while Sexton, who doesn’t always get to play WPTs because of his hosting duties, built a stack of 99,900 to take third place.

The lesser-known Stephen Behm grabbed the overall chip lead with 188,000.

Day 1a only drew 65 players as Venice was hit particularly hard by snow, wind and rain. Organizers are expecting a much bigger Day 1b.

A total of 32 players made it through the eight levels of play on Day 1a including noted pros Kara Scott (81,200) and Rocco Palumbo (67,000), Jon Eames (22,100), Matt Salsberg (15,900) and Dan Cates (13,000).

Here are the top 10 chip counts after Day 1a of the contest:

1. Stephen Behm – 188,000 2. Marvin Rettenmaier – 129,600 3. Mike Sexton – 99,900 4. Raffaele Castro – 96,000 5. Gianluca Rullo – 95,100 6. Armando Donninl – 85,500 7. Lauri Pesonen – 83,800 8. Ivan Losl – 81,300 9. Kara Scott – 81,200 10. Martino Favaretto – 80,000

Big Names Expected to Re-Enter on Day 1b

Phil Hellmuth set to appear on Day 1b.

The Venice Grand Prix is a re-entry event so notable bustouts from Day 1a including Ludovic Lacay, Gaelle Baumann and Martin Staszko are likely to rebuy.

There will also be a few new faces in the field including the larger-than-life Phil Hellmuth.

This will mark the first time that Hellmuth has played an Italian poker event.

Galen Hall, Dario Alioto, Vince Van Patten and Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree are also expected to join the action today.

Day 1b begins at 15:00 CET at the Casino de Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi in Venice, Italy.

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Chang Upsets Seidel, Volpe to Win Bay 101

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:18:07 -0800

Consummate grinder Erik Seidel was gunning for his second WPT title but couldn’t really get anything going early and became severely short-stacked during four-handed play.

Seidel, who was the final bounty at Bay 101, finally busted when his jack-ten failed to overcome Paul Volpe’s ace-four.

Volpe entered the final table as the chip leader and was looking to take down his first WPT title.

The young poker pro was appearing in his second straight WPT final table as he also finished second at the LAPC for $651,170.

Unfortunately for Volpe, he just missed out on heads-up play this time around. Although three-handed play took hours, it was finally Volpe who fell in third place when his queen-ten failed against Kai Chang’s ace-nine.

On the bright side Volpe picked up $435,610 and is up over $1 million playing tournaments in the last two weeks.

Chang Takes Out Nguyen Heads-Up in Six Hands

Volpe’s elimination proved to be a turning point for the tournament as Chang took a 2-1 chip lead into heads-up play and dominated opponent Joe Nguyen.

Heads-up play would only last six hands as Chang flopped a straight with 8-6 against Nguyen, who had a flush draw. The flush never came and Chang received the tournament-deciding checkmark.

Chang picked up a total of $1,138,350 for his efforts and a $25,000 entry into the WPT World Championship.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. WeiKai Chang - $1,138,350 2. Joe Nguyen - $666,750 3. Paul Volpe - $435,610 4. Erik Seidel - $295,590 5. Chris Johnson - $208,910 6. Joe Kuether - $162,240

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Volpe Goes Back-to-Back, Seidel Threatens at Bay 101

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 05:25:29 -0800

A massive winner online under the nickname paulgees81, Volpe finished second at last week's WPT LAPC and followed up with an equally impressive performance at Bay 101 to take the chip lead heading into the final table.

Volpe bagged up 5,525,000 to take pole position for the $1.1 million first-place prize but he'll have a major obstacle in poker legend Erik Seidel to overcome to win it.

One of the highest-earning poker players of all time, Seidel had an impressive day yesterday to bag up 3,435,000 and start right behind Volpe at the final table.

Seidel will be looking for his second career WPT title and his first since the Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2008. Volpe and Matt Salsberg are the only players to make back-to-back final tables on the WPT this year.

Kuether, Johnson Among Experienced Tablemates

The rest of the final six is an interesting mix of veteran players looking for career-defining scores.

Legend lurks.

Third in chips is Joe Kuether, a tourney vet with 13 WSOP cashes since 2009 including a third-place finish in a $1k event in 2011. He'll start the final table with 2.8 million in chips.

Right behind Kuether in fourth at 2.7 million is Chris Johnson, a Vegas pro with a WSOPC title to his credit.

Fifth is WeiKai Chang, another tourney reg with $750k in career cashes, and sixth is Joe Nguyen - the least experienced of the bunch but still with several solid tourney runs to his name.

The official final six and chip counts:

1. Paul Volpe 5,525,000 2. Erik Seidel 3,435,000 3. Joe Kuether 2,830,000 4. Chris Johnson 2,740,000 5. WeiKai Chang 2,590,000 6. Joe Nguyen 2,175,000

Notables to make the final 44 but miss the final-table cut yesterday included Antonio Esfandiari (9th - $64,450), last week's LAPC Champ Paul Klann (11th - $48,890), Matt Stout (12th - $48,890), Christian Harder (13th - $37,780), ElkY Grospellier (15th -$37,780), Maria Ho (20th - $26,670) and Isaac Baron (21st - $26,670).

Final-table action begins at 4 pm PT today. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

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Esfandiari, Seidel Crushing WPT Bay 101 Home Stretch

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:35:00 -0800

Recent WPT LA Poker Classic runner-up Paul Volpe is currently in the lead.

Volpe took down over $650,000 for second place at the LAPC a couple weeks ago and now he's got another chance at his first WPT title.

And since this Bay 101 main event is the biggest in the history of the WPT, Volpe's got a shot at an enormous $1,138,350 first-place prize.

Day 2 chopped the field down from 255 and a pile of big names made the cut.

Sitting in third is online legend Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, followed closely by Maria Ho in fifth. Former WPT final-tablist Matt Stout is in ninth while WSOP bracelet winner Athanasios Polychronopoulos is in 11th.

Other players to watch still left in this field include Christian Harder (607,000), Kyle Julius (536,000), recent LAPC champ Paul Klann (389,000), Todd Terry (295,000), Jeff Madsen (273,000) and Carlos Mortensen (271,000).

Antonio Esfandiari

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 3:

1. Paul Volpe – 1,394,000 2. Brendon Rubie – 988,000 3. Isaac Baron – 896,000 4. Steve Behm – 854,000 5. Maria Ho – 805,000 6. Antonio Esfandiari – 787,000 7. James Anderson – 770,000 8. Erik Seidel – 751,000 9. Matt Stout – 687,000 10. Jordan Cristos – 672,000

Everyone who has made it this far is guaranteed at least $19,120 with the payouts reaching six-figures at seventh place.

Duhamel, Sexton Among Day 2 Casualties

Over 200 players were eliminated on Day 2, and only 19 of them got a taste of the prize money.

Hitting the rail well before the cash kicked in were a host of big names, including former world champion of poker Jon Duhamel.

The French-Canadian got in a battle of the blinds holding A-J and couldn't win the crucial all-in against the big blind's pocket jacks.

Former WPT winner Shawn Buchanan, who was also a bountied “Shooting Star” in this event, was eliminated by Nick Schulman in a classic all-in preflop race.

Making an early exit with empty pockets was the WPT's own Mike Sexton. Noah Schwartz, Mohsin Charania, Greg Mueller, David “ODB” Baker and Dan Kelly also went bust.

Eliminated but snagging a small piece of the prize pool were Scott Seiver (63rd), Michael Benvenuti (55th), Matt Affleck (52nd), Steve Gross (47th), and Chris DeMaci (45th).

The 2013 WPT Bay 101 main event will play down to a final table today in San Jose. Check our World Poker Tour News Section for the update.

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Motley, Kelly Start Strong in Record-Setting WPT Bay 101

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:00:22 -0800

Motley, a gaming industry vet playing the event as part of her "bucket list," had a day to remember. She busted Shooting Star David Williams to collect his $2,500 bounty and bagged the chip lead for the $10k bonus at the end of the night.

She'll start Day 2 with 243,100 - slightly ahead of 2011 WPT Bay 101 runner-up and WSOP bracelet winner Steven Kelly with 233,500.

Rounding out the top 5 from Day 1b are WeiKai Chang (195,400), Numit Agrawl (193,200), and Noah Wiseman (191,700).

All will trail Day 1a chip leader Andrew Lichtenberger, however, when play picks up again as he'll start with 341,100.

The total number of entries so far is 635 but could increase slightly with registration still open until the start of play today. Still the total crushes the previous record of 516 and the prize pool will be the largest ever.

Somerville, Ho Off to Solid Starts

Strong start for Ho.

The Day 1b field was packed with notables as expected, some faring better than others.

Taylor Von Kreigenbergh (182,900), Jeff Gross (179,800), Jason Somerville (153,000), Scott Seiver (137,900), Maria Ho (132,500), Tom Marchese (115,000) and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (112,200) were among the better off.

The top 10 in chips from Day 1b:

1. Rhea Motley 243,100 2. Steven Kelly 233,500 3. WeiKai Chang 195,400 4. Numit Agrawl 193,200 5. Noah Wiseman 191,700 6. Jesse Yaginuma 184,600 7. Taylor von Kriegenbergh 182,900 8. Jeff Gross 179,800 9. Tim Couse 177,300 10. Danny Wong 161,300

Play picks up again at 11 am PT with 249 returning players plus any new entries. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

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LuckyChewy On Top After WPT Bay 101 Day 1a

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:22:04 -0800

A fan favorite, the Bay 101 Shooting Star event always draws a big crowd with a $7,500 buy-in plus re-entry and $2,500 bounties on the heads of 52 big-name pros.

Knock out one of those pros and you get a shirt, medal and the cash, making for a fairly lighthearted if competitive first few days and some added incentive at the tables.

A good 270 players made their way to the casino for Day 1a yesterday with 109 surviving to see Day 2 led by Lichtenberger.

He bagged up 341,000 for the overall lead and the $10k bonus for being the chipleader at day's end.

Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron

The top 10 in chips after Day 1a:

1. Andrew Lichtenberger 341,000 2. Stephen Bokor 274,200 3. Andy Hwang 242,000 4. Phaly Nou 232,800 5. James Calderaro 205,200 6. Greg White 183,000 7. Brendon Rubie 180,300 8. Isaac Baron 178,500 9. Faraz Jaka 177,300 10. Lori Bare 156,300

Other notables off to a good start with above-average stacks include WPT LAPC runner-up Paul Volpe (146,500), Brit Chris "NigDawG" Brammer (142,800), Antonio Esfandiari (119,200) and Erik Seidel (85,000).

With re-entry available today for those who busted out yesterday, expect to see even more big names in the field and on the leaderboard after Day 1b.

Action picks up at 11 am PT with a new group of Shooting Stars. Follow along with the live updates on WPT.com.

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Klann Topples Volpe for $1m WPT LAPC Title

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:13:59 -0800

Coming in to the final table second in chips to Volpe, Klann held course over 170 hands to enter heads-up in roughly the same situation - second to Volpe and down 10m to 5m in chips.

Klann battled back against the experienced pro, though, and after a back-and-forth heads-up match that saw the lead change several times he finally put Volpe away in hand 203 after crippling him with K♣ T♦ vs. J♥ 9♥ the hand before.

Klann Wins in Just 5th WPT Event

Klann, a 41-year-old amateur who runs a disaster restoration company in Vancouver, BC earned $1,004,090 - by far the biggest cash of his career and his first cash in five WPT events. He also earned a $25k seat in the WPT Championship in May.

Volpe, a huge winner online under the nickname paulgees81, settled for $651,170 for his runner-up finish to push his career live earnings up over $1.1 million.

American poker pros Jesse Yaginuma ($429,810), Danny Fuhs ($316,650) and David Fong ($236,250) finished in spots 3-5 while British pro Toby Lewis, the short stack coming into the final table, couldn't muster a challenge and finished sixth.

Official Final Table Results:

1. Paul Klann - $1,004,090 2. Paul Volpe - $651,170 3. Jesse Yaginuma - $429,810 4. Danny Fuhs - $316,650 5. David Fong - $236,250 6. Toby Lewis - $193,560

For a full recap of all the final-table play, check the WPT Live Updates. The next stop on the World Poker Tour is right around the corner at Bay 101 in San Jose starting on Monday.

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Volpe, Lewis Bookend WPT LAPC Final Table

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:56:54 -0800

Volpe, a massive winner online under the nickname paulgees81, will enter the final day of play with the overall chip lead at 4,195,000 - about 800k ahead of second place Paul Klann.

Volpe also might be recognizable to fans from his deep run at the 2012 WSOP Main Event where he made Day 7 and finished 20th overall.

British pro Lewis, also a huge winner online as 810ofclubs and a member of Team IveyPoker, dropped from the chip lead entering play today but still held on as the short stack for the final six.

He'll enter play tomorrow with 1,125,000 - good for 22 big blinds and some room to make a move.

Another near miss for Ausmus.

Danny Fuhs (3,280,000), David Fong (2,295,000) and Jesse Yaginuma (1,235,000) round out the final six.

The official final six and chip counts:

1. Paul Volpe 4,195,000 2. Paul Klann 3,375,000 3. Daniel Fuhs 3,280,000 4. David Fong 2,295,000 5. Jesse Yaginuma 1,235,000 6. Toby Lewis 1,125,000

Each of the final-table members are now assured of $193,560 with $1,004,090 reserved for the winner.

Garrett Greer was the final-table bubble boy, busting in seventh for $161,300. Japan's Naoya Kihara busted in ninth ($86,780) and 2012 WSOP October Niner Jeremy Ausmus exited in 12th ($70,970).

Action begins again at 4 pm local time tomorrow with live updates available at WPT.com along with a live stream with hole cards starting 30 mins after the beginning of play.

Official payouts for the final table:

$1,004,090 (incl. $25,500 seat in WPT Championship) $651,170 $429,810 $316,650 $236,250 $193,560

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Brit Lewis in Control with 18 Left at WPT LAPC

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:51:03 -0800

Lewis, who recently signed on with the burgeoning crew at IveyPoker.com, had an impressive day among a stacked field to bag up 1.8 million in chips.

He'll start Day 5 and the playdown to the final six tomorrow a good 200k ahead of second place Paul Klann (1,581,000) and third place Paul Volpe (1,562,000).

Lewis, a $2m+ winner online under the name 810ofclubs who also has a list of live cashes a mile long, is looking for his first WPT final table.

Ausmus, Kihara Stick Around

Naoya Kihara

Benjamin Zamani (1,380,000), David Tuthill (1,086,000) and Day 3 chip leader Jeremy Ausmus (1,053,000) hold down the other current spots in the top six.

Japan's Naoya Kihara also managed to squeeze into the final 18 with 654,000 - good for 12th spot overall.

The top 10 in chips heading into Day 5:

1. Toby Lewis 1,816,000 2. Paul Klann 1,581,000 3. Paul Volpe 1,562,000 4. Benjamin Zamani 1,380,000 5. David Tuthill 1,086,000 6. Jeremy Ausmus 1,053,000 7. Blake Barousse 954,000 8. Garrett Greer 793,000 9. David Fong 733,000 10. Bruce Kramer 731,000

Notables busting just shy of the end of the day included Noah Schwartz (19th - $43,180), Ana Marquez (20th - $43,180), Jennifer Harman (21st - $43,180), Galen Hall (22nd - $38,710) and Eric Froehlich (23rd - $38,710).

Also falling by the wayside but in the money today were David Peters, Scott Clements, Chris Klodnicki, Mohsin Charania, Joe Hachem, Sam Razavi, Dan Shak, Scott Seiver, Phil Laak and Carlos Mortensen.

Play resumes at noon tomorrow from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and will play down to the final table of six; follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

Just over $1 million awaits the winner who will be crowned on Thursday night.

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Ausmus Leads as Bubble Bursts, 63 Left at WPT LAPC

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:12:51 -0800

Ausmus, who finished fifth in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for over $2m, bagged up just over 1m in chips for the edge on the field heading into Day 4 today.

Ausmus was the only player to crack the 1m mark. He’s followed by Blake Barousse at 815,000 and Eric Froehlich at 755,000.

Also cracking the top five in chips is 2011 PCA main event champ Galen Hall (734,000) and recent WSOPC Caesars winner David Tuthill (613,000).

Harman, Laak Among Final 63

All 63 players remaining are now assured of a min-cash ($18,260) but given the depth and quality of the field a lot would be disappointed if that’s all they pocketed.

Harman in contention.

Paul Volpe (570,000), David Peters (375,000), Dan Shak (310,000), Jennifer Harman (304,000) and Zach Hyman (302,000) all topped the 300k-chip mark.

Japan’s first WSOP bracelet winner Naoya Kihara (299,000), Brit Sam Razavi (281,000), Phil Laak (266,000) and Noah Schwartz (236,000) are also all decently stacked.

The top 10 in chips heading to Day 4:

1. Jeremy Ausmus 1,014,000 2. Blake Barousse 815,000 3. Eric Froehlich 755,000 4. Galen Hall 734,000 5. David Tuthill 613,000 6. Paul Volpe 570,000 7. Ryan Franklin 551,000 8. Benjamin Zamani 499,000 9. Alexander Venovski 415,000 10. Warwick Mirzikinian 378,000

Action picks up from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles at 12 pm. PT and will play down to the final 18. A tantalizing $1,004,090 awaits the winner.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

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Neff, Kihara, Seiver Leading After WPT LAPC Day 2

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:58:56 -0800

Neff, a major winner online under the nickname #1PEN, is the overall chip leader with 284,700 heading into Day 3 today.

Kihara, Japan’s first-ever WSOP bracelet winner, is third overall with 260,400 and the popular Seiver, most recently the winner of the PCA Super High Roller, is fifth with 244,100.

WSOP National Championship winner Ryan Eriquezzo (265,000) and pro Evan McNiff (248,500) round out the top five.

Harman, Hall, Tilly Contending

Always one of the toughest events on the circuit, this year’s LAPC main event is no different with the bulk of the field made up of notable players with notable résumés.

Good start for Ho.

Pros Justin Young, Sam Stein, Jeremy Ausmus and Jesse Sylvia are all in the top 15 as is high-stakes vet Jennifer Harman (197,500).

Former PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall (183,000), celeb Jennifer Tilly (136,600) and pro Maria Ho (112,300) are also off to good starts.

The top 10 in chips after Day 2:

1. Peter Neff 284,700 2. Ryan Enriquezzo 265,000 3. Naoya Kihara 260,400 4. Evan McNiff 248,500 5. Scott Seiver 244,100 6. Justin Young 234,600 7. Sam Stein 233,400 8. Randy Ohel 230,800 9. Arthur Morris 228,500 10. Trevor Pope 225,000

Action picks up again from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles at noon and will play down to the money bubble. Follow along with the WPT live updates here.

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Bozinovic Clips Berende for WPT Baden Title

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 12:27:45 -0800

While the German Rettenmaier came in second in chips and eyeing his third career WPT title, it was Bozinovic and Berende there in the end battling for the championship.

The Serbian Bozinovic and the Dutchman Berende dominated much of the action in the final six - as they did for much of the tournament - and were very deserving of their heads-up spots.

Berende even had himself one card from the win before an eight on the river gave Bozinovic a straight and turned the momentum heads-up.

Bozinovic finished Berende off shortly after to take home his first WPT title and $271,258. Berende earned $172,695 for the runner-up finish.

Rettenmaier Crashes Out in Fifth

No glory for Rettenmaier today.

The conditions were prime for Rettenmaier to seize the day and his third WPT title in nine months but fate had other ideas.

Losing a few pots early to Berende, Rettenmaier couldn't get anything going and met his demise early against Finn Kimmo Kurko.

Shoving in the small blind over the Finn's open from the button, Rettenmaier's KQ couldn't catch Kurko's AQ and that was that.

Kurko could only hold on for a fourth-place finish of his own, however, cashing for $81,034.

The official final-table results and payouts:

1. Vladimir Bozinovic $271,258 2. Paul Berende $172,695 3. Oswin Ziegelbecker $111,587 4. Kimmo Kurko $81,034 5. Marvin Rettenmaier $59,496 6. Grzegorz Wyraz $47,820

For a full recap of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates.

