Online Poker Directory

Archive for November, 2011

Oh, it’s a video blog! Fun it’s a bit out of date as I’m no longer playing WPT Prague & WPT Venice in December but glgl to those who are! You can qualify to these events on PartyPoker.

Hello, again, followers of top-level, big buy-in, no-limit hold’em tournament online action. The $ 1,050 weekly event known as the Super Tuesday reconvened this evening at PokerStars with a healthy-sized group of 379 players vying for this week’s title.

That group created a $ 379,000 prize pool — well over twice the tourney’s $ 150K guarantee — which the top 45 finishers would be dividing. And the winner would take the biggest cut, worth $ 73,336.50 barring any final table deals.

A handful of representatives of Team PokerStars joined the fray this week, including Liv Boeree, Andre Akkari, Ana Marquez, Pat Pezzin, and Team Online member Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez. However, all had already hit the virtual rail by the time the field had been trimmed to 100 players, at which point CesarSPA, yadio, and Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee sat atop the counts.

It was shortly after the tourney had crossed the five-hour mark when the bubble finally burst, with Mohsin “sms9231″ Charania knocking out awswa in 46th. By then yadio had pushed in front with more than 172,000, with Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young next with nearly 140,000, and “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee hovering just below 100,000 in third.

A little over an hour later there were 18 left gathered around two tables, with yadio still in front with more than 269,000, nearly 100k ahead of Dan “danloulou” Smyth in second. MacPhee was still there, too, in seventh, with lb6121 in ninth, and Bryn Kenney lurking with a below-average stack. Also still alive was lermonad — who won the Super Tuesday back in August — though with the shortest of stacks in 18th.

Stacks were still relatively deep, so it would take more than an hour-and-a-half for the field to be cut down to just 10. Eliminations during that stretch included jfrankfurt (18th), lermonad (17th), and Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee (16th), each of whom earned $ 3,790; Willy Banaan (15th), ThijsRemie (14th), and Bryn Kenney (13th), netting them $ 4,737.50 each; and rusure?1 (12th) and Javier “anguila” Etayo (11th), both of whom took $ 5,685.

Finally yadio knocked out Dan “danloulou” Smyth in 10th ($ 5,685) after they got all the latter’s chips in the middle once Smyth had flopped middle pair to yadio’s top pair. Smyth actually turned two pair in the hand, but got counterfeited on the river, setting up the final nine.

Seat 1: Sghango — 114,552

Seat 2: scareface263 — 73,702

Seat 3: moffo47 — 140,892

Seat 4: Jymaster11 — 112,346

Seat 5: sms9231 — 85,486

Seat 6: dev209 — 247,333

Seat 7: schIizzer — 328,018

Seat 8: yadio — 557,247

Seat 9: lb6121 — 235,424

That hand with Smyth enabled yadio to increase his chip lead to start the final table, his stack well ahead of nearest challengers schlizzer, dev209, and lb6121. Meanwhile Mohsin “sms9231″ Charania and scareface263 were on the short stacks, both hovering around the 20 BB-mark with the blinds 2,000/4,000.

It would take more than a half-hour for the first final table elimination, during which time the short stacks held steady but lib6121 dropped to just over 58,000 chips. With the blinds up to 3,200/6,400, lb6121 open-shoved that stack from the button with [Ac][2d], but scareface263 woke up with [Ad][Tc] in the big blind and called. The board ran out [3s][6c][Kc][9d][Qc], and lb6121 was out in ninth.

They’d moved to Level 32 (900/3,600/7,200) when Sghango opened with a min-raise to 14,400 from UTG. It folded around to dev209 on the button who reraised all in for 99,733, the blinds got out, and Sghango quickly called.

Sghango showed [Kd][Ks], better than dev209′s [Jh][Jc]. And five cards later — [7d][8d][2s][Tc][5h] — Sghango’s kings were still best, ending dev209′s run in eighth.

