Online Poker Directory

Archive for April, 2011

In a poker tournament that usually attracts the hopeless and the hopeful of the amateur world, especially among their enthusiastic Italian cousins, it was a day for the professionals in San Remo, notably the Team PokerStars Professionals, these liveried raiders making up the bulk of the top slots tonight.

The roster included names such as Joe Cada, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Selbst, Max Lykov and Sebastian Ruthenberg, each of whom survived the rigours of Day 1 to leave themselves well-placed for their return tomorrow, the role of leader filled by Dutchman Ruben Visser, who closed on 251,500 tonight.

Vanessa Selbst

Visser, and the poker magazine cover faces, put in performances good enough to remind the world that the cream sometimes really does rise to the top, even in a place like this which traditionally favours the bold and adventurous locals.

Chip leader Ruben Visser

With a late night surge, Visser seized the lead from yesterday’s top man Leonid Bilokur, who bagged up 187,900 last night and takes his advantage into the second day.

But if there was ever a place where the Day 1 leader’s chip stack was as precarious as the shortest of stacks, it would be San Remo, an event where hope can turn to desperation and fear to triumph in the space of a few hands. Just ask Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin.

Victor Ramdin

Over the buffet dinner, Victor Ramdin had confessed to enjoying one of the greatest runs of cards he’d ever experienced: “I’m freerolling,” he’d said, tucking into the skewered meat, having turned his crippled stack of 2,800 into a mighty one of 70,000 by the mid-way point. By the close, he’d turned that into 190,500. Ramdin can call it freerolling all he likes; that’s a stack with which to do some damage.

Chips, chips

While the likes of Ramdin, Visser, Greenstein (81,300), Ruthenberg (72,000), Lykov (108,000), Selbst (161,500) and Cada (135,500) were shoring up their defences for another day at the tables, former champs and champettes were heading railward.

Joe Cada

Notably, this included last year’s winner Liv Boeree, who departed moments after the field reconvened from the split dinner break. Kevin MacPhee soon followed, as did Sandra Naujoks and Michael Tureniec. Others, including Johnny Lodden, Jonathan Duhamel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Kevin Stani and Ben Wilinofsky had departed well before them.

Liv Boeree

Dario Minieri put in a cameo appearance: burning brightly before being extinguished in level four. His fellow countryman Luca Pagano had better fortune, but only as far as making it into level nine. Pagano was taking a day off from his behind-the-scenes work at EPT San Remo to do what he does equally as well in-front-of-the-scenes, but crashed out within sight of the curtain when his pocket fours ran into pocket queens.

Luca Pagano

Find out all you need to know about how today panned out by clicking on the links below, while the official chip counts of the 249 players remaining can be found on the Official Chip Count Page. Want to compare those to Day 1A? We’ve got that covered on yesterday’s chip count page. Accept no substitute.

Level 1 & 2 updates
Level 3 & 4 updates
Level 5 & 6 updates
Level 7, 8 & 9 updates

That’s it for Day 1B. Tomorrow things start to get a little more interesting as the field unites, going forth towards the money. Whether we get there or not will remain to be seen, but the players who will try can be found listed on the Seat Draw page.

The tournament room

All that’s left to do is thank our German, Dutch and Italian colleagues for their help with spelling and other stuff, and to thank Neil Stoddart for all the images used today and for hand details he provided when the three of us were distracted by the latest news from Westminster Abbey.

We’re now heading back to the hotel to make the finishing touches to the dress uniforms we intend to wear tomorrow for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, or Bill and Kat as some of the barbarians we work with might call them. A worldwide audience of a gazillion people may tune into that tomorrow, but they’d be fools not to follow coverage of Day 2 at the same time.

See you then.

Day 2 of the Irish Open has just started. More than half of the entrants were eliminated yesterday and only 287 players out of 615 will be returning to the tables today. Titan Team members Florian Desgouttes and Sam Trickett are returning today with 61,000 and 41,900 in chips  respectively. Sam will be playing on a table with Titan Poker qualifier William Smith who has a starting stack of 22,500 chips.

