Online Poker Directory

Now and again on the poker circuit someone always seems to say to us “Hey don’t you think so and so looks a lot like…” it got us thinking so here are some startling discoveries featured below, as far as poker players that so closely resemble famous celebrities that the only rational explanation is that they were separated at birth:

We’re not exactly sure how the hospital managed to separate twins Freddy Deeb and Danny DeVito at birth but somehow or other it happened. If things ever go south for either at least they have the back-up plan of suing the hospital for millions for such an egregious error.

Poker pro John Eames and professional panda trainer Tony G fall more onto the father-son side of the separated at birth phenomenon, with Eames plying the poker tables for his fame and fortune while Tony G wrangles pandas and continues his search for the perfect personal assistant.

Sadly we don’t know the identity of the Phil Hellmuth twin on the right, piloting a giant hot dog at sea, but it apparently isn’t the Poker Brat despite the eerie resemblance and the love of hot-dogging that they share.

Jamie Gold: very lucky, rich, and loves to bluff

Stephen Colbert: very lucky, rich, and loves to bluff.

A rare brother-sister case of separated at birth, TJ Cloutier and Estelle Getty seem to share little in common other than a physical resemblance at first glance but it’s a little known fact that in one Golden Girls episode Sophia took care of a dog named Bingo, while TJ Cloutier can occasionally be found at the poker tables when taking a break from craps.

Our car may explode the next time we turn the key in the ignition but we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t point out the Jeff Lisandro – Tony Soprano connection.

 

Please tell us we don’t need to explain this one for you.

 

Another one that should speak for itself, with Jimmy Fricke only missing the cap and doughnut to complete his transformation into Chief Clancy Wiggum.

Todd Brunson and sister Pamela Brunson have followed in Papa Brunson’s footsteps and found plenty of success at the poker tables — maybe darts legend Andy Fordham should take aim at the felt as well.

Sorel Mizzi, meet Mr. Bean; Mr. Bean, Sorel Mizzi.

This is one where we really need to step in and make sure that Tom McEvoy and long-lost brother Newt Gingrich get together, as the online poker world could benefit from a little political power in the extended family to add a little push to legalizing online poker in the US.

How in the world have we all missed this one for so many years, as not only do Mike Sexton and Vince McMahon share a fairly resemblance but both ending up in a similar line of work as far as their announcing duties?

If you’ve spotted your own poker players and celebrities switched at birth please let us know in the comments, as we’re sure there are more out there in the world that we missed!

Another Sunday, another SCOOP tournament with a guarantee more than doubled by the players on PokerStars. This particular Sunday, it was time for Event 20-Low, $ 27 No-Limit Hold’em, and by Monday afternoon a new SCOOP winner, ArielBahia, had been made.

22,013 players signed up for Event 20-Low. That’s about three times as many as played the WSOP Main Event last year, the most popular live tournament on the annual tournament calendar. And while the $ 27 price point of Event 20-Low differs dramatically from the Main Event’s $ 10,000, the 1st-place prize of $ 55,048.04 in Event 20-Low makes for a more magnificent ROI than the Main Event’s $ 9 million by double. Besides – it’s far easier to come up with $ 27 than it is $ 10,000.

3,150 players made the money in Event 20-Low. Among them were two PokerStars Georges: Team Online player George “jorj95″ Lind (441st) and Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer (449th). Along with Team Online Player Randy “nanonoko” Lew, they were the only members of the Red Spade Brigade to crack the top 1,000 of the tournament.

Day 1 ended with johnster112 (11,745,702), yryryryr (8,655,326) and KortKongen (8,454,309) in the top three chip positions. johnster112 was eliminated in ¬¬ 14th place; the other two players both made the final table as 3rd and 4th in chips, respectively:

Seat 1: yryryryr (34305858 in chips)

Seat 2: 0nly4value (14273340 in chips)

Seat 3: TheUrsaraie (23594016 in chips)

Seat 4: Flowkid1 (34365768 in chips)

Seat 5: Sniper_Arnie (15441072 in chips)

Seat 6: KortKongen (28876905 in chips)

Seat 7: ElRupert (14809976 in chips)

Seat 8: kai183 (11540040 in chips)

Seat 9: ArielBahia (42923025 in chips)

Level 49: blinds 400k-800k, ante 100k

Average stack: 24,458,888

Take your places

When the first hand of the final table was dealt at 1:18pm, there were no previous *COOP winners left in the field. TheUrsaraie, Flowkid1 and ElRupert all had made previous *COOP final tables without notching the victory.