Meanwhile, yadio continued with the pressure, increasing his chip stack up over 700,000. Then came a big hand between yadio and Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young in which the pair jockeyed their way to the turn on a jack-high board, at which point Jymaster11 would think a bit before calling a yadio raise-shove.

yadio showed [Qs][Js] for top pair, but Jymaster11 had [As][Jh] for the same pair with a better kicker. One card later Young was pushing 600,000, having seized the chip lead. Take a look:

RSS readers click through to see replay
Soon after that one, Sghango open-shoved all in for 175,263 from the SB and got called by scareface263 in the BB. Sghango showed [Ac][Qd] and scareface263 [5s][5c]. The flop and turn were okay for scareface263, coming [3h][Kd][Kc][3c], but the [Qc] river paired Sghango, eliminating scareface263 in seventh.

The remaining half-dozen pushed on for another half-hour, at the end of which stretch moffo47 had slipped to less than 35,000. All of it went in from UTG with [9h][5h] for moffo47, and Sghango called from the big blind with [Ah][Tc]. The flop paired Sgangho twice — coming [Td][7h][Ad]. The turn was the [5d], hitting moffo47 and offering slim hope, but the river was the [Qs] and moffo47 was knocked out in sixth.

Play continued through the tenth hour, with yadio again pushing back out in front and Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young falling back. Young appeared doomed at one point, all in with [Ac][Js] before the flop against sms9231′s [Qd][Qh]. But one jack fell on the flop and another came on the river to save Jymaster11.

Soon after that Jymaster11 was min-raising to 24,000 from UTG and got one caller in Sghango from the big blind. The flop came [Ah][4s][Qs] and Sghango checked. Jymaster11 bet 26,875, and Sghango called. Both then checked the [4c] turn. The river brought the [5c]. Sghango led this time for 63,387, Jymaster11 raised all in for 208,601, and Sghango called with the 82,595 he had remaining. Sghango had [Ad][5d] for aces and fives, but Young had a full house with [As][Ac], sending Sghango railward in fifth.

RSS readers click through to see replay
Soon they’d reach the 10-hour break, with Jymaster11 now in front with 590,481, schlizzer having moved into second with 520,637, yadio next with 401,784, and sms9231 fourth with 382,098. Soon after their return, however, Jymaster11′s prospects for taking this week’s Super Tuesday would dim rapidly.

After four quiet hands, the blinds were 6,000/12,000 when Jymaster11 opened for 24,000 from the button. sms9231 folded, then schlizzer raised to 55,696 from the big blind. Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young reraised to 499,999 — more than the 439,441 schlizzer had left — and schlizzer quickly called, tabling [Ks][Kh] to Jymaster11′s [7h][7d]. The kings held, and suddenly Young was fourth of four with 129,844.

Five more innocuous hands followed, then it was yadio open-raising all in from the small blind and Jymaster11 calling with the 138,844 left in his stack from the BB. yadio showed but [7c][4d] while Jymaster11 had picked up [Ad][Th]. But the [Ks][4c][5d] swung the advantage to yadio, and after the [9h] turn and [3s] river, Young had been swiftly dispatched in fourth.

Just a few minutes later, Mohsin “sms9231″ Charania opened for the minimum of 28,000 from the button and yadio called from the big blind. The flop came monotone — [8c][6c][5c] — and yadio checked. Charania continued for 29,000, then yadio raised to 84,384. sms9231 responded with a shove for 338,044, and yadio called.

yadio had [Ac][2h] for the nut flush draw and an over, while sms9231 had [Kc][8s] for the lesser flush draw and a pair of eights. The turn was the [2c], bringing yadio the flush and making the [6s] river no matter. Charania was out in third.

Heads-up began with the two remaining players fairly even in chips, with schlizzer leading with 1,008,949 to yadio’s 886,051. yadio would grab the lead, however, in a hand in which he rivered two pair to claim a 600,000-plus chip pot. yadio would take an even bigger pot shortly after that by making a big river call with third pair versus schlizzer’s busted nut flush draw.

That one put yadio up over 1.53 million to schlizzer’s 356,355, and a half-dozen hands later the end finally came.

The blinds were 8,000/16,000 when yadio opened for 32,000 from the button, schlizzer shoved for 378,355, and yadio called. schlizzer had [Ah][6s] and had the slight preflop edge versus yadio’s [Kh][Js]. But the flop came [Jh][2c][5s] to put yadio in front. The turn was the [Td] and river the [7s], and all of the chips slid yadio’s way.

