Tag: ept

European Poker Tour Season 10 Schedule Announced

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ept10With the wrapping up of EPT9, the 9th season of the coveted European Poker Tour, the schedule EPT10 has now been released.

Season 10 of the European Poker Tour starts with the EPT Barcelona in Spain on August 28 to September 7, 2013, with the main event starting on September 1 for a €5,000 + €300 buy-in.

Next is the EPT London, taking place in the UK from October 2 to 12, 2013, with the main event starting on October 6, for a £5,000 + £250 buy-in.

Then there’s the EPT Prague taking place in the Czech Republic from December 8 to 18, 2013, with the main event starting on December 12, for a €5,000 + €300 buy-in.

After that is the popular 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) taking place in the Bahamas from January 4 to 13, 2014, with the main event starting on January 6, for a $10,000 + $300 buy-in.

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Then comes the EPT Deauville in France from January 22 to February 1, 2014, with the main event starting on January 26 for a €5,000 + €300 buy-in.

Next there’s the EPT Berlin in Germany from March 12 to 22, 2014, with the main event starting on March 16 for a €5,000 + €300 buy-in.

Then it’s on to the EPT San Remo in Italy from April 6 to 16, 2014, with the main event starting on April 10 for a €5,000 + €300 buy-in.

And finally, EPT10 wraps up with the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final in Monaco from April 23 to May 2, 2014 with the main event starting on April 25 for a €10,000 + €600 buy-in.

Frederik Jensen Wins PokerStars EPT Madrid

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The Poker Stars European Poker Tour Madrid 2012 finished up last week and the big winner was Frederik Jensen of Denmark. Topping a field of 477 players participating in the PokerStars.com EPT Madrid main event, Jensen outlasted a final table that covered the gamut of poker players: from pro, to online amateur qualifier, to recreational. At the end of it, he found himself €495,000 richer for the effort.

This is not Jensen’s first moment in the poker spotlight, although it is certainly his brightest to date. He also came in second in a running of the Aussie Millions and made it to the EPT Vilamoura final table just last season. This EPT Madrid 2012 win, however, marks Jensen’s first major title.

The final table took 9 hours to complete, 6 of which alone constituted heads-up play between the Jensen and top contender MacIntyre.

Following on Jensen’s heels was Fraser MacIntyre, who claimed the €290k runners-up prize. Third, and its prize of €330k, went to Andrei Stoenescu. The €140k fourth prize went to Bruno Lopes, and Ricardo Ibanez took fifth and its €115k prize.

Rounding out the final table (in order of finish, best to worst), were: Ilan Boujenah, Nicolas Levi and Jason Duval.

The poker press is calling Jensen’s triumph a Dane Double, being that Jensen’s compatriot Mickey Peterson claimed victory in the EPT Copenhagen main event that just took place last week.

Next up on the season 8 schedule of Poker Stars European Poker Tour is EPT Campione, taking place March 26 – 31 in Campione, Italy.

EPT Madrid Main Event Features Interesting Final Table

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The Main Event for the 2012 European Poker Tour’s Madrid Main Event was an interesting stretch of poker, and one that had an even more interesting final stretch to the final eight players, or the final table.  When the day started on Friday there were 24 players left in the action, but these 24 would be playing down to eight before the end of the day.  There were a few big names eliminated before the final table bubble, including Taylor Paur, who finished in 13th place, and Tristan Clemencon who was sent home in 11th place.  But the biggest story of the day came from the player who was eventually the bubble boy of the event.  This was Mike “Timex” McDonald.

McDonald was the unfortunately bubble boy of the final table, and was sent home in 9th place receiving a prize of €35,000 for his efforts.  It’s unfortunate still though, as his loss came when he had pocket tens, the flop came out with 10-J-Q.  Unfortunately though, the player that he was up against was holding the A-K of hearts, putting McDonald way behind.  Andrei Stoenesu had flopped the nut straight, and McDonald needed the board to pair in order to remain alive in the event.  Unfortunately nothing hit, and McDonald’s run ended there.

Now to look towards the final table, you’ll see that there are many unknown players remaining, but the most well-known is Nicolas Levi who has a total of $1.6 million in live tournament winnings in his career.  Levi actually has yet to win a major live tournament in his career though, and he’ll have a tough task here as he is the short stack to start the day.  Levi has a few more than 20 big blinds remaining in his stack, so he’ll absolutely have his work cut out for him.  The current leader is Ricardo Ibanez, who is holding 3,216,000 chips, but it is still very close for many of the remaining players.  Below is the list of the remaining players in order of their chip stacks.

  • Ricardo Ibanez- 3,216,000
  • Fraser Macintyre- 2,473,000
  • Frederik Jensen- 2,144,000
  • Andrei Stoenesu- 1,974,000
  • Bruno Lopes- 1,452,000
  • Ilan Boujenah- 1,382,000
  • Jason Duval- 963,000
  • Nicolas Levin- 709,000

The final table kicks off on Saturday at noon local time.  We’ll keep you updated when all is said and done about who takes down this event.

Day 1B of EPT Madrid Draws in Big Field

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Day 1a of the European Poker Tour’s Madrid event didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it was Day 1b that really boosted the overall numbers, and left many players shocked at the number of entrants that came on the second day.  Day 1b drew in so many players, that the heads of the tournament had to create a second area in the Casino Gran Madrid to make room for all of the players.  In total, Day 1b featured 352 total entrants, which pushed the total number of players in the event up to 477.

When Day 1b came to an end, there were 197 of the original 352 players left in the field, which set up an interesting field of 264 total players who would be back on Day 2 (which occurred today).  There were quite a few big named players who were left at the end of Day 1b, which was quite the opposite of how Day 1a ended.  Some of the players who found themselves at the top of the standings were David Benyamine, Nicholas Levi, Angel Guillen, and Taylor Paur.  As far as other players that you may know who made it through to Day 2, it included Mike McDonald, Faraz Jaka, Olivier Busquet, Kevin MacPhee, Melanie Weisner, Todd Terry, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, and many other players.

Day 2’s chip leader was Juan-Navarette Azon, who is a player from Spain, and he started Day 2 with 173,200 chips, which was only 2,200 more than Ilan Boujenah.  A large number of his chips came in a massive hand against another well-known poker pro in Steve O’Dwyer.  O’Dwyer was holding pocket Queens, but was up against the Kings of Azon.  Azon’s Kings held and he picked up the massive pot to build his stack.

With the final numbers locked up, the top 72 players will be bringing home some cash.  The final table will be played Saturday, and first place is scheduled to take home €545,000 for their efforts when all is said and done.  Anyone who makes it into the top five will take home more than €100,000, as second place will receive €365,000, third place will receive €205,000, fourth place gets €140,000, and fifth place gets €115,000.

Two Former World Champs Win Side Events at PCA

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2012 Pokerstars Caribbean AdventureCurrently in the Bahamas, the popular talks around town are about the current PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.  Whether it is the $100k entry High Roller event that drew in a first place prize of over $1 million, or the PCA Main Event which is nearly its way down to the final table, people are talking about this incredibly popular tournament series which has started 2012 off with a bang.  What many people aren’t talking about though is the fact that we have now seen two former World Series of Poker Main Event winners take down side events at the PCA this year as well!

The first big time player to take down a win was Jonathan Duhamel, who was in the news just a few weeks back for some non-related poker news, as his house was the target of a home invasion and a robbery.  Duhamel has recovered from everything though, and has pulled in some nice results at the 2012 PCA.  First off, Duhamel had a nice fourth place finish at the High Roller event, in which he took home a payday of $313,600.  Then came his win at the $5k No Limit Hold’em 8-max event this week, in which he had to beat out a star-studded final table that included Jason Mercier, Pius Heinz, gold bracelet winner Kevin Stammen, and two online poker pros in Owen Crowe and Laurence Houghton.  Duhamel beat out 157 other players, and won the first place prize of $249,830.

Cada’s win on the other hand came from the $2k No Limit Hold’em event, that drew in 348 players.  Cada won $175,550 for his strong run, and he beat out a player who many people feel is on the rise in Michael Telker in the end.  The final table of this event also included two well-known pros in Shannon Shorr who finished in 4th place, and a PokerStars pro in JC Alvarado who wound up in 6th.

Both Cada and Duhamel are two of the more liked poker pros in the game, and also two players who could be looking at having some impressive years in 2012.  Keep an eye out for them at some of the coming poker tournament series’ in the next few months, including the WSOP!

Poker Stars Runs Regional Poker Promotions All Year Long

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On top of the poker promotions that Poker Stars offers to all of its players, the site also hosts a massive amount of promotions that are available soley to players who live in specific regions of the world.

For players in CIS countries, PokerStars is hosting a We Are Poker promotion involving three weekly final tournaments with freeroll and $0.55 qualifiers and prizes of iPods, iPads and poker gear in honor of the site’s new TV ad campaign.

PokerStars is hosting satellites into the EPT Copenhagen main event strictly for players in Nordic countries. These run from January 20 to 29, 2012 with the actual prize packages (5 in all) to be awarded in a €215 Nordic EPT qualifier on Sunday, January 29.

Players in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are eligible for the Play With Martin Staszko promotion giving players the chance to win a seat at the Team PokerStars Pro’s private table and a share of a cash prize pool in the thousands.

PokerStars is hosting an Asia Poker League available only to players living in Asia. This consists of free and $0.10 qualifiers that lead to daily tournaments with points rewards. Those points are then calculated to determine the players among whom to divide the weekly $500 prize pool.

The site also runs an ANZ Tournament Leader Board tracking the progress of players living in Australia and New Zealand and awarding the top performers TLB points, cash and tournament entries.

Players living in Malaysia and Singapore can enter Causeway Freerolls with $100 prize pools.

Poker Stars Kicks Off New Year With New Events: Live And Online

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Poker Stars is kicking off 2012 with the addition of several new events to its lineup, including three new stops on the European Poker Tour Season 8 schedule and a new online poker championship series, Turbo style.

Let’s start with the new live poker action sponsored by Poker Stars. Season 8 of the site’s European Poker Tour kicks off with the usual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in early January. As Winter progresses, the EPT will head to Deauville, France and Copehagen, Denmark, always normal stops on the EPT schedule. But now is when things get new and interesting, as Poker Stars adds EPT stops in Madrid, Spain March 12-17; Campione in the Lugano-Como-Milan region of Italy March 26-31; and Berlin, Germany April 16-21, all of which will include a €5,000 + €300 main event.

As for new online excitement to start this year off right, just as players will be returning home from the PCA, they’ll be able to sit down at the TCOOP, or the Turbo Championship of Online Poker. Like the World Championship of Online Poker, WCOOP, and the Spring Championship of Online Poker, SCOOP, this is a multiday, multievent series. Specifically it’s a 50-event, 11-day turbo tournament extravaganza with events in all buy-in ranges, all poker types, all tournament types, all table structures and all betting structures. If there’s a way to play poker, there’s a turbo tournament for it in PokerStars’ new TCOOP, running January 19-29 with a $1.5 million guaranteed main event and a total $10 million guaranteed prize pool overall.

Doyle Brunson to Skip EPT and EPL for High Stakes Cash Game

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Doyle BrunsonWe all know Doyle Brunson.  The “Texas Dolly” is one of the most popular names in poker, and has some of the most impressive results among poker players today as well.  His overall winnings in his lifetime of poker playing are astronomical, and he has won over $2.8 million JUST from the World Series of Poker.  Brunson has hit quite a bad streak in terms of live poker tournaments recently though, and it seems like it has been since around Black Friday occurred.  With all of this being taken into account, Brunson has decided to skip some big time poker tournaments, in order to play in high stakes cash games.

Brunson has a seat at the $20k buy-in Epic Poker League Main Event, but has chosen to stick with high stakes poker instead.  Even more interesting is the fact that he was also offered to be the guest of honor at the European Poker Tour’s Prague Main Event, and that he chose to go with the cash game option there as well.

This may not come as a shocker to other players in the game, as Brunson has always been big at the high stakes cash game tables, and he also never really travels much in order to compete in poker tournaments.  Brunson did play in the European Poker Tour’s London event earlier this year, but soon after that he decided not to compete in the World Series of Poker Europe.