The first 25 minutes of the final table played out mainly as a pre-flop battle for chip position. Sniper_Arnie, among the short stacks to begin with, was not able to change that chip position. Down to about 9 million in chips, Sniper_Arnie shoved [ad][qh] from the blinds after Flowkid1, a big stack, opened for 2.5 million. Flowkid1 made a “math call” with [8h][5h] and got lucky by rivering trip 8s, [7c][ah][8s][4c][8d]. That river 8 made Sniper_Arnie the first casualty of the final table.

A few minutes later the other short stack was on the hot seat. With blinds at 600k-1200k, TheUrsaraie called all in from middle position for 8 million after 0nly4value opened to 10 million. TheUrsaraie had suffered some terrible luck in the run-up to the final table and didn’t fare any better here, taking [as][jd] up against 0nly4value’s [ah][ks]. Big Slick held up on a [5s][tc][2h][7d][qh] board.

Flowkid1 gave up the chip lead to KortKongen a short time later by opening pocket 10s, then calling a three-bet shove from KortKongon, who tabled king-queen. A king on the flop was enough for KortKongen to drag the pot. The two changed places in the counts, with KortKongen climbing to about 57 million and the chip lead, and Flowkid1 dropping to 31 million.

Meanwhile, 0nly4value’s stack plummeted, then crashed completely after this piece of bad luck against ElRupert:

RSS readers click through to see replayComing up short

After the 2pm break, limits were up to 700k-1400k when ElRupert and KortKongen played the biggest pot of the tournament to that point. KortKongen started things with a raise 2.8 million; ElRupert responded by three-betting to 6.1 million and driving all other players out of the hand. KortKongen called, then check-called another 5.1 million on a queen-high flop, [2c][qd][6s]. The turn fell [4s] and brought another check from KortKongen. This time, however, when ElRupert bet 8.1 million, KortKongen check-raised all in for 50 million. ElRupert called all in for 21.1 million with pocket kings, leaving KortKongen’s pair of queens, [ks][qs], drawing extremely thin. The [7h] river was a brick that secured an 84.2 million chip pot, and the chip lead, for ElRupert.

The good fortune of ElRupert was equaled by the dwindling stacks of Flowkid1 and kai183. Down to 5.5 million, kai183 tried to get through four players with [ks][2s]. Button player (and big stack) ArielBahis called with [as][4d]. Each player flopped a pair on the [2h][4s][6h] flop; neither improved with the [7d] turn or [qc] river. A pair of 4s was good enough to send kai183 to the rail in 6th place.

Flowkid1, the other short stack, fared better, getting two double-ups in quick succession. First pocket queens held against KortKongen’s ace-ten. Then jack-ten won a race against ElRupert’s pocket 9s. Pocket pairs didn’t treat ElRupert well a few hands later, either, when pocket aces lost to yryryryr’s pocket 5s after a 5 flopped. In a flurry of a few hands, the chips were evenly spread among four of the five players, with only ArielBahia way out in front with 88 million.

It took one hand to change all that. KortKongen returned the favor to Flowkid1, making pocket queens work against Flowkid1′s ace-rag. That loss left Flowkid1 with less than 100k in chips. A 5th-place elimination followed on the next hand, leaving Flowkid1 still looking for that first *COOP victory.

ElRupert also will have to find that first victory at another *COOP final table. It was bad luck when ElRupert ran pocket 10s right into the pocket aces of yryryryr, who had ElRupert covered by just a few million. An ace on the turn sealed ElRupert’s fate as the 4th-place finisher.

The bitter end

Down to three players, ArielBahia led with 93.1 million in chips. yryryryr was in 2nd place (68.0 million) and KortKongen barely trailed in 3rd place (58.9 million). Limits were up to 800k/1600k but nobody was in danger of being considered a “short” stack. That, however, did not stop KortKongen and yryryryr from playing a pot for 118 million chips, with all the money going in pre-flop:

RSS readers click through to see replayThat bad beat knocked yryryryr out in 2nd place and left KortKongen as the chip leader heading into heads-up play against ArielBahia. The lead soon changed hands after a series of pre-flop raises found 158 million chips in the middle pre-flop, with ArielBahia tabled pocket queens against KortKongen’s pocket 9s. Queens held.

The stacks stayed relatively unchanged until ArielBahia put an end to the tournament about ten minutes later. KortKongen min-raised the button to 4 million pre-flop. ArielBahia called, then checked an all-small flop of [2d][4h][5d]. KortKongen led out with a bet 3.95 million that ArielBahia raised to 8.65 million. The raise did not deter KortKongen from calling, then calling 9 million more on the [8d] turn and calling all in on the [7h] river. ArielBahia showed [ad][3d] for a flopped straight that turned the nut flush; both hands were good enough to beat KortKongen’s [2s][2h], a set of deuces.

It was another cooler of a hand, but I’m guessing that ArielBahia was fine with that. After all, that cooler ensured ArielBahia would be come the 2012 SCOOP Event 20-Low champion, and would win $ 55,000 and a Movado watch to boot.

2012 SCOOP Event 20-low, $ 27 NLHE results:

1st: ArielBahia ($ 55,048.04)

2nd: KurtKongen ($ 40,894.65)

3rd: yryryryr ($ 27,516.25)

4th: ElRupert ($ 22,013.00)

5th: Flowkid1 ($ 16,509.75)

6th: kai183 ($ 11,006.50)

7th: 0nly4value ($ 7,732.06)

8th: TheUrsaraie ($ 4,952.92)

9th: Sniper_Arnie ($ 3,301.95)

One whole week of SCOOP is in the books but there’s still another week to go. Check out all four leaderboards, as well as stats and the upcoming schedule of events, at the SCOOP home page.

A Dutch player came out of nowhere and won the iPOPS #3 $ 150,000 GP tournament on his very first day of play at Titan Poker. “I will keep on doing this,” vowed Johan Verhagen, who plays under the nickname “ipopyouup”. His prize in the event was $ 25,890.

Two days later, Johan finished in 6th place in the iPOPS #4 High Roller $ 100,000 GP tournament for a prize of $ 4,600. We spoke to Johan after his super start at Titan Poker to hear about his playing experiences.

Speaking first about the iPOPS #3 $ 150,000 GP tournament Johan said:

For a “long time I was chipleader in the final table. I lost a few coin flips but stayed in the top 3. I won some flips and busted some players in the end to reach the last 2, heads up versus tomoukas666 with a 5:1 chip lead. He continued to battle but after half an hour he called my all-in (A7) and my A7 was good enough to win. At that point I was the winner of about $ 26,000, the biggest online cash I won ever. It was a great start for me at Titan.”

What was next for Johan?

“So I also tried iPOPS 4. With 40 players left I was in 3rd position with 100 big blinds. With 20 players left I was in first position with 200 big blinds and 20% of the total number of chips in my possession when it turned. I got a big blow when I went pre-flop all-in and got called with Q4 of hearts and the flop showed 2 fours. After I lost another flip with JJ versus AK I finally dropped out in place 6 at the final table through a blind battle giving me prize money of $ 4,600.”

Johan, who describes himself as an entrepreneur (he has his own business), says that poker is his hobby.

“It was a super start at your site and I immediately referred my friends to your site and I will keep on doing this,” he said.

 

Our good friend Josef Rantamäki over at PokerBlog decided here in a guest post that it was high time he told us just who we he thought were the Top 5 High Stakes Poker Players:

1) Phil Ivey:

Now granted his legacy, of late, has been tarnished with his sabbatical from the scene.  Some wonder if his gambling so high like he had a bottomless pit of money behind him finally caught up to him.  Let’s not forget, one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact he’s still Phil Ivey.  It’s true, stories of epic craps rolls by Ivy have gone the way of the dingo and now sightings of the great one is instant news, but… he’s still Phil Ivey.

The naysayers may ask these last couple of years, if he’s so great where’s he been, and why hasn’t he still been dominating? That’s silliness or contrived retrospective analysis, and perhaps ignorance of everything Ivey has gone through. Not just the upheaval in the industry but personal conflicts. Embroiled in a still simmering divorce, Ivey’s been distracted, that will change soon enough. His peers almost universally named him as the best, and in a game where it’s so difficult to separate yourself he makes that separation look easy.

He’s earned his accolades it by being the best in the world. The face of the glory years of poker will always be Phil Ivey.  He won live, he won online, he won tournaments, and he won cash games basically excelling in every aspect of the new world of poker.

2) Tom Dwan:

The Durrrr Challenge, his internet fan boys, and his savvy, contemplative, aggressive, fearless style of play consumed the poker media recently. Touted as an amalgam of past greats, Dwan in a short time elevated himself to their equal. He is unflappable. Granted as a tournament player, arguably hundreds are better, but as a high stakes cash game player he rarely leaves a loser.  He might get an escort out of Macau if he keeps winning multi-million dollar pots there.

