Tag: wsop

2011 WSOP Event #3 Info

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WSOPThe first non-Hold’em event of this year’s WSOP, a $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better tournament, kicked off 2 days ago, with 925 players forking over the cash for their shot at a WSOP bracelet.

This year, despite all predictions to the contrary, has broken all previous attendance records, with 925 players registered and playing, over 100 more than last year, and barely breaking the 2009 record of 918. Still, an impressive turnout in light of the recent online developments.

Just over 200 players returned yesterday for a day 2 to battle for their share of the $1.2 million prize pool created in this event. The winner of the event will get a lion’s share of the profits, at $262,283, as well as the coveted bracelet, with anyone making the top three taking home six figures.

Some big names in the poker world still remain in contention, including Sorel Mizzi, Barry Greenstein, and Humberto Brenes. However, leading the way is Francesco Barbaro, trying to seal his chances at the cash and bracelet.

2011 WSOP Event #2 Info

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WSOPThe largest Heads-Up event in WSOP history, this $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship has brought out some of the best and brightest in the poker world. With 128 entrants showing up, making a nice, round bracket, the prize pool is just over $3 million.

Paying just 16 players, a min-cash in this event takes home just north of $67,000. Not bad for a couple of days work left.

Nosebleed Heads-Up player Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan went deep in this event, and with the final sixteen left, had to appear as a favorite. However, he could not outfox the Great Dane, Gus Hansen, in the round of 16, and now can only watch from the rail.

Eric Froelich and Yevgeniy Timoshenko will face off to win their half of the bracket, playing the winner of Jake Cody and Gus Hansen in the final. The losers in the semifinals will each take home almost $284,000, with the runner up $525,000 and the winner gets the bracelet and a nice $851,192.

The semifinals and finals will be played later today, with a champion having the bracelet on their wrist to go out on the town this weekend. Stay tuned for updates!

2011 WSOP Event #1 Info

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WSOPEvent #1 of the 2011 World Series of Poker is, as it has been tradition for a while now, the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em event. This year saw a record 850 employees register and play this lead-off event, creating a prizepool of $382,500.

Those who made the final table were guaranteed almost $5,000, ten times their initial buyin.

The winner,  Sean Drake, however, has received some possible life changing money for one who works the grind in a casino, taking home $82,292. A great win for one who is used to seeing winners (and far more losers) while he works his shift at the casino.

 

World Series of Poker adding $1 Million Buyin Event for 2012

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The World Series of Poker will hold a poker tournament next year with a $1 million buyin. This event is for the really high rollers.

Roughly 15 players already have confirmed that they will play in the no-limit Texas Holdem event starting July 1 next year. Some of the players include Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, Treasure Island hotel-casino owner Phil Ruffin, and poker professionals Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu and Johnny Chan.

11 percent of the buy in will go to the charity, One Drop, a non-governmental organization in Montreal that helps people access water in Third World countries. The WSOP will not charge it’s normal tournament fees for the event. Organizers hope to raise $5 million for the charity.

Tiltware – Full Tilt Poker Response to Phil Ivey

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Late Tuesday night Phil Ivey took to his Facebook account and his personal website to announce that he was leaving Full Tilt Poker and suing them. He also said he would not play in this year’s WSOP in solidarity of the player’s who have money stuck on Full Tilt Poker and cannot not play in this year’s WSOP. Late Wednesday night Tiltware – Full Tilt Poker issued the following response which to us seems to have been written by someone who was very angry….

“Contrary to his sanctimonious public statements, Phil Ivey’s meritless lawsuit is about helping just one player – himself. In an effort to further enrich himself at the expense of others, Mr. Ivey appears to have timed his lawsuit to thwart pending deals with several parties that would put money back in players’ pockets. In fact, Mr. Ivey has been invited — and has declined — to take actions that could assist the company in these efforts, including paying back a large sum of money he owes the site. Tiltware doubts Mr. Ivey’s frivolous and self-serving lawsuit will ever get to court. But if it does, the company looks forward to presenting facts demonstrating that Mr. Ivey is putting his own narrow financial interests ahead of the players he professes to help.”

There is much more to this who saga and we will continue to work every angle in the hopes of finding out exactly what is going on. Much that has been reported is opinions and speculation on Ivey’s finances and contract with Full Tilt Poker.

Phil Ivey Sues Full Tilt Poker, Won’t play the 2011 WSOP

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Last night Team Phil Ivey released a press release via the popular social networking site Facebook which left many in the online poker world scratching their heads and wondering if his account had been hacked. The press release is real and Mr Phil Ivey will not be playing in the 2011 WSOP unless all US and international Full Tilt Poker players begin to get paid. Ivey also announced that he has filed a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker parent company Tiltware for $150 million seeking repayment of player funds.