Other Titan Poker qualifiers still in the field are Narcis Grabriel Nedelcu with a stack of 65,675, Paul Febers with 97,400, Lorna Lancaster with 23,850, Italians Giuseppe D’agnese and Stefano Monciotti  with 24,800 and 67,275 respectively and German Andreas Koester with 39,000.

 

Last night I won £1,300 playing in my local cash game. Let me repeat that. I won £1,300 playing a game that I love. As we all left the card room my mates and I all vanished in the morning mist.

Most of us would resurface a few hours later in crappy little jobs silently wishing that we could spend our whole lives playing the game.

One of the people who kindly donated money to the Lee Davy poker fund was an Iranian businessman known as Landi. Landi lives in Swansea and last night, as I was slowly dismantling his chip stack, we were talking about the hottest European tournament poker player on the planet. I am of course talking about Roberto Romanello.

Landi has fond memories of a young, aggressive and cocky Welshman who used to frequent his game around the card rooms of Swansea.

Back in those days Romanello used to work in the family business – fish and chips. When I talk about those days I am talking a mere five or six years ago. Five or six years come and go in a blink of an eye.

Satellite was something that orbited the earth

Romanello was a budding footballer. Football was his second love and only his family was more important to him. Then his dreams, of one day making it big were dashed when he received a terrible broken leg. If you have ever met Romanello it is easy to imagine how difficult it must have been for him to lay dormant for so long due to such a terrible injury.

But Romanello is a fighter, and he wouldn’t have known it at the time, but the injury would change his life in ways he would never imagine.

Whilst lying in agony on his couch he started to watch poker on television. During a commercial he realised that you could play poker on the Internet and he rung his brother and told him to buy him a laptop. Over the next few months Romanello spent his recovery playing sit n go’s online.

Follow in Roberto Romanellos footsteps. Qualify for free to WPT Barcelona now on PartyPoker!

One day he noticed that the sit n go that he had registered to play in was a different colour than the others. He did a bit of investigating and realised that it was a satellite for a WPT event.

At the time he thought a satellite was something that orbited the earth and the WPT was a tennis federation. He won the satellite and before you knew it he was booking his flight to play in a WPT event in Las Vegas.

Romanello had three months to get ready for his maiden WPT voyage. He decided to go to the local casinos to learn how to play live and this is when he first met Landi. Back in those days, a mere five or six years ago, Romanello was just like me. He too was coming home from the casino with £1,300 in his pocket and a head full of dreams.

A few weeks ago Roberto Romanello won WPT Bratislava and he heads into the World Series of Poker (WSOP) chasing the elusive Triple Crown after his recent victory at EPT Prague.

The Romanello Rollercoaster has a beginning and an end. The beginning was qualifying for that WPT event playing online above the shop that was selling fish and chips. The end is nowhere near in sight as he continues to ply his trade in a fish and chips business of a very different kind.

So what does Landi think about Romanello’s rise to fame?

“The man is a very lucky, lucky player.” Said Landi.

If you would like to be a very lucky, lucky player then get signed up to play on PartyPoker.com and qualify for WPT Barcelona. Who knows it might be the start of your very own rollercoaster.

Sadly, we don’t have good news from the Burlington. Sam Trickett and Florian Desgouttes have both left the tournament area. Here is what happened.

Sam started out slowly with an average stack that he managed to stabilize with a couple of good bets. First, during level 10 (blinds 500-1000, ante 50, avg stack 49K) Sam in the BB paid the pre-flop raise of the SB. Flop came A♣7♣A♥, both players checked, the turn was a 5♦ and the SB folded to Sam’s 5200 bet.