Doyle Brunson and his partners recently sold his namesake poker room Doyles Room to the up and coming America’s Cardroom.

Brunson tweeted that he would not be attending the Epic Poker League’s Main Event, but that he did “like the format, and will support it when possible”.  He went on to say that the reason for missing it is that he has an opportunity to play in a “very high stakes cash game”, and that “any pro would understand”.

This could potentially have something to do with Brunson hitting a bad run on the live poker tournament circuit as of late, but only time will really tell.  Regardless though, you can bet that Brunson will be on the high stakes poker cash game tables somewhere!  We’ll keep you updated on this story as more is released.

Andrey Pateychuk Wins EPT San Remo

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The EPT San Remo has wound down to one winner from the 837 starting players.  And it found one player who has been playing his best poker recently take down the grand prize and the European Poker Tour trophy.  The prize pool was built up to a nice €3,734,694, with the first place player taking home €800,000.  After many ups and downs for many players in the event, Andrey Pateychuk beat out his opponent Dimitar Danchev in heads up play, with one of the craziest runner-runner knockout blows in recent history.  Pateychuk has had quite a bit of success recently, as he is fresh off of a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Heads up play was really decided on one hand that came just over 2 hours after the two had gone back and forth, with Pateychuk doing pretty well throughout.  The hand will be talked about for quite a while, and rightfully so.  Danchev kicked off the action with a small raise, which led to a three bet from Pateychuk.  Danchev then just called, and the flop came out with 2-4-9 with two spades, and Pateychuk put out a bet of 1,200,000.  Danchev then raised, and they were off to the races as Pateychuk pushed it all in.  This led to a call from Danchev, who turned over 10-9 for top pair; while his opponent turned over 6-7 to be way, way behind.  The poker Gods were on his side on this day though, as the turn came with an 8 and the river came with a 5 to give Pateychuk runner runner straight cards to leave Danchev nearly out of chips.  Danchev doubled up once, but was then knocked out.

The two decided to make a deal before heads up play began though, and both players took home €600k, with €80k going to the winner of the heads up match.  So that sent Pateychuk home with 680k, and Danchev with €600k.

The €680k payday for Pateychuk is his largest of his career, which is a nice payday for a player who has only played the game for three years in total.  Danchev also had his biggest score of his career in this event, and both of these two may be names to look out for in the poker circuit in the future.

Final Table at EPT San Remo Is Set

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The European Poker Tour San Remo event has been an interesting one, and it is now down to it’s final eight players.  It started off with a solid field of 837 players, and created a prize pool of €3,734,694; with a first place prize of €800,000 going to the eventual winner.  The final table bubble boy was a popular player from Norway, Johnny Lodden; who took home a payday of €45,000.  There were many big names in the event, ranging from Joseph Cheong, 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champ Elio Fox, Vanessa Selbst, David Bach, Tyler Bonkowski, and many more.  Two of the most well-known players currently remaining are Kevin MacPhee and Barny Boatman.

As far as the remaining players go in terms of chip stacks, we see one player who is a bit ahead of the field, as Daniel Neilson is currently holding 6.7 million chips.  Currently in second place is Dimitar Danchev, who is from Bulgaria, and is sitting with 4.43 million chips.  Neilson has had some good results of his own in the past, as he finished in the top 100 of last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, and has won a total of $700k in live tournaments in his career.

The players who are currently sitting behind Neilson are Danchev of course with 4.43 million chips, followed by Jan Bendick with 3.98 million, Andrey Pateychuk with 3.1 million, Boatman with 2.5 million, Yorane Kerignard with 2.15 million, Rocco Palumbo with 1.16 million, and MacPhee bringing up the rear with 1.11 million.  Each player who made the final table is guaranteed to take home at least €63,000, and the top six finishers will take home more than  €130,000.  One other player who might stand out from this group is Pateychuk, who is coming off of a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Chris McClung was the chip leader heading into the day, but was unable to hold onto his chip lead, and ended up finishing in 14th place.  The final day of action will kick off tomorrow until the winner of the 2011 European Poker Tour San Remo event is decided later in the day.