The Moneymaker effect transformed online poker and Dwan perhaps more than anybody else rose up through this new form of poker to dominate as no one had before him.  If Ivey is the face of the era, Dwan is a close second.

3) Isildur1:

Viktor Blom rose to prominence as a screen name: Isildur1.  He destroyed players in a meteoric rise that transfixed the world. “Who is Isildur1?” was the question every poker fan, writer, and player was asking at the end of this era. When Viktor Blom admitted, as many people suspected, he was the mysterious high stakes player capable of punting new found millions as easily as he earned them, not many were surprised, but legions of fans now had a face to root for.

Blom’s placement on this list, is likely the most debatable, as his accomplishments pale compared to the other four. What can’t be questioned is the fact he is living proof of the meritocracy of online poker, and talent having a short wait for success during poker’s heyday.

4) Patrik Antonius:

The Finnish professional poker player started to make news with results in 2005 and continued to be a star all the way through 2011. He battled Tom Dwan in a high stakes online challenge that never completed but transfixed observers. Antonius, like Ivey, played almost as competently in the nosebleed cash games, be it live, or online as he did in tournaments.

He has the good fortune and misfortune to be a part of some of the biggest pots of all time. Winning or losing his ever stoic face never changes

5) Erik Seidel:

The only player on this list to not been a part of, or express an interest in being a part of a huge online poker heads up challenge.   His loss to Johnny Chan in the Main Event was immortalized in the movie Rounders but since then, it’s been him and not Chan that has dominated High Stakes Poker tournaments.

Seidel’s run of success in recent years has him sitting atop the all time money winners list.  He also is just a few bracelets shy of Phil Hellmuth’s record 11.  Seidel, no matter the stakes, wins.  He has a track record of excellence that is second to none.

6+:  Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, John Juada, Gus Hansen, Bertrand Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi…  All great players, but not quite great enough for this list. For more on high stakes players and high stakes news head on over to PokerBlog.

After that 20 year old car finally broke down once last time after being pieced together by duct tape and twine it was time to take a brave trip down to the car dealership for a new set of wheels. “Have I got a deal for YOU!” exclaimed the man in the ratty tweed jacket that was popular around the time electricity was discovered. “See this lovely brand new BMW X-wing series, it is yours for just five dollars!”. Quite the deal you think, such a beautiful new car for five bucks? So you ask what is the catch? “Well… it does not run on regular gasoline, diesel, or electricity, you have to purchase these fuel chips that cost $ 1,000.00 to make it run after every trip around the block”.

Today’s 2012 SCOOP Event #14-L $ 7.50 Ante Up tournament had a similar feel to the hidden costs of the not-completely-honest automobile salesman. Blinds remain the same from Level 1 all the way until the championship watch is awarded. $ 5 small blind, $ 5 big blind. The catch is the antes increase to make it very lucrative to steal them, and also to force players to remain active at all times or face being anted out (versus the normal “blinded out”). 13,223 players made their way into this tournament yesterday for this two-day affair. And thanks to the large crowd, once again the PokerStars guarantee ($ 25,000.00) was an afterthought with $ 92,561.00 in the prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online would be shut out at the cashier’s window as Anders “Donald” Berg, Bryan Huang, Liv Boeree, George “Jorj95″ Lind, Andre Akkari, Marcin “Goral” Horecki, and Sigge “ClarkKent89″ Reichard all climbed in for a short ride but did not save enough chips for the antes to make the top 1,710 paid places.

Switzerland’s DeeKay8686, still holding a 10 point lead for the SCOOP Player of the Series-Low, was unable to pick up any points finishing in 6,846th place. Same for second place Chillolini (2,527th place), and third place Blackbeaty took the tournament off. Anders “Donald” Berg is threatening for another title tied for fourth place (but as mentioned did not make the money), but fellow players in fourth place evanski (6,282nd place) and naurits (DNP) also did not gain on the leaderboard for that PCA 2013 prize package and Player of the Series trophy.

The end of day one would end with 49 players remaining as the top ten below being led by OutschOo:

OutschOo 5,791,406

KeryaFadeev 3,406,623

manue 3,171,942

J_Marcos 3,139.344

mumble200 2,913,452

Se7enTr3y 2,534,771

Chocoyote 2,120,669

elfeggg 2,033,354

Gederts 1,931,814

grajzel 1,779,158

After two hours of the re-start only two tables remained in play as maximum123 led the way with the first eight figure chip stack followed closely by Chocoyote and redKameleon. Day one chip leader OutschOo would not remain after falling in 14th place ($ 277.68).