 

After a couple of unplayable hands, Sam in the SB took a small pot with a 7K bet on the river. The board was 3♦4KQ♦8. Then he lost a hand and mucked his cards at showdown – his opponent had K♥J♥ on a A882K board and they had both checked all the way to showdown. He had a 46K stack at the time and half an hour later when I came back to his table he was just leaving. He had pushed all-in for 37K from the button after the cutoff had raised to 4K pre-flop. Sam had pocket 4s vs the other player’s pocket Queens. The flop came QJ2.

Florian’s stack saw more upwards movements. He collected a lot of chips with pre-flop all-ins. One of those he did with AK offsuit from MP after the button had raised. Florian’s stack then reached it’s peak for the day – 87K. Shortly after at blinds 1K-2K our pro engaged in the following situation. UTG1 raised to 5500, UTG2 called and Florian moved all-in for 60K from the button. He had K♦J♦. UTG1 folded and UTG2 called. The flop came A♦Q♦2♣4♠5♥ and Florian’s opponent took the pot with pocket 2s. After this hand Florian was left with a 30K stack and moved all-in with A10 off-suit which is how he left the Main Event.

Meanwhile Christophe Benzimra is playing a PLO side event (a 2-day event with a €750+€75 buy-in).

Titan Poker qualifiers Stefano Monciotti from Italy, Lorna Lancaster from Canada and Will Smith from UK are still in the race though!

As for our pros, it’s time for some Chinese poker or an in-depth exploration of the famous Irish pub traditions.

Irish Pub

T8yourmoney from Canada is our latest winner of the $ 14,000 package to the WSOP Main Event. You can win your package now! Here is T8yourmoney’s story:

What route did you take to the final WSOP satellite?

I first played a $ 75 satellite, winning a ticket to a $ 750 satellite qualifier. I played that, and managed to finish top 4 out of 80 runners.

Tell me how the final WSOP satellite went.

Had pretty easy sailing, guys bluffing when I had the nuts, picking good spots to pick up blinds and antes, etc.

What key hands and big decisions did you have to make?

Well, my key hand wasn’t much of a decision, but it decided everything for me. We were 5 handed (5th got nothing, 4th got the seat), I was short stacked, with one other guy a little more than me. Everyone else was comfortably ahead of us.

The other short stack min raised, I’ve picked up  in the SB. I decided to put the maximum pressure on him, and shove all in. He snap called, and showed . I hit 2 clubs on the flop, and the flush on the turn. He was out a couple of hands later, and the 4 of us left won our seats.

Tell me about your PartyPoker story.

Play in the biggest poker event! Win your WSOP Main Event $ 14,000 package for free!

I originally started maybe 7-8 years ago, I was pretty green in the poker department. I didn’t start-up again on Party Poker until early 2010. Started playing PLO and NLHE tournaments, and have done quite well since my return. I have played mostly live cash and tournaments before that.

Tell me how you feel about your Vegas trip.

I was extremely pumped to win this trip and I expect to come home with a good cheque, if not a bracelet. Being from Western Canada, Vegas is a convenient destination, and thus I’ve been there numerous times in the past, though this will be my first trip for the WSOP.

What do you think about WSOP?

WSOP is the holy grail of poker (The Main Event at least), and it is in most players dreams to win a bracelet.

Any poker players you would love to meet and play against at WSOP?

Tony G and Sammy Farha. Their TV antics are very entertaining.

Six a.m. and they could not wait any longer. We could hear the kids wanting to get out of their room to see if the Easter Bunny dropped a few eggs around the house. Purple and yellow for the girl, blue and orange for the boy as the easy eggs were collected along with the chocolate bunny that failed to get into the freezer with its ears intact. While my kids collected quarters and dollars inside their eggs, 3,364 players in tonight’s Sunday Warm-up were looking for some bricks of cash inside theirs. After checking in with a $ 215 buy-in, 495 of those players would walk away with a return on their investment as the kids treated me by sleeping all afternoon. $ 105,630.68 sat at the final table for one lucky player who collected the most eggs or chips in this case.