RSS readers click through to see replay
Congratulations to yadio for taking down this week’s Super Tuesday and a nifty $ 76K-plus score!

Super Tuesday results for 11/29/11:

1st: yadio ($ 76,045.50)

2nd: schlizzer ($ 56,985)

3rd: sms9231 ($ 43,230)

4th: Jymaster11 ($ 31,267)

5th: Sghango ($ 21,603)

6th: moffo47 ($ 16,676)

7th: scareface263 ($ 12,886)

8th: dev209 ($ 9,096)

9th: lib6121 ($ 6,632.50)

As mentioned, it was a big field for tonight’s Super Tuesday. But there will be an even bigger one this Sunday, December 4th. In fact, it might be the biggest ever. It’s the PokerStars 10th Anniversary World Record Tournament, with just a $ 1 buy-in and a prize pool guarantee of $ 250,000! See here for details.

Online poker is currently illegal in the United States. Efforts are being made to regulate the game both at state and federal levels, but nothing substantial has yet been pushed towards legislation.

There are many parallels between the ban on online poker and the years of Prohibition in the 1920s. Business has been diverted from legitimate operations to underground and/or foreign operators. Instead of protecting consumers, government actions have infringed on the rights of citizens to decide what to do in the privacy of their homes and how to interact with society.

In both cases, the bans became increasingly unpopular and advocates of change emphasized that repeal would generate enormous amounts of much needed tax revenue.

Former Senator and poker advocate Alphonse D’Amato told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade last month, “The problem that we have now seems to me very parallel to what we had in Prohibition. Billions of dollars that today flow across our borders and onto offshore websites could be kept here… yielding billions of dollars in revenue for the federal government, all without having to raise taxes.”

“We’re well behind the rest of the world,” said D’Amato. “If we do nothing, [the problem] will grow and we will have no opportunity to fix it.”

Advocates of legalizing online poker in the United States argue that not only would the move generate income through taxation, it would also create jobs in the U.S.

Working within the law, regulators would be able to prevent gambling abuse, money laundering, and underage gambling.

D’Amato, speaking on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance, concluded his testimony to Congress by stating, “For over a century, poker has been a reflection of America’s entrepreneurial and competitive spirit and has been a positive ambassador of our culture throughout the globe. Over the years, the way people play the game has changed and, like other recreational activities, more and more are turning to the Internet to enjoy this pastime.

“I urge this committee and this Congress to swiftly enact federal policy that ensures American consumers have a safe and secure marketplace in which to play this game of skill over the Internet.”

Time and time again while watching the final few tables of the Sunday Majors you will see familiar names pop up. Tonight’s $ 500,000 Sunday Warm-Up was no exception as the $ 215 buy-in tournament started with 3,535 runners but two of them reaching the final table already tasted the big prizes previously and were looking for even more.

Four Team PokerStars pros would find themselves breaking the 540 player bubble as Humberto Brenes 405th place $ 325.22 Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby 340th place $ 367.64, Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth 149th place $ 707.00 all cashed this evening.

But they trailed the lovely Liv Boeree who was trying to equal her victory in this tournament back in February but instead settled for earning $ 1,272.60 in 62nd place.

 

 

Down to 11 left Vingtcent, looking for yet another Sunday majors and Sunday Warm-up final table, would find a lucky jack with [Ac][Jc] to overcome Jagz7′s big slick [As][Kd] as a jack hit the door [Jh] [2c] [8s] [9h] [Td] for a massive 8.3 million chip pot with blinds at 50K/100K ante 10K. Jagz7 luck would not change soon hitting the door himself in 11th place ($ 4,242.00).

