Online Poker Directory

Archive for April, 2012

Marvin Rettenmaier scored two cashes at high roller poker tournaments this month, but his Team Titan teammate Sam Trickett busted out of the European Poker Tour’s highest buy-in tournament ever. The World Series of Poker announced a $ 1 million buy-in bracelet event this summer, while the Asian Poker Tour staged the Manila Millions.

What’s up with high roller and super high roller tournaments? Why are the top poker players attracted to play them at such high entry costs?

Marvin Rettenmaier finished in 5th place in the €9,700 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Event at WPT Vienna for a payout of €25,670. This week he finished in 3rd place in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin €10,000 High Roller event. Marvin didn’t cash in the Main Events staged in Vienna and Berlin.

Sam Trickett canceled his plans to travel to Manila to play the Manila Millions, the high roller event staged as part of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines 2012, and which was the highest buy-in tournament ever to take place in Asia. Instead, Sam traveled to Monte Carlo to play the Monte Carlo EPT Super High Roller a €100,000 buy-in event. Unfortunately, Sam busted out on the first day of the event, long before the money was reached.

Meanwhile, the World Series of Poker will stage a charity event called the BIG ONE for ONE DROP, this summer as part of the WSOP schedule. The event will feature a $ 1 million buy-in and has already attracted 30 committed participants. Even though the event will raise a significant amount for the ONE DROP charity organization, which fights poverty by promoting worldwide access to water, a huge prizepool will be available to the winning players. First prize is expected to take home well over $ 12,000,000, which will be the highest poker prize ever.

What attracts poker players to these high roller events, especially the super high roller events with exorbitant buy-ins?

The playing fields at high roller events are small, and even though the starting chip stack is high, the tournament lasts a more management length of time in comparison to a Main Event. The prizes are very lucrative, so even if a player must pay a high buy-in, his finish could result in a huge winning. And finally, although the high roller events attract some of the best-known poker professionals, in many cases, and certainly in the super high roller events, some of the participants are not good poker players at all, giving a huge advantage to a skilled professional.

Last year, Sam Trickett placed 2nd in the Aussie Millions $ 250,000 Super High Roller and took first place in the Aussie Millions $ 100,000 Challenge. The playing fields were small, but the huge cash prizes Sam won (nearly $ 3 million in total), propelled him into the ranks of the top poker players in the world.

It’s back folks and with a $ 3.5 million guaranteed prize pool this is one event you won’t want to miss. But wait it gets event better with a $ 1 million main event, and 47 tournaments plus so many multiple side events you won’t believe. And on top of all this we’ll be handing out some jackpot prizes that include $ 50,000 cash, iPads, iPods and a $ 14,000 WSOP 2012 package. Read how to qualify here!

Pokerfest II Jackpots

Win any three Pokerfest II tournaments = $ 20,000 + WSOP* 2012 package worth $ 14,000

Final table in any 10 Pokerfest II tournaments = $ 15,000 + iPad

Final table in any five Pokerfest II tournaments = $ 7,500 + iPad

Finish in the money in any 20 Pokerfest II tournaments = $ 5,000 + iPad

Finish in the money in any 10 Pokerfest II tournaments = $ 2,500 + iPad

Read more about our Jackpots here!

A lot to play for!

All of this fun starts on 22nd April, 2012 and runs all the way through to the 6th of May! Where we’ll see a Grand Final with a $ 1Million Guaranteed to play for! Here are a few events you won’t want to miss!

Event #2 – $ 2,000 prize pool – 20 points buy-in

Event #23 – $ 350,000 guaranteed – $ 215 buy-in (qualify from $ 2.50)

Event #46 – $ 50,000 guaranteed – $ 33 buy-in

Event #47 – $ 1 million guaranteed main event – $ 640 buy-in (qualify from $ 1)

This was almost the story of a Canadian pro finally winning an EPT title. Instead, it’s the story of the first Triple Crown winner crowned on EPT soil (only the fifth ever), as Davidi Kitai displayed considerable focus and panache to win the EPT Berlin title and a first prize of €712,000. It’s also marks the first win for a Belgian after eight seasons on the tour.