Several Team PokerStars players would find enough chips in their basket to take home a slice of the $ 500,000 guarantee busting prize pool. Juan Pastor 426th place ($ 322.94), Angel Guillen 400th place ($ 329.67), Juan Maceiras http://www.pokerstars.eu/team-pokerstars/juan-maceiras/ 354th place ($ 349.85), Pierre “Zoutechamp” Neuville 343rd place ($ 349.85), Richard “Tzen1″ Veenman 223rd place $ 504.60, Matthias de Meulder 217th place ($ 504.60), Kristian “CharismA3″ Martin 185th place ($ 605.52) all busted before Romania’s Toni Judet.

During the fourth hour Team PokerStars pro Toni Judet’s name was found second in chips but near the seventh hour of play with 50 players left Toni would run into a game-stopping three-way hand. Watch the massive 1.4 million chip pot with blinds at 12.5K/25K ante 2.5K below:

 

Folded to CMoosepower in the cutoff, he would shove for 255,343 chips as Judet in the small blind over-shoved for 605,284 total. PRO UFA looking down at pocket queens [Qs][Qd] covered both players and just needed to dodge aces, kings, and hearts as Judet showed [Jh][As] and CMoosepower further behind with [Kh][9h]. All over by the turn as PRO UFA flopped the set [8s] [Qc] [2c] [4h] [9s] as CMoosepower finished in 51st place ($ 1,278.32) and Toni Judet took home 50th place money ($ 1,278.32).

 

PRO UFA would parlay those chips into an even deeper run, finishing up in 16th place after failing to get pocket jacks pass the AQo of oogb, collecting $ 2,018.40 for the effort. The action went quickly down to 11 players as 11th and our bubble boy busted out in back-to-back bad beat hands. With the blinds at 40K/80K ante 8K, ALKADYPA opened to 160,995 as Jabracada three-bet from the button to 241,990. A very confident puan29 shoved from the small bet for 882,556 as it folded back to Jabracada who made the call with [Ts][Ks]. Pocket aces [Ad][As] for puan29 may have cringed after the [9h] [Jd] [6c] flop gave Jabracada some life with a gutshot draw. You see where this is going, right? [Qc] on the turn made the straight and the [4h] moot on the river as puan29 took a seat in 11th place ($ 4,036.80).

The very next hand chip leader by a generous amount was trying to bully oogb out of his big blind from the small blind. Shoving for 6.8 million with [4d][8s] ALKADYPA just wanted the blinds, nice and quietly, instead oogb made the call holding the dominate [4h][Ac]. Like the hand that saw puan29 leave, an eight would hit the flop [8c] [6s] [7d] and hold thru the turn and river [Qc] [6h] giving ALKADYPA another 1.7 million chips while pushing oogb to the rail in tenth place ($ 4,036.80).

Seat 1: risk2Dupside (2305613 in chips)

Seat 2: Coxxa (1123752 in chips)

Seat 3: abeainy (889242 in chips)

Seat 4: Jabracada (5141463 in chips)

Seat 5: charoff (5451421 in chips)

Seat 6: drifto88 (2319796 in chips)

Seat 7: LuckyOrel (2319878 in chips)

Seat 8: ALKADYPA (7770522 in chips)

Seat 9: busto_soon (6318313 in chips)
The dog almost gets there again

In a night where pocket pairs fell wayward to two overs, Jabracada finally got a dominating hand to follow-through. With the blinds at 65K/130K ante 13K nearly twenty minutes after the start of the final table, short-stacked Coxxa would shove from the cutoff with [Th][Qd] as Jabracada in the small blind covered, making the call with [Qs][Kd]. The flops hit Jabracada hard with top pair and redraw to a flush [Ks] [Ts] [5s]. But, what’s poker without some sweat? [Td] on the turn gave Coxxa the two-outer and was looking to snag the 2.2 million chip pot. Instead, the [Kc] hit the river with a big splash, giving Jabracada the higher full house and sending Coxxa out in ninth place ($ 5,382.40).
Be nice to your neighbor

Watch Jabracada and charoff sitting next to each other show why fences make good neighbors in the video below:

 

This time Jabracada would be on the defensive after trading bets with charoff and building a 11.1 million chip pot. All-in preflop holding a suited big slick [Ah][Kh] Jabracada was not pleased to see the pocket kings [Ks][Kd] rolled over by charoff. A flopped boat, from the case king on the [Kc] [8d] [8c] [5d] [Qs] board, swiftly ended Jabracada’s night earning $ 8,410.00 in eighth place.
Not so lucky
LuckyOrel may have won ten consecutive coin flips one time and earned the nickname, but it would only take one coin flip to end the tournament tonight. With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K abeainy would shove all-in for 2.02 million from middle position as it folded to LuckyOrel in the big blind holding pocket tens [Tc][Th] and just 1.7 million in chips. LuckyOrel would make the call and flip against the [Qd][Ad] of abeainy. This one started out one-sided and ended the same way as abeainy not only hit the ace [Ac] [3d] [Jd] but also the nut flush draw. The diamonds were unnecessary as the [3c] and [9c] fell to give abeainy the 3.9 million chip pot and knock out (un)Luck yOrel in seventh place ($ 15,138.00).
Upside is going home with a five figure win
As the blinds increased to 100K/200K ante 20K the players got more and more antsy to take care of things preflop. Chip leader charoff who was the only one sitting on an eight figure stack opened for 495,800 as it folded to risk2Dupside in the big blind holding [Ac][Qh]. Holding 3.9 million in chips risk2Dupside shoved hoping to make the chip leader go away or call with a smaller ace. charoff did not have a smaller ace, and nor did he go away, instead snap calling with pocket queens [Qs][Qd]. Nothing fancy or exciting about the [6d] [4d] [3s] [5d] [Tc] board, “standard” as some would say, as the queens held for the eight million chip pot and risk2Dupside was gone in sixth place ($ 21,866.00).
Charoff runs off another
Just seven hands later, drifto88 who has ducked for cover most of the final table decided to take a stand against the chip leader. With the blinds still at 100K/200K ante 20K, drifto88 shoved from the big blind over charoff’s small blind raise to 600,000. Just 503,961 more to call with over 12 million behind charoff made the call showing [6s][5c], slightly behind the [Th][Kc] of drifto88. The flop changed nothing [Ts] [Qc] [5s] as both found a pair. [Kh] on the turn improved drifto88 to two pair leaving just a non five on the river for the 2.3 million chip pot. [5h] planted on the river giving charoff more chips to add to the lead and drifto88 spun off the guardrail in fifth place ($ 28,594.00).
Busto now
Every dog has its day, and tonight was that day as the blinds moved up to 125K/250K ante 25K Busto_soon sitting on the smallest stack shoved 2.9 million from the small blind into abeainy’s big blind holding [5d][Ac]. abeainy produced a smaller kicker [As][4s] but sometimes this ends up as a chopped pot. The four on the door made sure that did not happen as [4d] [2h] [Kh] [2c] [Ad] hit the board and abeainy came from behind to snag the six million chip pot sending busto_soon to busto now in fourth place ($ 38,686.00).
Fortunes change quickly
charoff sat on the chip lead for quite some time until three handed play changed things very quickly. A 15 million chip pot to abeainy, then three hands later with just 1.3 million left charoff was all-in holding big slick against ALKADYPA’s [4d][Qh]. Again, the door card changed everything as a lady sat on the front of the flop [Qd] [5h] [5d] and held through the turn [Tc] and river [Td] knocking out charoff rapidly in third place ($ 55,506.00).
Nearly even for the start of heads-up play
Blinds holding at 125K/250K ante 25K abeainy would enjoy a slight lead of 18.7 million to ALKADYPA’s 14.8 million to kick off heads-up play as ALKADYPA shot down any chop talks determined to play it out for the full $ 105,630.68 going to our champion.
Once in a while the favorite gets there
Watch below as heads-up play would last just seven minutes as the two players get it in preflop:

Blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K, abeainy opened for a standard min-raise from the button as ALKADYPA three-bet to 1.25 million. abeainy was not just on a steal and four-bet to 2.99999 million as ALKADYPA was ready to gamble with [As][7s] shoving in 10.6 million. abeainy held the cooler however and quickly called holding [Ac][Qh]. [9c] [Jd] [8d] on the flop did not help ALKADYPA as a ten would give abeainy the higher straight. [2s] on the turn was not a seven and nor was the [Jh] on the river as abeainy locked up this week’s $ 500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up by winning the full $ 105,630.68!
$ 500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-up results (04-24-11)

1. abeainy (Lebanon) $ 105,630.68

2. ALKADYPA (Russia) $ 78,717.60

3. charoff (Russia) $ 55,506.00

4. busto_soon (Netherlands) $ 38,686.00

5. drifto88 (Canada) $ 28,594.00

6. risk2Dupside (Australia) $ 21,866.00

7. LuckyOrel (Russia) $ 15,138.00

8. Jabracada (United Kingdom) $ 8,410.00

9. Coxxa (Sweden) $ 5,382.40

Today the poker area at the Burlington was packed with side event players and Main Event spectators.

In the late afternoon there were only 2 tables left with Main event survivors. The chip leader was John Eames from the UK who frequently eliminated the players on the featured table.

Titan Poker’s qualifiers Paul Febers from the UK Lorna Lancaster from Canada came back to the tables today relatively short stacked – Lorna had 96,000 and Paul had 69,500. They were seated at the same table – Lorna in seat 2, Paul in seat 5. The starting level was 18th with 3-6K blinds and a 500 ante. The average stack was 236K. Paul Febers soon went all-in in an attempt to double-up with QJ offsuit on the button. A player from MP paid him with K♥10♥ and the BB with Q♠8♠. The board came 33♣5♣24♣. Paul collected €5,900 for 45th place.

 

Lorna, who was ITM at the ECPokerTour Barcelona sponsored by Titan Poker last year, was the last lady in the Irish Open Main Event. She had about the same stack all day with the blinds melting it away and then slightly inflating it after her all-ins with no showdowns. Some hands that she played during today’s levels:

1. She raised to 15K from the button and the BB called. The flop came J♦6♣3♣. She bet 12K and collected the pot.

2. She then went all-in from the SB for 70K a bit later. Her hand was A♦K♦ vs the button’s pocket 8s. The board brought an Ace and Lorna doubled up to 160K.

Interesting players who were sitting at her table later in the day were FullTilt Pro Andy Black on her left and Niall Smyth in seat 5, who finished 11th in the 2009 Irish Open.

During Level 23 (blinds 10-20K, ante 2000) Lorna went all-in for 80K from MP and the BB called. The game was 8-handed and Lorna had A♠10♠ against the BB’s KJo. The board came 3♣A♥K♥39 and Lorna doubled up to 206K. 10 minutes later during the same level John Eames eliminated a player who went all-in pre-flop with A♣9♣. John’s K♥10♥  held up as the board ran JJ8910c (2 clubs). This left us with 12 players – 6 on each table. Lorna Lancaster decided to shove all-in with her AJo before the blinds increase on a 3 Q J board and was up against QQ. She had put her opponent on AK. The turn was an 8 and the river a J.

The last lady standing left the Irish Open Main Event in 12th place taking home €19,400 for her outstanding performance.

The 9 players left in the field will be competing tomorrow for a €550,000 first prize and the prestigious Irish trophy. The current chip-leader is Niall Smyth with 1,900,000 chips.

Titan Poker wishes to congratulate Lorna for her great performance and to wish her many ITMs on Titan and in live events!

If you’ve missed out on your chance to compete at the Burlington this week, make sure to play the qualifiers on Titan Poker  for the next Irish Open

They’re big and they’re daily, so it is no great surprise to see PokerStars has called its exciting new series of daily guaranteed tournaments The Daily Bigs. What has come out of the blue, however, is that playing just a few of them will earn you a free SCOOP ticket. And as you’ll know by now, a SCOOP ticket could be the key to a fortune.