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Rettenmaier On Brink of Third Title at WPT Baden

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:45:17 -0800

Coming into the day in the bottom half of the remaining 20 players, Rettenmaier needed two critical double-ups to keep him alive.

The first, early in level 20, came against Dutchman Paul Berende. Rettenmaier had his AQ shove snapped off by Berende with kings but an ace on the flop added another 350k to his stack to get him back in contention.

The last, in level 25, came against chip leader Vladimir Bozinovic. Hovering just under 1 million chips, Rettenmaier got it in bad with K9o against the Serbian's AQ but a king on the river saved him and pushed him up to 1.56 million to end the night -- second overall.

The hit to Bozinovic knocked him back to 1.98m but still hold his chip lead entering the final table.

With back-to-back WPT titles last year, another would give Rettenmaier 3 titles in just 9 months.

Dutch pro Paul "padjes" Berende, a multi-million-dollar winner online, bagged up 1.3 million to sit third overall.

No go for Staszko.

Oswin Ziegelbecker (1.15 million), Kimmo Kurko (1.1 million) and Gzregorz Wyraz (550,000) round out the final six.

Staszko, Sbrzesny Hit the Wall

Pros Martin Staszko and Bodo Sbrzesny, both strong contenders for the final table for virtually all of the tournament, finally hit their walls today.

Staszko hit a run of bad luck early, doubling up a couple of players before finally falling in 17th with tens against aces. Sbrzesny made it a bit further but still bowed out in 11th place.

Official Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Vladimir Bozinovic – 1,985,000 2. Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,565,000 3. Paul Berende – 1,305,000 4. Oswin Ziegelbecker – 1,150,000 5. Kimmo Kurko – 1,090,000 6. Grzegorz Wyraz – 550,000

Final-table action resumes at 2 pm local time. Watch the live stream or follow the live updates at WPT.com.

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Bozinovic Leads, Staszko Sticks Around at WPT Baden

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:31:19 -0800

The unheralded Bozinovic, whose career cashes prior have been exclusively in Belgrade and total just $46k, outpaced the field to bag up 975,000 and end the night in first overall.

He’ll lead Dutchman Paul "padjes" Berende, a $2m+ winner online, with 895,000 when play resumes at Casino Baden tomorrow for the playdown to the final six.

Rounding out the top five after Day 3 are Fedor Holz (642,000), Rien de Vries (583,000) and Adrian Apmann (502,000.

Staszko, Rettenmaier and Sbrzesny Still Alive

Sitting just off the lead pack is a trio of recognizable pros all looking to make a much bigger splash than just the $10,760 they’re now guaranteed.

2011 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko - $5m richer than he used to be but still not far removed from working in an auto plant in his native Czech Republic – is in the best shape, sitting in sixth overall with 421,000.

Mad Marvin: Still kicking.

Back-to-back WPT champ Marvin Rettenmaier, last year’s GPI European Player of the Year, lies in wait with 261,000 while Day 2 chip leader Bodo Sbrzesny managed to hold on to 242,000.

Day 1a chip leader Kimmo Kurko also still lurks in the field with 371,000.

The top 10 in chips after Day 3:

1. Vladimir Bozinovic - 975,000 2. Paul Berende - 895,000 3. Fedor Holz 642,000 4. Rien de Vries - 583,000 5. Adrian Apmann - 502,000 6. Martin Staszko - 421,000 7. Kimmo Kurko - 371,000 8. Arpad Kovecses - 349,000 9. Michael Csango - 336,000 10. Grzegorz Wyraz - 300,000

Action resumes in Baden at 2 pm local tomorrow and won't stop until a final six is reached; tune in for live updates at WPT.com.

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Bodo Knows Baden: Sbrzesny Tops After Day 2

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:25:03 -0800

Feeling severely under the weather, Sbrzesny still managed to run his stack from around 125k to a towering 403,000 to end the night first overall in chips.

The Party Poker-sponsored Sbrzesny, third-place finisher at last year’s WPT Prague, will have a very narrow margin entering Day 3 though as fellow German Vishal Pundjabi also had a big day to bag up 401,000 and sit second, right on his heels.

Day 1a chip leader Kimmo Kurko (395,500), Irishman Ryan O’Donnell (361,000) and Austrian Stjepan Jokic (342,500) round out the top 5.

Staszko, Rettenmaier and Scott Survive

WSOP Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko also had a successful day in snowy Austria, bagging up 287,500 to sit sixth overall.

Party Poker pros Marvin Rettenmaier and Kara Scott also survived, although Rettenmaier much more successfully than Scott.

Staszko: Still got it.

The only back-to-back winner in WPT history will start tomorrow with 248,500 while Scott is the true short stack with just 35,500.

She’s better off than pros Steve O’Dwyer and Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen, though, who saw their runs end today.

The top 10 in chips after Day 2:

Bodo Sbrzesny 403,000 Vishal Pundjabi 401,000 Kimmo Kurko 395,500 Ryan O'Donnell 361,000 Stjepan Jokic 342,500 Martin Staszko 287,500 Paul Berende 286,500 Mitchell Johnson 285,000 Cristian Mihu 260,000 Marvin Rettenmaier 248,500

Just 44 of the 350+ starters remain as they head into Day 3 with the money set to hit at 27th place. A min-cash in Baden is worth $8,634 will the top prize sits at $271,258.

Action picks up again at 2 pm local time tomorrow and will play down towards the final six. Tune in for the live updates at WPT.com.

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Sbrzesny, Staszko Motor On to Day 2 at WPT Baden

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:07:37 -0800

A bustling 254-player field hit the tables for Day 1b today, beefing up the prize pool to over $1m and locking in $271,258 for the winner.

Party Poker pro Sbrzesny, third-place finisher at WPT Prague in December, was one of the few notables to get off to a good start.

Sbrzesny bagged up 124,800 to end the night in fifth overall - just 10k back of chip leader Senadin Cosic. Italians Daniele Scatragli (135,700) and Paolo Compagno (133,800) and Brit Mitchell Johnson (132,200) round out the top 5.

Staszko, who has kept a pretty low profile for a WSOP runner-up but pops up here on there on the European circuit, also made it through to Day 2 with a decent stack of 61,500.

Mizrachi, Luske Hit the Bricks

The biggest name to hit the felt yesterday, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, didn't last long before hitting the exit.

Rolling in with an impressive entourage, the heavily-patched Mizrachi juiced up his table's action immediately, got it in on a draw shortly after and bricked to end his day.

All or nothing for Grinder.

Decidedly less patched, Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske also hit the felt but met the same fate in the last level of the day.

Dane Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen managed to hang on to see Day 2 with 19,400

The top 10 in chips from Day 1b:

1. Senadin Cosic 135,800 2. Daniele Scatragli 135,700 3. Paolo Compagno 133,800 4. Mitchell Johnson 132,200 5. Bodo Sbrzesny 124,800 6. Attila Zab 110,000 7. Samuel Guilabert 102,400 8. Fedor Holz 102,000 9. Gerald Brandlmayer 100,000 10. Paul Berende 98,900

For a full recap of the day's action, check the WPT Live Updates. Tune in for Day 2 tomorrow at 2 pm local time.

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O’Dwyer, Rettenmaier Off and Running at WPT Baden

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:47:53 -0800

O’Dwyer, an American who has basically dominated on the European poker circuit since Black Friday drove him out of the US, is again back up at the top of a tourney leaderboard with 118,000 chips – good for sixth place.

Rettenmaier, the first-ever back-to-back winner on the WPT last year, was also up to his usual standard and made it through the day above the average stack at 86,000.

Finn Kimmo Kurko is the chip leader at 149,700 followed by Russian Andrey Shatilov at 134,700.

Berglund, Blain and Scott Carry On

The fairly small turnout saw a somewhat limited list of marquee names at the felt although the youngest-ever WPT champ Lukas Berglund (78,900), Irishman Dermot Blain (55,000) and Party Poker rep/ESPN host Kara Scott (41,800) were among them.

Scott: Has chips.

Notables to arrive and bust out included Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen and former November Niner Scott Montgomery, although we can expect to see them back in the field for Day 1b tomorrow

The top 10 in chips after Day 1a:

1. Kimmo Kurko 149,700 2. Andrey Shatilov 134,700 3. Stjepan Jokic 130,300 4. Robert Hoogendoorn 128,000 5. Ismael Bojang 118,000 6. Steve O'Dwyer 118,000 7. Oswin Ziegelbecker 115,100 8. Alban Juen 103,300 9. Mihails Morozovs 100,300 10. Andreas Zauner 92,900

Follow along live from Casino Baden at 2 pm local time with the WPT Live Updates team.

Part of the ongoing Vienna Mind Sports Festival, several other events have been running/are due to run alongside WPT Baden including an Open-Face Chinese Poker main event and backgammon, chess, CounterStrike, Risk and Scrabble tournaments.

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PartyPoker.net and WPT Double Up Canadian Stops in 2013

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:30:00 -0800

In 2012 the WPT returned to Canada after a four-year absence, setting the record for the biggest Canadian WPT ever, and the biggest tournament in Canadian poker history with a buy-in bigger than $1k.

This year the WPT will visit the Playground Poker Club twice more including the brand-new Canadian Spring Championship May 3-9.

The record-setting WPT Montreal will return November 29 to December 5 but this year it will include a High Roller event and will be televised alongside the World Poker Tour's other flagship events.

As the official sponsor of both tournaments PartyPoker.net will be running freerolls and qualifiers leading up to both events.

The entire WPT broadcasting team will be on location including Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten on commentary as well as Tony Dunst, Kimberly Lansing and the Royal Flush Girls providing supporting material.

Last year French-Canadian Jonathan Roy defeated a field of 1,173 to win $779,710 and a seat in the $25,000 WPT Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Roy is from Boucherville, Quebec, the same town that claims 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.

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Giannetti Bags Second WPT Title at Lucky Hearts Open

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:14:20 -0800

Coming into the final table with the chip lead, Giannetti held his edge over the course of the entire 115-hand final table before eliminating Lily Kiletto heads-up for the win.

Giannetti took home $323,804 for the win along with a seat in the $25k WPT Championship this Spring at the Bellagio. His previous WPT title came in 2011 at WPT Malta.

Kiletto, an investor, model and fashion designer from Washington state, came into the final table as the short stack but worked her way all the way up to a $191,880 payout.

Her previous best cash in a live tournament was $7,000.

Salsberg Run Ends Quickly

As for one of the hottest players on the tournament circuit right now, former Weeds producer Matt Salsberg, his dream run of back-to-back WPT final tables ended in just nine hands.

Two sixth-place finishes in 12 days for Salsberg.

He got his stack in with jacks against Darryll Fish's 7♠ 5♠ but lost out to a rivered straight to end his hopes of his own second career WPT title.

Still, adding his $50k cash to his sixth-place finish at the WPT Borgata Poker Open, Salsberg has almost $200k in earnings in less than two weeks.

Veteran poker pros Fish, Danny Shiff and Hayden Fortini finished in spots 3-5, respectively.

Official Final-Table Results and Payouts:

1: Matt Giannetti - $323,804 (incl. $25k seat in WPT World Championship) 2: Lily Kiletto - $191,880 3: Darryll Fish - $125,921 4: Danny Shiff - $86,946 5: Hayden Fortini - $64,160 6: Matt Salsberg - $50,968

For a full recap of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates. The next stop on the World Poker Tour is in Baden, Austria from Feb. 19-24 and is followed immediately after by the WPT LA Poker Classic Feb. 23-28.

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Giannetti, Salsberg Survive to Make WPT Lucky Hearts Final Six

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:14:36 -0800

Giannetti even managed to find his way to the chip lead after being down to the short stack and on the brink of elimination a few times over the course of the day.

Salsberg also needed a series of double ups over the day to hang on for fifth place and make back-to-back WPT final tables.

Salsberg finished sixth at the Borgata Poker Open last week and is assured of at least matching that performance tomorrow.

Fish, Fortini in the Mix

Former November Niner Giannetti will start the final table wth just over 3 millions chips - about 500k ahead of veteran pro Daryll Fish in second.

Back-to-back final tables for Salsberg.

Salsberg will have 980,000 - just above short stack Lily Kiletto's 860,000.

Both Giannetti and Salsberg will be gunning for their second WPT titles. Giannetti won WPT Malta in 2011 while Salsberg triumphed at WPT Paris.

Hayden Fortini (1.6 million) and Danny Shiff (1.9 million) round out the final six.

A $323,804 payday is at stake for the winner with sixth place assured of $50,968.

Players and seating assignments for today's final table:

Seat 1: Matt Giannetti - 3,005,000 Seat 2: Lily Kiletto - 860,000 Seat 3: Darryll Fish - 2,660,000 Seat 4: Matt Salsberg - 980,000 Seat 5: Hayden Fortini - 1,620,000 Seat 6: Danny Shiff - 1,930,000

Because of the long day yesterday final-table action won't begin until 3 pm (ET) and the live stream will start at 3:30 pm. Watch the final table live at WPT.com.

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WPT Season XI to Air on FOX Sports Feb. 24

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:30:00 -0800

The highest-rated poker show on FSN for the past two seasons, World Poker Tour is continuing to build on recent innovations.

”Viewers have responded very positively to the changes we’ve made in the show over the past two seasons,” said WPT President Adam Pliska.

“This year, we’re continuing to push the envelope with even more compelling improvements that complement what is turning out to be a record-breaking season with some of the greatest poker moments we’ve seen in the WPT’s television history.”

Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten continue to provide cornerstone commentary and will be joined once again by the Royal Flush Girls, roving anchor Kimberly Lansing and Raw Deal analyst Tony Dunst.

Fans can rest easy. The Royal Flush Girls are returning to television.

And the new season will feature a brand-new cast of rising young poker stars, dubbed the WPT's Ones to Watch.

“We’re not content to rest on past accomplishments,” said WPT CEO Steve Heller.

“We are continually refining the World Poker Tour program and developing new ways to provide our viewers with the most compelling and entertaining poker show possible."

New episodes of the World Poker Tour will air Sundays at 8pm and 11pm local time on FOX Sports Networks*

*Pending live event pre-emption. FOX Sports Networks affiliates include MSG New York, Comcast Sports Network, and Root Sports.

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Hwang Hangs On for First WPT Title at Borgata

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:11:21 -0800

The chip leader coming into the final table, Hwang struggled in a few tough spots early on but only wavered slightly over the 124-hand final.

Losing the chip lead only around the halfway mark, Hwang held his ground and doubled up to take the lead back near hand 100 before rolling to the win from there.

Receiving $730,053 and a $25k seat in the WPT championship in May, Hwang's career earnings now sit just under $1 million.

Anderson Runner-Up, Salsberg Out First

James Anderson, a Pittsburgh-based pro originally from Ohio, finished as the runner-up to Hwang and pocketed $438,698 to push his career earnings up over $1 million as well.

No luck for Salsberg.

The biggest name coming into the final table -- Weeds producer and WPT Paris champ Matt Salsberg -- couldn't get much going with his short stack and was the first to bust in sixth.

Salsberg still earned $147,671 for outlasting almost all of the 1,042-player field.

The final six and payouts for the 2013 Borgata Winter Poker Open:

1st: Andy Hwang - $730,053 2nd: James Anderson - $438,698 3rd: Mike Gogliormella - $265,475 4th: Matt Haugen - $222,336 5th: Jeremy Druckman - $182,514 6th: Matthew Salsberg - $147,671

Next stop on the World Poker Tour is in Hollywood, Floris for the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Feb. 8-12.

Check the full recap of all the final-table action in the WPT Live Updates.

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Hwang, Salsberg Headline WPT Borgata Final Table

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 06:40:26 -0800

Hwang, an experienced grinder from Houston, TX with a WSOP Circuit win to his credit, will be the chip leader heading in with 9,550,000.

Salsberg, meanwhile, has reached his second WPT final table in just a few months.

The former writer and executive producer for Showtime’s Weeds, Salsberg broke through with his first major win at WPT Paris last September and has navigated another massive field at Borgata to make the final six.

Salsberg will enter play as the short stack with 1,920,000 but with 19 big blinds still has some room to make a move.

Jim Anderson, another former WSOP-C regional champion, is second in chips to Hwang with 7.8 million. Matt Haugen, who final tabled the 2010 PCA main event, is fourth.

Matt Haugen

The final six and chip counts:

1. Andy Hwang 9,550,000 2. Jim Anderson 7,830,000 3. Jeremy Druckman 6,170,000 4. Matt Haugen 3,235,000 5. Mike Gogliormella 2,255,000 6. Matthew Salsberg 1,920,000

With 1,024 total entries the Borgata Winter Poker Open prize pool hit a massive $3,335,442. Payouts for the final six:

1. $730,053 2. $438,698 3. $265,475 4. $222,336 5. $182,514 6. $147,671

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates or watch the live stream on a 30-minute delay starting at 1:30 pm ET here.

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Serock Continues Heater at WPT Borgata Day 3

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:00:00 -0800

Serock finished in sixth position, trailing players like Taylor Paur and Ryan Paluf on the charge to tomorrow's final table.

Leading the pack, and the only player to eclipse the 3 million mark, is Houston, Texas poker player Yung Hwang.

Hwang will more than triple his lifetime live tournament earnings should he take down this title and the $730k first-place prize.

Other players of note to make it through to Day 4 include WSOP bracelet winner Chris Reslock (594,000) and WPT champion champion Matt Salsberg (567,000).

The money bubble took two hours to break at Borgata with big-name players like Jason Koon, Mohsin Charania and Christian Harder coming up short of the cash.

Making it into the money but falling short of the final 28 were Ana Marquez (34th), Matt Glantz (36th), Bryn Kenney (38th) and Keven Stammen (54th).

Taylor Paur

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 4 of the 2013 Borgata Winter Poker Open:

Yung Hwang – 3,039,000 Jeremy Druckman – 2,598,000 Sam Taylor – 2,390,000 Taylor Paur – 2,080,000 Ryan Paluf – 1,630,000 Joe Serock – 1,578,000 Mark Wahba – 1,490,000 Russel Crane – 1,477,000 Mike Gogliormella – 1,173,000 Anthony Zinno – 1,012,000

Serock in Striking Distance Again

Joe Serock is getting 2013 started with a bang, having already pocketed $100k for a third-place finish at the NBC Heads-Up Championship and a $46k score at the PCA Main Event.

But despite boasting one of the most consistent records in the game, a major title has so far eluded Serock.

He's finished third at two different WPT main event final tables and has two runner-up finishes in bracelet events at the World Series of Poker.

So far his live tournament earnings total just under $2 million.

Serock has three scored over $300k under his belt but if he should finish first or second in this event he will set a new personal best.

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Glantz, Little, Andrews Survive to See WPT Borgata Day 3

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:41:50 -0800

Scott Herz and Joe DiMartino are neck-and neck for the chip lead at around 520k but the field behind has several big names still looking to make a move on Day 3.

Matt Glantz sits just off the lead pack with 384,000 while vets Matt Burnitz and Keven Stammen bagged about 350k.

Matt Salsberg

Also holding steady at above-average chips are former WPT champ Jonathan Little (318,200), multiple WSOP bracelet winner Matt Matros (257,600), Weeds producer Matt Salsberg (236,000) and local Pennsylvania favorite Cherish Andrews (231,900).

Joe Serock, Mark "dipthrong" Herm, Bryn Kenney and Allen Kessler are also all just above the average stack of 195k.

The top 10 in chips heading to Day 3:

1. Scott Herz 519,300 2. Joe DiMartino 517,100 3. Yung Hwang 498,900 4. Patrick Chan 494,900 5. Russell Crane 467,500 6. Samuel Taylor 464,500 7. Tim Reilly 455,500 8. Nick Mitchell 444,700 9. Robert Tepper 437,200 10. Josh Templeton 405,500

Play resumes at the Borgata in Atlantic City at noon today and will go until 27 remain. Follow along live with the WPT Live Updates team.

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Little, Serock Rolling at Record WPT Borgata

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:36:49 -0800

Two days of Day 1 play with re-entries are in the books with 1,042 total entries making it the largest Borgata Winter Poker Open ever.

Thanks to the big turnout the total prize pool has hit $3,335,442 and the eventual champion will take home $730,053.

Off to a good start in search of that big payout are pros Jonathan Little and Joe Serock.

Little, who was the Club WPT player of the day, bagged up 128,800 to end the day in 12th place overall.

