The Details

Name: $ 50 PartyPoker Blog Freeroll

Found Under: Freerolls

Date and Time: 19th May 2013 – 13:00 EDT

Game Type: No Limit Holdem

Starting Chips: 3000

Blinds: 3 Mins (Yep it’s a quick one!)

Password: SundayFunday

Cost: Our Favourite Price – $ 0, nothing, zip, squat, nada…

Will You Make The Final Table?

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NL 2-7 Single Draw might be a bit slower than some of the other games on offer during SCOOP but that didn’t stop a decent crowd from showing up for Event #12-L. A total of 1,561 entrants put up the $ 27 entry, building a total prize pool worth $ 38,322.55 and leaving a $ 5,419.77 prize for the winner.

Team PokerStars Pro’s own George Danzer won the High version of this event tonight, and he actually made a run at this title as well. He eventually came up short in 38th place ($ 156.73), but it was an impressive run given the competition he was facing in that other tournament.

By 8:19 p.m. ET the blinds and antes were up to 10K/20K/5K and these seven players remained in contention:

Seat 1: FENOMENICO (877,930 in chips)

Seat 2: Philych_085 (2,568,399 in chips)

Seat 3: megabanny (617,992 in chips)

Seat 4: Tarzancev (829,661 in chips)

Seat 5: 24dpb (721,801 in chips)

Seat 6: Zenzor (1,044,390 in chips)

Seat 7: Zahed_May (1,144,827 in chips)

Even the short stacks weren’t in particular danger, suggesting that there would be quite a bit of play before anybody hit the rail. As it turned out that was exactly the case.

For the first 39 hands the seven finalists sparred with one another, with Canada’s Zenzor chipping up to 1.68M and both of the shortest stacks bleeding away. Finally, on hand 40, Portugal’s megabanny limped in from the small blind and Tarzancev of Russia moved all-in. megabanny made the call for 249K more and stood pat with [Jd] [7c] [3d] [4h] [5d], while Tarzancev drew one card and turned up [8c] [3s] [Th] [5c] [2d]. The Russian player’s ten-high was good and megabanny left in 7th place ($ 648.03).

The next big confrontation came on Hand 56, with the blinds and antes at 17.5K/35K/8.75K. Zenzor opened the betting for a minimum raise to 70K and the action folded around to Philych_085 in the big blind. The Belarussian player put in a three-bet to 192.5K, and Zenzor made the call. Philych drew two cards, while Zenzor stood pat. Philych_085 checked, Zenzor bet 89.5K, and Philych_085 check-raised to 560K. Zenzor made the call but mucked after Philych_085 turned up [5h] [6h] [7h] [2c] [8s] for an 8-7 low. That 1.575M-chip pot gave Philych_085 the lead and made the Belarussian player the first to cross the 3M mark.

Zenzor got most of those chips back 13 hands later after being dealt [6c] [5s] [2h] [7c] [4h] before the draw and standing pat on that 7-6 low. Fellow Canadian Zahed_May drew one card to an 8-7 low and called Zenzor’s all-in three-bet after the draw. The 1.5M-chip pot went to Zenzor and Zahed_May’s stack was cut in half to just under 700K.

Bang-bang…and bang

Six hands later, after losing nearly 300K of those chips, Zahed_May moved all-in for 397K over the top of Zenzor’s opening min-raise to 80K. Philych_085 flat-called behind and stood pat after Zenzor got out of the way. Zahed_May drew one card and turned up [3s] [5c] [9h] [Kc] [2c]. The Canadian player couldn’t beat Philych_085′s ten-low with [2d] [4s] [9d] [Ts] [6h] and exited in 6th place ($ 862.64).

The pattern of long stretches between bustouts was broken just five hands later. Canada’s 24dpb opened the betting before the draw with an all-in move for 317K. Philych_085 drew one card, and 24dpb stood pat with [9d] [Td] [6h] [7c] [5h] for a T-9 low.Philych_085 caught a good card, though, turning over [8h] [7d] [4c] [Ts] [2h] for a T-8 winner. Just like that 24dpb was gone in 5th place ($ 1,150.44).