As the heads-up contest started few doubted that that Kitai, 32, and Chen, 24, would be concerned with the €80,000 left on the table after a two-way deal (merely food and lodging for next week’s furlough to Monaco). It was the title they wanted; Chen, the type of player it’s hard to believe hasn’t already won an EPT title; while for Kitai it’s the next landmark on a low-profile yet highly successful career trajectory.

David KitaiChen led first, then Kitai, but they matched each other punch for punch until Kitai pulled off a showreel call. Perhaps the clues were there earlier in the day.

Railing Kitai from the rail was Ilan Boujenah, himself a finalist in Madrid, who said that Kitai doesn’t come second or third, for him it’s first or nothing. “I told you,” he grinned later, as Kitai extended his lead, ultimately taking the crown. He was right.

Kitai on the way to the title“I feel really great,” said Kitai, not known as a man of many words. “It’s amazing. I didn’t expect to beat that field. It’s great. I feel really good.”

When Andrew Chen wakes up tomorrow he may not blink the sleep away and ask himself how it all went wrong. He’s too unruffled for that. He may not wake up after a night of consolatory debauchery; the debris of 51 rum and cokes stacked inexplicably at the end of the bed. He’s too composed for that. He may not even look back at all on what was a near-perfect week. He’s too self-assured for that.

Andrew ChenRegardless of what Chen thinks, the poker community will drink to another impeccable performances from the Canadian, who remains an EPT champion elect. Surely he will not be waiting much longer.

Chen in actionThe day started with the departure of Pratyush Buddiga, another name worth noting, who was sent to the rail by momentary chip leader Bahadir Kilickeser. Kilickeser himself would run out of momentum in fifth place, forced out by Chen who would use his chips for an assault on Kitai, but not before Marc Wright went out in seventh and Cesar Garcia from Spain departed in sixth.

Pratyush Buddiga, out in eight, also won the Skrill “last longer” promotionFor Wright it was an impressive debut, a result that would have been even more significant had the experience of a few more EPTs under his belt. For Garcia’s part, Spain will have to wait at least another week for their first champion.

Out in seventh, Marc WrightMario Puccini would be eliminated in fourth place, removed by Kitai who had surged to the lead early, never allowing his advantage to wane all the way to his heads-up contest with Chen. Andre Morath assumed the role of the overachiever on the day. Limited to premium hands, he folded, literally, having laddered into third, setting up a great heads-up exhibition.

Third place finisher Andre MorathChen started with the advantage, having seized Morath’s chips. But a key hand would swing the advantage irrevocably back to the Belgian.

Kitai opened for 350,000 with king-five of clubs, and called when Chen three-bet to 900,000 with king-jack off-suit. Both missed the deauce-queen-eight flop at which Chen bet a further 615,000; called by Kitai. Chen then bet the four on the turn – 1,480,000 this time – for a five on the river.

Now Chen shoved, sending Kitai into the tank; an 11 million chip bet that would cost Kitai everything to call. When he made his decision it was to do just that, a miracle call.

On the way…Kitai smiled, not quite believing he’d pulled off such a magnificent play. Chen couldn’t help but smile either. That moment alone spoke of the spirit these two played with, both old-timers of the tour, both reaching their third final, both understanding exactly what all this fuss meant to them.

“I guess he owned me,” said Chen, collecting €613,000 as runner-up. “He said that he was going to call a lot of rivers which seems insane. It’s really hard to say much about a hand like that.

“I was certainly going to shove a lot of rivers and it’s just a shame he hit a five. In a way he three-outed me. I hope that it’s presented on TV that way rather than him just catching me bluffing.”

But it’s Kitai who lifted the trophy, collecting the seat at the EPT Grand Final and the Shamballa bracelet from official sponsor Shamballa Jewels, to the applause of the ever present French-speaking rail, as Chen, still smiling, shrugged off any suggestion of defeat, leaving the limelight for Triple Crown winning Kitai.