Serock, coming off an impressive semi-final finish in the $25k NBC Heads-Up Championship, finished with 105,525 to sit slightly further back with a group of pros bunched around the 100k mark.

Among the pros in that group are Kathy Liebert, Eric Buchman, Matt Glantz and John Racener.

Other pros off to above average starts were Yevgeniy Timoshenko (79,750), Keven Stammen (77,325), Bryn Kenney (75,000) and Matt Affleck (70,350).

Big stacks joining them from Day 1a include Jason Koon, Mohsin Charania, Kevin Saul and Matt Matros.

The top 10 in chips entering Day 2:

1. Mark Ketteringham 193,775 2. Chris Barnes 189,500 3. Filippo Bonura 172,275 4. Nimer Ltaif 163,725 5. Travis Williams 155,575 6. Dean Marco 155,000 7. Panayote Alafoyannis 141,300 8. Jeff Treadway 139,800 9. Nathan Tuthill 133,450 10. Simone Zaino 130,175

The remaining 605 players will return to the Borgata for Day 2 today at noon; follow along with the live updates on WPT.com.

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PartyPoker Big Game Returns at WPT Vienna

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:15:00 -0800

The Big Game is a marathon televised cash game that starts with blinds of €25/€50 but, as we've seen in past seasons, players aren't afraid to raise the stakes.

The Big Game and the WPT Vienna main event will both be hosted by the Montesino Card Casino February 19-24.

“It’s great to be hosting the PartyPoker.com Big Game again this year – let’s just hope it will be as eventful as last year,” said Leon Groenewoud, a host at the Montesino.

“PartyPoker.com WPT Vienna is the centerpiece of a festival of poker and once again we will be going all out to offer cash games for players at all different levels.”

The Big Game VI went down at the Montesino last spring, a 48-hour poker session that was streamed live online.

Last season we saw an exhausted Phil Laak win big despite one big mistake.

The game had a maximum buy-in of €20,000 and saw a rotating cast of poker stars including Sam Trickett, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Ignat “0human0” Liviu, among others.

American Phil Laak came out the biggest winner with roughly €160,000 in profit, despite infamously mucking the winner hand in a €63k pot against Brit Andy Mosely.

Online qualifiers for WPT Vienna are running now until early February on PartyPoker.com.

Each $6,500 package includes the $4,600 WPT main event buy-in, six nights hotel accommodation and $750 in spending money.

In 2012 the WPT Vienna main event was won by PartyPoker.com qualifier Morten Christensen who took down €313,000 plus a seat in the $25k WPT Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Phil Laak Mucks a €63k Winner

American pro Phil Laak was the biggest winner at the last PartyPoker.com Big Game and he was also the only player to last the entire 48-hour session.

That lack of sleep might explain why he threw away the best hand in a massive all-in pot against Andy Mosely.

Check out the video below to see the full hand.

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2013 LAPC Begins with 68 Events in 47 Days

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:03:00 -0800

Taking place at the Commerce Casino, the 2013 L.A. Poker Classic will run from Jan. 15 to March 3.

One of the most popular series on the tournament circuit, this year’s LAPC will include nearly every poker variant known to man with Hold’em, Stud, PLO and everything in between set to be played.

As usual the LAPC will also offer some very unique events such as All-in or Fold, Ante Up and Open Face Chinese Poker.

Of course the signature event of the LAPC is the World Poker Tour $10,000 main event that is set to run Feb. 23-28.

Amateur Poker Player Sean Jazayeri Set to Defend Title

Sean Jazayeri

Last year amateur Sean Jazayeri outlasted 549 players to win the LAPC main event for $1.3 million.

Despite last year, the LAPC main event has been won by some of the biggest poker pros in the world including Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi and Phil Ivey.

The LAPC begins today with a casino employees’ event but tomorrow’s $250 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament is the first open event of the series.

You can view the entire schedule here but here’s a look at some of the highlight events:

January 16

$250 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em with $250k GTD. Four starting days including multiple heats on Day 1c and Day 1d.

January 20

Facebook Exclusive No-Limit Hold’em event with $25k GTD. Must like Commerce Casino on Facebook to play.

January 29

$150 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack Turbo with $250k GTD. Four starting days. Eight starting heats.

February 23

$10,000 buy-in WPT No-Limit Hold’em Championship.

February 25

$25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em High Roller

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Raghaven Denies Buchanan WPT Five Diamond Trophy

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:29:00 -0800

Raghaven, a 26-year-old poker pro from Chicago, pocketed $1,268,571 for the win while Canadian Buchanan snagged just under three-quarters of a million dollars.

This year's Five Diamond Wold Poker Classic introduced a new unlimited re-entry format that saw players take as many shots as they could afford in the first eight levels of the tournament.

Thanks in part to players like Daniel Negreanu and Sam Trickett spending as much as $40,000 on buy-ins, the field smashed last year's numbers. Bellagio recorded 503 buy-ins, putting more than $5 million up for grabs.

When the final table began two-time WPT champion Antonio Esfandiari was in the lead. Esfandiari made it to fourth place before going broke with A-K to Raghaven's pocket aces.

Esfandiari outlasted Andrew Lichtenberger and Jeremy Kottler who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Thomas Winters, a 45-year-old livestock dealer and cattle feeder from Marble Falls, Texas bowed out in third, taking $483k and paving the way for the heads-up match.

Raghaven began heads-up with 9.3 million to Buchanan's 5.7 million and extended that lead over the next two hours. The final hand saw the Canadian shove for just over 2 million with K-7. Raghaven called with pocket sevens which were best by showdown.

Shawn Buchanan

Here are the full final-table results for this year's WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic:

1. Ravi Raghavan - $1,268,5712. Shawn Buchanan - $746,5023. Thomas Winters - $483,0314. Antonio Esfandiari - $329,3395. Andrew Lichtenberger - $234,1976. Jeremy Kottler - $187,845

Another Close Call for Buchanan

30-year-old Shawn Buchanan from Vancouver, BC has more than $4.7 million in live tournament earnings but that number could easily be much bigger.

In addition to an outright win at the 2007 WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship Buchanan now has second, third and fourth-place finishes in main events on the World Poker Tour.

He's also finished second in World Series of Poker bracelet events on three separate occasions. To date he has not won a WSOP bracelet.

Buchanan's penchant for second-place finishes applies to his online career as well where he's had two six-figure runner-up scores in the Spring Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars.

At $175,000 and $135,000, those second-place results were both worth more than the WCOOP and SCOOP tournaments he managed to win.

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Wydrowski Polishes Off First WPT Title for Poland

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 16:02:25 -0800

The 26-year-old from Poland, who had only one previous live cash, came from fourth in chips to start the day to knock off Alexandr Lakhov heads-up to earn €325,000 and a $25k seat in the WPT World Championship for his win.

Russian Lakhov, a 2-7 lowball specialist and the oldest player at the final table at age 40, earned €213,775 for his runner-up finish.

Bodo Goes Down

The chip leader coming into the final table, Party Poker pro Bodo Srbzesny was the heavy favorite to take the title down but couldn’t get it done after a frustrating turn late in the day.

Cruising as the chip leader for much of the final table, Srbzesny hit a major speed bump three-handed when he doubled up Wydrowski.

Running his KQ into Wydrowski’s KK, Sbrzesny dropped all the way down to the short stack at 3.3 million.

Conversely the big pot gave Wydrowski the big stack and he wielded it like a champ, pressuring both Sbrzesny and Lakhov relentlessly from there on in.

Eliminating Sbrzesny third on a flip and making short work of Lakhov heads-up, the title was all Wydrowksi’s shortly after.

Bodo knows third place.

For a full recap of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates.

The official final six and payouts (in USD):

1. Marcin Wydrowski - $423,957 2. Alexandr Lakhov - $278,866 3. Bodo Sbrzesny - $179,246 4. Tony Chang - $132,736 5. Michael Gagliano - $99,506 6. Alin Grasu - $79,723

Next up in Prague is the European Poker Tour main event which started today. Check the PokerStars blog for updates.

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Fox Crashes, Sbrzesny Leads WPT Prague FInal 6

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:51:24 -0800

Fox, who was at or near the chip lead for virtually the entire tournament, ran JJ into Tony Chang's KK in a cruel cooler late on Day 4 to lose most of his stack before finally bowing out on a flip to Sbrzesny.

Fox earns €50,986 for his seventh-place finish, but will surely look back at what might have been after a tremendous performance falls just short.

Sbrzesny in Command; MacPhee, Mercier Bow Out

The beneficiary of a now surprisingly big-name-free final table is Party Poker pro Bodo Sbrzesny.

The German pro, a former semi-pro tennis player and video gamer who signed with Party in 2009, wil start the final table with a substantial chip lead - 5.5 million to Chang's 3.65 million.

Primarily an online player with his biggest live cash just $30,000, Sbrzesny has a fantastic shot at his first major live title and biggest career score.

Standing in his way won't be either Kevin MacPhee or Jason Mercier either.

#itendsintwelfth

MacPhee, who like Fox spent much of the tournament near the chip lead, busted in 11th after losing a flip to Sbzresny.

Mercier, who started the day as the short stack, ran it up nicely with a few double ups before losing speed and bowing out in 12th.

Tough pros also busting out prior to the final were Dermot Blain in 13th and Fabian Quoss in 10th.

Final-table action starts at 1 pm local time Sunday with live updates and live streaming available at WPT.com. Top prize wil pay out $423,957.

The final six and chip counts:

1. Bodo Sbrzesny 5,500,000 2. Tony Chang 3,650,000 3. Alexander Lahkov 2,900,000 4. Marcin Wydrowski 2,700,000 5. Michael Gagliano 2,700,000 6. Alin Grasu 765,000

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Chang Leads, Fox Lingers on WPT Prague Day 3

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:27:42 -0800

Fox, who started with just over half a million in chips, more than doubled his stack for the day but his 1,186,000 in chips trails the 2.1 million of Chang by quite a bit heading into Day 4.

Still, Fox’s stack in good enough for a spot in the top five with just Bodo Sbrzesny (1.7m), Konstantin Danilov (1.37m) and Michael Gagliano (1.26m) between him and Chang.

Chang, whose live scores have all come in either Taipei or Australia, is the lone player to crack 2 million in chips but he’ll be hard pressed to keep his advantage with a tough field behind him.

MacPhee, Mercier Stumble but Survive

MacPhee: Dropped to middle of the pack.

Among the challengers in the remaining 22 players is 2010 EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee.

MacPhee has hovered around the chip lead for much of the tournament so far but dropped slightly off the pace today to finish with 697,000 in chips.

MacPhee had topped 1 million at one point but gave a big chunk back to Sbreszny, who took three streets of value from him late in the day.

Also still in contention are Dane Lars Bonding (531,000), Irishman Dermot Blain (480,000), 2011 WPT Vienna winner Dmitry Gromov (461,000) and German Fabian Quoss (279,000).

Hanging on by the skin of his teeth but still alive as the short stack going into Day 4 is PokerStars pro Jason Mercier (214,000).

Busting out but making the money today were Shannon Shorr, Toby Lewis, Elisabeth Hille and Lucille Cailly.

Play picks up on Day 4 tomorrow in Prague at 1 pm local time and will play down to a final table.

Follow the live updates here; check the top 10 in chips below:

1. Tony Chang, 2,173,000 2. Bodo Sbrzesny 1,703,000 3. Konstantin Danilov 1,377,000 4. Michael Gagliano 1,266,000 5. Elio Fox 1,186,000 6. Marcin Wydrowsky 1,118,000 7. Yann Dion 877,000 8. Frank Stumpf 772,000 9. Sergey Vasilyev 768,000 10. Alexander Lakhov 720,000

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Esfandiari On Fire at WPT Five Diamond Day 3

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:45:00 -0800

The Five-Diamond field was cut down to 60 on Day 3, just six spots short of the 54 who will get paid. And with 503 total entries the remaining players are all looking for a slice of the more than $5 million prize pool.

The payouts start at $19,516 and the winner will walk away with $1,268,571.

Esfandiari already has two WPT open-event titles under his belt, including a victory in this tournament two years ago, and he’s leading the final 60 with 918,500. Amazingly he also final-tabled this event in 2011.

Right behind the Magician heading into Day 4 is another former WPT winner, Freddy Deeb. Esfandiari has some breathing room, however, as Deeb sits with 622,000.

Moving down the leaderboard reveals more big names and more past WPT winners.

APPT Macau winner Edward Sabat is in fourth while two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Rast rests in fifth.

Five more WPT champions cracked the top 12 in Noah Schwartz, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, John Hennigan, Shawn Buchanan and Chino Rheem.

Esfandiari's close friend Brian Rast is also on the board.

Here are the top ten chip counts after Day 3 of the 2012 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio:

1. Antonio Esfandiari – 918,500 2. Freddy Deeb – 622,000 3. Thomas Winters – 586,000 4. Edward Sabat – 519,000 5. Brian Rast – 508,500 6. Noah Schwartz – 478,000 7. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 472,500 8. Andrew Lichtenberger – 470,000 9. John Hennigan – 447,500 10. Ty Reiman – 434,000

Mizrachi, Selbst, Mizzi Go Hero to Zero

Michael “Grinder” Mizrachi finished Day 2 as chip leader but failed to make it through Day 3. And he wasn’t the only former big-stack to go bust.

Vanessa Selbst and Sorel Mizzi both started Day 3 in the top ten but would be on the rail empty-handed before the day was done.

Selbst was able to double up thanks to making quads in a hand against Chino Rheem before things ultimately unraveled.

Also falling short of Day 4 were Jason Koon, Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen, Randal Flowers, Joe Hachem, Tom Marchese and James Mackey.

Final-Table Payout Structure

Here’s a look at the big money these players are fighting for:

1st - $1,268,571 2nd – 746,502 3rd – 483,031 4th - $329,339 5th – 234,197 6th – 187,845

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Fox Makes His Way to the Top on WPT Prague Day 2

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:09:08 -0800

After a slow and steady day Fox, who has built up $2.8 million in live earnings without any backers, knocked out one of the biggest threats in the tournament, Mike "Timex” McDonald, to jump up to second overall in the chip counts.

After a pre-flop raising war with another player in the middle, McDonald called off Fox's all-in with tens only to find AA in return.

The board changed nothing and Fox’s 571,500 in chips now sits only behind the 694,000 of Canadian Marco Lang to start Day 3 tomorrow.

Blain, Lewis and MacPhee Look Strong

Another solid day for Hille.

Just 78 players remain from the 567 entries with the money ready to kick in at 72 players.

Joining Fox in the top half of the chip counts are Irishman Dermot Blain (530,000), Brit Toby Lewis (417,000), Americans Kevin MacPhee (312,000) and Jason Mercier (285,000) and Germany’s Fabian Quoss (209,000).

After starting the day with under 20k in chips, Mercier called it "one of the best Day 2 performances of his life."

Making it to Day 3 in the next tier of the chip counts are Norway’s Elisabeth Hille (175,500), France’s Nicolas Levi (169,500), American Shannon Shorr (169,500), Dane Lars Bonding (155,500) and American Keven Stammen (72,000).

Notables to hit the rail today included Eugene Katchalov, Steve O’Dwyer, Faraz Jaka, Thor Hansen, the aforementioned Timex, Jonathan Duhamel and Leo Margets.

Play picks up with blinds at 1,500/3,000 and a 500 ante tomorrow and will play down towards the final few tables.

Action starts at 1 pm local time; follow the WPT live updates here. With the 567 total buy-ins, first place will pay a tidy €325,000 plus a $25k WPT Championship seat.

The top 10 in chips heading into Day 3:

1. Marco Lang 694,000 2. Elio Fox 571,500 3. Pawel Brzeski 544,000 4. Manuel Bevand 537,500 5. Dermot Blain 530,000 6. Oleksii Khoroshenin 513,000 7. Konstantin Danilov 465,000 8. Mikhail Mazunin 440,000 9. Jussi Nevanlinna 438,500 10. Toby Lewis 417,000

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Thor Hansen: Poker is Still My First Priority

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:32:36 -0800

So much so the global poker community was universally devastated when word filtered out in January that Hansen had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

It didn't take long for that devastation to turn into action, though, once news also spread that Hansen was living without insurance and struggling with his medical bills.

The community quickly rallied in support with everything from charity online tournaments to emergency funds for Hansen to return to Norway for treatment.

Unfortunately still very sick but finding moments of relief in (and for) poker, Hansen spoke with our PokerListings Germany colleague Dirk Oetzmann today at WPT Prague about his illness, treatment, 2012 Hall of Fame nomination and irrepressible poker talent.

PokerListings: First and most important question: How are you?

"As long as I feel good enough, there's no reason why I wouldn't (play)."

Thor Hansen: I’m pretty good right now. I’m a sick man, I have a disease that can’t be treated, but for that I’m feeling pretty well. I’ve been on chemo for several months, but it seems I’m taking it very well.

PL: Chemo is usually very physically demanding.

TH: I know. It looks like I’m very lucky when it comes to this. The problem is that it’s not going to work for a very long time.

PL: You still came here to Prague to play.

TH: Yes. As long as I feel good enough there is no reason why I wouldn’t. I have booked my flight back for Saturday.

PL: But we expect you to be here on Sunday for the final.

TH: Well, I just lost a big pot, so I don’t know. I’m not giving up, of course, and if I manage to come back, I’ll cancel the flight.

PL: When and why did you move back to Norway?

TH: I moved in February, so I could get the best possible treatment. I have better options in Norway, so it was the right thing to do.

PL: Was your illness the only reason why you came back?

TH: The main reason, yes.

"I have better options in Norway, so it was the right thing to do."

PL: How long did you live in the States?

TH: Not that long, 16 or 17 years.

PL: That’s not long?

TH: Well, I’ve been in and out the US for around 30 years. I lived mostly in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It’s a four-hour drive from LA to Vegas.

PL: An apartment in LA, and playing in Vegas. Sounds like a good life.

TH: It sure was. But in the end I was very sick, and for a long time I didn’t know I was. Then I received the diagnosis.

I was in a pretty bad state. I didn’t tell anyone about it, and for a while I didn’t realize I was, because my health had been pretty good all my life.

PL: It was upsetting for the whole community.

TH: I know, I had amazing responses.

PL: You won’t be staying here for the EPT?

TH: I don’t have time. I have to go on chemo again. Maybe if I catch a break in the summer, I’ll go travelling.

PL: Talking about the summer. You won a WCOOP event last summer. Not many people can say that. Congratulations. By the way, which one was it?

Best friend Eric Drache.

TH: The Stud event.

PL: Regular Stud?

TH: Yes.

PL: An old-school event for an old-school guy.

TH: Absolutely old school. It’s pretty tough to win a Hold’em event, although I have made it to the final table.

PL: Are you still active online?

TH: Yes. I play as much as I can. Poker is still my first priority.

PL: You were also nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame this year, but didn’t make it. Are you disappointed?

TH: Not at all. My very best friend [Eric Drache] made it, and he deserves it more than anyone else. Also, it is already an honor to be nominated.

I was very surprised to be deemed worthy. It’s an honor because you are already part of a very elite group if you are nominated.

Not being inducted might bother me a little bit, but not that much.

PL: You said you received a lot of support from the community. What happened?

TH: I was sick, I was broke. I went to the emergency room, and I didn’t have insurance. But they have to treat you, if you go to the emergency room.

"All I can say is thank you."

They took x-rays and saw that the cancer had already spread over my lungs and liver, a lot of internal organs, so it was obvious that it was very bad. The next day I had surgery.

The doctor said that two years is the absolute maximum life expectancy for a case like mine. So they were reluctant to treat me as they didn’t think it was worth it.

That’s the basic message I got from the hospital. I would have gotten some treatment for a while, but not the best possible.

As I had been to the doctor several times before without insurance, I had spent loads of money on the invoices, and the regular bills kept coming in, too.

I was so broke, I couldn’t afford the flight to Norway.

The reactions were amazing, when the diagnosis went public. All the young players in Norway collected money and bought me the flight ticket.

It was unbelievable. I never cried over my sickness, but I cried over the support I received.

PL: What would you like to tell them?

TH: All I can say is thank you. It was crazy, the way they helped me. I think this was the craziest thing that happened in all my life.