Two minutes later with hand-for-hand in play on the opposite table, Hustlaaaaaa found a bet he could not win. With the blinds moved up to 65K/130K ante 13K Hustlaaaaaa would open shove from UTG for 1.22 million as Mammola did the same from the button for a little more. Big slick [Ad][Kh] was more kind to Mammola than Jagz7 as Hustlaaaaaa’s [As][7d] would not catch up on the [5h] [4c] [Ac] [Jd] [9d] board sending Hustlaaaaaa to the cash games in tenth place ($ 4,242.00) and starting up our final table below:

Seat 1: Taskenspillr (1142404 in chips)

Seat 2: rocgold (3009713 in chips)

Seat 3: ANIMAL5050 (1656418 in chips)

Seat 4: Clutch Hero (4558089 in chips)

Seat 5: Vingtcent (9073474 in chips)

Seat 6: Mammola (3976536 in chips)

Seat 7: dynamoM (1708768 in chips)

Seat 8: Adrian900123 (7299737 in chips)

Seat 9: vincelis (2924861 in chips)

Twice we would see all-ins with Vingcent involved during the opening level of 65K/130K ante 13K and twice both players had big slick and ended up chopping the pot as all nine would move on to the 80K/160K ante 16K level.
Animal style

With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K ANIMAL5050 found a spot to open shove a small stack of 1.01 million from the button, but Clutch Hero in the small blind reshoved hoping to shutout the chip leader Vingtcent. That play succeeded as Vingtcent folded and Clutch Hero had the lead holding [Ac][6s] against ANIMAL5050′s [2h][Ad]. Having the higher kicker was not enough for Clutch Hero who scored trips on the turn and a flush by the river [Kc] [6c] [5c] [6h] [8c] to tame ANIMAL5050 in ninth place ($ 5,656.00). Vingtcent is not the only player with Sunday Warm-Up final table experience as ANIMAL5050 scored $ 92K last year in this very tournament.
Best hand comes in third

Just four hands later Mammola, Taskenspillr, and Vingtcent would all shove preflop. Who wins? Check out the lovely river card below:

Vingtcent was looking healthy to deliver a double knockout with the board reading [2h] [6s] [7c] [5s] and holding pocket kings [Kd][Kh] but the powerful kings would fall as the [4s] completed a straight for Taskenspillr and a flush [Js][As] for Mammola who covered Taskenspillr and scooped the 7.7 million chip pot, ending Taskenspillr’s night in eighth place ($ 8,837.50). Despite losing the big pot, Vingtcent still retained the chip lead.
No mo’ dynamo

Three hands later with the blinds still at 80K/160K ante 16K, another short stack dynamoM with just 1.2 million open shoved and found a caller in vincelis in the cutoff. Pocket kings cost Vingtcent a sizable pot, but [Kh][Kc] for vincelis was able to out run the [Ks][Tc] of dynamoM on the [2s] [6c] [2d] [7c] [9d] board for our third elimination in under five minutes. dynamoM would find $ 15,907.50 deposited in his PokerStars bankroll for seventh place.
Not the Tim Tebow of poker

While Tim Tebow continues to amaze American Football fans with late game heroics, Clutch Hero tried to come through in poker’s version of clutch time, the final table. As blinds moved up to 100K/200K ante 20K and precious seconds tick off the clock, Clutch Hero trying to take home that $ 110,999.00 first prize with a shove from the button to 4.06 million over a min-raise from Adrian900123. But, the blinds would have a say first and Mammola in the big blind re-shoved covering Clutch Hero’s bet as Adrian900123 took a spectator’s seat. Pocket queens [Qs][Qc] for Mammola and Clutch Hero would need some late game magic with [Tc][Ah]. The flopped ace looked tepid next to the queen [5h] [Qh] [As] [4h] [Jd] as the set of ladies sent Clutch Hero to the locker room in sixth place ($ 22,977.50).

A quick attempt at a five-way chop broke out but Vingtcent with great success in the Sunday Tournaments wanted a little more than the rest of the table was willing to give despite slipping to second place behind Mammola. After table could not bump Vingtcent up to a $ 75K share of the pot, play continued with 100K/200K ante 20K blinds.
Not bluffing here, or there, or anywhere, so beware

The hand that may propel Vingtcent to victory tonight started with his raise to 525,000 and blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K. Mammola bumped it to 1.45 million as Vingtcent shoved all-in for 9.27 million in a dance between the two chip leaders. Mammola took a few moment to make the call holding [Qs][Ah] as Vingtcent showed a better kicker [Ac][Ks]. The king would play on the [2s] [8h] [2d] [9s] [7s] board knocking Mammola down to 1.3 million as the 19 million chip pot slid to Vingtcent. Watch a replay below:

Mammola would battle back to over four million chips and as the blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K, Mammola would give those hard earned chips to Vingtcent again. Shoving from the hijack seat with pocket sevens [7d][7s], Vingtcent patiently waited in the big blind with pocket aces [As][Ad]. The jackpot third seven never hit the [6h] [6d] [9c] [Qh] [Kc] board and Mammola finished in fifth place ($ 30,047.50).