Overnight Ivey took a lot of heat for his statement from organizations like the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Bryan Spadaro, of the PPA has this to sat via twitter “Never lost more respect for a person from a Facebook post than what Phil Ivey did today. Nice way to see short term and backstab. #jumpship” Once again the PPA doesn’t get it and at this point never will. Holdem Poker Chat privately pulled all support for the PPA following their post Black Friday comments. Now we’re doing it publicly. This organization has run it’s course and has achieved nothing but give poker players false hope.

Shortly after Ivey’s release went viral his good friend and fellow Team full Tilt Pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan also hit twitter offering him a pat on the back by saying “Yo @philivey poker isn’t a sport… Rest of your statement is awesome though.” Dwan will be playing the WSOP, but he has also gone on record as saying that if US players do not get paid that he will give back 100% of the income he received from Full Tilt Poker.

Here is a full copy of Phil Ivey’s Press Release:

For many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player. This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success. It is therefore with deep regret that I believe I am compelled to release the following statement.

I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm. I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible.

My name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, through the inactivity and indecision of others and on behalf of all poker players I refuse to remain silent any longer. I have electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware related to the unsettled player accounts. As I am sure the public can imagine, this was not an easy decision for me.

I whole heartedly refuse to accept non-action as to repayment of players funds and I am angered that people who have supported me throughout my career have been treated so poorly.

I sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action and would like to clarify that until a solution is reached that cements the security of all players, both US and International, I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment.

42nd Annual World Series of Poker Begins

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WSOPThe 42nd annual World Series of Poker officially begins today May 31, 2011 running through July 7 when the November Nine will be set to square off at the final table of the WSOP main event in November. This year’s series marks the most gold bracelet tournament events of any year in WSOP history, with 58 events in all. The grand prize for the 42nd annual WSOP main event is once again somewhere around $9 million.

The 2011 WSOP starts with a casino employees event for the staff at Rio’s Hotel and Casino, where for the 7th time in a row the WSOP festivities will be held, and their compatriots from other casinos near and far. The first open event is actually the second event of the series, also taking place Tuesday, May 31, the $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship.

The series schedule also features championships in Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Limit Hold’em, Hi-Low, H.O.R.S.E. and more. Speaking of poker varieties, another sure-to-be-exciting event on the 2011 WSOP schedule is #55 taking place July 2, the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, a mixed event comprised of 8 games.

Most of the major poker sites (and many of the minor ones) are now holding satellite tournaments into the 2011 WSOP main event. Some sites are even holding satellites into other events of series as well. Buy-ins for 2011 WSOP events range from $500 to $50,000 with live single table and mega satellite tournaments running daily at the Rio during the event. Also happening at the Rio in league with the 2011 WSOP are 24-hour cash games.

Poker Stars Selling Main Event Passports For $2

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PokerStars is now selling passports into the main events of the World Series of Poker and an assortment of live poker tours sponsored by the site for as little as $2.

Win a PokerStars Main Event passport into the WSOP, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), the European Poker Tour (EPT), the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). When you win a main event passport, you get a prize package worth $13,000 into the main event of your choice from the above mentioned tours. Prize packages into some events are worth even more than $13,000, when you add in hotel accommodations and spending money.

Poker Stars is holding several satellite tournaments awarding these passports between now and July 3, 2011: cash satellites, FPP satellites and Steps satellites, all in a variety of buy-ins.

All qualifying main events are in No Limit Texas Hold’em. Choose the European Poker Tour and you’ll be entered in the EPT London main event, worth $13,700. The 2012 PCA main event prize package is worth $14,500. If you elect to play in the APPT or LAPT, you can choose which event from those series’ you wish to enter. APPT main event by-ins are usually $8,000 and LAPT main event buy-ins are usually $5,000.

There are 5 main event prize packages in all in the Poker Stars Main Event Passport promotion, You can win one prize package to a main event in each tour. If you manage to win a seat in all 5 tours, then your subsequent prizes will be credited to you in tournament dollars (T$).

PartyPoker Promotions for May 2011

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Party PokerPartyPoker is one of the leading online poker rooms. It belongs to PartyGaming, which has recently joined up with Bwin. PartyPoker is licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar. PartyPoker offers an exciting range of promotions for its players. Some of the promotions are standard and are carried forward from month to month. But the more interesting promotions are the topical ones.