Champion KitaiFor details of every step along the way check out the coverage on our live coverage page. Features from all aspects of the day, including side events, can be found at the links below.

• Final eight competing for first prize of 825,000 Euros

 

• Not until an hour from now…
• Good player, good coach, but Buddiga falls short
• Mickey Petersen on Andrew Chen
• Romanello picking up PoY points with a week to go…
• Mario “Pokerccini” Puccini powering through his second final table
• Blom busts €10,000 High Roller in seventh
• French speaking pros at it again after memorable season
• All quiet on the Berlin front as final goes heads-up
• Moorman leading high roller, ElkY chasingThere remains only one more event to play on this eight season of the European Poker Tour and you won’t have long to wait for it. The Berlin leg ends tonight, but the first event in The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final (a name sure to catch on) begins on Monday, the €100,000 Super High Roller getting things started before the main event begins on Tuesday, all of which you’ll find coverage of on the PokerStars Blog.All roads now lead to MonacoUntil then, thanks for following the coverage from Berlin. Take tomorrow off and we’ll see you on Monday. Here’s Davidi Kitai…

Just recently, we covered how Carbon Poker mutli-table players are receiving $ 20,000 in monthly leaderboard prizes through Tourney King. And what’s great is that the leaderboard cash doesn’t end here because Carbon Poker also pays out another $ 12,000 in monthly prizes to SNG players. If you play SNG’s and you’re interested in earning a share of the $ 12k that’s given out each month, here is a look at the details you need to know:

Basics of the Carbon Poker SNG Leaderboard

Every sit and go that you play at Carbon will earn you points towards the previously mentioned leaderboard. And you’ll not only receive points for regular SNG’s, but also for satellite and bounty SNG’s too. Points are distributed based on a special formula that takes into account your placing in SNG’s along with your finish. For instance, if you finish first in a $ 10 + $ 1 sit and go, you’re going to get more points than if you won a $ 1 + $ 0.10 SNG.

In addition to your place and finish, the SNG Leaderboard also takes into account winning streaks. So if you won three sit and go’s in a row, you’d get a streak bonus on the points you were already earning for the tournament finishes.

How the Cash is Distributed

The first thing worth mentioning here is that the top 25 point earners on the monthly Carbon Poker SNG Leaderboard will share in a $ 10,000 prize pool. In addition to this, another $ 2,000 will be paid out each month to the five players who earned the best streak bonus. Here is a quick look at how the money is distributed with both the regular leaderboard, and the streak bonus board:

Regular Leaderboard

1st – $ 2,000

2nd – $ 1,250

3rd – $ 1,000

4th – $ 750

5th – $ 650

6th – $ 550

7th – $ 450

8th – $ 400

9th – $ 350

10th – $ 300

11th – $ 250

12th – $ 225

13th – $ 200

14th – $ 200

15th – $ 175

16th – $ 175

17th – $ 150

18th – $ 150

19th – $ 125

20th – $ 125

21st – $ 125

22nd – $ 100

23rd – $ 100

24th – $ 100

25th – $ 100

Streak Bonus Leaderboard

1st – $ 750

2nd – $ 500

3rd – $ 350

4th – $ 250

5th – $ 150

How to start earning SNG Leaderboard Money

If you’re interested in getting a piece of the $ 12k that’s given out to SNG players every month, you should create a real money poker account at Carbon. Assuming you do this and make a deposit, you’ll not only be able to earn money through the SNG Leaderboard, but you’ll also be entitled to a Carbon Poker bonus worth 100% up to $ 600.

After a self-described bluff in a bad spot, Kevin MacPhee has crashed out of the main event, falling short of a fourth final table and a second EPT Berlin title. He followed Andreas Vlachos, the talkative Greek (albeit talking to himself) who was eliminated moments before MacPhee in a hand against Davidi Kitai, whose pocket aces ruined the Greek’s ace-jack.