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Michael Mizrachi in Control at WPT Five Diamond Day 2

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:40:00 -0800

Mizrachi, who has an astounding $14.2 million in live tournament earnings, finished Day 2 with 272,600. With two WPT main event titles under his belt already Grinder is looking for number three in Las Vegas this weekend.

Day 2 of the Five Diamond saw the end of the unlimited re-entry period, which ran all the way until the eighth level of the tournament.

A new format for the WPT, unlimited re-entry was met with a mixed reception from players. Despite complaints that it would give better players with bigger bankrolls an unfair advantage, unlimited re-entry helped boost registration to a total of 504.

That number crushes the 413 that played this tournament in 2011 and while the official numbers have yet to be released, we know the first-place prize will be significantly larger than the $821,000 James Dempsey won last year.

54 players in total will be paid with the money bubble expected to burst sometime on Day 3.

Joining Mizrachi on the leaderboard as this event plays down to the money are big names like Chino Rheem, Ty Reiman, Vanessa Selbst and WPT presenter Tony “Bond18” Dunst.

Vanessa Selbst is eying her first WPT title.

Here are the top ten chip counts after Day 2:

1. Michael Mizrachi – 272,600 2. Frank Rusnak – 255,900 3. Arthur Morris – 242,000 4. Warwick Mirzikinian – 232,200 5. Ravi Raghaven – 211,500 6. Chino Rheem – 209,000 7. Ty Reiman – 202,700 8. Vanessa Selbst – 202,100 9. Tony Dunst – 201,400 10. Sorel Mizzi – 198,600

Four Entries Not Enough for Trickett, Negreanu

Some players embraced the unlimited re-entry concept more than others but despite spending the equivalent of a mid-range sedan on buy-ins, it wasn’t enough to get a few of them through Day 2.

Sam Trickett bought in four times for $10k a pop and busted each and every starting stack.

The Brit’s fourth elimination came by way of a preflop all-in with pocket kings against A-K. Considering Trickett finished runner up in the Big One for One Drop this summer for over $10 million it’s safe to say he can take the hit.

Daniel Negreanu also bought in four times in this event but busted his last bullet late on Day 2. Kid Poker opened J-J with a roughly 46-big-blind stack and got the rest of his stack in on a J-T-6 suited board.

Unfortunately for the Canuck his opponent had flopped a king-high flush. Negreanu failed to boat up.

Also among the players busted on Day 2 were Maria Ho, Xuan Liu, Ashton Griffin, Jonathan Little, Tommy Vedes, Cliff Josephy, Joe Cheong, Marvin Rettenmaier and David “ODB” Baker.

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MacPhee, Timex Make Moves at WPT Prague

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:50:19 -0800

MacPhee, EPT Berlin champ in 2010, dragged a big pot with a straight near the end of the day to shoot up to 190,200 and second overall – just off the 197,200 total of Day 1c leader Yannick Bonnet.

McDonald, who crushed for most of the day and only lost the chip lead in that last big pot vs. MacPhee, still managed to hold on for Day 2 with 70,000 in chips.

Daniel Ospina, Keven Stammen and PokerStars pro Leo Margets also ended the day on a high, all stacking up over 125k in chips to find the top 10 for Day 1c.

Grospellier, Baumann Hang On for Dear Life

Has work to do with just 7bb.

With most of the big names coming out for Day 1b and hanging on to some chips, the marquee was a little quieter today but some name pros still fired another bullet.

Fabrice Soulier and Lucille Cailly both managed to come away from the day with about an average stack, as did the Godfather of Norwegian poker, Thor Hansen.

Olivier Busquet, Bertrand Grospellier and Gaëlle Baumann also made it through, although ElkY and Baumann will have their work cut out for them tomorrow with just 14,200 and 7,000 chips respectively.

Notables to bust in their last kick at the can today included Liv Boeree, Ole Schemion, Griffin Benger, Dan Smith and, for the third time each, Matt Waxman and Bryn Kenney.

The combined field of 287 remaining players will return for Day two tomorrow at 1 pm local time to begin the march to the money.

The overall chip leader when action picks up will be Day 1b leader Mikhail Mazunin with 203,600, followed closely by Bonnet, MacPhee, Pasi Heinanen and Shannon Shorr all over 190k.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates team here.

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Flowers, Thomas Top Pack at WPT Five Diamond Day 1

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:15:00 -0800

The pair of decorated pros both trail chip leader Jeremy Kottler who bagged 134,975 by day’s end.

Boasting a $10,000 buy-in and unlimited re-entries for the first eight levels this event has already recorded 374 buy-ins.

The re-entry period will remain open until approximately 5pm on Day 2 and expectations are optimistic to outdo last year’s field of 413.

Some, like Curt Kohlberg, have already bought in three times but plenty of poker players were able to make it work with their first bullet.

The leaderboard is littered with former WPT winners. Just a few spots behind Flowers, who won the Bellagio’s Festa al Lago in 2010, is Shawn Cunix who took down WPT Jacksonville earlier this year.

Leading all-time money winner Antonio Esfandiari cracked the top 15. He’s won two WPT main events, including this tournament in 2010.

Allen Carter, Gavin Smith, Cornel Cimpan, Andy Frankenberger and Nick Shulman are just a few of the other former champs that made it through.

Some fear that unlimited re-entries give players like Daniel Negreanu an unfair advantage.

Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 2:

1. Jeremy Kottler – 134,975 2. Randal Flowers – 119,400 3. Russell Thomas – 108,000 4. Gheorghe Gradinaru – 107,425 5. Shawn Cunix – 102,000 6. Dana Kellstrom – 99,200 7. Jeff Yarchever – 98,500 8. Alex Phahurat – 97,325 9. Tom Marchese – 84,425 10. Ty Reiman – 79,000

Unlimited Re-Entry Splits Opinion, Stacks Field

Poker players are on two sides of the fence over Bellagio’s decision to grant players unlimited $10,000 re-entries for the first eight levels of this event.

While many argue that big buy-in events need all the help they can get these days, others are warning that unlimited re-entries will give top players an insurmountable advantage.

The Five-Diamond has always been an elite event so it’s not surprising to see the player list packed with big names.

The forum community at Two Plus Two has debated the issue extensively. Join that conversation here.

Pros that were eliminated and could afford at least one more $10,000 buy-in include Daniel Negreanu, Kyle Julius, Amit Makhija and David “Doc” Sands.

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Duhamel and Katchalov Talk Re-Entry, Robbery at WPT Prague

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:53:01 -0800

Despite the stacked field, both managed to save themselves the trouble of having to fire another bullet tomorrow by bagging up chips at the end of the night - Duhamel about 62,000 and Katchalov about 40,000.

On a break in the action our colleague at PokerListings Germany, Dirk Oetzmann, caught up with the two superstars for a quick chat about the good and bad of re-entry tournaments and the inherent risk of robbery as a poker pro.

PokerListings: Why did you rather come here to Prague than go to the Bellagio for the Five Diamond?

Eugene Katchalov: Well, I was here in Europe, anyway. Also, I’m going to play the EPT, too. There are a lot of tournaments within only two weeks, so it just makes more sense to play here.

Two major events are better than one. And the fields are bigger, too.

Jonathan Duhamel: I just love coming to Europe. I come here all the time. Of course, back-to-back big events are important to me, but it’s also always a lot of fun.

PL: Is this the future of live poker? To have less, but way bigger events with lots of tournaments?

Duhamel: It seems like something like the Prague poker festivals with back-to-back big events and then some additional ones mark a trend, so I guess we will see more of this in the future.

Katchalov: Two major events better than one.

Katchalov: If you look back five or six years, the big events had much higher buy-ins, but then the number of players decreased more and more. Organizers had to respond to that and do something about it.

Lowering the buy-ins was one of them, and another step was to introduce the re-entry possibility. Since then the fields are getting bigger again, so I think it’s a good development.

PL: You busted yesterday, and now you’re back in [the WPT main event], Jon, so I guess you appreciate the re-entry format, too.

Duhamel: Yes, but I am not sure if it’s the best thing for tournament longevity. It might not be the best thing for all the players here.

For me, of course it’s good, because the re-entry chance gives you the possibility to play a little more aggressive. All the good players appreciate the chance to re-enter.

PL: So what do you think are the disadvantages?

Duhamel: It’s mostly about the casual players. As the professionals take a second start into account, the amateurs often can’t, because even the smaller buy-in of, say, €3000 is still a lot of money for them.

With the re-entry, taking part in major events becomes more expensive overall so in the long run they might not be able to afford it. The professionals usually have a bigger bankroll.

PL: Did you hear about what happened to Theo Jørgensen yesterday? What do you think, having first-hand experience.

Duhamel: People apparently think that we keep really big money at home, which we don’t, and I think it’s just really sad that things like this happen.

I’m really sad for Theo and I wish him all the best.

PL: How can you protect yourself from something like this?

Duhamel: There is not much you can do. You can take some precautions and make sure to not have much money at home, you can set up alarms, but there is no guaranteed security.

First-hand experience of a poker misconception.

Not too much you can do about it.

PL: Was it a bit like a flashback for you when you heard about it?

Duhamel: Yes, it really brought me down. I know what it feels like when something like that happens, and it made me feel really sad. All I can do now is hope that these guys get caught.

PL: Eugene, how do you deal with the potential danger there?

Katchalov: I think there is a general misconception about how poker players live and how much money they keep at home. People just see the huge amounts of cash on television, and then they think we have that cash lying at home on the dinner table. That’s just generally a completely wrong conception.

I wish that all these guys get caught like in Jonathan’s case, and that that sends out the message that you can’t get away with doing something like this.

PL: It seems like the guys in Denmark were professionals, doesn’t it? Shooting somebody in the leg to put pressure on him?

Katchalov: Shooting him in the leg doesn’t necessarily mean they were professionals. It depends on other things, like the preparations. Actually, I don’t know how much money they robbed.

PL: About 5000 euro.

Katchalov: Then they can’t have been professionals, because professionals would only go to a house when they are sure that there is a lot of money in it. So, I think these have to be amateurs.

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Fox, Duhamel In the Hunt on WPT Prague Day 1b

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:48:40 -0800

Prime-timers Jason Mercier, Kara Scott, Eugene Katchalov and Faraz Jaka were just a few of the marquee seat-fillers but none fared as well as a pair of past WSOP Main Event champs.

2011 WSOPE Main Event champ Elio Fox, who famously plays on his own dime, cracked the top 10 in chips by bagging up 123,200 to end the day - well back of chip leader Mikhail Mazunin at 203,600 but enough for a good leg up on the field.

2010 WSOP Nain Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, meanwhile, was also back at the felt after busting on Day 1a.

Peaking at around 77k in chips on Day 1b, Duhamel settled back down to around 62,500 for an average stack to start Day 2 and to save himself another bullet tomorrow.

Mercier, Scott, Katchalov and Jaka all made it through the day but with below-average stacks (although Jaka doubled up late in the day to end with 56k).

Roy, Hille and Charania Advance

Bunnies in the field.

Recent WPT Montreal champ Jonathan Roy (88,600) also made the end-of-day cut as did WSOP ingénue Elisabeth Hille, EPT Grand Final champ Mohsin Charania and WSOP November Niner Eoghan O’Dea.

Notables to bust and in need of a reload tomorrow included Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Liv Boeree, Matt Waxman, Olivier Busquet, Davidi Kitai and Lucille Cailly - the latter two among the group of French pros who sported bunny rabbit hats for the day

Another 179 players bought in on Day 1b to bring the total field so far up to 294 players.

Action picks up on the final Day 1 of this re-entry event tomorrow at 1 pm local time. Follow along (and find more bunny hat pics) on the WPT Live Updates here.

The Top 10 in chips from Day 1b:

1. Mikhail Mazunin 203,600 2. Alexander Staengle 157,500 3. Brian Lemke 155,400 4. Vladimir Velikov 147,800 5. Wojciech Lozowski 143,700 6. Fabian Quoss 134,900 7. Denis Drobyna 128,900 8. Elio Fox 123,200 9. Rasmus Vogt 118,400 10. Manuel Bevand 115,600

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Shorr Off To Blazing Start at WPT Prague

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:47:59 -0800

Shorr, a long-time pro seeing a resurgence in results this year along with a newfound perspective on poker from his recent travels, bagged up 191,800 to end the day well ahead of most of the field.

He’s just slightly behind Finn Heinanen, though, who surged late in the day to catch him for the overall lead at 193,800.

Rounding out the top 5 among the 55 runners who survived Day 1a were Pawel Brzeski (173,100), Sebastian Garrasi (143,900) and Oleksii Khoroshenin (129,800).

Other notables making the Day 1a cut included Mike “SirWatts” Watson (88,400), Paul “paulgees81” Volpe (80,000), WPT Borgata Poker Open champ Ben Hamnett (55,100) and UK pro Max Silver (28,300).

Duhamel, Jaka Bust but Back Again Tomorrow

With two more retry options on Day 1b and Day 1c the deeper pocketed pros who hit the rail today will more than likely be back for a couple more kicks at the can.

Among the higher profile pros to make the trip to Prague and bust their first bullets were Jonathan Duhamel, Faraz Jaka, Matt Waxman, Bryn Kenney, Ana Marquez and Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen.

Won't have to think ling about a re-entry.

PokerStars pro Jason Mercier appeared ready to join them on Day 1b but a passport snafu and a flight change may have pushed his arrival back to Wednesday’s Day 1c.

Action picks up for Day 1b tomorrow from the Kings Casino in Prague at 1 pm local time. Follow along with the WPT live updates here.

The Top 10 in chips from Day 1a:

1. Pasi Heinanen 193800 2. Shannon Shorr 191800 3. Pawel Brzeski 173100 4. Sebastien Garrasi 143900 5. Oleksii Khoroshenin 129800 6. Yngve Hella Steen 109200 7. Roman Korenev 95900 8. Marco Andre Lang 93700 9. Michael Watson 88400 10. Julian Herold 84100

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Roy Chops Down Lefrancois for WPT Montreal Title

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:28:22 -0800

Virtually even in chips after a long three-handed and heads-up battle, the cards broke Roy’s way in a crucial hand to cripple Lefrancois and catapult Roy on to take down the title and $779,710.

On the penultimate hand, the two friends got it in with Lefrancois’ 6-6 slightly ahead of Roy’s KQ but a Q on the turn changed everything.

No help came for Lefrancois on the river and with just one big blind left he was finished off on the next hand. The WSOP bracelet winner still took home $470,920 for his runner-up finish.

Roy, along with the $779k and WPT silver belt, also scooped a $25k seat in the WPT Championship at Bellagio in Vegas in May and eternal bragging rights in the local poker community.

Gross, Smith Fall Just Short

Cheered on by pal Phelps, Gross came up just short.

The two marquee names coming into the final table – at least for non-Quebecers - were American Jeff Gross and popular Canadian poker veteran Gavin Smith.

Gross, whose best pal Michael Phelps made a surprise trip up to Montreal to rail his final-table efforts, came in neck-and-neck for the chip lead but couldn’t catch cards when he needed them to finish things off.

A brutal runner-runner flush from Lefrancois that clipped his flopped set of fours was the crippling blow three-handed and Gross eventually exited in third for $319,238.

Smith, who came into the final table with a ton of experience but as the short stack, played his stack well to move up to fourth place and a $212,937 payday.

Chip leader heading into the final table, Sylvain Siebert, crashed out early in fifth place. He doubled up Lefrancois on just hand #4 to put himself under pressure and eventually dropped the last of his chips on hand #32.

He fared better than fellow final-tablist Peter Kaemmerlen, however, who hit the bricks on the very first hand of the final table.

A record-setting 1,173 runners hit the felt in Montreal to set a new mark for a Canadian WPT event and balloon the total prize pool up to $3,387,930.00.

Official WPT Montreal final-table results and payouts below:

1. Jonathan Roy - $779,710 2. Pascal Lefrancois - $470,920 3. Jeff Gross - $317,450 4. Gavin Smith - $211,745 5. Sylvain Siebert - $146,360 6. Peter Kaemmerlen - $113,155

Check the WPT Live Updates here for a complete recap of all the final-table action.

The next stop on the WPT is already underway with Day 1a complete at WPT Mazagan in Casablance, Morocco. WPT Prague will follow shortly after, beginning Dec. 3.

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Gross, Smith Bookend WPT Montreal Final Six

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:07:02 -0800

Gross, the runaway chip leader heading into the day, held steady on the climb over the day and heads into the final table just slightly behind the overall chip leader Sylvain Siebert.

Gross will start the final table with 8,650,000 in chips to Siebert’s 8,850,000 – just one big blind behind.

Smith, on the other hand, will begin the final as the short stack after an up and down day that saw him move only slightly ahead in chips.

Starting the day at 1.2 million chips and peaking at over 3 million, Smith eventually settled back down to 1,605,000 and will begin the final with just 13 big blinds.

A true poker veteran and an early winner on the WPT at the 2005 Mirage Poker Showdown for $1.1 million, Smith will need to draw on all of his final-table experience to move up the pay ladder tomorrow.

Lefrancois, Roy Represent for Quebec

Pascal LeFrancois.

WSOP bracelet winner and hometown favorite Pascal Lefrancois will also be looking to take down his first WPT title tomorrow.

The 11th-place finisher in the 2010 Main Event and friend of 2010 champ Jonathan Duhamel will enter play fourth in chips with 6,065,000.

Fellow Quebecer Jonathan Roy, ninth-place finisher at the recent WPT Malta, will start in third with 7,480,000 chips.

New York state native Peter Kaemmerlen is fifth with 2,405,000.

Griffin, Musumeci Go Deep; Timex Stops

As mentioned, the final 45 that began the day in Montreal was rich with tough tournament pros.

Starting out at the top of the pack were Jason Koon, Mike 'Timex" McDonald and Christian Harder but none, suprisingly could turn it into a deep finish.

Harder busted out in 30th and Timex followed shortly in 27th.

Koon, who grabbed the chip lead early in the day, could do no better than 22nd.

Ole G. Smith: Resurgent.

Faring better were Amanda Musumeci, who finished 14th for $25,070, and Ashton Griffin, who finished 13th for the same amount.

2012 High Roller tourney destroyer Dan Smith dropped out very early in 42nd.

Timex, Dunst On Live Stream

The six-man final table at WPT Montreal will resume play tomorrow at 4:00 pm ET with the WPT Live Stream available on a 30-minute delay.

Hole cards and commentary from Tony Dunst and Timex are included. For standard text updates, follow along with the WPT live team here.

The final six and chip counts:

1. Sylvain Siebert - 8,850,000 2. Jeff Gross - 8,650,000 3. Jonathan Roy - 7,480,000 4. Pascal Lefrancois - 6,065,000 5. Peter Kaemmerlen - 2,405,000 6. Gavin Smith - 1,605,000

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Gross Crushing, Timex Chasing with 45 Left at WPT Montreal

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:58:22 -0800

Gross, a Baltimore-based pro and the high-profile roommate of Olympian Michael Phelps, is far and away the chip leader and the only player over 2 million in chips with 2,422,000.

An elite lineup of pros is chasing him as they head for the final table, though, with McDonald (1,598,000), Jason Koon (1,546,000) and Christian Harder (1,472,000) right behind him in the top four.

Pros Gavin Smith (1,247,000), Timothy Adams (1,095,000) and Amanda Musumeci (999,000) are also hovering around the 1-million-chip mark and look to move up today as they play down to the final six.

Famed ring announcer Bruce Buffer, high-stakes pro Ashton Griffin and tournament kingpin Dan Smith are also still alive.

Record Field Generates $779k First Prize

Timex: Eyes on the prize.

With the WPT heading to Montreal for the first time players were unsure of the turnout to expect but attendance smashed all expectations.

A record 1,173 players came out for the two Day 1 flights making it the biggest WPT event ever held in Canada by a long shot (The previous record was 504 players).

The official prize pool ballooned to $3,387,930 and made the top prize a massive $779,710.

Top prize also includes a $25,500 seat in the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas in May.

All six final-tablists will make six figures. Payouts listed below:

1 $779,710 2 $470,920 3 $317,450 4 $211,745 5 $146,360 6 $113,155

Day 3 play kicks off at noon ET and will go until a final six has been decided. Follow along live with the WPT Live Updates team here.