WSOP, the biggest land poker extravaganza begins on May 31 in Las Vegas with the Main Event taking place in June. Some of the May promotions at PartyPoker offer WSOP packages. The WSOP 2011 promotion runs right through May. The prizes are $14,000 WSOP packages that include $10,000 WSOP Main Event buy-in, $2,000 spending money and eight nights’ hotel accommodation. In this promotion PartyPoker players can enter through a daily freeroll tournament and work their way up to the WSOP Satellite in which 1 out of 20 players will be given WSOP packages.

The Gladiator is an exciting promotion that runs from May 1 to May 31. PartyPoker has declared different levels of daily targets for loyalty points earned and has designated prizes for players achieving the targets. The prizes are in the form of freeroll tournaments with prize pools ranging from $2,500 to $25,000. Players who earn 1,200 points on each of 30 days will get the grand prize of a WSOP package.

One of the most popular online tournaments at PartyPoker this May will be the $250K Guaranteed Sunday. It will be held every Sunday at 12:45 hours ET. The tournament offers a guaranteed prize pool of $250,000. Players can directly register for the event by paying the buy in of $215. But most PartyPoker players will win entries through a series of low priced qualifiers, some of which are even freerolls. One of the qualifying promotions is the 50 Seat Frenzy, which guarantees 50 seats to the $250K Guaranteed Sunday. The direct buy in for this event is $15. However, there are two qualifiers, one of which is a country specific freeroll and the other is a $2 buy in Saturday morning event.

There are a large number of newbie players at PartyPoker. Especially for them PartyPoker offers a number of freerolls in which they play for free but win cash prizes. In May the combined prize pool of all such freeroll tournaments offered is over $20,000. A large number of these are country specific freerolls, in which players compete with others from the same region. However, the best freeroll promotion is the $1.5K New Player Freeroll. It will be held every Saturday in May. Each event will be capped at 5,000 players and the eligibility criterion is that the player must have made his first deposit in the 60 days before the start of the tournament.

Poker tournaments are not the only promotional events in May. New players are entitled to a 100% welcome bonus up to $/£/€ 500 on their first deposit. Regular players can earn loyalty points called PartyPoints for participating in cash games and tournaments. PartyPoints can then be redeemed for cash.

PokerStars SCOOP is Underway

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The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is an annual online mega tournament hosted by PokerStars, which is a leading poker room. It is modeled after the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which is the biggest land based poker tournament extravaganza. The objective of SCOOP is to give online poker players an experience of a mega poker event. SCOOP 2011 has begun on May 8. It will span 38 events and run till May 22.

There is one major difference between SCOOP and WSOP. Each SCOOP event is actually three independent events with low, medium and high buy-ins. This allows low rollers to participate and also ensures that players are not forced to play at stakes that do not suit them. All events have a guaranteed prize pool that will be shared by the winners in the declared manner. The total prize pool across all 114 events (38 x 3) is $25 million.

As in WSOP, there is a declared Main Event, which is the most prestigious, has the largest prizes and enjoys the greatest participation. At SCOOP 2011 the Main Event is Event #38, which is the last event. The poker variant is Texas Hold’em and the betting structure is No Limit. The combined prize pool for this event is $4.75 million. The low buy-in event gets $750,000, the medium buy-in event gets $1.5 million and the high buy-in event gets $2.5 million. Some of the other notable SCOOP 2011 events are Event #20 No Limit Hold’em and Event #35 No Limit Hold’em Heads Up Match Play. There are events in Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Razz and H.O.R.S.E. as well.

Apart from a major slice of the prize pool the top winner of each SCOOP event will be given a swank Movado gold watch with the PokerStars spade and SCOOP Champion on the face. The winners of every high, medium and low event will receive the watch. PokerStars has also announced a SCOOP Leader Board. Players will receive points based on how they perform in the various SCOOP events. The player who finishes on top of the leader board will receive the Player of the Series trophy, a seat at the main event of WSOP 2011, a prize package to the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a seat at the Grand Final of the European Poker Tour and a special edition PokerStars chip set.

Players can enter the SCOOP events by paying the designated buy-ins. However, satellites to SCOOP events are running round the clock at PokerStars. The buy-ins to the satellites are much lower and this is a great way of winning a seat at the SCOOP events. Some of the buy-ins are as low as $0.25.

When the SCOOP 2011 schedule was first announced earlier this year it was with a much larger prize pool base. The sum total of the prize pools was then $45 million. After the seizure of the American domain of PokerStars, it was evident that there would be no participation from American players. Therefore the prize money had to be reduced considerably.