Se7enTr3y would take a nasty bad beat near the bubble. With the ante up to 90K, Se7enTr3y would shove from 1.65 million preflop and was called by Chocoyote’s [As][5s]. 3.8 million in the middle would get the British player right back into this tournament as Se7enTr3y flipped up the dominating [Jh][Ad]. The flop had a difference in opinion and laid out a wheel from Chocoyote [2h] [4d] [3d]. Despite the flush scare on the turned [9d] Se7enTr3y blanked on the river [Qs] finishing in 11th place. Showing that high stakes players are trying to grab every Player of the Series point and dollar from this tournament series, Se7enTr3y has long history of big final tables, most recently gracing the Super Tuesday final table in February and chopping it up for $ 58,467.48

After a 30 minute hand-for-hand wait, it would take a minor cooler before our final table was set. With the antes up to 125,000 chip leader CarltonRulz would raise it up to 233,333 getting called by cacha112 in the small blind. [9s][2s][Jh] on the flop got cacha112 to check as CarltonRulz set out 300,000 as cacha112 was not giving up this large pot and moved all-in for 2.19 million holding top pair [Ks][Jd] with a decent kicker. The decent kicker did not phase CarltonRulz’s flopped set of nines [9c][9h] making the call. [Kd] on the turn did open up four outs, but the [Th] on the river closed out the penultimate table and cacha112′s tournament in tenth place ($ 370.24) starting up the final table below:

 

Seat 1: elfeggg (10667727 in chips)

Seat 2: KeryaFadeev (5619968 in chips)

Seat 3: maximum123 (12914377 in chips)

Seat 4: redKameleon (3058297 in chips)

Seat 5: CarltonRulz (12604781 in chips)

Seat 6: PoLoTeN41kXX (3294300 in chips)

Seat 7: J_Marcos (3250255 in chips)

Seat 8: neonasl (9299808 in chips)

Seat 9: Chocoyote (5405487 in chips)
27 hours 30 minutes to get here… one minute to leave

On the final table’s third hand and antes still at 125,000 chips, Chocoyote with over five million tried to snag the 1.125 million sitting in the middle with a shove. However, two seats down was KeryaFadeev with a little bit bigger stack and pocket tens [Tc][Th]. The Russian would make the call as Chocoyote’s pocket eights [8c][8h] would melt quickly on the [Js] [Ts] [5d] [4s] [7c] board becoming the final table’s first casualty in ninth place ($ 555.36).
Plenty for the blinds, not so much for the antes

PoLoTeN41kXX would be UTG with the antes up to 150,000. Sitting on a stack of 1.34 million the Russian could afford over 2,000 orbits around the eight handed table. Ante up was about to let this tourney run until my daughter is ready to drive in 10 years and with the antes PoLoTeN41kXX could only afford to see nine more hands. [As][6d] seemed good enough to go with as PoLoTeN41kXX shoved. maximum123 in the small blind with pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] making the call. The [7c] [7s] [9h] [Qd] [2h] board gave no reason for alarm as the pocket jacks would take down PoLoTeN41kXX’s ace leaving the Russian in eighth place ($ 925.61).
Taking the chip lead back

KeryaFadeev would lose the chip to maximum123. But only briefly thanks to the 17.4 million pot in the video below:

 

It would be race situation as the antes remained at 150,000 and neonasl would lead off with a raise to 335,800 and KeryaFadeev three-bet to 1.52 million. Back around to neonasl holding pocket sevens [7s][7c] and a lot of confidence, he would shove for 8.1 million. KeryaFadeev could cover the bet, making the call with [Ah][Qh]. The nut-flush draw [3h] [8d] [Jh] would show itself on the flop but a different dagger came out on the turn. [Qs] paired up KeryaFadeev as the one-outer on the river [5s] would not hit and neonsal was down for good in seventh place ($ 1,851.22).
Unable to change numbers

Chameleons may be able to change colors, maybe even suits on a card, but redKameleon was not able to change a board to match his hand. With the antes up to 175,000 redKameleon would call a 196,700 raise by maximum123 as J_Marcos shoved for 5.45 million from the button. maximum123 quickly folded but redKameleon with a little less than two million pondered a call. Pocket treys [3c][3s] were left hoping for a race to claim the 5.5 million chip pot as redKameleon made the call. Pocket eights [8h][8d] was the exactly the type of hand redKameleon was trying to avoid as the flop quickly ended any hope of a miracle giving J_Marcos a set of eights and finishing with the boat [Tc] [8s] [Qd] [2c] [Qs] to give redKameleon some green in the form of sixth place money ($ 2,776.83).
Cracked egg

As the antes moved up to 200,000 there was a very brief pause for chop discussions but the remaining five felt there was plenty of play left with a 13.1 million chip average so play continued. While four players enjoyed stacked over 10 million, elfeggg held on to just 4.1 million while calling a button raise from J_Marcos from the small blind. Both players checked the [Th][3c][As] flop. [9d] on the turn got both players excited as J_Marcos led out for 845,555 and elfeggg came back with a shove to 3.4 million. Top two [Ad][Td] made the call an easy one for J_Marcos as elfeggg’s tournament hopes leaned on an open ended straight draw [8d][Jd]. The [4s] river would ship the 8.8 million chips to J_Marcos as elfeggg received $ 3,702.44 in fifth place.
MAXMIUS!

The gladiator maximum123 would go to war against KeryaFadeev just three hand after elfeggg wobbled off the table. Watch below as the two build up a 25.3 million chip pot:

 

After a 732,105 preflop raise by KeryaFadeev and a call by maximum123 the players would both check the [3h][2c][Qh] flop. [Jc] on the turn got KeryaFadeev to push out 1.37 million as maximum123 made the call. [Qd] river and KeryaFadeev tried again with a 2.5 million chip bet, but this time maximum123 pushed the max which was enough to put KeryaFadeev all-in. Thinking bluff, KeryaFadeev made the call with a pair of threes [Ks][3s], but maximum123 was doing anything but bluffing flipped up trip ladies, top kicker [Qs][Ac] for the 25.3 million chip pot and sending KeryaFadeev to the rail in fourth place ($ 4,628.05).
Over? Over. Done? Done.

A very quick chop chat between the remaining three and Team Online’s Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra hammered out the chip chop below leaving $ 500 and the champion’s SCOOP watch left to play for.

maximum123: $ 9,639.73

J_Marcos: $ 8,923.38

CarltonRulz: $ 8,539.82
Maximum value

Three handed play would last 40 minutes and threatened to go all-day. It was not for lack of aggression or any passive checkdowns, but rather no one making the kill shot to knock someone out. Until the antes moved up to 300,000 and maximum123 made a preflop raise to 350,777 and CarltonRulz made it 1.2 million. maximum123 made the call to see a [6h][9d][9c] flop as CarltonRulz led out for 1.13 million getting another call from maximum123. [8s] on the turn and CarltonRulz checked as maximum123 bet 1.63 million. Like a cougar waiting for prey, CarltonRulz lept out with a check-raise to 5.5 million as maximum123 again calmly made the call. [Th] river and CarltonRulz shoved for 12.7 million as maximum123 serenely called again, this time with more confidence flipping up the rivered straight [Jd][7d]. CarltonRulz tried hard to deter that straight from getting there by the flopped trips [9h][Qc] went into the muck ending the tournament in third place.
Reversal of fortune

The phrase “reversal of fortune” as a slightly different meaning in the world of competitive eating (we suggest not looking up “reversal of fortune and eating” on YouTube with a full stomach). But, while heads-up in a poker tournament it means overcoming your larger stacked opponent as J_Marcos would start with a 22.3 million to 43.7 disadvantage against maximum123 for the Event #14-L title.

Then over the course of a 10 minute heads-up battle J_Marcos would nip away at that lead. A 15 million chip pot, then four hands later an 8.5 million chip pot, then a 7.6 million chips pot thus grabbing a 37.3 million to 28.7 million chip lead going into the decisive hand.

With the antes up to 350,000 J_Marcos made a raise to 310,000 as maximum123 called to see the [2c][9s][7c] flop. maximum123 checked as J_Marcos followed through with a 875,000 chip bet. maximum123 mini-check raised, as J_Marcos ended all silliness with a shove that covered maximum123′s stack. Holding top pair [Jc][9d] maximum123 made the call and saw immediately the kicker problems that would end the tournament. J_Marcos showed [9h][Kh] for the same pair, higher kicker and successfully dodged the three-outer on the turn [3h] and river [4h] to claim the Event #14-L title!