The top 10 in chips:

Jeff Gross 2,422,000 Mike McDonald 1,598,000 Jason Koon 1,546,000 Christian Harder 1,472,000 Jonathan Roy 1,431,000 Patrick Lelievre 1,401,000 Peter Kaemmerlen 1,333,000 Sylvain Siebert 1,325,000 Gavin Smith 1,247,000 Amichai Barer 1,235,000

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Isabelle Mercier Returns at WPT Montreal

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:19:45 -0800

Mercier burst onto the poker scene in 2002 with a runner-up finish in the Amsterdam Masters Classics of Poker. She later won the WPT Ladies Night Out invitational to cement her status as an up-and-coming player to watch.

She was later signed by PokerStars and became a fixture of a famous team that included fellow female pros Vanessa Rousso and Vicky Coren.

In 2009 Mercier and PokerStars parted ways, paving the way for Mercier to form a partnership with European online gaming company BetClic.

Mercier’s only played a handful of events since signing with BetClic and WPT Montreal will be the first WPT tournament she’s played since 2008.

She will rock the Party Poker patch at WPT Montreal in her home Province of Quebec.

Mercier will be doing a Q&A on the Party Poker blog so fans are encouraged to ask questions in the comments. She will answer them in an upcoming post on the site.

The World Poker Tour's inaugural event in Montreal is set to take place Nov. 23-27 at the Playground Poker Club.

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Schwartz Closes Out WPT Jacksonville for Big Win

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:45:26 -0800

Schwartz will receive $402,970 for outlasting all 477 players in the tournament. The Florida-native entered the six-player final table with a massive stack of 6.2 million chips, just under 50% of the total chips in play.

The other big-name pro at the final table, former WPT winner Lee Markholt, surprisingly busted in sixth place just 20 minutes into the final table when he lost a huge race with ace-king against Schwartz’ pocket queens.

After eliminating Markholt, Schwartz had over 56% of the chips in play and threatened to run over the final table.

Finally Byron Kaverman slowed him down slightly by doubling with ace-jack against Schwartz’ pocket fours.

Schwartz recovered somewhat by busting Brian Senie in fifth but at this point Kaverman went on a tear and busted Hans Winzeler in fourth and Ryan Hartmann in third to enter heads-up play against Schwartz with the chip lead.

Schwartz Obliterates Kaverman Heads-Up

It took just four hands of heads-up play for Schwartz to re-take the chip lead.

Heads-up lasted less than 30 minutes and in the final hand of the tournament Kaverman moved all-in with T♣ 9♣ on a T♥ 9♠ 3♥ 4♠ board. Schwartz called him down with Q♠ T♠ for top-pair and the flush draw. The river was a queen and Schwartz won the tournament with a superior two-pair.

The entire final table only lasted 80 hands and was done in less than four hours.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Noah Schwartz - $402,970 2. Byron Kaverman - $236,592 3. Ryan Hartmann - $153,403 4. Hans Winzeler - $106,848 5. Brian Senie - $77,083 6. Lee Markholt - $61,819

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Schwartz Seizes Massive Lead for WPT Jacksonville Final

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:50:40 -0800

The South Florida native had a massive final level of the night last night to jump all the way up to 6,255,000 in chips.

Doubling up through then chip leader Hans Winzeler and then busting Shon Mekyten to set the final six, Schwartz has a giant lead to start the final table.

No one else in the final six has over 2 million with Winzeler next in line at 1,965,000.

A big lead is never a sure thing in tournament poker, though, and Schwartz will still have to play it out with five tough outs chasing him.

Winzeler, Markholt Still Lurking

While no one left is above 2 million chips no one is below 1 million either, meaning they'll all still have a decent amount of big blinds to work with.

Winzeler, a Miami-based pro with almost $1 million in live tournament cashes, has 49 BBs with his 1.9m stack.

Former WPT champ Markholt still lurking.

Right behind Winzeler is Brian Senie with 1.865 million and former WPT champ Lee Markholt with 1.7 million.

Rounding out the final six are Ryan Hartmann and pro Byron Kaverman.

Final-table action kicks off at 2:00 pm ET. Live streaming with hole cards starts on a 30-min delay at 2:30 with commentary from Raw Deal host Tony Dunst and pro Jonathan Little.

Follow the action live at WPT.com.

The final six and chip counts:

1. Noah Schwartz - 6,255,000 (156 bb) 2. Hans Winzeler - 1,965,000 (49 bb) 3. Brian Senie - 1,865,000 (46 bb) 4. Lee Markholt - 1,720,000 (43 bb) 5. Ryan Hartmann - 1,400,000 (35 bb) 6. Byron Kaverman - 1,075,000 (26 bb)

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Schwartz, Aguiar Contend at WPT Jacksonville

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:36:55 -0800

Schwartz, a South Florida native who always seems to do well near his home turf, sits just off the chip lead with 916,000.

Schwartz trails Joe "BigEgypt" Elpayaa by just 8,000 chips as they head for the final table today.

Also right in the mix in the top 10 are pros Justin Zaki (646,000), recent WSOPE bracelet winner Jonathan Aguiar (604,000), 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener (593,000) and 2012 EPT Grand Final champ Mohsin Charania (578,000).

Daryll Fish, Todd Terry and Lee Markholt are also still alive.

Negreanu, Hellmuth Make the Trip

For a $3,500 buy-in with no TV coverage at the relatively small Best Bet Casino in Jacksonville, the tournament certainly drew some marquee names.

Both Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth made appearances with varying levels of success.

Negreanu looked to be heading for contention with a big stack after Day 1b but things fizzled for him yesterday and he went out just before the money.

Waxman: Another solid run in Florida.

Hellmuth busted on Day 1a and meant to re-enter on Day 1b but played an epic session of Open-Face Chinese and overslept right through registration.

Waxman, Hastings Cash

While the two biggest names in the tournament didn't make too much noise several others filled in admirably.

Former WPT champ Matt Waxman made another run at a Florida final table but busted in 37th for $7,632.

High-stakes notable Brian "$tinger 88" Hastings cashed for the same amount in 38th while former PCA champ Harrison Gimbel did likewise in 43rd.

Chris Klodnicki, Matt Stout, Victor Ramdin, Ronnie Bardah, Octo-Niner Rob Salaburu, Shaun Deeb and former November Niner Matt Giannetti also made solid runs, busting in the top 60.

$402,970 awaits the winner. Action resumes at 12 noon in Jacksonville to play down to a final table; check the live updates at WPT.com.

The top 10 in chips:

1. Joe Elpayaa 924,000 2. Noah Schwartz 918,000 3. Brian Senie 886,000 4. Blake Bohn 729,000 5. Hans Winzeler 700,000 6. Justin Zaki 646,000 7. Ludek Sisak 637,000 8. Jonathan Aguiar 604,000 9. John Racener 593,000 10. Mohsin Charania 578,000

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WPT Announces Nine Stops in 2013 Including Vienna, Barcelona

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:45:00 -0800

Including the newly-announced tournaments this season of the WPT has grown to 22 events, seven of which have already concluded.

The WPT broke new ground in 2012 by visiting South Africa and China for the first time, and says it will continue to bring the World Poker Tour brand to poker players around the world in 2013.

“By working with a combination of existing and new partners throughout Season XI, WPT is constantly seeking to provide players around the world with access to high-quality tournaments and one-of-a-kind poker experiences,” said WPT CEO Steve Heller.

Winners so far this season include American television writer and producer Matt Salsberg and German poker pro Marvin Rettenmaier. The biggest prize so far was $818,847, won by Ben Hamnett at the Borgata Poker Open.

2013 Sees Stops in Spain and Vienna

Keep reading for the remainder of the WPT's Season XI schedule.

Tournament Location Dates Buy-In

WPT Borgata Winter Open (LS)

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City, New Jersey Jan 27 – Feb 1, 2013 $3,000 + 200 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open (LS) Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood Florida Feb 8 – Feb 12, 2013 $3,250 + 250 WPT Vienna (LS) Montesino Casino, Vienna Austria Feb 18 – Feb 23, 2013 €3,200 + 300 WPT L.A. Poker Classic (TV) Commerce Casino, Commerce, California Feb 23 – Feb 28, 2013 $9,600 + 400 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star (TV) Bay 101 Casino, San Jose, California March 4 – March 8, 2013 $7,150 + 350 WPT Barcelona (LS) Casino Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain April 5 – April 10, 2013 €3,200 + 300 WPT Seminole Hard Rock (TV) Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood Florida April 11 – April 16, 2013 $4,700 + 300 WPT World Championship (TV) Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada May 18 – 24, 2013 $25,000 + 500 WPT Super High Roller (TV) Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada May 21 – 23, 2013 $100,000

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Nitsche Dominates South African WPT Event

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:36:08 -0700

Nitsche, who won a WSOP bracelet this summer, defeated English pro Jerome Bradpiece to take down the first-place prize of $206,153.

WPT South Africa began five days ago with Chris Moneymaker, Joe Cada, Liv Boeree, Melanie Weisner and McLean Karr all paying the $3,600 entry fee.

The big-name pros were all snuffed prior to the money, however, which began with 27 players remaining.

Nitsche, on the other hand, was a force from day one in this event as he took the overall chip lead on Day 1a.

The German pro was amongst the chip leaders for the majority of the tournament and entered the final table as the overwhelming chip leader with 2.9 million chips.

Jerome Bradpiece

Bradpiece a Thorn in Nitsche’s Side

Jerome Bradpiece was Nitsche’s main rival at the final table as the English pro busted two players early and then doubled to over two million chips against Nitsche.

Nitsche did take the chip lead into heads-up play, however, with 4.05 million to Bradpiece’s 2.8 million.

In the final hand of the tournament Nitsche moved all-in with A♣ 4♣ and Bradpiece called for his entire short stack with J♣ T♣.

The board bricked and Nitsche became the new South African champion while Bradpiece, who finished fifth in the €5k PLO event at this year's WSOPE, locked up $121,477 for coming in second place.

Interestingly Nitsche came in sixth in the other WPT event that takes place in Africa, WPT Marrakech, back in 2010. Fellow German Sebastian Homann went on to win that tournament for $341,798.

Perhaps more notably Nitsche won one of the massive $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em events at the WSOP this summer for $654,797.

With WSOP and WPT wins in the bag, Nitsche could complete poker's triple crown by winning a European Poker Tour event.

Here are the complete final table payouts for WPT South Africa:

1. Dominik Nitsche - $206,153 2. Jerome Bradpiece - $121,477 3. William Ross - $80,985 4. Wesley Weigand - $56,321 5. Jason Strauss - $41,965 6. Andrew Anthony - $32,394

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Qualify for WPT Copenhagen, Montreal, Prague on Party Poker

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:22:26 -0700

It's possible to qualify for absolutely nothing if you take part in Party Poker's freeroll program or you can take a direct shot in one of the big weekly satellites.

It goes without saying that Copenhagen, Montreal and Prague will be amongst the most popular international stops on the WPT this year so it's worth qualifying early.

Below is a look at the qualifying structure for each of the prestigious events.

WPT Copenhagen

This is the final week to qualify for the inaugural WPT event in Copenhagen, Denmark, which will run Nov. 12-17.

Taking place at the Casino Copenhagen, WPT Copenhagen will attract some of the biggest stars in Scandinavian poker.

There are daily freerolls and $1 qualifiers for the tournament but it all feeds to the $375 satellite that will run on Sunday with at least one $7,000 package to WPT Copenhagen guaranteed.

The $7,000 package to WPT Copenhagen includes:

$4,300 WPT Copenhagen main event buy-in $800 spending money Five nights accommodation Access to the WPT Players’ Party

WPT Montreal

Party Poker is also running satellites for the debut WPT event in Montreal, Canada, which is set to run Nov. 23-27.

It’s been four years since the WPT last ran a tournament in Canada so WPT Montreal promises to be one of the premier tournaments in the country this year.

Once again daily qualifiers range from free to $33 with all of it funneling to the $275 buy-in WPT Montreal Satellite. Qualifiers run until Nov. 11, 2012.

Winner walks away with a $5,000 package to WPT Montreal that includes:

$3,300 WPT Montreal main event buy-in $1,300 spending money Hotel accommodation WPT hospitality

Andrey Pateychuk

WPT Prague

Finally the WPT will return to Prague on Dec. 3-9 to build on the success they had in the region last year.

In 2011 Russian Andrey Pateychuk outlasted 571 players to win a massive first-place prize of $599,720.

Once again daily qualifiers are available at $1, $3 and $35 levels. There is also a selection of daily freerolls.

The $325 buy-in WPT Prague satellite takes place every Sunday with at least one $6,000 package to the live tournament guaranteed. Qualifiers run until Nov. 18, 2012.

The $6,000 packages to WPT Prague include:

$4,250 main event buy-in Six nights’ accommodation $800 spending money

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Hamnett Claims 2012 WPT Borgata Open Title

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:32:31 -0700

Hamnett, who's previous biggest cash was a 274th-place finish at this year's WSOP Main Event for $38,000, earned $818,847 and a $25,500 seat into next year's WPT World Championship for the win.

Key Pot Early Changes Tide

Coming into the final table second-last in chips, Hamnett grabbed the chip lead on just the third hand of the day in a key pot with incoming chip leader Burnitz.

Starting the hand with around 9 million in chips to Hamnett's 4.7 million, Burnitz raised under the gun to 325,000 with A♣ 9♠.

Hamnett reraised from the button to 525,000 and Burnitz called. When the flop flop came J♣ 8♦ 4♦, Burnitz checked. Hamnett bet 445,000 and Burnitz called.

The turn card came the critical A♦. Burnitz checked, Hamnett bet 1,210,000 and Burnitz called.

The 7♣ river card drew another check from Burnitz before Hamnett shoved for 2,780,000.

After tanking for a minute-and-a-half, Burnitz called only to see Hamnett flip the A♥ Q♦.

Back to the jet for Brecher.

The tide was swung to Hamnett then and there and he rode his new lead all the way to victory 125 hands later.

Burnitz earned $488,850 for his runner-up finish, also by far his largest career cash.

Diaz, Brecher Bust First

The two biggest names at the final table - veteran pro Steve Brecher and 2011 WSOP bracelet winner David Diaz - were actually first to make their exits.

Diaz, second in chips coming in, lots of couple of big pots and busted first in sixth place for $167,337.

Brecher, 2009 WPT Bay 101 Champ, went next in fifith to earn $206,065.

Ofir Mor and Tyler Patterson went out in fourth and third respectively.

For a recap of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates.

The final six players and their offical payouts, courtesy of WPT.com:

1. Ben Hamnett - $818,847 2. Matthew Burnitz - $488,850 3. yler Patterson - $298,950 4. Ofir Mor - $250,065 5. Steve Brecher - $206,821 6. David Diaz - $167,337

Next stop on the World Poker Tour is the Emperors Palace Poker Classic in Johannesburg, South Africa, from Oct. 22-26. For more details, check WPT.com.

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Burnitz, Diaz Lead $800k Chase at WPT Borgata

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:11:29 -0700

Five full days of play narrowed have the field down from over 1,100 to just six with Burnitz in the chip lead and Diaz right behind.

Burnitz, an east coaster from Delaware with most of his live tournament results in Atlantic City, bagged up an even 9 million while Diaz, a 2011 WSOP bracelet winner and cancer survivor, bagged 7,150,000 to sit second.

Burnitz has already assured himself of his biggest lifetime score and the $800k+ first-place prize would be close to eight times his career earnings.

Brecher, Patterson Head Chase Pack

As with most big buy-in final tables, the gulf between sixth and first in terms of payouts is a big one.

Brecher looking for second WPT title.

While each player has secured a $167,000 payday, over $818k is earmarked for first and two tough pros sit just behind the leaders looking to move up the pay scale.

Veteran Steve Brecher, a WPT champ at Bay 101 in 2009, bagged 5,755,000 to sit third overall while Tyler Patterson, a pro from Everett, Washington, is fourth with 5,260,000.

Ben Hamnett, a Pennsylvania native with about $120k in live cashes, is fifth with 4.7 million in chips and Ofir Mor, whose previous best cash was a third at the Borgata Open in 2010, is the short stack with 3.6 million.

Seating assignments and chip stacks for the final six, courtesy of WPT.com:

Seat 1. Matthew Burnitz - 9,000,000 (75 bb) Seat 2. Steve Brecher - 5,755,000 (47 bb) Seat 3. David Diaz - 7,150,000 (59 bb) Seat 4. Ben Hamnett - 4,720,000 (39 bb) Seat 5. Ofir Mor - 3,600,000 (30 bb) Seat 6. Tyler Patterson - 5,260,000 (43 bb)

Brady, Williams Bubble

Yellowsub: sunk.

Favorites to make the final six as the feild shrunk to eight, both Matt Brady and Jeff “yellowsub86”Williams were instead bounced in seventh and eighth respectively.

Brady, winner of the 2008 Aruba Classic, was knocked out by Mor when his pocket jacks were crushed by Mor's full house on the flop with pocket nines.

Suffering a similarly unlucky fate was Williams, a feared online player and former EPT Grand Final winner, who was crippled in an AQ v. AQ battle when Patterson hit a runner-runner flush.

Other notables falling short of the final table today were Jamie Kerstetter (12th - $44,937), Kyle Bowker (13th - $30,083), Lee Childs (14th - $30,083) and Todd Terry (22nd - $16,922).

The WPT Borgata final table picks up at 3:30 pm ET and will be live streamed nearly live on a one-hour delay.

Hole cards will be seen and commentary will be provided by Tony Dunst, Jonathan Little, Dwyte Pilgrim and Bobby Oboodi.

Check the live stream and follow the usual live updates in real-time here.

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Brecher, Diaz Stacked in WPT Borgata Final 27

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:42:00 -0700

Sitting in the number one spot for the playdown to the final table is Patrick Eskandar, a poker player from Gulfport, Mississippi.

Eskandar is one of only three players to pass the 2 million chip mark, along with Matthew Burnitz who’s currently in second and Steve Brecher who’s in third.

Other players of note who secured a seat at one of the final three tables include Jeff “yellowsub86” Williams, Kyle Bowker, 2007 WSOP Main Event final-tablist Lee Childs, 2008 Aruba Classic winner Matt Brady and past WPT final-tablist Todd Terry.

Action is set to resume soon in Atlantic City as the final 27 are cut down to the six who will play at tomorrow’s televised final table.

Over $818,000 is waiting for the eventual winner. All of the final 27 are now guaranteed at least $17,922.

Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 4.

1. Patrick Eskandar - 2,972,000 2. Matthew Burnitz - 2,500,000 3. Steve Brecher - 2,463,000 4. David Diaz - 1,960,000 5. Jeremy Brown - 1,860,000 6. Jeff Saunders - 1,784,000 7. Farhan Madhani - 1,765,000 8. Vinny Pahuja - 1,670,000 9. Jeff Williams - 1,487,000 10. Lee Childs - 1,469,000

Cancer Survivor David Diaz Making Deep Run

2011 WSOP bracelet winner David Diaz is sitting fourth in chips with a shot at the biggest poker score of his career.

David Diaz

Diaz is originally from Honduras but was brought to the United States at age four to receive cancer treatment. Diaz survived, thanks to the help of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Now a professional poker player, Diaz has more than $1 million in live tournament earnings. He’ll have the chance to make that number nearly twice as large should he make tomorrow’s final table.

Cunningham, Dunst Fall Short of Final 27

Making the money but falling short of the final three tables was a long list of name pros, tops among them being Allen Cunningham and Tony Dunst.

Cunningham, who’s amassed more than $11.3 million in tournament earnings over his career, made it to 41st place while Tony Dunst bowed out in 64th.

Day 2 chip leader Brian Lemke made it into the money, but was eliminated by today’s biggest-stack Patrick Eskandar.

Eskandar had pocket aces which held up against Lemke’s pocket eights and a third player’s A-K in a massive pre-flop all-in confrontation that gave Eskandar the chip lead.

Action resumes this afternoon in Atlantic City. Keep an eye on our Poker News Section for more updates.

