Tag: poker

Daniel Santoro Takes Down WPT Foxwoods Event

Last Updated on

Daniel Santoro is not the most well-known poker player in the game today, but he definitely made a name for himself after this World Poker Tour Foxwoods event.  Before this event, Santoro had a total live tournament earnings of $260,862, and he gave himself quite a bump on that total with his impressive win at this tournament.  The first place prize was set at $449,910 that he pocketed, and he was involved in a few big hands at the final table, and one hand that determined his fate as the eventual champion.

The final table featured six players with Steven Brackesy starting atop the leaderboard with 1.81 million chips, and was followed up by Christian Harder (1.29 million), Santoro (1.16 million), Bob Carbone (588k), Eli Berg (496k), and Andy Frankenberger (374k).  The first three eliminations happened fairly quickly, and the first elimination sent Berg home after only three hands.  Frankenberger was the next to go, and after that came one of the biggest hands of the tournament.

It involved Brackesy and Santoro, who got involved pre-flop and were going back and forth before getting it all in.  Brackesy flipped over A-4 suited to be quite a bit behind the pocket Queens that Santoro were holding.  This pot put Santoro in a massive chip lead over the remaining players, and it ended up having Santoro matched up against Harder to decide who would win it all.

Heads up play kicked off with Santoro as the chip leader by almost 4 times Harder’s chip stack.  Harder was forced all the way under 400k in chips before making a massive comeback and doubling up to get back into it.  Harder’s incredible storm back saw him actually take the chip lead at one point before Santoro was able to turn it back around.  The final hand of the tournament saw Santoro re-raise his opponent, which led to Harder to push the remainder of his chips into the middle.  Santoro made the call with A-K, and was up against the pocket ten’s of his opponent.  It wasn’t until the final card that Santoro was able to take the lead, and win the entire event.

While Santoro won the championship and the huge grand prize, Harder got a nice consolation prize of $248,962 for his run as well.

Last Month for Bwin Poker GSOP Live Prague Satellites

Last Updated on


Since September 26, 2011, Bwin Poker has been holding satellite tournaments to award seats in the upcoming Grand Series of Poker Live stop in Prague, Czech Republic. Now, with November underway, there’s less than a month left to get in on the action.

Bwin Poker’s GSOP Live Prague satellites run through November 27, 2011. Buy-ins start at just $1.05 for the Super Step Coinflip Qualifiers in which every hand is all-in and only a coinflip determines whether you advance to a prize package. Step 1 winners head to Step 2, which runs daily and has a direct buy-in of $14.07, which in turn lead to Step 3 where the prize packages will be awared. These run weekly on Sundays for a $210 buu-in.

There is also a regular tournament path with daily qualifiers starting at just $2.20. These lead to a GSOP Live Prague Online Final where the prize packages will be awarded. These place Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for a $320 buy-in.

The GSOP Live Prague takes place between December 7 and 12, 2011 at the Corinthia Hotel Prague. Each Bwin Poker prize package into this event includes the $1,500 + $150 main event buy-in, $1,250 to appy toward accommodations, transportations and hospitality and $700 to use for random expenses. In all each package is worth $3,600.

In the meantime, Bwin Poker is also hosting, for a limited time only, a special Lowrider tournament specially geared for beginners. It costs only $0.10 + $0.01 to enter but the prize pool has a whopping $1,000 added. This event takes place daily between October 31 and November 13, 2011.

New Online Poker Cheating Scandal Discovered

Last Updated on

It seems that poker scandals just seem to continue to come out of the wood works.  We had a few live poker cheating stories come out, and there have been many big online poker cheating scandals over past years.  This time it was a high stakes player who installed Trojan Horse software on multiple different players’ computers so that he could see their hole cards.

It was a German high stakes poker player named Maximillian Ashkar, who is based out of London currently.  He apparently did this to over 12 different players, and won at least $2 million by doing this tactic.  The story behind how this played out is a pretty interesting one though, as Ashkar used his friendships with high-stakes players to use their computers and install the virus.

While this went on for a while, two of the players who were involved decided to confront him about the situation.  This all happened at the European Poker Championships recently, and Ashkar finally confessed.  At this point, the two players called the police, but it took a turn for the worst when Ashkar said that he was coerced by the players, and that he never confessed to anything.

Ashkar’s computers and all of his equipment were seized by the police as they were under the suspicion of  fraud, but the two players who confronted him were actually charged in this situation with coercion and deprivation of liberty due to their response to findings.

This story is a very interesting one, as Ashkar was widely known as one of the nicer guys in the poker community.  He offered his friends places to stay, and many considered him more likely to be one of the people who could potentially be scammed as he was very trusting; rather than being the one doing any type of scamming.  The other two players who were involved in this situation were not known specifically, but it was rumored that one of the players was Ronnie Kaiser, who recently won the European Poker Tour’s Tallinn event.

More news will be released on this as it is reported, but one thing that is certain is that these poker scams seem to be caught faster each time that someone tries them.

Greenstein and Johnson Inducted Into Poker Hall of Fame

Last Updated on

The Poker Hall of Fame is something that every poker player dreams of, but very few are able to accomplish.  The likes of Phil Hellmuth, Dan Harrington, Stu Ungar, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Erik Seidel, and a few select other players have made it into the Hall.  In total, there are 40 players in the Hall of Fame, and now 42 with the addition of the two newest Hall of Famers.

When it comes to deciding how people make it into the Hall of Fame, there are more factors than just how much money they have won.  For example, Benny Binion is the founder of the WSOP, and Henry Orenstein holds the patent for being the creator of the hole card cam.  On the other side it though, players like Phil Hellmuth have won an incredible amount of WSOP gold bracelets, and an incredibly impressive amount of money.

As far as the two players who made the cut this year, it was the always popular Barry Greenstein, and the well-known Linda Johnson.  Greenstein has posted some incredible stats with his multi-million dollars in winnings, excellent high stake cash game results, and his charitable donations from tournament poker winnings.  Greenstein has earned the nickname “The Robinhood of Poker”, and has won at least six figures during the live poker tournament circuit over the past nine consecutive years.  Johnson on the other hand is now the second woman to be a part of the Poker Hall of Fame, and has played a huge role in poker over the years.  She has won a gold bracelet back in 1997, and is also a publisher of the popular Card Player Magazine.  She served on the Board of Directors for the massive World Poker Tour, and was also the founder of the Tournament Director’s Association.

As you can tell, both of these players have more than enough accomplishments to be considered popular names and faces in the poker world.  The ceremony for these two will be held during the final table of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event on November 8th in Las Vegas.  The two beat out some big names in poker like Huck Seed, Jen Harman, John Juanda, Scotty Nguyen, Annie Duke, Marcel Luske, Tom McEvoy, and Jack McClelland.

888Poker+ Celebrity Challenge Schedule

Last Updated on

Earlier in the week we told you about the new 888Poker+, aka 888 Poker Plus, featuring improvements like private tables, teams poker games, a better poker lobby and celebrity challenges. Regarding the last of these lsited benefits, Celebrity Challenges featuring private lounge games and bounty tournaments sponsored by several of the world’s top poker players, the following is the upcoming schedule of events for the launch of this brand new 888 Poker offering this November, 2011.

On November 2 at 20:00 GMT will be the $2,000 Anderson Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on James Anderson of Lancashire, UK, username “Janderson9”.

On November 9 at 19:00 GMT will be the $3,000 Canizares Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on Santiago Canizares of Madrid, Spain, username “Canizares888”.

On November 16 at 01:00 GMT will be the $1,000 Bonkowski Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on Tyler Bonkowski of Saskatchewan, Canada, username “Bonkman5”.

On November 17 at 20:00 GMT will be the $1,000 Chamberlain Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on Helen Chamberlain of Somerset, UK, username “HellsBellsy”.

On November 18 at 20:00 GMT will be the $2,000 Holden Celebrity Challenge (that’s Holden, not Hold’em) featuring a $100 bounty on Sam Holden of Canterbury, UK, username “Sam_Holden”.

On November 25 at 21:00 GMT will be the $3,000 Warner Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on Shane Warne of Victoria, Australia, username “Warne888”.

And finally, on November 29 at 19:00 GMT will be the $1,000 Jackson Celebrity Challenge featuring a $100 bounty on Charlotte Jackson of Hampshire, UK, username “Charlottejac”.

888Poker+ players can also request to be invited to join a $1,000 private table hosted by any of these poker celebrities.

Andrey Pateychuk Wins EPT San Remo

Last Updated on

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

Last Updated on

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.

Chris McClung Holds Lead at EPT San Remo

Last Updated on

Day 4 of the European Poker Tour’s San Remo event featured some crazy hands, and had some very good play overall.  One player stood out above the rest though, as Chris McClung ended with the chip lead with 3.14 million chips.  What’s even more impressive about McClung’s chip stack, is the fact that his closest opponent has 2.01 million chips, giving McClung a very favorable lead in terms of chips going into Day 5.  He got quite a few of these chips from a huge hand against Joseph Cheong, and one that probably changed the tournament.

The hand happened late in Day 4, and saw Mustapha Kanit open up to 41k, with McClung three betting to 104k.  The action didn’t stop there though as Cheong then went ahead and four bet, which led to a fold from Kanit, and McClung shoving over the top for right around a million additional chips.  But what’s mind blowing about this hand, is that Cheong called and turned over his pocket King’s, and was a huge favorite against the Queen-Seven of hearts that McClung held.  McClung was able to hit the flush on the turn, and take the massive chip stack.

This leaves the event with 24 players remaining out of the 837 who started the event, with many big names still remaining as well.  A few of the well-known remaining players feature the likes of Elio Fox with 377k, Kanit (mentioned above) with 1.76 million chips, Alessio Isaia with 1.52 million chips, Kevin MacPhee with 1.44 million chips, Barry Boatman with 1.25 million chips, and Johnny Lodden with 1.22 million chips.  Mike McDonald is also currently in the event with 292k, and the same goes for Lex Veldhuis with 877k.

As far as the players who were eliminated on Day 4, big time players like Vanessa Selbst, David Bach, Tyler Bonkowski, and John Duthie were all sent to the rail with Cheong.

The play tomorrow will feature these 24 players playing down until the final table of eight players is decided, and could potentially feature a star-studded final table by the end of the day.  We’ll keep you updated on the action once the final table is set.

Have a Wicked Weekend this Halloween at 888 Poker

Last Updated on


888 Poker is inviting its players to have a wicked weekend this Halloween with a chance to win Apple handheld devices like iPods and iPads as well as cash prizes.

888 Poker’s Wicked Weekend last for 4 days–Friday, October 28 – Monday, October 31–during which time players can participate in a Wicked Webcam Challenge and redeem a Wicked Bonus.

In the Wicked Webcam Challenge, the 888 Genie will make surprise appearances at the webam poker tables–aka the PokerCam tables–throughout the four day promotional period. All you have to do to win a prize is play at these tables during that time and, while you play, wear a Halloween costume or mask. The player with the best judged costume when the 888 Genie appears will win a prize. First prize in this competition is an iPad2 while the second and third place prizes include iPod Nano 16GB portable digital music players and cash prizes. To join a PokerCam table at 888 Poker, log in to your 888Poker lobby and then double-click on any table or tournament bearing the PokerCam icon. Then simply click onto one of the available seats at the table and get playing.

The Wicked Bonus–aka the Wicked Instant Cash Bonus–gives players the option of earning an instant $10, $20 or $30 for free, the amount based on the amount of the player’s qualifying deposit. Deposit at least $30 with the code BLOOD10 and get a $10 bonus. Deposit at least $60 with the code SCREAM20 and get a $20 bonus. Deposit $100 or more using the code MONSTER30 and get a $30 bonus.

Was the ISPT Created to Compete With the EPL?

Last Updated on

The Epic Poker League has gained a good bit of attention in the past few months, both for good and bad reasons.  The prize pools have been huge, and the tournaments involve the biggest names in poker as well.  The bad reasons for all of the attention is the drama that has surrounded their first two events.  While many people find the idea of the EPL interesting and exciting, the tournament just isn’t for everyone.  Some people feel that the International Stadiums Poker Tour was created to put a fight against the Epic Poker League.  While both tournaments seem like very good ideas, they aim to hit different types of players completely.  The EPL is currently running, while the ISPT will kick off early in 2012.  We’re going to take a look at a few ways that these two tournaments are so different.

First off, the ISPT is one of those tournaments that was created for any poker player out there.  Take their estimations on how many players they expect, which is set at more than 20,000.  This is literally the complete opposite of what the EPL is looking for, as they only allow certain players to play, and really never feature events that have more than 300 total players.  This is one way that ISPT has gained poker players’ attention more than the EPL has.

While the EPL’s first event featured a $1 million prize to the winner, the ISPT is hoping that their first place prize can get in the upwards of $10 million.  This alone would draw quite a bit of attention, and is once again an opposite of the Epic Poker League.  You can bet that the creators of the ISPT watched the Epic Poker League and how everything was ran, and made sure to keep their horizons open as to the number of players they will allow, and how large the tournaments will be.  The ISPT is looking to complete change the way that poker is played, with their combination play between online poker (with pads in the stadiums that they play in), and then live table play on the actual field itself.

It is unknown if the ISPT was created to directly compete with the EPL, but it seems that they are attempting to come at the poker world in a completely different way than anyone has ever seen.