An attempt at a chop was quickly put in and just as quickly taken out by Vingtcent but over the next 10 hands Vingtcent’s huge lead would vanish after doubling up Adrian900123 twice and vincelis.
Got Roc’d

Blinds holding at 150K/300K ante 30K and the massive chip leader seemingly in a tailspin after three straight double-ups left Vingtcent with fewer than four million chips, he finally pulled up and doubled up with pocket nines to Adrian900123′s pocket eights. Then, after a few more hands rocgold shoved 5.5 million from the small blind holding [9d][Ac] and again Vingtcent woke up with aces [Ah][As] in the big blind. A nine on the turn was the only threat [2s] [3c] [Js] [9c] [Kh] as Vingtcent collected the 11.7 million chip pot knocking out rocgold in fourth place ($ 40,652.50).
No six figure win tonight, but three very happy players

With the chip figures smoothed out, Adrian9000123 and vincelis gave up a small portion to Vingtcent and the three way deal below was complete (leaving $ 10,000.00 for the champ).

Vingtcent $ 84,498.06

Adrian900123 $ 80,000.21

vincelis $ 77,547.23
Three becomes a crowd

After our final three started to dance the night away through two different blind levels, they did not seem like it would ever end. But, finally after Adrian900123 took a sizable 20.8 million chip pot from vincelis when both held top pair, vincelis needed a little push to get those chips back. With the blinds at 250K/500K ante 50K the push was actually a good call. Holding just [Ks][2d] vincelis would call the bullying small blind shove by Adrian900123 holding [Qs][9h] but a queen on the flop [Qd] [8d] [2s] [Jd] [8c] would ship the 15.8 million chip pot to Adrian900123 eliminating vincelis in third ($ 77,547.23).
WCOOP and Sunday Warm-up Champ?

2011 WCOOP Event #31 champ Vingtcent would need a lot of luck and some cards to overcome the 5.6 million to 29.7 million chip deficit as this was his second chance to claim another major title. Four minutes into the match despite a double up, Adrian900123 would deny Vingtcent of the title.

Vingtcent said “this is my lucky hand, I think I have to call this” while facing a call for his stack with 6.6 million chips. Holding [Qc][Tc] Vingtcent made the call facing the ace [Ah][2c] of Adrian900123. No ace, no queen, no ten, no suckouts as both players missed the [5s] [9h] [3s] [5c] [6c] board completely shipping the extra $ 10K and the Sunday Warm-Up title to Adrian900123!
$ 500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up results (11-27-11):

(* denotes part of three-way deal)

1. Adrian900123 (Romania) *$ 90,000.21

2. Vingtcent (Netherlands) *$ 84,498.06

3. vincelis (Lithuania) *$ 77,547.23

4. rocgold (Romania) $ 40,652.50

5. Mammola (Canada) $ 30,047.50

6. Clutch Hero (Japan) $ 22,977.50

7. dynamoM (Russia) $ 15,907.50

8. Taskenspillr (Norway) $ 8,837.50

9. ANIMAL5050 (Costa Rica) $ 5,656.00

4:42pm: Back in action

The players are back in their seats for more action. Settle in, we’re here for a long night. Staying with us, at least for now, is Randy “nanonoko” Lew from PokerStars Team Online, the only remaining horse from the Big Red Spade stables. –BW

Randy Lew

As Americans celebrate their Thanksgiving holiday, it’s worth mentioning that people can get fat on more than just turkey today. That’s because Carbon Poker is running some excellent promotions right now including 2X VIP Points, Fat & Slim Stack tourneys, and the $ 20,000 Tourney King. Here is a look at each one of these Carbon Poker promotions in-depth:

2X VIP Points - One of the most popular promotions that Carbon Poker has ran in November is the 2X VIP Points promo. With this deal, poker players can earn double VIP points by playing MTT’s and SNG’s on Monday and Tuesday in November. Seeing as how there’s only one week left in November, make sure to play poker this coming Monday and Tuesday so that you can get the double points. And don’t forget that you can buy into poker tournaments, purchase merchandise from the Carbon Poker store, and get real money with your VIP points.