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Young, Andrews Rise to Top at WPT Borgata

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:06:12 -0700

Young, a New Jersey pro who tweets under the name YoungOrson, built up a massive stack of 728,000 on Day 2 today to take a commanding 100k+ lead into Day 3 tomorrow

Andrews, a rising star in poker with six cashes at the 2012 WSOP including a fourth-place finish for $210k, cracked Jeff Gross’s aces late in the day to jump up to the lead pack as well.

Andrews bagged up 495,300 and will return tomorrow seventh overall in chips.

Barry Hutter (604,500), David Heck (567,800), WSOP bracelet winner David Diaz (541,900) and Michael Hickman (537,300) round out the top 5.

$800k+ for First, Money Bubble at 110 Players

A massive turnout of well over 1,100 players pushed the WPT Borgata prize pool up over $2.5 million and locked in an $818,847 first-place prize.

Along with the above leaders, looking to move up into the money and ever closer to that top prize are a number of top pros.

He's still Allen Cunningham.

Among them are:

Brian Lemke 456,800 Todd Terry 448,800 Shawn Cunix 373,900 Dwyte Pilgrim 330,300 David Pham 310,000 Tony Dunst 304,000 Steve Brecher 251,600 Lee Childs 236,200 Jamie Kerstetter 220,800 Jeff Williams 198,800 Matt Glantz 136,000 Allen Cunningham 135,000

A number of big-name pros fell short of the money today including Matt Affleck, WPT Paris champ Matt Salsberg, Joe Serock, Joe Cada, 2012 Octo-Niner Jesse Sylvia, Jonathan Little, John Racener and Olivier Busquet.

Action picks up tomorrow from the Borgata in Atlantic City at 12 pm. Follow along live with the WPT Live Updates team here.

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Lemke, Bowker in Front at WPT Borgata Day 2

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:00:00 -0700

Lemke finished Day 1B with 272,575, roughly 70,000 more than circuit regular Kyle Bowker who sits in second place.

Joining Lemke and Bowker with a top-ten stack on Day 2 is Kyle Frey, who won the $2k heads-up event at Borgata last week.

Here are the top ten chip counts as Day 2 begins:

Brian Lemke – 272,575 Kyle Bowker – 201,000 James Poper – 185,100 Robert Boyko - $173,100 Kyle Frey – 168,025 Brandon Vargas – 166,850 Carl Pipitone - 159,100 Chad Power – 158,250 Raid Etayiyim – 150,700 Michael Melkerson – 148,900

Greenstein, Mortensen Among Six-Figure Stacks

Narrowly missing out on a leaderboard spot was Barry Greenstein who finished his Day 1 heat with 144,700.

Greenstein won his first WPT title back in 2004.

Other name players who eclipsed the 100k mark include Carlos Mortensen (123,825), recent WPT Paris winner Matt Salsberg (122,600), Jonathan Little (117,775) and Jared Hamby (102,150).

Check out the full Day 2 chip counts on the Borgata Poker Blog.

World Poker Tour stops at the Borgata have historically drawn the biggest fields on the tour, especially since it became a $3.5k buy-in with re-entries. This year the Borgata Poker Open attracted 1,181 entrants, down from 1,313 last year.

110 places in total will be paid with prizes starting at $7,070 and maxing out at the $818,847 reserved for the eventual champion.

Keep an eye on the PokerListings.com Poker News section for daily update as this event plays out in Atlantic City.

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WPT Malta On to Day 2 with Hellmuth, Mercier Alive

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:40:47 -0700

Over the last two days a total of 169 players bought into WPT Malta to create a prize pool of over $500k and $182k for first place.

Among the many players to buy into the contest were world-class pros Mercier, Hellmuth, Vanessa Selbst, Kara Scott, Tony G, Marvin Rettenmaier, Erik Cajelais and Dan O’Brien.

A total of 104 players survived Days 1a and 1b with Jackson Genovesi the overall chip leader with 147,500 chips.

Chip leaders and notables include:

Dominik Nitsche (91,400) Alessio Isaia (77,400) Erik Cajelais (74,800) Jason Mercier (56,600) Fabrice Soulier (49,500) Phil Hellmuth (48,600) Casey Kastle (43,900) Jonathan Duhamel (40,900) Dan O’Brien (36,400) Vanessa Selbst (29,000) Steven Van Zadelhoff (29,000)

Meanwhile Scott, Ronnie Bardah, Mustapha Kanit, Jason Wheeler and Marcelo Marigliano were among the notable players who busted.

It was clear how a big a deal the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker was to many of the players at WPT Malta today as Mercier, Selbst and Anton Wigg all had laptops at the tables so they could multi-table between live and online tournaments.

Tony G even conducted an interview with WCOOP radio while at the table.

Day 2 of WPT Malta begins tomorrow at 13:00 CET. Follow along live the WPT live updates team.

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Salsberg Wins, Jorgensen Misses Repeat at WPT Paris

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:30:00 -0700

Salsberg, who’s best known for his work on Weeds and Entourage, snagged €400,000 for the victory, more than doubling his lifetime live tournament earnings.

Salsberg defeated WPT and WSOP winner Theo Jorgensen of Denmark heads-up. Jorgensen pocketed €264,600 for second but was denied a repeat victory at the Grand Prix de Paris, having won this event in 2010.

Also securing final-table finishes this weekend were high-stakes pro Philipp Gruissem, WSOP bracelet winner Timothy Adams, EPT Season 8 Grand Final champion Mohsin Charania and UKIPT winner Fabian Quoss.

Here are the full final table results from the 2012 WPT Grand Prix de Paris:

1: Matt Salsberg - €400,000 2: Theo Jorgensen - €264,600 3: Philipp Gruissem - €170,065 4: Timothy Adams - €125,775 5: Mohsin Charania - €95,615 6: Fabian Quoss - €75,765

Matt Salsberg Starts with Lead, Finishes with Victory

Television producer Matt Salsberg’s poker career has been steadily gaining momentum these past few years but it took a massive leap forward with his victory in Paris.

The €400k payday brings his career live tournament total winnings to roughly $930,000.

Salsberg began yesterday’s final table with the chip lead and despite losing it a few times along the way he was able to clinch a win at the toughest WPT final table in recent memory.

Theo Jorgensen narrowly missed a second victory at the WPT Grand Prix de Paris.

The finale began with a massive double-up by former Grand Prix de Paris winner Theo Jorgensen. Suriving a preflop all-in with pocket aces against Timothy Adams’ A-K, Jorgensen moved into the chip lead and crippled the Canadian from Burlington, Ontario.

But the Canuck wouldn’t be the first player out.

German pro Fabian Quoss started the final table as the shortstack and had no trouble putting his stack into play, open-shoving when he picked up A-K. The other German at the table, Philipp Gruissem, had no trouble calling when he looked down at pocket queens.

Matt Salsberg took back the chip lead, winning a big pot from Theo Jorgensen, and Timothy Adams managed to fight his way back from the brink with two quick double-ups, first winning with A-Q against Gruissem’s Q-T, and then getting lucky with A-4 against Mohsin Charania’s pocket jacks.

Charania was then dealt a one-two punch by Theo Jorgensen and Matt Salsberg. Charania lost a flip with A-Q against pocket tens before going broke with K-Q all-in preflop against A-J.

Next out was Timothy Adams, who three-bet all-in with A♣ 8♣ against Philipp Gruissem who called with A♠ J♠.

Gruissem’s success was shortlived, however, as he soon found himself short and all-in with pocket jacks against Jorgensen’s K♦ 9♦. Jorgensen flopped a king and that was enough to send Gruissem packing in third place.

The heads-up match was all Jorgensen with the Dane looking like a lock to become the first player to win the same WPT event twice. Jorgensen chipped away at Salsberg and everything was on track when the American found himself all-in with A-4 to Jorgensen’s A-5.

Salsberg was able to flop a four, however, and go on to get lucky again and take the lead shortly after with A-T all-in preflop against A-Q.

The final hand saw Theo Jorgensen all-in with Q-T against Salsberg’s pocket queens. The ladies held up and Salsberg had secured his first major title.

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TV Producer Matt Salsberg Leads WPT Paris Final Table

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:00:00 -0700

Salsberg, who’s better known for writing and producing the hit television show Weeds than he is for playing poker, is currently sitting in the number one spot.

The other five players at the table represent a gauntlet of poker talent that Salsberg will have to navigate if he wants to get his hands on the €400,000 waiting for first place.

All told over €1.1 million is waiting to be chopped up with the final-table payouts starting at just over €75k.

Day 4 in Paris saw the elimination of a long list of name-brand players, starting with American Andrew Lichtenberger’s early exit in 23rd.

Over the course of the day the WPT said goodbye to French rap legend Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes, 2012 PCA runner-up Kyle Julius, Finnish pro Juha Helppi and WPT Season X Player of the Year Joe Serock before the final table was decided.

Here are the final table chip counts:

1: Matt Salsberg - €1,575,000 2: Mohsin Charania - €1,435,000 3: Timothy Adams - €1,198,000 4: Theo Jorgensen - €1,169,000 5: Philipp Gruissem - €776,000 6: Fabian Quoss - €570,000

Weeds Producer Leads Stacked Final Table

Matt Salsberg has made a lot more money in the entertainment industry than at the poker table but with the volume that the Weeds producer is putting in that could soon change.

So far Salsberg has racked up over $400k in live tournament earnings, the highlight by way of a 70th-place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event worth $108,412.

Mohsin Charania is second in chips.

Salsberg can best that tomorrow if he finishes in fifth place or better.

Salsberg is looking for his second cash on the World Poker Tour and his first live result at a tournament outside of the United States.

Second in chips is esteemed online and live pro Mohsin Charania. The man known as chicagocards1 has made millions playing online and scored his first major live win earlier this year when he took down the EPT Grand Final for over $1.7 million.

Timothy Adams is third in chips and, just like Charania, is riding the momentum of a break-out win after picking up his first WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas this summer.

Denmark’s Theo Jorgensen is in fourth heading into the final table and is looking to repeat his 2010 victory in this event when he defeated local French player Antoine Amourette for €633,902.

Philip Gruissem, who finished Days 2 and 3 of this tournament as chip leader, is sitting in fifth place and is looking to put the high-stakes cash-game skills for which he’s known to work at tomorrow’s finale.

Rounding out the final six is German Fabian Quoss. While not exactly a household name in North America, Quoss has been crushing the European circuit since 2008.

Quoss has five six-figure scores and over $1.4 million in live earnings.

His biggest result so far was $427k for a second-place finish in the $5k No-Limit event at the 2009 WSOP.

Here are the final-table payouts:

1st: €400,000 2nd: €264,600 3rd: €170,065 4th: €125,775 5th: €95,615 6th: €75,765

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Gruissem Leads, Salsberg Follows with 24 Left at WPT Paris

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:23:27 -0700

Starting the day as the chip leader with around 280k in chips, Gruissem went on a tear as he grew his stack up past the 1-million mark to take a commanding lead over most of the field.

The only player to keep pace? American semi-pro and Weeds producer Matt Salsberg.

Salsberg went on a tear of his own over the course of the day, busting Marko Neumann, Fabrice Soulier (in sick AQs > AQ fashion) and Tony G. along the way to a comparable stack of 951,000.

With just 24 players left from the 63 players that began the day, the two chip leaders have a substantial 350k edge over third-place Idris Ambraisse and more than a half-million over top fivers Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes and Joe Serock.

Charania Thrives, Mercier Dives

With a truly A-list field of 63 to begin the day play was tough at virtually every table and inevitably not all the big names would survive.

Among the names to rise to the top was 2011 EPT Grand Final champ Mohsin Charania, who bagged up 307,000 for a solid top-10 position.

Also sliding into the final 24 were notables Fabian Quoss (279,000), Tim Adams (208,000), Theo Jorgenson (201,000), Kyle Julius (122,000), Juha Helppi (114,000) and Andrew Lichtenberger (54,000).

Matt Salsberg

Among the not-so-fortunate were Jason Mercier, who managed to grab a min-cash ($17,154), along with Tristan Wade, Tony G., Peter Jetten, Anthony Lellouche, Antoine Saout, Faraz Jaka and ElkY, who all went home empty-handed.

Action picks up tomorrow at the Aviation Club in Paris at 3 pm with the plan to get down to a final table of six; follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

The top 10 and chip counts, courtesy of WPT.com:

1. Phillip Gruissem 1,060,000 2. Matthew Salsberg 951,000 3. Idris Ambraisse 591,000 4. Bruno Lopes 440,000 5. Joe Serock 411,000 6. Jerome Doulen 402,000 7. Mohsin Charania 307,000 8. Grégoire Boissenot 299,000 9. Fabian Quoss 279,000 10. Florian Leconte 266,000

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Gruissem Grabs Lead at WPT Paris, A-List Chases

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:48:22 -0700

The man known as Philbort online was the star of a highlight-reel day of poker in Paris with tables of death scattered around the room.

Busting 2012 WSOP champ Jonathan Duhamel along the way, Gruissem bagged up 280,600 to sit atop the pack heading into the money and playdown to the final table of six tomorrow.

Right behind Gruissem in the top five are online poker pro Bryan Colin (243,300), Weeds producer Matt Salsberg (229,700), Finnish pro Juha Helppi (222,800) and Giacomo Fundaro (216,000) but they only hint at the stacked field awaiting Day 3.

Charania, Jaka, Jetten, Mercier Among the Lurkers

Of the 63 players remaining at least half rank as notable names that have made their mark in the poker world.

Jason Mercier: cue the comeback?

Starting directly off the top 5 is an A-list of pros with significant titles to their names.

Among them:

Mohsin Charania 196,300 Anthony Lellouche 184,500 Andrew Lichtenberger 178,000 Faraz Jaka 157,400 Peter Jetten 156,600 Kyle Julius 141,000 Jason Mercier 140,700 David Benyamine 137,600 Theo Jorgenson 126,000 Tim Adams 125,000 Antoine Saout 120,300 Joe Serock 114,000

The list doesn’t stop there as Erik Cajelais, Fabrice Soulier, Dominik Nitsche, Salman Behbahani, Tristan Wade, Tony G. and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier are all still alive.

Notable bustouts today included Nicolas Levi, Michael Mizrachi, Marvin Rettenmeier, Matt Waxman, Tobias Reinkemeier, Scott Seiver, Dan Smith and Eugene Katchalov.

Action picks up tomorrow at the Aviation Club in Paris at 3 pm; follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

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Jetten, Salsberg Lead Elite Field for WPT Paris Day 1b

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:11:23 -0700

Nobody managed to build the massive stack of Day 1a leader Jacques Enjoubalt (225k), but both Peter Jetten and Matt Salsberg built up stacks slightly larger than the pack to sit just back of Day 1b leader Gregoire Boissenot.

Jetten, known as “Apathy” online and a familiar face on the live tournament circuit, bagged up 83,575 while Salsberg, producer for the hit TV show Weeds, bagged up an identical total.

Down to just 8k in chips at one point, Salsberg hit top set at the exact time Vanessa Selbst tried to make a move with a draw and rode her chips right to the top.

Musician Boissenot bagged up 95,000 to take the honors of Day 1b chip leader but he'll also be well back of Enjoubault when the 143 players left merge for Day 2 tomorrow.

No Notable Stacks but Several Notable Players

Charania: Rising.

While there wasn’t a notable stack built on Day 1b there was a laundry list of pros who chipped up over the day.

Among the most prominent:

Antoine Saout 77,795 Mohsin Charania 72,250 Salman Behbehani 71,900 Fabrice Soulier 70,000 Michael Mizrachi 69,750 Tony G. 62,450 Bertrand "ElkY” Grospellier 60,300 Faraz Jaka 51,275 Steve O’Dwyer 50,200 Eugene Katchalov 47,675

Also staying alive were David Benyamine, Dan Smith, Kyle Julius, Scott Seiver and Tobias Renkemeier but they'll start Day 2 with less than the average stack.

Joining the survivors on Day 2 from Day 1a are Jason Mercier, Justin Bonomo, Kara Scott, Jonathan Duhamel and Dan Cates, among others.

Day 2 action picks up from the swank Aviation Club at 3 pm tomorrow; follow the updates from the WPT team here.

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Mercier, Bonomo, Scott Start Strong at WPT Paris

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:04:32 -0700

Mercier, still #1 on the Global Poker Index despite a run of #justbadluck in tournaments as of late, jumped up over 100k in chips after hitting quads against Will Failla’s full house but dropped slightly to end the night around 70k.

Bonomo, fresh from a deep run at the Partouche Main Event in Cannes, also bagged up around 70k while Party Poker’s Kara Scott – host of the upcoming PokerListings.com Battle of Malta – did the same.

All three sit comfortably in the top 15 although trail three Frenchmen who got off to even better starts on their home turf.

Cruel end to Seiver's first bullet.

Enjoubault Crushes with 6-3o

Far above the field to end Day 1 is Jacques Enjoubault, who rode the unlikely hand of 6-3 offsuit to the top at the expense of pro Scott Seiver

Calling it one of the “saddest and most absurd” bustouts he can remember, Seiver hit the bricks according to the WPT Live Updates like this:

“Jacques Enjoubault limps into the pot, Seiver also limps before a third player makes a raise. Enjoubault calls, Seiver raises to 4,400 and both players make up the additional price.

“The flop is 8x 5x 4x and the action checks to Seiver who bets 8,000 and just Enjoubault makes the call. The turn is the 2x, Enjoubault checks, Seiver bets 19,000, Enjoubault check-raises to 51,000, Seiver moves all-in and Enjoubault calls.

“Seiver turns over Kx Kx and Enjoubault has managed to find 6x 3x - much to the astonishment of Seiver who is out of the competition.”

Enjoubault ended the day with 225,200 to lead fellow Frenchmen Anthony Lellouche at 178,000 and Basil “the French durrrr” Yaiche in third with 142,475.

Other notable pros to build stacks on Day 1a included:

Juha Helppi 96,200 Theo Jorgenson 77,000 Dominik Nitsche 712000 Fabian Quoss 69,675 Phillip Gruissem 67,875 Tristan Wade 64,000 Marvin Rettenmaier 55,200 Jonathan Duhamel 52,925 Daniel Cates 31,225

Among the pros to bust today were Vanessa Selbst, Michael Mizrachi, Tony G and Partouche main event crushers Dan Smith and Dan O’Brien, but as this is a rebuy event they are welcome to to buy in tomorrow for Day 1b.

Action picks up at 3 pm from the prestigious Aviation Club in Paris; follow the WPT Live Updates here.

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Hale Holds Off Steinberg for WPT Legends Title

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:29:49 -0700

Coming into the final table as the massive chip leader, things looked promising for Hale to take hist first-ever major title but it wasn't a direct line to the finish by any means.

Having 60% of the chips five-handed, Hale actually entered heads-up play down 14 million to 4 million to Max Steinberg.

Steinberg, who came in as the short stack, had eliminated every single player at the table to take the lead but couldn't finish off the comeback.

Hale quickly doubled up with a rivered flush to take the lead back and then slowly eroded Steinberg's stack away for the title.

Steinberg earned $293,490 for his runner-up finish and more than likely a few fans when the episode airs for his epic run.

Madsen, Mueller, Eslami Exit First

Valiant effort by Steinberg falls short.

The three biggest names at the final table were the first to hit the rail.

Jeff Madsen, playing at his first WPT final table after three near misses, was close in chips with Steinberg to start but didn't have his kind of luck.

Shoving in with A♦ 3♦, Madsen ran into Steinberg's aces and that was it for his day.

Greg "FBT" Mueller, coming in second in chips and looking like a strong contender at his second WPT final table, was surprisingly the next player to go.

Dipping down to about 2 million in chips, Mueller shoved from under the gun with sevens but got looked up by Steinberg's A♣ K♠.

A king on the turn was all she wrote for Mueller.

Eslami, crippled to just 2 big blinds at one point four-handed, made a valiant comeback of his own to get back up over 4 million in chips.

But cracked kings knocked him back down before he lost a race with Steinberg to drop out in fourth.

Third-place finisher Raouf Malek also fell at the hands of Steinberg, losing his stack with a river call and a king-high straight only to see Steinberg flip over the ace-high straight.

For a full recap of all the action, check the WPT Live Updates.