$ 25,000 guarantee SCOOP 2012 Event #14-L $ 7.50 Ante Up results (05-12-12)

(* denotes part of three-way deal)

1. J_Marcos (Brazil) *$ 9,423.38

2. maximum123 (Norway) *$ 9,639.73

3. CarltonRulz (Australia) *$ 8,539.82

4. KeryaFadeev (Russia) $ 4,628.05

5. elfeggg (Russia) $ 3,702.44

6. redKameleon (Denmark) $ 2,776.83

7. neonasl (Lithuania) $ 1,851.22

8. PoLoTeN41kXX (Russia) $ 925.61

9. Chocoyote (Germany) $ 555.36

The past several months have seen Carbon Poker work hard to improve their tournament lineup. This is really apparent when you look at the fact that they’re now offering a $ 150,000 Guaranteed tournament every Sunday. The $ 150k is one of the biggest weekly online poker tournaments in the industry, so it’s definitely worth looking at closely.

Getting to the main point, Carbon has added some more impressive events to their tournament schedule. Dubbed the “7 Weekly,” these tourneys give players a chance to compete for major prize money every night in a variety of different events. That said, here’s a quick look at the 7 Weekly schedule (all times are server time):

Monday @ 19:00 – $ 15,000 Guaranteed NL Holdem Freezeout tournament, $ 60 buy-in

Tuesday at 19:00 – $ 15,000 Guaranteed NL Holdem Heads-up, $ 109 buy-in

Wednesday at 19:00 – $ 25,000 Guaranteed Midweek Monster NL Holdem, $ 60 buy-in

Thursday at 19:00 – $ 15,000 Guaranteed Thursday PL Omaha, $ 109 buy-in

Friday at 18:00 – $ 15,000 Guaranteed NL Holdem Short-handed tournament, $ 109 buy-in

Saturday at 18:00 – $ 15,000 Guaranteed NL Holdem Turbo tournament, $ 109 buy-in

Sunday at 16:00 – $ 20,000 Guaranteed HORSE tournament, $ 215 buy-in

If the buy-ins for these poker tournaments are a little out of your range, don’t forget that there are plenty of satellites running for each event. To play in these satellites, make sure to sign up at Carbon Poker – which puts you in line for a 100% Carbon Poker bonus up to $ 600 – then visit the lobby. Once here, go to the Tournaments and Satellites tabs, which will bring up the full list of satellites.

No matter whether you’re an Omaha specialist or just somebody looking to work on heads-up play, you should find a 7 Weekly tournament that suits your tastes. More importantly, you’ll find a ton of money available in these events, which could give your bankroll a major boost!

Never give up.

Parents say it. Coaches scream it. Teachers beg of it. You…probably don’t listen. Why would you? It’s a worn out old phrase that is hard to believe if you don’t see it in action.

Never give up.

That’s what they say. Keep trying. Don’t quit. Believe.

It’s easy to discount it all, especially in poker. Beaten to hell by a two-outer, left with ten percent of the average stack, it feels pretty good and cathartic to shove the rest of it in blind. What’s the use, right? It’s not like you have a chance at winning anyway.

Today, the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker entered its fifth day, and across the wide landscape of tournaments, we have witnessed a veritable orgy of lost causes. We’ve seen people throw the foundation of their stacks on sacrificial altars in such ways that it almost seems like they enjoy it. They are the poster children for the Give Up movement.

But, we have also seen glory. We have seen tenaciousness. We have seen such downright stubbornness that the mules on the nearby farm are expressing admiration.

Consider the story of Alex “blackbeaty” Kell, winner of the very first event of this year’s SCOOP. The tournament had barely begun when he lost 75% of his stack. It was the type of place your average player might just sigh and start looking for another tournament. Instead, Kell, a 21-year-old from northern Germany, stood his ground.

“i just tried to play my a-game,” he said.

He had some experience in this land of the short-stacks. Recently at EPT Berlin, he made it to Day 2, but with only 25,000 chips. Worse, when he got to the tournament room, he couldn’t find his table. After ten minutes of running around, he realized why. He was on the TV table with ElkY and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom. The result: Kell eliminated Blom, left the TV table with 135,000, and finished in the money.

In the first SCOOP event, the result of his tenaciousness was a lucky double up that eventually propelled him to the SCOOP title. He has since cashed five more times and currently sits in fourth place on the Player of the Series leaderboard.

Alex “blackbeaty” KellIf that’s not enough reason to keep trying, then consider the story of Oscar Lima Bayo, aka Sr Amarillo. The winner of the SCOOP Event 5-M reached the final table in the middle of the pack, but on the very first hand had queens cracked by king-queen. He had just about one big blind left in his stack .

What happened?

He didn’t give up and rallied for the $ 100,000 win and SCOOP title.

“I look back two years and I can’t belive the goals I’m hitting,” he said. “Working on what you love is something that not everyone can say they do, but fortunately I do. I’m just looking forward to improving my game and always looking up for higher targets.”

Oscar “Sr Amarillo” BayoSCOOP continues for another ten days. If you’re already starting to feel tired and like you might just give up, consider Kell and Bayo. They felt that way, too, and today they have a SCOOP title on their resume.

While playing in huge online poker tournaments like the $ 150,000 Guaranteed at Carbon Poker is always great, some players long to make a name for themselves in the live tournament world as well. After all, it’s usually the live stars that we see inking major sponsorship deals and appearing in the news.

Taking this into account, you might be very interested to know that Carbon Poker is currently running lots of WSOP satellites. Some of the common Carbon Poker WSOP satellites that you’ll find include $ 11 and $ 60 events, which enable you to win coupons for the main $ 530 WSOP qualifier. And it’s definitely worth making it to the WSOP ME, as you’ll see below.

$ 64.5 Million up for grabs

The primary reason why you should be interested in Carbon Poker’s 2012 WSOP satellites lies in the fact that the 2011 WSOP Main Event offered a massive $ 64,531,000 prize pool. With such a huge amount of money available, it’s no surprise that eight players were turned into millionaires through this poker tournament.

The biggest winner of them all was German Pius Heinz, who took the 2011 Main Event title along with $ 8,715,638. What’s interesting about Heinz is that he was merely a semi-pro before tasting WSOP greatness, which shows that you don’t have to be a superstar to win the Main Event.

How to play in the Carbon Poker WSOP Satellites

If you want to follow in Pius Heinz’s footsteps and play poker in the 2012 Main Event, you should first sign up at Carbon and create an account. By doing this, you’ll also be eligible for the potential $ 600 Carbon Poker bonus. Once you’ve created an account, visit the Carbon lobby and select the Tournaments and Satellites tabs to find WSOP satellites. There are going to be plenty of qualifiers running up until the WSOP Main Event in July, so make sure to check out the Carbon lobby between now and then.

My moving day is inching ever closer and I’m no closer to figuring out the ‘where‘ portion of it all. I’m actually no closer to moving either as I’ve yet to actually go and get boxes or organise anything. Is it still considered ‘being in denial’ if you’re embracing the denial? I’ve got both arms wrapped tightly around my denial and am giving it a big, warm hug. All of that being said, I suppose I actually should begin to think about packing as I need to be out of here in around a weeks time. Nothing like leaving things til the last minute! I kind of think it gives life that extra bit of spice.

WSOP 2012 time

Thankfully, it’s nearly time for the WSOP in Vegas so that pretty much takes care of my summer plans and I can defer the ‘where to move’ question for at least a couple of months. I’m enjoying everyone’s suggestions on twitter for where I should considering making my new home so keep them coming! In the meantime, I’m cramming as much as possible into my last weeks here in Santa Barbara with my friends. Lots of time spent eating, chatting and walking on the beach. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Full Moon Night

Last weekend was the largest full moon of the year – or as some people liked to call it, the potential werewolf apocalypse. It was absolutely gorgeous! I walked down to the pier with my neighbours to get a proper look at it (and drink wine on the pier, the perfect compliment to moon-gazing) and it was just as impressive as I’d thought. Granted, it looks a little less impressive in this photo where I’m trying to ‘crush’ it, a la Kids In The Hall:

Hopefully the craziness of the full moon didn’t affect any of you during PokerFest II!

PokerStars Qualifier Davide Biscardi won €200,000 in the early hours of Tuesday at the final table of the IPT San Remo Grand Final.

The Italian player beat a field of 418 players here at the Casino Municipale where the Italian Poker Tour generated a €810,920 prize pool.

Biscardi’s heads up opponent was Philippe Clerc, from France, who took second place for €130,000.

 

The final action saw Clerc go all-in far behind his opponent’s hand with [6c][5h]. Davide Biscardi called the all-in with [As][8s] and his hand held on the [9h][Js][8d][4h][6d] board.

Poland’s Jakub Michalak who took home €81,200 for third place.

The Italian Poker Tour’s next stop will be in Campione May 24 – 28, 2012 which is the first stop of Season 4. Oleksii Kovalchuk, a player from Ukraine, is the IPT Leader board winner for Season 3 and will be sponsored by PokerStars.it for Season 4.