Fat & Slim Stack Tourneys - This month was very exciting for Carbon Poker players since Fat & Slim Stack tournaments were unveiled on Fridays. With Fat Stack tournaments, you get a starting chip stack of $ 1 million, and the blinds levels move up rather slowly at every 10 minutes (levels start at 25k/50k). As for Slim Stack tournaments, you only get 10 chips to start with, and the blind levels go up every 2 minutes (levels start at 0.5/1).

$ 20k Tourney King - Regulars at Carbon Poker are quite familiar with the Tourney King promotion since this leaderboard promo runs every month, and awards $ 20,000 total to both a High Limit and Low Limit Leaderboard. All you need to do to move up the Tourney King ranks is earn VIP points throughout the month by playing real money cash games and poker tournaments. The winner of the High Limit Leaderboard receives $ 3,000, while the Low Limit Leaderboard winners gets $ 1,800.

Dennis McCartney, known online by his nickname “Drilling100″, was one of Titan Poker’s twelve-player delegation at the Irish Winter Festival recently staged in Dublin. Although Dennis bumped out of the Main Event in 85^th place, short of the money, he had a better showing in the €200+€20 Pot Limit Omaha Side Event.

“I never got enough traction to increase my chipstack,” Dennis said of his gameplay in the Main Event. As for the Omaha tournament, he said “it was fun and we had a ball. As I mentioned, I ended up second!” 

Dennis won €2,510 for his second place finish. We talked to Dennis about his experiences at the Irish Winter Festival, Omaha Poker, and his poker playing around the world.

 

 Q: Was it difficult to win your Irish Winter Festival seat at Titan Poker?

A: I can’t say that any poker game is easy to win, unless one gets dealt the best cards. I tried on several occasions via the Titan feeder satellites and just kept missing the cut. I already had purchased the airline tickets and made hotel reservations, so I gave it one more try by buying directly into the final satellite. Believe me, it was a challenge, however, a challenge that yielded fruitful results. If that wouldn’t have happened, I would have purchased the entrance ticket for the Irish Winter Festival on my own.

Q: Was the competition difficult in the Irish Winter Festival?

A: The competition was no less difficult than the online version. Even though I could not get any traction, I still ended up in the top 25%. By the way, difficult does not mean stressful. As a matter of fact, win or lose, I believe my overall health improves after a tournament with the correct rest and food intake.

Q: Was finishing 2nd in the Omaha Side Event your biggest live poker achievement?

A: I’ve finished in the money at several live events, however, only one other was a major event like the Irish Winter Festival. I ‘might’ have made a come from behind victory as, on reflection due to a number of factors, I just ran out of steam.

Q: You played both Texas Hold’em and Omaha in Dublin. Which do you prefer?

A: Well, I most likely prefer each equally. If I’m not doing well in one, I’ll move to the other. Please keep in mind that I play mostly freezeout tournaments. I’m not a ‘professional’ and therefore have limited resources. I enjoy playing against professionals and have met several over the years. I view the poker setting as another form of social interaction, and I’ve not been disappointed so far. My wife accompanies me to many tournaments and sometimes plays herself. In Dublin she preferred to sight see and go shopping.

Q: When did you first begin playing poker?

A: A long time ago when I was nine or ten on a fishing boat. I still remember the game and hand that I lost. It was Seven Card Stud. I had scraped together two or three dollars to play with the men. The first hand I played I had three aces and lost to a straight.

Q: What have you done to improve your poker skills?

A: I read poker articles, poker books, play every week on Thursday nights with the local crew, play online and play in live tournaments.

Q: What is your advice for new poker players?