WPT Legends of Poker Final Table Results:

1. Josh Hale - $500,000 2. Max Steinberg - $293,490 3. Raouf Malek - $192,400 4. Ali Eslami - $133,700 5. Greg Mueller - $97,100 6. Jeff Madsen - $75,400

The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the WPT Grand Prix de Paris at the famed Aviation Club starting September 10.

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Hale Leads Mueller, Madsen into WPT Legends Final SIx

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 06:12:51 -0700

San Diego-based semi-pro Hale has 7,325,000 in chips heading into the televised final table today, giving him double that of his nearest competitior.

That competitior, however, happens to be two-time WSOP bracelet winner Greg "FBT" Mueller.

After an up-and-down day that dropped him way down the chip counts early on, Mueller carved his way back up to bag up 3,490,000 for second overall.

A fourth-place finish in Reno in 2006 is Mueller's highest career WPT result but with over $2 million in career earnings he could be the favorite heading into the final despite the chip disadvantage.

Eslami Contending; Madsen Happy, Relieved

Austin, Texas native Raouf Malek is right behind Mueller with 3,130,000 while veteran pro Ali Eslami is fourth with 2,900,000.

Rounding out the final six are pros Jeff Madsen with 1,030,000 and Max Steinberg with 1,020,000, giving them well below the average stack.

Madsen, a former LA-based pro who has spent his fair share of time at the Bike Casino, is still excited to say the least:

So happy and relieved.. It's about time ive wanted this so bad .. Thanks for all your sweats! See you mañana

— Jeff Madsen (@JeffMadsenobv) August 29, 2012

The 2006 WSOP Player of the Year, Madsen has over $3.4 million in career live tournament earnings but hasn't finished higher than eighth on the World Poker Tour.

Is it Madsen's time?

Jim Willerson, at one point the chip leader on Day 4, was the unlucky bubble boy leaving in seventh for $60,400.

Jesse Martin (9th - $40,000), Sam Barnhart (15th - $23,800) and Joe Cheong (18th - $18,100) also cashed yesterday but fell short of the final.

Half a Million Waits For the Winner

With 622 entrants the prize pool built to an impressive $2.1 million and over half of it is still up for grabs for the final six.

All six players have ensured a $75,400 payday by making the final table with $97,100 the first pay jump for fifth.

Barring a deal, an even $500,000 will be paid out to the winner and $293,490 to the runner-up.

Action picks up at 4 pm local time from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles for the televised final.

Live streaming is available here or you can follow along with the WPT Live Updates team.

The final six and their seat position for the final table:

Seat 1: Max Steinberg - 1,020,000 (17 bb) Seat 2: Jeff Madsen - 1,030,000 (17 bb) Seat 3: Raouf Malek - 3,130,000 (52 bb) Seat 4: Greg Mueller - 3,490,000 (58 bb) Seat 5: Josh Hale - 7,325,000 (122 bb) - Button Seat 6: Ali Eslami - 2,900,000 (48 bb)

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Mueller, Madsen Surge on WPT Legends Day 3

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:01:51 -0700

Two-time bracelet winner Mueller started the day just outside the top 10 but finished well inside it, bagging up 2,396,000 to sit second overall behind Cyrus Farzad at 2,600,000.

Mueller and Farzad are the only two players in the field to crack the 2 million-chip mark.

Madsen, the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year and also a two-time bracelet winner, made his move from farther back in the pack.

Starting the day with 250k in chips, Madsen quietly ran his stack all the way up to 1,675,000 and will start Day 4 today fourth overall.

Stephen Graner (1,882,000) and pros Max Steinberg (1,125,000) and Ali Eslami (1,065,000) round out the top six.

Cheong: Held steady.

Cheong Holds the Line, Koon Retreats

One of the Day 2 chip leaders, former November Niner Joseph Cheong hung on to the chips he had but didn’t make much progress on Day 3, finishing with roughly the same stack to head into Day 4 near the bottom of the pack in 13th.

Jesse Martin (931,000) and Sam Barnhart (756,000) will also return for Day 4.

Pro Jason Koon, a WPT “Player to Watch” for this season, narrowly missed the final two tables as he busted out in 19th for $13,400.

Also busting out shy of the final 18 were Yevgeniy Timoshenko (25th - $13,400), Erick Lindgren (33rd - $11,100), Isaac Baron (34th - $11,100) and Dwyte Pilgrim (36th - $11,100).

Action picks up today at the Bicycle Casino at 1 pm local time and will go until the final table of six is set. $500,000 awaits the winner and $293,490 for the runner-up.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

The final 18 players and chip counts:

1. Cyrus Farzad - 2,600,000 2. Greg Mueller - 2,396,000 3. Stephen Graner - 1,882,000 4. Jeff Madsen - 1,675,000 5. Max Steinberg - 1,125,000 6. Ali Eslami - 1,065,000 7. Jim Willerson - 988,000 8. Jesse Martin - 931,000 9. Ramzi Srour - 838,000 10. Sam Barnhart - 756,000 11. Alan Myerson - 704,000 12. Josh Hale - 680,000 13. Joseph Cheong - 580,000 14. Raouf Malek - 505,000 15. Efren Abustan - 451,000 16. Art Alaniz - 405,000 17. David Marshall - 400,000 18. Antonios Roungeris - 337,000

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Eslami, Cheong Lead After WPT Legends Day 2

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:51:41 -0700

Eslami, a former Magic: The Gathering player known for winning the first man-machine poker challenge, bagged up 618,500 to take the outright lead.

Cheong, a former November Niner, is close behind with 574,000, although he needed to hit a two-outer earlier in the day to stay alive.

Jason Koon (574,000), Antonios Roungeris (551,000) and David Miscikowski (550,500) round out the top five.

Mueller, Timoshenko, Madsen All Survive

Greg "FBT" Mueller

With a $3,700 buy-in plus re-entries, the 622 players bumped the prize pool up to $2.1 million with $500,000 waiting for the winner.

Of those 622 players, plenty of them were top pros and several have made it through Day 2 with decent stacks.

One of those is Greg "FBT" Mueller, who bagged 431,000 to sit just outside the top 10 overall.

Lee Markholt (449,500), Elio Fox (267,000), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (266,000), Jeff Madsen (250,000) and Jared Hamby (246,000) are all in good shape heading to tomorrow.

Isaac Baron, Erick Lindgren, Dwyte Pilgrim and Justin Young are also still in contention.

Action picks up again at 12 pm PT from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles with the plan to play down to 18.

The money bubble will burst at 63 players with a min-cash worth $7,500.

Follow along live with the WPT Live Updates team.

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Gregg Snags First Major Live Title at WPT Parx Open

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:41:44 -0700

The long-time pro with over $2.3 million in live earnings and several near misses in big events coming in to the final table, finally has a major live title and took a $416,127 first-place prize to go along with it.

Gregg had to outlast a tough final six that included high-stakes pro Chris "Genus28" Lee and eventual runner-up Stephen "sizzlinbetta" Reynolds to further cement his burgeoning rep as a top caliber pro.

A past winner of the Sunday Million under the alias wwwBTHEREcom, Gregg now joins the elite WPT Champions Club and earned a seat into next year's WPT Championship with the win.

Reynolds, Lee Make Valiant Runs

Chris "Genius28" Lee.

Chip leader for most of the final table, Stephen "sizzlinbetta" Reynolds looked to have the inside track on the title as he entered heads-up play with Gregg with a roughly 2-1 chip advantage.

After letting Gregg close the gap early on Reynolds stretched that lead out to 12 million to 3 million in chips before a key double-up got Gregg back in the game.

in hand #202, Gregg limped for 150,000 and Reynolds shoved over the top but Gregg insta-called holding 9♦ 9♥.

Reynolds's A♦ 5♦ couldn't catch up and Gregg was back up to 6 million in chips.

From there, Gregg slowly overtook Reynolds and pulled away for the title.

Reynolds earned $244,877 for his runner-up finish.

Lee, who started the day third in chips and held his own with Reynolds and Gregg over the first 100 hands, eventually fell back to finish third for $158,450.

Online grinder Larry "BBOY3310" Sharp moved his way up from being the short stack to finish in fourth and earn $108,034.

The full results and payouts for the final six:

1st: Anthony Gregg - $416,127 2nd: Stephen Reynolds - $244,877 3rd: Chris Lee Lee - $158,450 4th: Larry Sharp - $108,034 5th: Chris Vandeursen - $76,824 6th: Andre Nyffeler - $61,619

For a complete recap of all the action, check the WPT Live Updates.

Next stop on the World Poker Tour is at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles from August 24-29 for the Legends of Poker event.

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Reynolds, Gregg, Lee Lead WPT Parx Final Six

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 18:38:48 -0700

Reynolds, perhaps the least “known” of the three but a $1.9 million winner online under the alias “sizzlinbetta,” holds the outright chip lead heading into the final day with 4,035,000.

Gregg, PCA runner-up in 2009 and chip leader heading into the day, sits just off the lead with 3,600,000. With his experience deep in big tournaments, he's primed for a run at his first WPT title tomorrow.

Lee, a feared online high-stakes star and WSOP bracelet winner, also broke the 3-million-chip mark to enter the final table third with 3,040,000.

Together they hold over 10 million of the roughly 14.5 million chips in play, making them each heavy favorites to find the winner's circle on Day 5.

Vandeursen, Nyffeler and Sharp in Tough

While the top half of the final six holds the cards the bottom half is still a group of talented players in their own right.

Chris VanDeursen, a local Philly area player, has the best shot of cracking the elite top 3 as he sits just off the pace with 2,430,000.

Short stacks Andre Nyffeler and Larry Sharp, each with just under 900,000 in chips will have their work cut out for them tomorrow.

Gregg: Been deep before.

Nyffeler doesn’t have much in the way of live cashes but Sharp, who plays online under the nickname BBOY3310, has chopped the Sunday Million online.

Joey Couden was the unfortunate final-table bubble today, busting in seventh for a $49,215 consolation prize.

Other notables to bust today were Kevin Calenzo (16th - $12,004), Brent Roberts (15th - $14,405) and Athanasios Polychronopoulos (11th- $18,406).

Final-table play picks up tomorrow at 4 pm ET from the Parx Casino.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

Chip counts and seat position below:

Seat 1: Stephen Reynolds - 4,035,000 (134 bb) Seat 2: Andre Nyffeler - 895,000 (29 bb) Seat 3: Chris Lee - 3,040,000 (101 bb) Seat 4: Tony Gregg - 3,600,000 (120 bb) Seat 5: Larry Sharp - 870,000 (29 bb) Seat 6: Chris Vandeursen - 2,430,000 (81 bb)

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Gregg Pulling Away with 16 Left at WPT Parx Open

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:32:06 -0700

Gregg, who started the day fourth in chips behind Brent Roberts, Shankar Pillai and Brock Parker, rocketed past all three by the end to bag up 2.78 million heading into Day 4.

Two huge pots near the end of the day helped Gregg grab the big lead, capped by a big bust of Henry Lu with a spade flush after the two got it in with Lu's A♦ Q♥ to Gregg's A♠ Q♣.

The late rush gives Gregg, the 2009 PCA Main Event runner-up, a huge 1-million-chip lead over Joseph Wertz, who finished the day in second with 1.75 million.

Day 3 chip leader Roberts was the only one of the Day 3 leaders to make it through the day but he'll have a below average stack of 592,000 to start Day 4.

Pillai busted in 20th and Parker in 24th to both collect $10,403.

Genius28: In contention.

Genius28, Polychronopolous Still Alive

While several notable names including Allen Kessler, Vitor Ramdin, Allen Bari and October Niner Russell Thomas got sent to the rail today two notable bracelet winners kept their hopes alive.

Chris "Genius28" Lee, a feared online player who earned his first WSOP bracelet last year, started the day short but finsihed up over 1 million in chips to sit sixth heading into Day 4.

Athanasios Polychronopoulos, who also won his first WSOP bracelet last year, managed to last the day but will start with a below-average stack of 498,000 tomorrow.

Other notables making it to Day 4 include Roberts, Kevin Calenzo and Vinny Pahuja.

Action picks up again from the Parx Casino outside Philadelphia tomorrow at noon ET.

Play down will be to the final tables of six who'll return under the TV lights on Wednesday to vie for the title and $416,127 first-place prize.

Follow the action with the WPT Live Updates team here.

The final 16 playera and chip counts:

1. Anthony Gregg 2,786,000 2. Joseph Wertz 1,753,000 3. Robert Pyne 1,491,000 4. Joseph Couden 1,433,000 5. Stephen Reynolds 1,413,000 6. Chris "Genius28" Lee 1,148,000 7. Tom Miller 998,000 8. Lawrence Sharp 710,000 9. Brent Roberts 592,000 10. Kevin Calenzo 516,000 11.Athanasios Polychronopolous 498,000 12. Chris Vandeursen 480,000 13. Vinny Pahuja 471,000 14. Alan Kraut 276,000 15. Andre Nyffeler 170,000 16. Timothy Chang 142,000

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Roberts, Pillai, Parker Leading at WPT Parx Open

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:18:08 -0700

Roberts, a Staten Island pro with over $1 million in live tournament earnings, holds the outright lead heading into Day 3 today with 749,500 in chips.

Pillai, who won his bracelet in 2007, and Parker, who won two bracelets in 2009, sit just back of Roberts with 731,500 and 726,500 respectively.

The money bubble has just been cracked so the race for the final table will begin in earnest tomorrow with an elite field chasing the three leaders.

Gregg, Bari, Ramdin All in Contention

Allen Bari

With a $3,500 buy-in plus a shot at re-entry if you busted Day 1a, the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic drew a massive field of 500 players over the course of two Day 1s.

Given Parx Casino's East Coast location and host Matt Glantz, it also drew a star-studded field and the remaining players are a reflection.

Anthony Gregg, PCA MAin Event runner-up in 2009 and sixth-place finisher in the same event last year, bagged up 656,500 and sits in fourth.

Allen Bari (436,500), Russell Thomas (351,000), PokerStars pro Victor Ramdin (304,000), Paul Volpe (250,000), Steve Brecher (173,000), Chris "Genius28" Lee (161,000), Athanasios Polychronopoulos (143,000) and Allen Kessler (137,000) will also take the felt for Day 3.

With the massive turnout and re-entries, the inflated prize pool has also created an impressive $416,127 payout for the winner and $244,877 for the runner-up. The winner will also receive a $25k seat in the WPT Championship next year.

Action picks up again at 12 pm ET with the intention of playing down to the final 27 players and possibly beyond.

Tune in to the Parx Poker Blog for live updates from the tables.

Full payout schedule for the remaining players below:

1: $416,127 (Includes seat in WPT Championship) 2: $244,877 3: $158,450 4: $108,034 5: $76,824 6: $61,619 7: $47,215 8: $33,611 9: $24,008 10-12: $18,406 13-15: $14,405 16-18: $12,004 19-27: $10,403 28-36: $8,803 37-45: $7,202 46-54: $6,402

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Mad Marvin Takes Back-to-Back WPT Titles

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:16:45 -0700

That player? Mad Marvin Rettenmaier, who took down the title at WPT Cyprus today to follow up his win at the WPT Championship at Bellagio in May.

For one of the most impressive feats in poker history, Party Poker pro Rettenmaier earned an extra $287,784 to go along with his $1.2 million from the Bellagio.

To cap it off Rettenmaier also did it in dominating fashion, coming into the final table third in chips but busting every single player left to stamp his name authoritatively into the history books.

Azor, Voskanyan Can't Fight the Madness

Azor: Couldn't stem the Rettenmaier tide.

Chip leader coming into the day, Israeli pro Ran Azor looked to have a good shot at holding Rettenmaier off but it wasn't to be.

Making a valiant effort to hold his lead, Azor couldn’t stem the tide of Rettenmaier’s aggression and growing chip stack.

Once Rettenmaier took a chunk off him five-handed to take the chip lead, that spelled the beginning of the end for Azor’s hopes.

Knocked down to the short stack shortly after, Azor ultimately busted third with 77 to Rettenmaier's Q9 for $118,360.

Russian tournament director Artur Voskanyan, who started the day just ahead of Rettenmaier, met a similar fate.

Unable to match Rettenmaier's growing stack, Voskanyan held on long enough to make heads-up play but down 9-1 in chips fell in just two hands to finish second.

Voskanyan still took home a solid $184,020 and his biggest-ever cash for his runner-up finish.

The official final six and payouts:

1. Marvin Rettenmaier $287,784 2. Artur Voskanyan $184,020 3. Ran Azor $118,360 4. Victor Paraschiv $87, 610 5. Joseph El Khoury $65,770 6. Kiryl Radzivonau $52,590

Next Stop: Parx Open Poker Classic

Next stop for both the World Poker Tour and Rettenmaier is the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic at the Parx Casino outside Philadelphia.

The $3,500 mbuy-in main event starts tomorrow August 10 and runs until August 15.

Catch the live updates as always with the WPT live updates team here.

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Rettenmaier Storms Back to Make WPT Cyprus Final

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:19:17 -0700

Knocked down even further to just 130,000 in chips early in the day, “Mad Marvin” did much better than stay alive though.

The Party Poker pro made an incredible comeback, mostly at the expense of Sam El Sayed, to not only make the final table but sit in third overall with a healthy stack of over 2 million.

Trailing chip leader Ran Azor by just 400k heading into the final table tomorrow, Rettenemaier not only guaranteed himself a $50k+ payday he now has a shot at back-to-back WPT titles and his second in just three months.

Back-to-Back Champ for First Time Ever?

With a win tomorrow Rettenmaier can become the first-ever back-to-back WPT champion.

Taking a break for the World Series of Poker, the last WPT event played was the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in May which Rettenmaier won for $1.2 million.

The only downside of Rettenmaier's comeback today?

Making the final table ruins his plans for making the trip to the States to play the opening day of the WPT Parx Event starting Friday:

Boooom!!!!! 22>a6s of Erik for 800k pot and BackToBack @worldpokertour Final Tables!!! 2,02mio!!! Avg 1,65... U MAD!?!?!

— Marvin Rettenmaier (@MadMarvin) August 8, 2012

Won't be able to play 1a of @worldpokertour Parx now which obviously drastically reduces my chances for BackToBackToBack Final Tables! FML!

— Marvin Rettenmaier (@MadMarvin) August 8, 2012

Cajelais, El Sayed Fall Short

Near miss for Cajelais.

Two players who looked like virtual locks to make the final table yesterday came up short today as Erik Cajelais and Sam El Sayed both couldn’t hold to their chip advantages.

El Sayed, who started off strong but lost a lot of his stack to Rettenmaier, eventually dropped out in 11th place for a $19,110 payday.

Cajelais, the chip leader heading into the day, took the slow bleed approach before eventually busting to Rettenmaier in seventh to fall just short of the final table.

Cajelais earned $43,690 for his seventh-place finish.

Robert Mizrachi, also up among the chip leaders yesterday, finished in 15th place.

Final Table Goes Tomorrow at Merit Cyprus

Final-table action is set to pick up from WPT Cyprus at 1 pm local time; follow along with the WPT live updates team here and catch the live stream with commentary from Jesse May, Michael Mizrachi and Dominik Nitsche.

Here’s the final six and chip counts:

1. Ran Azor 2,405,000 2. Artur Voskanyan 2,003,000 3. Marvin Rettenmaier 2,002,000 4. Kyril Radzivonau 1,865,000 5. Victor Parashiv 1,115,000 6. Joseph El Khoury 435,000

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Cajelais in Control After Day 3 at WPT Cyprus

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:56:55 -0700

The well known and well respected Cajelais, one of several big names who surprisingly made the trek to Cyprus, was at the front of the pack most of the day and bagged up 1,190,000 to be just one of two players to hit the million-chip mark.

Russian Artur Voskanyan is the only other player to hit the mark, bagging up 1,035,000 to enter Day 4 tomorrow in second=place overall.

El Sayed, Mizrachi and Rettenmaier Still Alive

Mad Marvin: Needs to make a move.

Cajelais will still have his work cut out for him to make the final six as a few notable pros also managed to make it through the day.

Former WPT champ Sam El Sayed is the healthiest of them, stacking up 950,000 to end the day just behind Cajelais, Voskanyan and Walid Bou Habib.

Israeli pro Ran Azor sits a few chips back of El Sayed with 893,000 to round out the top 5.

As may have been expected, a Mizrachi is also still around in the final 18 although this time it's Robert, not Michael.