Tarzancev was now the shortest stack with just 702K on the 20K/40K/10K level. The Russian player managed to chip back up to 1.05M over the next 20 hands, just ahead of fellow Russian FENOMENICO‘s 1.02M. They clashed before the draw on Hand 100, with FENOMENICO raising to 101K, Tarzancev jamming, and FENOMENICO making the call with the tournament on the line. Both players stood pat; FENOMENICO turned up [8h] [4h] [9c] [5c] [Td] for a T-9 low, but Tarzancev’s [5s] [4c] [8c] [9h] [7c] for a 9-8 was just a little better. With that FENOMENICO was busted in 4th place ($ 1,651.31).

A three-handed marathon

That left the remaining three players stacked like so on the 25K/50K/12.5K level:

Seat 2: Philych_085 (3,933,666 in chips)

Seat 4: Tarzancev (2,126,411 in chips)

Seat 6: Zenzor (1,744,923 in chips)

Once again the remaining players found themselves in a spot where nobody was under undue pressure. With plenty of room to maneuver, they all settled in for another long stretch of poker without any eliminations. Within 35 hands their stacks had all leveled out to within just eight big blinds of each other. Tarzancev actually managed to pull away from the competition for a bit but came crashing back to the middle of the pack with this hand:

All of the action on the key hand came before the draw. Zenzor opened for a minimum raise to 160K, leaving 2.98M behind, and Philych_085 three-bet to 440K. Zenzor then re-raised to 880K, to which Philych_085 responded with an all-in bet of 3.42M. Zenzor called for 2.24M more – and both players stood pat. Philych_085 turned up [6h] [2d] [9s] [7d] [3h] for a 9-7 low, but Zenzor held [8s] [2c] [6c] [4s] [3s] for an 8-6.

Zenzor now held a prohibitive chip lead over both opponents with 6.93M to Tarzancev’s 1.11M and Philych_085′s 293K. Philych_085 managed to double up a few times, and the rest of the pots went to Zenzor until Hand #203. Tarzancev opened the betting on that hand by moving all-in for 300K before the draw. Zenzor called and both players discarded one; Tarzancev showed down [6d] [3c] [2d] [4h] [Jd] for a J-6 low, but Zenzor was better with [Td] [7s] [9h] [5c] [2h] for a T-9. With that Tarzancev was gone in 3rd place ($ 2,622.41).

With 7.16M chips to Philych_085′s 635K, it didn’t take long for Zenzor to end the tournament. Three hands later, on Hand 206, Zenzor moved all-in before the draw and Philych_085 made the call for 535K. Zenzor stood pat on [6s] [Jc] [8s] [5s] [2h] for a J-8 low. Philych_085 drew one card but came up short with [Tc] [6d] [4d] [Jd] [3d] for a J-T, bringing the proceedings to an end.

For finishing as the runner-up after a long and tough final table, Philych_085 took home $ 3,830.72 – the second-best score of the Belarussian player’s career. Zenzor, meanwhile, made up for a second-place finish back during TCOOP with $ 5,419.77, the champion’s watch, and entry into the annals of SCOOP winners.

SCOOP 2013 Event #12-L: $ 27 NL Single Draw 2-7

1,561 entrants

210 places paid

1st place: Zenzor (Canada) $ 5,419.77

2nd place: Philych_085 (Belarus) $ 3,830.72

3rd place: Tarzancev (Russia) $ 2,622.41

4th place: FENOMENICO (Russia) $ 1,651.31

5th place: 24dpb (Canada) $ 1,150.44

6th place: Zahed_May (Canada) $ 862.64

7th place: megabanny (Portugal) $ 648.03

Bond vs Bourne?

Here’s a man with absolutely no self inflated ego and someone you wouldn’t pick out of crowd, which if I’m honest was probably intentional. Whilst most of us secretly probably wish to be the James Bond of Poker this truly was poker’s answer to Jason Bourne. Discreet and deadly.

To me it seemed the simple thrill of the game was his ultimate vice, the problem solving mixed with the psychology of the game was what got him going. And to that end it has to be said he played a fantastic game against the self proclaimed baddie of any poker table Tony G, I mean just watch this hand:

Somewhere in Monte Carlo

And so with reports coming in from a that he ‘lost’ in the region of €1 million in what’s being described as ‘Europe’s biggest cash poker game last weekend’ I wouldnt be too worried about Talal, knowing what little I do about this mastermind he’s either got the money back already is close to.

Tonight’s The Night

Meanwhile back in the UK and on SkySports2 tonight you can see the one and only Talal Shakerchi battle it out on the PartyPoker Premier League Poker Season 6. The action starts tonight at 10.00PM.

2013 SCOOP Event #7-H $ 700 NL Heads-Up attracted 799 runners. They boosted the prize pool to $ 531,335 and only the top 128 players were paid out, with $ 80,354.20 set aside for the supreme heads-up champion.

Several familiar faces took a shot in this event including Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker, Joe Cada, Lex Veldhuis, Jake Cody, Nacho Barbero, Andre Akkari, Goerge Danzer, and Matthias De Meulder. A trio of Team PokerStars Online members — George “Jorj95″ Lind III, Tatiana ‘Mysters_Y’ Barausov and Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew — were also in the hunt for a SCOOP crown.

Team PokerStars Online George “Jorj95″ Lind III was the only notable to secure himself a cash. He easily won his fourth round and defeated UH Big Tex to advance to the Round of 64.

In round 5, Lind and $ kill Game grappled in one of the longest matches of the round. It was a back and forth exhilarating engagement for five rounds like a classic boxing match that would make the modest pugilist fan drool with envy. Lind had $ kill Game on the ropes for most of the fifth round and finally finished off his opponent. $ kill Game made a final stand with [As][4s] against Lind’s [Ks][8s], but Lind turned a King and rivered a King to win the pot with trip Kings. $ kill Game busted in 37th place and Lind advanced to the Round of 32.

In round 6, Lind coasted to victory in easy match and dispatched itSmin3z in less than two levels. On the final hand, Lind’s [Ad][Js] held up against itSmin3z’s [Ac][8c], and itSmin3z hit the road in 24th place. Lind stayed alive and advanced to the Sweet 16.

In round 7, Lind took on crissdepaiss and the match was a quickie. Lind took a devastating hit early on and lost most of his stack. Lind met his demise when his [Ah][9c] was run down by crissdepaiss’ [Ad][5s]. The board finished up [Ac][Js][5h][7c][Kc] and crissdepaiss won with two pair — Aces and fives. Lind was knocked out in 15th place which paid out $ 7,661.85.

THE ELITE EIGHT

We got down to eight players. The loser in the Elite Eight matches locked up $ 14,239.77, while the winners moved on to the Final Four.

cgswh1t3 (Canada) vs. nochtm (Bulgaria)
KumariOy (Russia) vs. crissdepaiss (Canada)
Andrel87 (Sweden) vs. mtvdeuem (Slovenia)
kurakasa (Ireland) vs. vic1316 (U.K.)

mtvdeuem eliminated in 8th place

High-stakes grinder mtvdeuem hit the bricks in eighth place after he busted in the first level. On the flop was [7h][5s][4], mtvdeuem jammed all-in with [Jc][6d] for open-ended straight draw and only Jack-high. Andrel87 check-called with [As][6s] and was ahead with Ace-high and the same open-ended straight draw. The turn was the [9d] and the river was the [Qc]. Neither cards helped mtvdeuem. Andrel87 dragged the pot with Ace-high and advanced to the Final Four. Meanwhile, mtvdeuem was knocked out, but collected $ 14,239.77 for an eighth-place finish.

crissdepaiss eliminated in 7th place

Another quick match that barely lasted a full level. KumariOy rivered a straight with [7d][6d] and beat out crissdepaiss’s [Td][7c] and a pair of tens. For seventh place, crissdepaiss earned $ 14,239.77. KumariOy moved onto the Final Four.

cgswh1t3 eliminated in 6th place

This match was decided in the third level, when cgswh1t3 took [Ac][7c] into battle against nochtm [Ah][Ks]. The board ran out [Jh][5d][9d][Qs][8h] and nochtm’s Big Slick held up. nochtm advanced to the Final Four, meanwhile cgswh1t3 took home $ 14,239.77 for sixth place.

vic1316 eliminated in 5th place

This matched lasted the longest of the four and spilled into the fourth level. After an hour-long battle, kurakasa finally took out vic1316. On a flop of [Th][7h][4s], vic1316 checked, kurakasa bet 300, vic1316 bumped it up to 700, kurakasa four-bet to 1,700, vic1316 five-bet to 3,800, kurakasa six-bet shoved for 5,760, and vic1316 called all-in. kurakasa tabled [As][Ac], which was way ahead of vic1316′s [Td][9d] and a meager pair of tens. The turn was the [Kc] and the river was [6h]. The U.K.’s vic1316 failed to improve and kurakasa’s Aces held up. For a fifth-place performance, vic1316 collected $ 14,239.77.

THE FINAL FOUR

The loser in the Final Four matches took home $ 25,562.52, while the two winners advanced to the finals.

Andrel87 (Sweden) vs. kurakasa (Ireland)
KumariOy (Russia) vs. nochtm (Bulgaria)

Andrel87 eliminated in 4th place

If you blinked, you might have missed this heads-up battle. Ireland’s kurakasa took a commanding lead from the get-go. Short-stacked Andrel87 moved it all-in preflop with [Qd][Jh] against kurakasa’s [Ah][Jd]. The flop was [Ks][Qs][8h] and Andrel87 seized the lead with a pair of Queens, but kurakasa picked up a Broadway draw. The turn was the [Tc] and kurakasa filled in a straight. The river was the [6s] and kurakasa won the pot to advance to the Finals. Sweden’s Andrel87 busted out in fourth place and won $ 25,562.52.

nochtm eliminated in 3rd place

Both Final Four matches went rather quick. In the opening levels, the longest match per level lasted in excess of 90 minutes or roughly six levels. This one barely lasted 16 minutes, when nochtm was knocked out during the second hand in Level II. Short-stacked nochtm made a final stand with [Ad][8s] but got ambushed by KumariOy’s [Ac][Ks]. The board ran out [Jc][5s][4d][6c][Kc]. On the turn, nochtm picked up an open-ended straight draw, but failed to improve on the river. KumariOy rivered a King for a pair of Kings and dodged a bullet when nochtm failed to fill in a straight draw. KumariOy survived and moved onto the Finals. Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s nochtm busted in third place, which paid out $ 25,562.52.

HEADS-UP: kurakasa (Ireland) vs. KumariOy (Russia)

Both players started with stacks worth 5,000. The levels were 15 minutes in length. When the two were seated at the “Final Table,” the tournament had reached its 12th hour. Although both players easily won their Final Four matches, both were mentally exhausted after a a half of day of head-to-head jousting.

This final match lasted 19 hands. Yes, only 19 hands. The most crucial hand of the tournament occurred on the 9th hand when KumariOy won a 3.6K pot with trip nines holding [Ts][9c] against rakasa’s [Qd][Jd]. Although rakasa had rivered a pair of Jacks, it was not good enough because KumariOy flopped a pair of nines and turned trips. After dragging that decisive pot, KumariOy had jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Ten hands later, it would be all over.

rakasa eliminated in 2nd place; KumariOy Wins SCOOP Event #7-H

On the final hand… kurakasa opened to 125, KumariOy bumped it to 400, and kurakasa called. The flop was [Jh][9c][5d]. KumariOy bet 400 and kurakasa called. The turn was the [7d]. KumariOy only bet 100 and kurakasa called. The river was the [Ts] and fireworks ensued when kurakasa bombed it all-in for 1,710. KumariOy check-called [Jc][Jd] for a set of Jacks. kurakasa only held [As][5s] for a paltry pair of fives. KumariOy won the pot and shipped the tournament.

Ireland’s kurakasa collected $ 51,130.36 for an impressive runner-up performance. Meanwhile, Russia’s KumariOy earned $ 80,354.20 for first place and also won a cool SCOOP champion’s watch.

Here is the final hand in the re-player:

Entrants: 799
Prize Pool: $ 531,335
Places Paid: 128

1. KumariOy (Russia) – $ 80,354.20
2. kurakasa (Ireland) – $ 51,130.36
3. nochtm (Bulgaria) – $ 25,562.52
4. Andrel87 (Sweden) – $ 25,562.52
5. vic1316 (U.K.) – $ 14,239.77
6. cgswh1t3 (Canada) – $ 14,239.77
7. crissdepaiss (Canada) – $ 14,239.77
8. mtvdeuem (Slovenia) – $ 14,239.77

To get your SCOOP fix, visit the SCOOP home page for a schedule of remaining events. Plus find out who is currently in the lead for Player of the Series and check out the nifty SCOOP stats page.

220 players came out for the Mother’s Day edition of the Women’s Sunday, creating an $ 11,000 prize pool. 36 places were paid with first place set to earn $ 2,249.50. With the Red Spade Army busy invading Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final, the field was free of bounties this week but still full of plenty of familiar faces and past champions including Xuan “xx23xx” Liu, Ana Marquez, Jan “jamjars69″ Combes, and Grindettes Katie “katie75013″ Stone, Jamie “AndTheLawWon” Kerstetter, and Katie “hotjenny314″ Dozier, who finished in 19th place.

Blinds were 800/1,600 with ten players remaining and crankychick was the short stack. After Juliya-Lucky opened for 3,200 from UTG, crankychick found [Ac][Jd] and three-bet shoved for her last 15,000. Although Juliya-Lucky turned up the same hand with [As][Js], the [Td][6s][4s] flop left her freerolling with the nut flush draw. Juliya-Lucky hit it on the turn with the [8s], crowning crankychick the final table bubble girl.

However, on the same deal of hand-for-hand play, Kispocok91 lost a coinflip for almost her entire stack. Kispocok91′s [2s][2h] hung on through the turn before luckyno75′s [Kd][Qh] spiked a king on the river. Kispocok91 made the final table, but with less than one big blind left.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: luckyno75 (77,968 in chips)
Seat 2: jvgcook (194,086 in chips)
Seat 3: Juliya-Lucky (99,085 in chips)
Seat 4: Kispocok91 (1,410 in chips)
Seat 5: jam3s1nlove (64,508 in chips)
Seat 6: xHAPKOMAHx (48,883 in chips)
Seat 7: Mandalena (29,262 in chips)
Seat 8: szczubcia (36,725 in chips)
Seat 9: panda_kls (108,073 in chips)

Kispocok91 KOed, jvgcook burns chips

As expected, the last of Kispocok91′s chips went in on the first hand, her [4h][7d] up against jam3s1nlove’s [Qh][8d]. The board double-paired jacks and threes, jam3s1nlove’s queen playing to eliminate Kispocok91 in ninth place.

Jvgcook brought a dominant chip lead into this final table but saw it evaporate entirely within the first ten minutes of play. Most of her chips landed with panda_kls, who called jvgcook’s preflop three-bet and check-called both the flop and turn on a [3s][6s][7d][As] board. When the [Jh] hit the river, panda_kls moved in for her last 47,000 and jvgcook surrendered the 175,000 pot. Luckyno75 snagged her own chunk of jvgcook’s stack a few hands later. With the blinds up to 2,000/4,000, Luckno75 three-bet jvgcook’s UTG min-raise to 10,000. Jvgcook four-bet shoved for 126,000 and luckyno75 gladly tossed in her last 50,000 with [Ad][As]. Her pocket aces held up against [Ah][Kh], doubling luckyno75 to 123,000. Once on top with 194,000, jvgcook was down to only 66,000.

Mandalena gets lucky, goes broke

Moments later, Mandalena got the rest of her stack in on a [Ac][Tc][9s] flop vs. Juliya-Lucky. Although Juliya-Lucky flopped a set of tens, Mandalena hit running cards to make Broadway with the [Jd] turn and [Ks] river, doubling to 53,000. However, new chip leader panda_kls undid most of those gains when Mandalena check-folded to her 20,000 bet on a [9c][5c][4d][6d] board, relinquishing a 44,600 pot. Panda_kls moved up to 220,000 and Mandalena was left with only 35,000.

Mandalena survived a few more orbits before luckyno75 picked up [Ad][Ah] and crippled her to less than 4,000 in chips:

Juliya-Lucky never regained momentum from her earlier setback against Mandalena and dropped to 38,000 in chips. She committed her last 15 big blinds preflop vs. jam3s1nlove, her [Kh][Js] trailing [Ac][9s]. An ace hit the flop and that was all she wrote for Juliya-Lucky, who took home $ 385.00 for seventh place.

luckyno75 vs. the shorties

With six players remaining, both short stacks doubled through luckyno75. Jvgcook put her last 26,000 in with [Qh][Jc] and flopped a jack against [Ah][5s] while szczubcia three-bet shoved 17,700 with [Ks][Kh] and held against [As][9s]. Luckyno75 slipped to 116,000, down, but still solidly in the middle of the pack.

Jam3s1nlove was next to put her tournament life at risk. With the blinds up to 2,000/4,000, she three-bet jammed for 78,718 from the big blind with [Ah][9d], but panda_kls looked her up with [8s][8c]. The pocket pair hung on and jam3s1nlove hit the rail in sixth place, earning $ 495.00.

Moments later, szczubcia tried to see if lightning would strike twice vs. luckyno75. Szczubcia open-shoved for 26,810 with [As][6h] but ran into luckyno75′s [Ac][Kc] on the button. Both players flopped an ace but luckyno75′s kicker played, eliminating szczubcia in fifth place ($ 638.00).

Here comes xHAPKOMAHx

As the field thinned to four, panda_kls was still on top with 285,000, xHAPKOMAHx was second with 151,000, luckyno75 held 127,000 and jvgcook was the short stack with 96,000. With the blinds only 2,500/5,000 no one was in immediate danger, but nevertheless, a monster pot unfolded that would prove to be the pivotal one of the tournament. With the action folded to xHAPKOMAHx in the small blind, she opened for a min-raise to 10,000 and panda_kls called. xHAPKOMAHx led out for 10,000 on the [Qs][6s][3c] flop, panda_kls raised to 20,000, and xHAPKOMAHx three-bet to 40,000. Panda_kls called, and the [Jd] hit the turn. xHAPKOMAHx fired again, making it 55,000 to go. Panda_kls raised to 110,000 and xHAPOKOMAHx called off her remaining 46,000, revealing [Ad][Qc]. Panda_kls had also hit top pair, but with a dominated [Qd][5d]. Panda_kls needed to pair her kicker, but instead xHAPKOMAHx paired hers, the [Ah] falling on the river to make her aces and queens. xHAPKOMAHx doubled to 304,000 and took the chip lead while panda_kls fell to 134,000.

xHAPKOMAHx weilded her big stack like a club and took out jvgcook a short time later, her [Ad][Kc] turning trips to crack pocket queens. For fourth place, jvgcook banked $ 935.00. Luckyno75 was next to go. Down to 63,000, she open-shoved with [Ah][Kd], but didn’t improve against xHAPKOMAHx’s pocket jacks. Now a six-time Women’s Sunday final tablist, luckyno75 added another $ 1,243.00 to the till with her third-place finish.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 6: xHAPKOMAHx (620,638 in chips)
Seat 9: panda_kls (39,362 in chips)

The wrecking ball xHAPKOMAHx took a final, successful swing on the second hand of heads-up play. Panda_kls shoved with [Qc][8h] and xHAPKOMAHx looked her up with [Kd][2c], her king playing on a paired board to lock up the win.

PokerStars Women’s Sunday results for 5/12/2013

Players: 220
Prizepool: $ 11,000
Places paid: 36

1. xHAPKOMAHx (Belarus) $ 2,249.50
2. panda_kls (Lithuania) $ 1,650.00
3. luckyno75 (Romania) $ 1,243.00
4. jvgcook (Belgium) $ 935.00
5. szczubcia (Poland) $ 638.00
6. jam3s1nlove (Germany) $ 495.00
7. Juliya-Lucky (Russia) $ 385.00
8. Mandalena (Greece) $ 275.00
9. Kispocok91 (Hungary) $ 209.00

Don’t miss out on your chance to win your way into the Women’s Sunday for pennies on the dollar. Head over to the Women’s Sunday page for a full satellite schedule.

The Details

Name: $ 100 PartyPoker Blog Freeroll
Found Under: Freerolls
Date and Time: 10th May 2013 – 13:00 EDT
Game Type: No Limit Holdem
Starting Chips: 3000
Blinds: 3 Mins (Meaning we wont take up too much of your time!)
Password: Kazik
Cost: Nothing, Zip, Squat, It’s a FREEROLL YEAH!

Will You Make The Final Table?

Good Luck everyone let us know how you get on! Make sure to get all the latest PartyPoker updates from your favourite social media outlets, Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook and Plus us Google+

The reason is obvious. The quality of players in the last 16 is outrageously good. It was good at the start of the day with 34 players and it’s still so, led by Andrew Pantling at the close tonight, with 2,248,000 chips, a lead of nearly one million.

Andrew Pantling

Johnny Lodden

Daniel Negreanu

Jason Mercier

Andrew Pantling, Canada, 2,248,000
John Juanda, Indonesia, 1,395,000
Jonny Lodden, Norway, 1,352,000
Daniel Negreanu, Canada, 1,257,000
Freddy Deeb, United States, 1,207,000
Victor Ramdin, United States, 1,090,000
Noah Schwartz, United States, 1,087,000
Jason Mercier, United States, 1,008,000
Goran Mandic, Croatia, 995,000
Steve O’Dwyer, United States, 942,000
Grany Levy, Australia, 712,000
Andrew Lichtenberger, United States, 699,000
Clyde Tjauw Foe, Netherlands, 647,000
Mateusz Moolhuizen, Netherlands, 596,000
Vasili Firsau, Belarus, 358,000
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, 266,000

It’s some list, with only the likes of Goran Mandic, Vasili Firsau and the two Dutch players Clyde Tjauw Foe and Mateusz Moolhuizen able to claim any degree of anonymity.

Behind Pantling is John Juanda, a former EPT runner-up, who leads the chase pack, alongside Lodden, Negreanu and Freddy Deeb, who guarantees his best EPT finish. Victor Ramdin remains well and truly in the zone while Noah Schwartz and Jason Mercier also have more than a million chips.

John Juanda

Jake Cody

Mickey Petersen (left) with Johnny Lodden

With the high roller event starting today, as well as a low key charity event, there was plenty of background scenery to the main event. There were also side events galore, two of which were won by Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker and Marcin Horecki.
We featured the rubber-faced Patrick Naxache and looked at the latest technology from the poker app world.

So taken were we with the deep runs by various Team PokerStars Pros that we looked deeper into their progress this week, while we also examined another of poker’s breeds, the German high roller, all of which seemed to be seated around one table, while Antonio Esfandiari transcended all of them, almost literally.

You can find continued coverage from the first day of the high roller event on our live coverage page. The main event meanwhile will resume tomorrow at 12 noon (CET) when 16 players will become eight.

You can also follow the action on EPT Live tomorrow, which should be a memorable day, the type that gets people hooked on poker in the first place. Don’t miss it.

“So will it beat last years?” they ask me, I always do and I always will say “Yes”. Now bare in mind that when these same people refer to the WSOP they refer to the Main Event.

And theirs nothing wrong with that, as after all that’s why it’s called the Main Event.

But I still think the answer for this years routine questioning is an unequivocal “Yes”, I really do believe that and here’s why:

First up the Prize-Pool

In 2012 going by the official numbers reported by the World Series of Poker it proved to be the largest in the history of the greatest tournament series:

• $ 222 Million Dollars were awarded in prize money with
• $ 62 Million for the Main Event winners and
• $ 42 Million for the winners of the One Drop Tournament.

The Main Event Numbers

So let’s get down to it and look at those numbers, you see in 2012 we saw a total of 6,598 entrants in the 2012 World Series of poker Main Event which proved to be the fifth most ever for the WSOP. Over a ten year period the numbers pan out to look like this:

• 2003 WSOP — 839 entrants
• 2004 WSOP — 2,576 entrants
• 2005 WSOP — 5,619 entrants
• 2006 WSOP — 8,773 entrants
• 2007 WSOP — 6,358 entrants
• 2008 WSOP — 6,844 entrants
• 2009 WSOP — 6,494 entrants
• 2010 WSOP — 7,319 entrants
• 2011 WSOP — 6,865 entrants
• 2012 WSOP – 6,598 entrants

I was always taught that everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. So let’s quickly graph those numbers and we’ll see that patterns emerge.

Money Makin’

First up the jump from 03′ – 04′ attributed and even called the “Moneymaker Effect” in our world. We growth increase at what could easily be described as pretty much close to ‘exponential growth’ as is possible. Along comes a ruling in 2006 and bam! Well you know that bit of this story and if not Google is your friend. And after that we get to what I’d call a rocky plateau.

You Spin Me Right Round Baby…

Now the skeptic could say 2010 was the peak then but I’m not one of those guys. Yep we could go around in circles here and that’s half the fun of these talks I know. Look again and for 07 you’ll see an increase, decrease, increase, decrease pattern and then of course 2012 goes and messes up my theory there of course. That still doesn’t convince me though, I see 2012 as a minor hiccup and one that’s still higher than the previous lows of 09 and 07.

Success Breeds Success

Then take into consideration the recent success of the World Series of Poker Europe followed up by their latest addition the World Series Of Poker Asia Pacific and I think we’re seeing the game becoming more global than ever. With over 100 nationalities playing last years events the World Series Of Poker is starting to truly deserve more so than ever to have and embrace the world World within it’s title.

So Go On Ask Me Again

So yeah ask me again about if this years WSOP will break last years numbers I’ll always say “Yep!” as really where’s the fun in saying “No it’s going to suck….” which trust me it never ever ever does.

Okay Okay I Want In, Get Me To Vegas!

So followed six levels that looked a lot like those of yesterday, the only difference being that the 30 tables in use at the start became 13 by the close, all moving towards the far end of the tournament room.

From all of them top spot rested with Johnny Lodden, chip leader tonight with a stack of 605,200 chips.

Johnny Lodden

Lodden’s lead is sizable but, as always at this stage, it’s a nominal one. The quality of opposition make it such, the lead chase pack made up of the likes of Calvin Andersen (472,400), Oleksii Kovalchuk (414,700), Noah Schwartz (453,400), Steve O’Dwyer (389,200) and Daniel Negreanu (340,100). All are within reach of Lodden and all capable of the appropriate dramatics tomorrow that turns the main event in their favour.

Hungry for chips: Daniel Negreanu

Just hungry: Calvin Anderson

Alec Torelli – 270,100
Paul Volpe – 256,500
Andrew Lichetenberger – 239,300
Jake Cody – 223,300
Victor Ramdin – 202,900
John Juanda – 181,300
Ville Wahlbeck – 148,200
Marcin Horecki – 137,800
David Vamplew – 116,500
Chad Brown – 115,900
Mickey Petersen – 96,600
Toni Judet – 91,100
Chris De Meulder – 89,200
Tatiana Barausova – 48,800
Alex Kravchenko – 41,800

Along the way we lost the bulk of the field to the whims of the side events. They included Artem Litvinov, Mathew Frankland, Isaac Haxton, Craig McCorkell, Benny Spindler, Felipe Ramos, Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, Vicky Coren, Justin Bonomo, (breathe), Aaron Gustavson, Salvatore Bonavena, Max Silver, Bryn Kenney, Nicholas Chouity, Marcel Luske, Martin Finger, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Michael Tureniec.

Actually we lost even more, all of whom can be found on the live coverage page, along with existing counts of those remaining. It’s there that you’ll also find details of the pay-outs that will kick in when the bubble bursts tomorrow when there are 80 players left.

As far as the day’s action is concerned you can catch up at any of the links below.

It was a make or break day in Monaco for most of the field, which was introduced by Sarah Grant and Rick Dacey at the start of play before Lee Jones revealed PokerStars’s upcoming 100 billionth hand celebration.

We met one of the early chip leaders today Arlo Dotson and got our first glimpse of the money at stake this week.

One of those departing today was birthday boy Humberto Brenes, while in a few words Randy Lew made it clear that he’s a better player than you.

Humberto Brenes

That’s all for today. Join us for Day 3 on Thursday. Until then goodnight from Monaco.

Diego Mones Ruiz

Diego Mones Ruiz is a farmer in Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. He splits his working days between chores in his fields and playing online poker. Diego plays at Titan Poker under the nickname “tirria47″. Last week he demonstrated his poker skills by winning the iPOPS #3H Super Tues $ 75k, beating a field of 417 players to capture the $ 15,960 first prize.

In an exclusive interview with us, Diego said he would use part of the prize money to continue playing at Titan Poker, and the rest he would cash out because it came just when it was needed in real life.

Diego started by saying he wished to thank his friends and partners: María, Germán, “el Lauchon” and “all the people at Patagoniapoker for their unconditional support on this tournament and through my whole poker career. I wish them all great success!”

Q: Did you use any special strategy to win the tournament?

Diego: I always try to play aggressively during the first levels, which led to a good result in this tournament. It helped me to build a good stack for after the add-on.

I reached the bubble stage with a short stack and I was patient until my double-up hand came. Then I became aggressive again, trying to steal many pots, without jeopardizing my stack too much.

Once I reached the final table, I was in good shape. I received good cards and I reached the heads-up stage as chipleader.

The final hand was a flip: QQ vs AK suited, and winning it gave me the trophy. (Diego had the queens.)

Q: Any key moments you remember from the tournament?

Diego: I got a hand which helped my stack just at the bubble of the final table. I made a 3-bet in the button with 87 of clubs, against a very aggressive player. He floated me in a flop of 2 3 7. After a K at the turn and a T at the river, he continued to bet, and after analyzing his bet and determining it was a bluff, I felt like a winner. It was an important hand because of the chips I won and the confidence it gave me in my game.

Q: What do you plan to do with your prize money?

Diego: I’m going to use part of this prize to keep playing tournaments and cash games, and try to climb the levels little by little. I’ll do a cashout with the rest, since it came at a convenient time to support my other activity, which is going through a very rough patch right now.

Q: Do you have any advice for other players?

Diego: Try to get better every day. Learn from your mistakes. Study your opponents. Don’t try too hard to be the leader in chips. Being patient, analytic and persistent makes you win money in this sport.