It caused a brief pause in play as tables were balanced, which Tomas Cibak found disagreeable as the clock continued to tick down. Geshkenbein, next to him, stretched took the opportunity to stretch his legs, accidentally taking a blue chip with him, which he dropped like kryptonite when warned by the dealer.

Geshkenbein’s stack continued to grow but interestingly, for a civil engineering student, it wobbles a precariously. Three towers of blue worth 200,000 each sway from side to side, on top of which “lucky monkey” is perched Kong like, about to fall off.

On the other table Marc Wright was losing half of his stack, reduced to less than 1.5 million in a hand against Bahadir Kilickeser who showed a set of eights to Wright’s top pair, and is now chip leader.

Wright was cross with himself, talking out loud, telling himself what he should have done. He was powerless as the hand played out. Kilickeser let out a “yes!” as did a man who came out of nowhere to pat Kilickeser on the back. They come out of the woodwork in these deep situations.

Wright won the next hand but will surely be looking to avoid trouble. He was chip leader with 15 left at the Irish Open two weeks ago. He lost the lead and was out within four hands in a single orbit back in Dublin. He’ll want to avoid as similar fate in his first EPT.

 

Recently, I’ve been disappointed and frankly, disgusted, with what I perceive to be a lack of professionalism by some poker pro’s. I feel many have no vision for the future or an understanding of the present. They can’t see the forrest for the trees. They don’t see the big picture – growing our industry and making it a better place to play and/or work in and doing what it takes to bring sponsorship into the poker world. They just live in their own little worlds.

Some examples

Here are some recent examples of things that have irked me. I played in the LAPC and was sitting next to a two-time WPT champion on Day 1. He was supposed to do a segment on our show called “5 Questions” the next morning. (This is where our anchor asks questions to a top pro about a number of topics. This segment obviously promotes the pro and benefits any sponsor he/she may have.) The producer came over to our table and verified the shoot time of 11:30 am and introduced the anchor (Marinella) who would be doing the interview. Everything was jake. The next morning, the crew came in to put up the set at 9 am, Marinella drove an hour to get to the casino, did hair and make-up, and ‘voila’, the pro was a no show. He apparently was up all night and didn’t answer his cell phone or the banging on his door. The WPT was out productions costs and had to re-do the segment later at additional costs – and ‘yes’, with another pro. (Note: This is a nice guy who just spaced out. He made a mistake and apologized.)

Meanwhile at a WPT

At a recent WPT final table, I looked at the six finalists and saw four wearing T-shirts and another in a sweat shirt. At other final tables this season, I’ve seen players wearing shorts and flip-flops. Look, I played poker for a living for a long time. I understand wanting to be comfortable while you’re playing, etc. Is it to much, however, to expect players to wear collared shirts, long pants, and shoes and socks on a televised final table?

Why not a dress code for poker?

Every sport has a dress code. Why can’t poker? And don’t tell me, “I’ll wear what they want when they add money to the prize pool.” If it wasn’t for televised poker, the prize pools wouldn’t be half what they are today. Players need to recognize it costs a lot of money to produce a WPT show and that these shows benefit them. They also need to know that television is what promotes our industry and helps it grow. IMHO, they need to do their part to help make the TV show better. And to me, showing up for their player interviews and dressing decent at a final table isn’t asking that much.

Remember 10-12 years ago? Prior to the WPT, nearly every casino in the country was cutting back on staff and/or eliminating poker rooms altogether. Because of television, poker popularity exploded and poker rooms began expanding and popping up everywhere. This not only enabled more people to make a living playing poker, but created many more jobs, and not just within poker rooms, but with poker portals, media outlets, new poker magazines, player rep’s and assistants, etc.

The Box is our friend

TV really helps promote our industry. Players need to realize that their actions and/or behavior have a ripple down effect on the entire industry. If we lose the TV shows, you’ll see poker become less popular which will cause a wave of cutbacks on jobs within our industry. Like it or not, players who make televised final tables and win big tournaments are the players who represent our industry in the public eye and in the media. I believe they need to be more responsible, become leaders, and do their part to help the industry grow and help us gain sponsorship.

We’ve had sponsorship in the past, primarily from online sites, but I believe sponsorship could be a force in the future once online poker is legalized and regulated (which is going to happen). When that legal ‘gray area’ is eliminated in the minds of business’s, I think it’s possible we might obtain sponsorships not only from online sites, but from beer companies, soft drink companies, energy drink companies, automobile companies, clothing companies, airlines, casino’s, etc. That probably won’t happen, however, unless we ‘earn’ sponsorship by proving we are a marketable industry.

If you were a corporation contemplating where to put advertising and marketing money, would it be with unshaven, irresponsible, and slobbish looking poker players? I doubt it. Boxing trainer Angelo Dundee once said to Sugar Ray Leonard in the later rounds of a fight, “You’re blowing it kid. You’re blowing it.” (Sugar Ray came back to win that fight.) Well, in my view, we’re blowing it unless we get our act together.

What to do?

So what can players do to help? 1) Be professional (such as being courteous to poker staffs and not verbally abuse other players), 2) be responsible and on time, 3) fulfill all media requests, 4) sign autographs and take pictures with fans when asked, 5) if you’re fortunate enough to make televised final tables, dress nicely, 6) continue to support charity events and 7) if poker is your profession, to paraphrase John Kennedy, “Ask not what the poker industry can do for you, ask what you can do for the poker industry.”

Poker Pro’s – “Wake up and smell the coffee!”

The question is, are you bothered about being mocked when you have two and a half stacks of blue chips and a ton of reds, adding up to a stack of about 340,000. This is the position Cengiz Ulusu is in (although he may not read this blog).

Ulusu, the coin-flipper, came into the day as chip leader with somewhere in the region of 240,000, a position that allows certain confidence. Now he’s added a 100,000 more, using that confidence as a sock of horse manure, swinging it around his head.

His original table having broken, Ulusu sauntered over to table five, his new home; a big leather coast, a big turtle neck jumper, a big chin, slowly working his way through the crowd to his new seat, the furthest from the door.

Cengiz Ulusu, yesterday

Rumour had it that, in the first half hour of the day, Ulusu had been using dice to determine particular actions, single headedly filling the gap between poker and roll playing games. It’s entirely possible Ulusu has yet to fully convert from Magic: The Gathering.

There were no signs of dice when he called Alexander Meidinger’s opening bet of 2,400. Selim Citak, a few seats along, raised to 6,300, then rested his head on his hand with an expression of, what hindsight suggested, contentment. Meidinger, looking less content, lumped in the last of his stack, moving all in. Ulusu, still stacking his chips, looked left, left again, then right, before announcing he was all-in (cue that sock of horse manure).

The cause of Citak’s happiness was the two black aces he turned over. The cause of Meidinger’s reluctance was the queen-jack of clubs. Meanwhile, taking his time to turn over his hand, there was Ulusu, with pocket nines.

Citak stood, worried that there were cards out there that could cause him trouble; the three that landed on the flop for instance, the 8-5-7. Citak had now lost the contentment, and cut an lonely figure, standing behind his chair. Then bang, the six of spades on the turn, flattening his hopes, and causing Ulusu to beam as he banged the table. The river was a ten. Citak was gone, managing a “nice hand”, so too Meidinger who by now everyone had forgotten about.

Ulusu increased his advantage (twice the average stack), stood to adjust his belt, and then wait as players were brought in from other tables. In 40 minutes this table has lost five players. With Ulusu in bloom it’s something of a hellfire corner for the replacements about to arrive.

What an amazing journey this WPT Vienna trip has been for PartyPoker’s Morten Christensen. He started this increadable upswing by winning an entry to here via a Sunday qualifer on PartyPoker. A few good hands later shall we say he takes down the WPT Vienna for €313,000 here’s what he had to say on his win:

The moments before a big tournament kicks off can tell a lot about a player. Are they sat in their chair nervously counting and recounting their stack or perhaps burying their head into a smartphone, piling their first big event anxieties into cyberspace? Barny Boatman, a player who’s seen more felts than most, sits with his right arm slung back over his chair talking up to the lanky rangy EPT Live commentator James Hartigan. The pair are talking about poker tours in the UK with Boatman coming from a background of sawdust experience, Hartigan fluffing off from a theoretical standpoint but is doing well to make it sound like he knows what he’s talking about. It is his job after all.

Four seats to Boatman’s right is Scott Seiver an American with $ 4,272,749 in live winnings. Siever, who comes in off the back of a televised TV triumph, is looking for the third leg on a poker pedestal of glory* having taken a WPT title in May last year and a WSOP bracelet ‘way back’ in 2008. He’s yet to cash in a EPT main event (although has made some good scores in PCA side events). Another highly rated American, this time with EPT experience, is also at the same table, albeit arriving late. Olivier Busquet put in a powerhouse performance at EPT Campione, the last stop of the EPT, finishing second to Jannick Wrang after an incredibly tough final table. All three players are experienced and dangerous.

*Yes, I am aware this sounds like nonsense. Go with it.

The EPT trophy, just six days away…Tournament director Thomas Lamatsch stood next to EPT president Edgar Stuchly and a top dog from the Spielbank Casino, whose name I failed to catch as I was ushered to one side of the trio after it was pointed out that I was ruining a nice clean shot of the ‘shuffle up and deal’ moment. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one. Both PokerStars Blog colleague Stephen Bartley (hurried, ashamed) and PokerNews video reporter Lynn Gilmartin (unaware, unabashed) both made the same mistake. While Bartley dashed around the back, Gilmartin brazenly wandered in front of the camera crew ushered in by the encouraging beckons of Seiver, who in contrast seemed to be well aware that he was pulling Gilmartin into shot and appeared to be enjoying getting the Australian into trouble.

The next table along Bill Chen sits twisted in his chair, looking back over his shoulder as the announcements take place. He’s been here many times before but looks like he’s taking it in for the very first time. Today is the just the first step of a six day journey for some. For others, the trip will be significantly shorter. Stay with us to find out who stays the distance.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) will this summer stage its largest buy-in event ever. BIG ONE for ONE DROP will feature a $ 1,000,000 entry fee and is slated to take place from July 1-3, 2012 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event will be televised on ESPN.

The event has been organized by Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil. ONE DROP is a non-governmental organization established in Montreal, Canada and active worldwide. The organization’s mission is to fight poverty by supporting worldwide access to water and raising awareness to water-related issues.

The historic WSOP bracelet event has 30 committed participants. Its prize pool is projected to exceed $ 26,000,000 with the winner to walk away with an estimated $ 12,266,668, the largest amount ever awarded in a poker tournament.

The first prize in the event will exceed the $ 12 million first prize won by Jamie Gold at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

From each entry fee, $ 111,111 will be donated to ONE DROP with “a goal of raising enough money for a legacy project that will help a country with access to clean water,” according to the organization. “With the commitment from 30 players already, more than $ 3.33 million is slated to go to ONE DROP.”

The confirmed players include poker professionals Erik Seidel, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, Tony Guoga, Jonathan Duhamel, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Also participating are Bob Bright, CEO of the stock trading firm Bright Trading LLC; Paul Newey, co-founder of London-based private investment firm New Wave Ventures; Phil Ruffin, owner of Treasure Island; and Laliberté.

“A million dollar buy-in seems crazy, and well, it is, but when you factor in a great cause like One Drop getting a percentage of the prize pool, all of a sudden it seems like a fantastic idea, and a great way to raise money for charity,” Negreanu said in a statement. “Count me in.”

The event is capped at 48 players. If that number of players is reached, first prize will likely be around $ 18 million.