A WSOP bracelet winner in his own right, Bro Grinder bagged up 586,000 in chips to sit near the middle of the pack.

Former WPT champ Marvin Rettenmaier also survived to see Day 4 although with a stack of just 212,000 he'll have to make a move to have a chance at the final table.

Below are the chip stacks and seating assignments for Day 4, courtesy of the WPT:

Table 1

Seat 1: Walid Bou Habib - 986,000 Seat 2: Erik Cajelais - 1,190,000 Seat 3: Husnu Sincar - 358,000 Seat 4: Ran Azor - 893,000 Seat 5: Joseph El Khoury - 180,000 Seat 6: Tolga Demirel - 265,000 Seat 7: Victor Paraschiv - 483,000 Seat 8: Julien Ehrhardt - 194,000 Seat 9: Artur Voskanyan - 1,035,000

Table 2

Seat 1: Andrey Shatilov - 686,000 Seat 2: Robert Mizrachi - 586,000 Seat 3: Eddy Maksoud - 564,000 Seat 4: Kiryl Radzivonau - 352,000 Seat 5: Kemal Sevevi - 311,000 Seat 6: Aram Vartevanyan - 159,000 Seat 7: Sam El Sayed - 950,000 Seat 8: Marvin Rettenmaier - 212,000 Seat 9: Gilboa Yossi - 464,000

Play picks up tomorrow at 1pm local tme and will play down to a final table; follow along with the WPT Live Updates team here.

A top prize of $287,784 awaits the winner.

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El Sayed, Cajelais Among WPT Cyprus Day 2 Leaders

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:49:33 -0700

Cajelais and El Sayed were among the 131 players who entered Day 2 and after five levels of play that number had been reduced to 53 with Cajelais holding 371,500 chips and El Sayed holding a tournament-leading 375,500.

Cajelais most recent WPT cash came when he final tabled WPT Bay 101. He ended up coming in fourth place for $256k.

Meanwhile El Sayed finished eighth in the 2011 WPT World Championship for $119k. El Sayed actually won WPT Amneville in 2010 for €426k.

The top 10 leaderboard is littered with well-known players including Robert Mizrachi, Chino Rheem and Aubin Cazals.

Some of the other notable players who made it through the gauntlet today are Marvin Rettenmaier, Martin Finger, Oleksii Kovalchuk, Dominik Nitsche and Andreas Krause.

Not as lucky were Tuan Le, Nicolas Chouity, Toni Judet, Kelly Kim and Lukas Berglund who were all eliminated in the five levels of play on Day 2.

The bubble is looming at WPT Cyprus as the last 36 players will make the money. A total of 329 players entered the contest initially to create a prizepool over $1 million. First place stands to take home $287,784.

Action resumes at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow. To follow along live be sure to check the WPT live updates.

Here are the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 2:

1. Sam El Sayed – 375,500 2. Erik Cajelais – 371,000 3. Robert Mizrachi – 365,000 4. Chino Rheem – 361,000 5. Vyacheslav Stoyanov – 356,500 6. Aubin Cazals – 344,500 7. Andras Nemeth – 337,000 8. Tolga Demirel – 298,000 9. Andrey Shatilov – 279,000 10. Manig Loeser – 277,000

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Rheem, Mizrachis in Contention at WPT Cyprus

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:14:13 -0700

Rheem, the former November Niner, Epic Poker League winner and famed debtor, soared to the outright lead during his Day 1b flight today and stacked up a massive 291,500 in chips.

Rheem will lead the 132 survivors from the Day 1s into the merged field and Day 2 play tomorrow.

Robert Mizrachi, known to most as "Bro Grinder" thanks to the looming presence of his brother Michael, also had a great day at the felt and bagged up 158,300 to sit himself comportably in the top 10.

The aforementioned brother, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who happens to be one of the best tournament players of all time, also made it through the day but with a more modest stack of 54,300.

Another two Mizrachi brothers - Eric and Donnie - made the trip to Cyprus as well but both failed to make it through to Day 2.

Pantaleo, Nitsche and Finger Lead German Contingent

Given the relative remoteness of Cyprus the 329-player field managed to draw several big names from around the globe.

Three Germans in particular have seen some success in the field with Giuseppe Pantaleo (191,300), Dominik Nitsche (90,000) and Martin Finger (25,800) all making it into Day 2.

Joining them with be other notables Sam El Sayed (214,300), Kelly Kim (92,200), Aubin Cazals (54,700) and 2012 WSOP Main Event bubble girl Gaelle Baumann (26,500).

Notables making an appearance but busting out on either Day 1a or 1b were Chris Moorman, Tommy Vedes and Dan "Jungleman12" Cates.

Including re-entries, a total prize pool of $1,212,694 was created with the payouts listed below:

Giuseppe Pantaleo

1. $287,784 (inlcuding a $25,500 WPT Championship Seat) 2. $184,020 3. $118,360 4. $87,610 5. $65,770 6. $52,590 7. $43,690 8. $35,020 9. $26,240 10-12th. $19,110 13th-15th. $15,670 16th-18th. $13,420 19th-21st. $11,750 22nd-24th. $10,450 25th-27th. $9,260 28th-36th. $8,070

Day 2 action picks up tomorrow at 1 pm from Cyprus; follow the action with the WPT Live Updates team here.

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Joe Sebok Joins World Poker Tour Broadcast Team

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:00:00 -0700

The WPT has not released an official statement but Player Development and Casino Relations Manager Jeanine Deeb, also daughter of poker pro Freddy Deeb, leaked the news via Twitter Thursday.

“Look who has joined the @WorldPokerTour teaaam!!!! @joesebok WOOHOO!! ❤” tweeted Deeb, along with a picture of Sebok in what is assumed to be the WPT’s office.

Sebok joins a team that includes fellow poker pro Tony “Bond18” Dunst, anchor Kimberly Lansing and long-time commentators Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten.

Sebok was president of PokerRoad Radio and formerly hosted the poker show Poker2Nite on Versus. Since then Sebok has taken harsh criticism from the poker community for representing UB.com following their superuser cheating scandal.

Sebok originally joined UB.com ostensibly to uncover the details behind the superusers that stole an estimated $22 from players on the CEREUS Network.

As Sebok originally posted in his blog on PokerRoad.com he joined UB with three primary goals in mind.

1) Get the account names involved in the super-user scandal released; 2) Get all the hand histories out to those who requested them during the cheating scandal; and 3) Attempt to get out the physical names of the actual cheaters, and those who helped them cheat, released to the public.

Criticism stemmed from Sebok’s inability to release the hand histories as promised.

But as Sebok told PokerListings.com in the wake of the poker community’s outrage towards him, he feels he put himself in a no-win situation by attempting to uncover the hand histories in the first place.

But while some in the online poker community have expressed anger towards the WPT for their decision to hire Joe Sebok, many in the poker world are far less critical of Sebok’s perceived failed UB investigation.

No word on what Sebok’s duties will be at the World Poker Tour but with the new season kicking off in August we won’t have long to wait.

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Rettenmaier Holds On for WPT Championship Title

Sun, 27 May 2012 08:21:18 -0700

The chip leader for most of the tournament and holding a commanding edge coming into the final table, Rettenmaier seemed destined for an easy win.

That wasn't how it played out, however, as a stacked lineup incuding Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Nick Schulman, Steve O'Dwyer and Phillipe Ktorza put him to the test.

Eight hours, 200 hands, one massive chip lead lost and one massive chip deficit overcome, though, and Rettenmaier claimed his first WTP title and $1.2 million first-place prize.

With the win Rettenmaier boosts his career live tournament earnings up to $2.7 million.

Unheralded Ktorza Makes Amazing Run

With all that talent at the table, Rettenmaier's surprising heads-up opponent turned out to be Frenchman Phillipe Ktorza.

A poker veteran with dozens of cashes in France and over $300k in career earnings, Ktorza was still the underdog coming in as the short stack.

Just another $400k for Grinder.

At one point in the tournament he was even down to just five big blinds, but his perserverance paid off.

Picking up timely double ups early on, Ktorza not only made it to heads-up play with Rettenmaier but even took a commanding chip lead only to fade to Rettenmaier's steady play.

Ktorza claimed $805,310 for his runner-up finish - by far his largest career cash.

Mizrachi, Schulmam, O'Dwyer Fall Short

If a contender was to materialize to threaten Rettenmaier's 3-1 chip lead coming in to the final table, most expected it would come from the trio of Mizrachi, Schulman and O'Dwyer.

Mizrachi even briefly grabbed the chip lead after a big three-way all-in knocked out O'Dwyer and dented Rettenamaier's stack, but he couldn't sustain the momentum.

Schulmam also crept up the leader board and peaked at around 4 million in chips but ultimately dropped out in fourth.

Knocking Schulman out also gave Rettenmaier a massive lead three-handed and Mizrachi was soon to go in third to set up the heads-up match.

Final-table results and payouts below:

1. Marvin Rettenmaier - $1,196,8582. Philippe Ktorza - $805,3103. Michael Mizrachi - $424,6184. Nick Schulman - $256,2355. Steve O'Dwyer - $192,1766. Trevor Pope - $155,571

For a full recounting of all the action, check the WPT Live Updates.

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Marchese Snags $100k High Roller Win from Robl

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:17:26 -0700

Marchese, one of the most respected online pros in the world, came in to the final table third in chips but dominated much of the action to enter heads-up play with a slight lead.

He needed some help to seal the deal, however.

After a back-and-forth match that stayed pretty even until Robl edged out to a 2-1 chip advantage, Marchese found himself all-in with 7♦ 4♦ against Robl's T♣ T♠.

The board came A♠ Q♣ 6♠ 3♠ to the turn, leaving Marchese just three non-spade fives to save him.

The 5♦ miraculously dropped on the river and Marchese was back in the game. Thirty hands later, he was the champ.

On the final hand, Robl min-raised to 500k with A♦ 4♣, Marchese reraised to 1.2 million with 8♥ 8♠ and Robl shoved.

Marchese snap-called and improved to a set on the flop to take the title down.

Having originally busted in the tournament and opting to re-buy, Marchese ended up making it worth his while and takes home $1.1 million in profit.

Robl earned $822,375 for his runner-up finish.

Bonomo Bubble Boy

John Juanda in third ($526,320), Daniel Perper in fourth ($394,740) and Bill Klein in fifth ($263,160) were the other players to cash from an elite field of 32 that started the event.

Justin Bonomo was the unfortunate first to bust at the final table and miss the money.

Official final-table results and payouts below: 1st: Tom Marchese - $1,308,405 2nd: Andrew Robl - $822,375 3rd: John Juanda - $526,320 4th: Daniel Perper - $394,740 5th: Bill Klein - $263,160 6th: Justin Bonomo - $0

Streaming coverage of the $25k final table is set to begin with hole cards and commentary from Tony Dunst and Dan O’Brien at 4:30 pm.

Follow along with both the live stream and the live updates here.

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Robl, Perper Lead Stacked $100k Final Six

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:19:50 -0700

Perper, a young pro from Highland Park, Illinois, has pared his way through the pro-stacked field to bag up 3,415,000 chips for the slight lead over Robl.

Robl, a well known high-stakes pro, is just off the pace with 3,355,000.

Both are now eyeing the $1.3 million first-place prize as are the elite four joining them at the final table..

Sitting just behind in third and fourth are Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese at 2,235,000 and Justin Bonomo, still fresh from his win at the EPT Grand Final High Roller, at 2,105,000.

Long time pro John Juanda, making a somewhat rare tournament appearance these days, is in fifth with 1,875,000. Bill Klein is the short stack with 620,000.

Smith, Seidel Just Miss

The unfortunate final-table bubble boy was Dan "KingDan" Smith, who was knocked out by Bonomo to bring Day 2 to a close.

Also eliminated just before the final six yesterday were Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett, Brian Hastings and Phil Galfond.

While in most cases making it to the TV table means you have a lock on a big payday, one player is still at risk of going home empty handed as the money bubble doesn’t hit until five.

A min-cash is also worth $263,160, making it a $360k swing for the unfortunate bubbler.

The final table gets underway at 4 pm today from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Live streaming coverage with hole cards and commentary from Tony Dunst, Dan O'Brien, and Olivier Busquet starts at 4:30 on WPT.com.

Chip counts and seat assignments for the final table: Seat 1: Bill Klein - 620,000 Seat 2: John Juanda - 1,875,000 Seat 3: Tom Marchese - 2,235,000 Seat 4: Daniel Perper - 3,415,000 Seat 5: Justin Bonomo - 2,105,000 Seat 6: Andrew Robl - 3,355,000

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Rettenmaier Boss in WPT Championship Final Six

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:37:24 -0700

Starting the day with the chip lead but still within striking distance, Rettenmaier rocketed away from the field to finish the day at 6,715,000 in chips and take a commanding lead heading into the six-player final table.

The popular German pro known as "Mad Marvin" will be looking for his first WPT title and first for his new sponsor, Party Poker, when play resumes on Saturday.

With veteran Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi next with 2,560,000 in chips, it’ll take a shocking turn of events for him to fall short but with Mizrachi's experience and two dangerous pros behind him, anything can still happen.

Mizrachi, O’Dwyer and Schulman Lay in Wait

If anyone can overcome a four-million chip deficit, it’s Mizrachi.

With lifetime earnings of over $14 million, there are few situations at the poker table Mizrachi has yet to face and he’s been on the right side of epic comebacks before.

Not afraid of a chip lead.

If Mizrachi can’t get it done, Steve O’Dwyer or Nick Schulman are certainly capable.

O’Dwyer, who sits third with 2,035,00 in chips, has had a year to remember on the European poker circuit with over a dozen final tables and a win at the WPT National Championship in Denmark.

Schulman, a long-time pro who already has a WPT title under his belt, sits fourth with 1,555,000 in chips and likewise won't be intimidated by Rettenmaier's lead.

Underdogs but still in the mix in the final six are Trevor Pope (1,480,000) and Phillipe Ktorza (895,000), who has already battled back into contention after being down to just five big blinds on Day 4.

Moon Busts, Serock Wins Player of the Year

Bubbling the final table in seventh place was WPT Bay 101 winner Moon Kim who had a shot at winning the WPT Player of the Year title with a third-place finish or higher.

Instead, Joe Serock will claim the title for Season X on the back of his 10th-place finish in this event and two third-place finishes.

Joe Serock, WPT Player of the Year.

Serock joins an elite group of past winners of the WPT Player of the Year award including Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Little, Gavin Smith and Daniel Negreanu.

Final Table Saturday with Live Streaming

With a day off tomorrow as the Super High Roller plays down to a winner, play will resume on Saturday from the Bellagio in Las Vegas at 4 pm.

Live streaming with hole cards and commentary from Tony Dunst and Dan O'Brien will start at WPT.com at 4:30 pm.

Chip counts and seat assignments for the final table: Seat 1: Michael Mizrachi - 2,560,000 (43 BBs) Seat 2: Marvin Rettenmaier - 6,715,000 (112 BBs) Seat 3: Steve O'Dwyer - 2,035,000 (34 BBs) Seat 4: Nick Schulman - 1,555,000 (26 BBs) Seat 5: Trevor Pope - 1,480,000 (25 BBs) Seat 6: Philippe Ktorza - 895,000 (15 BBs)

For a full recap of Day 6 action, check the WPT Live Updates page.

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Bonomo Soars to WPT Super High Roller Lead

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:03:57 -0700

Bonomo ended with 1.4 million chips and will be looking to add another Super High Roller title to the one he recently took down for €1.6 million at the EPT Grand Final.

Registration in the WPT World Championship Super High Roller remains open until just before the 1 p.m. start on Day 2 but when play concluded on Day 1 there were a total of 32 $100k buy ins (six of which were rebuys) for the massive event.

The field is made up mostly of pros with Dan Smith, Brian Hastings, Isaac Haxton, Galen Hall, Justin Smith, Tom Marchese, Phil Galfond, Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett and Andrew Robl on location.

After 10 levels of play the field was cut down to 19 players with Bonomo, Jean Noel Thorel, Tom Marchese, Dan Smith and Sam Trickett all in the top five.

Bonomo had to battle back from an early setback when he lost the majority of his stack in a big hand against Marchese.

Negreanu, ElkY Bust, Rebuy Still Open

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Michael Parziale, Rob Zeps and Clemenceau Calixto all busted on Day 1 but they’ll have the option of rebuying up until 1 p.m. on Day 2.

Marchese, Mercier and Robl were among the players who opted to rebuy on Day 1.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu had the misfortune of busting twice before finally admitting defeat.

The official prizepool for the 2012 WPT World Championship Super High Roller won’t be available until alter today but it’s already in excess of $3 million.

With 10 more buy ins the Super High Roller event could potentially surpass the regular WPT World Championship, which is still ongoing with a final table set for Saturday.

Action resumes in the Super High Roller at 1 p.m. today. You can check the WPT live update team to follow along.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 1:

Justin Bonomo – 1.4 million Jean Noel Thorel – 1.2 million Tom Marchese – 1.07 million Dan Smith – 913,000 Sam Trickett – 890,000 Andrew Robl – 813,000 Bill Klein – 740,000 Isaac Haxton – 716,000 Phil Galfond – 710,000 David Sands – 707,000

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Rettenmaier Leads Final 9 at WPT World Championship

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:20:03 -0700

The popular German pro, who recently switched sponsors from Titan to Party, has been near the top of the leaderboard from the jump at the $25k WPT World Championship at Bellagio and heads an elite final nine players into Day 6 tomorrow.

Rettenmaier laid fairly low for most of the day before surging near the end to finish with 3,757,000 chips and the outright lead.

That puts him a solid 600k ahead of second place Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and two million clear of the rest of the field.

Arieh Bubbles, Ktorza Rampages

Starting the day with 19 players and a money bubble that hit at 18, just one unfortunate soul had to go before players could count a profit in this one.

That soul turned out to be veteran pro Josh Arieh, who returned on Day 5 with just seven big blinds and couldn’t make them last longer than 20 minutes.

Bubble boy.

The lucky beneficiary of Arieh busting was Phillipe Ktorza. Ktorza came into the day with even fewer blinds (5) than Arieh but an early double-up got him up to 10 blinds and past the bubble.

Even better, Ktorza hung in a while longer, doubled again, then tripled up and 10 hours later now sits in the final nine in seventh place with 977,000 in chips.

O’Dwyer, Khan, Schulman Lingering

Joining Ktorza, Rettenmaier and Mizrachi tomorrow for Day 6 are a number of veteran players equally capable of making a run at the final six.

Hafiz Khan, Day 4 chipleader, hung on in fourth place and bagged up 1,641,000 to give himself plenty of room to make a move tomorrow.

Dangerous pros Steve O’Dwyer and Nick Schulman also linger just behind with 1,643,000 and 1,350,000 in chips, respectively.

Moon Kim, winner of WPT Bay 101 earlier this year, sits in sixth with 1,139,000 while Trevor Pope (800,000) and Wil Wilkinson (705,000) round out the final nine.

In an interesting twist, Kim can also still win the WPT Player of the Year crown depending on where he finishes.

Joe Serock, who was eliminated 10th today, is the current leader in the WPT Player of the Year race with 2,200 points but Kim can tie him with a fourth-place finish or win the title outright with a third-place showing or better.

O'Dwyer: Might be good at poker.

Three to Go Tomorrow, Final Saturday

As a result of an interesting schedule quirk, players return tomorrow at noon but will only play until three players have been eliminated and the TV final table of six is left.

Then they won’t pick up again until Saturday as the WPT set is in use for the final table of the WPT $100k Super High Roller on Friday.Official chip counts heading into Day 6:

1. Marvin Rettenmaier - 3,757,000 (75 BBs) 2. Michael Mizrachi - 3,124,000 (62 BBs) 3. Steve O'Dwyer - 1,643,000 (32 BBs)4. Hafiz Khan - 1,641,000 (32 BBs) 5. Nick Schulman - 1,350,000 (27 BBs) 6. Moon Kim - 1,139,000 (22 BBs) 7. Philippe Ktorza - 977,000 (19 BBs) 8. Trevor Pope - 800,000 (16 BBs) 9. Wil Wilkinson - 705,000 (14 BBs)

Follow along with both events at the WPT Live Updates page.

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