A: Oh! First, I would say to get as much education as you can with the emphasis on money, finances and accounting. Then, study as much about poker as time allows. Finally, make a determination if you want to keep poker as a hobby, or, try and make it a profession. My wife and I have had fantastic times while I played poker (and, sometimes she has, as well), in Warsaw, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Rimini, Namur, Saint Amand les-Eau, Knokke, Foxwoods, Atlantic City and Las Vegas. I can actually say that I’ve been in the money in all of those places. This is not to say that I’ve cashed big money. But, anything that defrays some or all of the costs, like in Dublin, is well worth it!

Q: Will we see you on our team at the 2012 World Series of Poker?

A: That would be a dream come true!!!!!! The past several years I almost bought in directly, but, each year spent the money on other necessary projects.

This year I am making special arrangements for the chef at Nobu to deliver exclusive room service for my faithful hound Zasko at Crown in Melbourne. Patrik Antonius only drinks Fiji Water – Zasko goes mad if anybody gives him water that isn’t Evian – he can taste the difference. His brother TJ is the same.

Qualify for the Aussie Millions at PartyPoker.com, it’s one of the greatest tournaments in the world, don’t just take my word for it. It really is as good as they say and you get me at the welcome dinner!

I wasn’t initially looking to go to WPT Prague on December 1st but the more I hear about the tournament and the city, the more I am convinced it will be a feast. It has been a few weeks now since Jungleman challenged the world to a heads-up game for 100k. You know me, I think the challenge is a great idea – anything to bring excitement and a buzz to the poker world has to be welcomed. However, as i have said from the start there needs to be some sort of incentive to do this – Cates really needs to dangle a carrot.

If the conditions were right i would do this as i say in the video below. I have heard Jungleman would struggle with the live environment and a bit of table talk – i think i would have an edge. I made a mistake earlier in the year playing the Isildur challenge – I cannot beat these kids online when they are sat in the dark with forty screens but in the live environment it isn’t dark and there are not forty screens and hundreds of mouse clicks every minute. I just need the right offer. Is there a winners bonus – is there a bet? As Yevgeniy and Sorel say in the video there needs to be more.

Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates I am waiting to hear if you can make an offer. If not me, why don’t you play Sam Trickett? I suspect people would like to see how he takes to jungle life more than me!

Team Germany defeated competitors from ten other countries and from the Zynga online gaming company to win the inaugural International Federation of Poker (IFP) Nation Cup event in London. The event was played as Duplicate Poker, with each table of players receiving the exact same hand as that dealt at the other tables and players awarded points based on how they played.

Team Titan’s Sam Trickett played on the unsuccessful United Kingdom team, which was captained by Barny Boatman and included Jake Cody, James Akenhead, JP Kelly, and Liv Boeree.

The IFP Nations Cup took place in London as part of the London Mind Sports Festival. Germany won the event with 24 points, finishing ahead of Brazil and France that both ended up with 22 points. There were no cash prizes awarded to the winning team, just the national pride of being the best.

The winning German team included Stephan Kalhammer, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Moritz Kranich, Hans Martin Vogl, Sandra Naujoks, and Tobias Reinkemeier.

The U.S. team was led by Barry Greenstein and included Vanessa Selbst, Antionio Esfandiari, Matt Matros, Ali Eslami, Jennifer ‘Jennicide’ Leigh, and Isaac Haxton. Other nations taking part included Spain, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, Japan and Denmark.

The Nations Cup is being followed by The Table, a $ 500,000 invitational freeroll to be played by regular no-limit Texas Hold’em rules with a field of 130 including celebrities and poker’s top professionals. According to its organizers, the winner of The Table will be crowned Official World Champion of Poker.

The IFP was established in Lausanne, Switzerland, in April, 2009, and considers itself to be poker’s official governing body. Its goal is stated as the promotion of poker and its duplicate version as a “mind sport without any discrimination as to race, sex, creed, or disability; and to reinforce the element of skill involved, as well as the talent and determination required to succeed.”

According to the IFP, “Duplicate Poker is intended to reduce random chance and allow skill to flourish.”  While this year’s World Championship was an invite only event, the IFP promises that “next year’s Championship will be open to all players from around the world.”