Here’s how it works: play one of The Daily Bigs, which range from $ 11 to $ 109, three times before May 7 to receive a SCOOP ticket of the same value. So, for example, plump for three $ 11 The Daily Bigs and get a SCOOP ticket worth, you guessed it, $ 11. Simple, huh?

The new The Daily Bigs schedule is running now. Here’s how it shapes up:

The Daily Big 22, $ 22, 12:00 ET, $ 25,000 guaranteed

The Daily Big 109, $ 109, 13:00 ET, $ 50,000 guaranteed

The Daily Big 11, $ 11, 14:00 ET, $ 50,000 guaranteed

The Daily Big 55, $ 55, 15:00 ET, $ 100,000 guaranteed

And if those buy-ins are a little steep, or if you like a bargain, satellites are running so you can get in for less.

All this on top of yesterday’s announcement that PokerStars had launched a 50% reload bonus up to $ 200. Get in!

The Daily Bigs show just why PokerStars is the best online poker room for tournament action. And with free SCOOP tickets up for grabs, you’d best get involved. See here for The Daily Bigs promotion page.

SCOOP begins on May 8. For details of the series, which has three buy-in levels for all 38 events, visit the PokerStars.eu SCOOP pages.

Welcome to The Irish Open

It is that great time of the year, when the Irish spring has started and Dublin has welcomed the international poker circuit to the traditional Irish Open tournament once again. Today 615 players started competing for a share of a €1,968,00 prize pool. The event gathered a colorful field as always: well-known industry veterans Jack McClelland, Liam Flood, Devilfish, football star Teddy Sheringham, pros Roberto Romanello, James Akenhed and many of the like.

Titan Poker has 19 online qualifiers and 3 Pro Team members at this year’s Irish Open – Sam Trickett, Florian Desgouttes and new Team member Cristophe Benzimra.

Action room

We are currently at level 8 with 300/600 blinds, 50 ante, 30K average stack and there are 402 players still at the tables. Sam Trickett was at the table with his friend Joel Ettedgi before the dinner break and accumulated a nice stack of 49K. He didn’t get much action and most of his bets did not lead to showdown. Sam engaged in a nice hand during level 3 (blinds 75-150) where he raised to 400 from late position and his opponent re-raised to 1200 from the button. The flop came 7 4 10 rainbow, Sam bet 1400 and the button paid. The turn was a Jh. Sam made a continuation bet and his opponent paid to see a river card of 5♠. Sam went all-in and his opponent smooth-called, then mucked his cards to Sam’s set of 4♠.

After the dinner break Sam changed tables and that did not bring him much luck as he lost a big portion of his stack to a couple of dangerous boards. One of them went like that: Sam called from the SB, flop came A♦6♦7♥, check check, river A♠, Sam

Sam Trickett

bets 800, the button calls and the river comes Q♦. The player on the button bets 1400 and Sam folds.

Christophe Benzimra wasn’t really getting any cards or good situations and got eliminated durin

Florian Desgouttes

g level 7.

Florian is sitting at an interesting table with football player Teddy Sheringham. She just knocked out a player by going all-in pre-flop with AQ. The opponent had K♥J♥ and the board ran 2 8 6 5 6 rainbow. Earlier today he engaged in a hand holding Q6  at the SB. Flop came 2♥4 6. His opponent at UTG1 bet 2500 and Florian called. The turn was a 10 and a continuation bet followed from the UTG player. Florian smooth-called to see a river card J.  He paid the next bet of 8500  and won the pot with 6s vs the other player’s pocket fives.

Some of our Titan Poker qualifiers are still at the tables including Dario Amorelli, Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu and Canadian lady Lorna Lancaster who often qualify for live events through Titan. More updates on their game to follow on Day2. Stay tuned

Dario Amorelli

Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu