There has been a rise in female success stories at the WSOP over the past few years, and Loni Harwood is a female young gun who has proven time and time again that women can play poker just as well as men. Harwood, 23, hails from New York and has made an impressive mark on this year’s series. She made three final tables this year alone and finally bagged a gold bracelet, making WSOP history.
Among 2,500 players in the last NLH event this year, she managed to break last year’s Allyn Jaffrey Shulman’s record, who had until held the record for the highest sum won by a woman (Senior’s Event). With a paycheck totaling more than $600,000, Harwood is only second to the largest winning woman in the WSOPE, Annette Obrestad. Furthermore, Harwood, who had no WSOP earnings at the start of this year’s WSOP, is now 8th for all-time money winners in WSOP history with a whopping total of $874,698 in total WSOP winnings, in just this year alone. She also now holds the record for the most money won at a single WSOP by a female.
Harwood, who is also a regular on the WSOP circuit, is one of many Circuit regulars who have won a first place title this summer. Bryan Campanello and Jonathan Taylor have also won gold bracelets and have frequented the Circuit this year. And if that wasn’t enough, Harwood is only the fourth player to make three final tables in one WSOP, tying her with Cyndy Violette (2005) for the most final tables by a female in one year. She also became the second woman do win an open-field NLH event since Annette Obrestad, the second being Dana Castenada, who completed the feat only days before Harwood.
She is now in the running for WSOP player of the year. Her performance has put her third in line behind Daniel Negreanu (2nd) and Matthew Ashton (1st).
Harwwod won her first gold bracelet in a showdown against Canadian player Yongshuo Zheng, who could have been the next Chris Moneymaker after winning his seat online at a Canadian poker site. Though he didn’t win the bracelet, he took home a rather decent consolation prize totaling $378,607.
Henrik Tollefsen has won the 2013 Asia Poker Tour (APT) Macau Main Event, after besting a field of 193 players over five days on his way to claiming the title, and collecting the HK$981,700 (US$142,280) first place prize. With his victory in Macau, the Norweigan has now earned $536,614 from live tournament since his first cash in 2009.
The HK$25,000 (US$3,620) buy-in event attracted a good size field of amateurs and enthusiasts alike, and by the time the final table of eight had been set Henrik Tollefsen was in second place behind Canada’s Cheryl Peng. It would take two hours before the first player was then eliminated in the guise of China’s Jia Geng, who walked away with HK$129,00 (US$16,500) for his deep run in the tournament. He was subsequently joined on the rail by Australia’s Alvin Cheam in 7th, Singapore’s Feng Zhao in 6th, before Tollefsen (A-K) eliminated Cheryl Peng (A-Q) in 5th to claim his first. scalp.
Henrik Tollefsen then went on a tear eliminating USA’s Phong Nguyen in 4th and Hui Wen in 3rd to herald in the heads-up phase of the competition against USA’s John Conkright. At this stage, Tollefsen held a 2-1 chip advantage over his opponent, and eventually the defining hand was reached with both players all-in pre-flop and Conkright’s K-7 up against the pocket sixes of Tollefsen. The board then ran out 8-3-10-Q-3 to relegate Conkright to a runner-up finish worth HK$714,300 (US$92,095), while Henrik Tollefsen was crowned the 2013 APT Macau Main Event champion.
When all was said and done, it would be Jonathan Bredin who would best the 126 player field at the ANZPT Queenstown Main Event for NZ$93,600 in a memorable final table in more ways than one.
Bredin, who has cerebral palsy and requires the use of a care giver and an iPad to act at the table, battled Australia’s Daniel Laidlaw for two hours head-up to win the event. Laidlaw would walk with NZ$59,550 for his 2nd biggest documented career cash.
In perhaps one of the most cinematic moments at a final table—and on what turned out to be the final hand of the tournament—Laidlaw was all in with Ace-Queen of diamonds vs Bredin, who uncovered pocket kings, specifically the King of Spades and the King of Clubs. Once the board ran out favorable for Bredin and victory was complete, his caregiver revealed that tattooed on Bredin’s right arm was his winning hand–-King of Spades, King of Clubs. It seems his victory was predestined at a final table not soon forgotten.
While it was all smiles in the end, the final table will also go down in infamy as it includes a hand which will be cited by shot clock advocates for a long time to come. As noted on the PokerStars blog, the 17-minute single-hand tankfest was complete with theatrics, counting down of stacks and spreading of the pot where the clock was called on the flop and then again 3 times on the river, all in different situations. In the end, the hand was folded on the river with no cards exposed and no eliminations to be had—just 17 minutes to play a single hand.
Bredin Victorious At Eventful ANZPT Final Table | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
US poker pro Allen Bari has certainly shown he has the skills to pay the bills having amassed $2,820,715 playing live tournaments, including winning a bracelet at the 2011 WSOP $5k No Limit Hold’em event for $874,116. In addition, the 29 year-old has notched-up a further $581,519 playing tournaments online pre-Black Friday under the screen name “Albari”.
Therefore, it was interesting listening to the reasons why one of the most talented, as well as outspoken, personalities in the game decided to retire from full-time poker in August 2012 and now instead plays cash games mostly of between $75/$150 and $300/$600 just once a week at Parx Casino in Philadelphia. At the heart of Bari’s decision to quit full-time poker, apparently, was his increasing frustration with the nature of poker tournaments themselves, describing the variance associated with them as “absurd”.
According to Bari, When someone plays cash games they are happier because if they are any good they will win around 80% of the time but with poker tournaments that figure drops to losing the majority of the time. Elaborating further, Allen Bari said;
“I think no-limit hold’em tournaments are really tough and the style people play has increased the variance. I think I am probably one of the top 10 cash-game players in the world but it doesn’t really matter in tournaments. Now, you have to run good. Playing good poker can only get you so far; you need luck.”
Consequently, Allen Bari said that he eventually found poker tournaments to be too stressful an endeavour and that the only way he could handle the variance associated with them was by quitting playing them altogether. Bari even went on to explain that luck was such a factor in tournaments that some players could experience even 10 years of great results and still not be any good.
“The game is just really stressful. There is just too much variance in tournament poker. When you play you go home and just think, ‘oh gosh, this sucks,’ unless you win the tournament. So then you just end up being unhappy like 99.99% of the time. And for the most part I don’t like the average poker player.”
Expressing his frustrations with the game further, Allen Bari says that he now intends to quit playing poker altogether in the next year and hopes to open his own food-related business in Hoboken, New Jersey by early 2014.
Andrew VanBlair has won the Mid-States Poker Tour Tama, after besting a field of 348 players over three days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $88,958 first place prize.
The $1,000 buy-in tournament took place at the Meskwaki Casino Hotel in Iowa and attracted a good sized field just one player short of the largest ever recorded in Meskwaki history during Season 3. Amongst the notables cashing in at this year’s event was Peixin Liu in 34th ($1,678) and Larry Ormson in 15th ($4,700).
By the time the final table of nine had been set, Andrew Vanblair was second in chips only to Kansas construction operator Shane Fuller, and as the table played down to its final few players it would be theses two big stacks who would eventually meet heads-up to decide the event.
Despite the tournament being the longest in MSPT history, the heads-up affair was an all together much shorter affair with Vanblair able to overcome his initial 3-to-1 chip disadvantage to beat his opponent in just 10 hands. The deciding hand was then played at 2:30 a.m. local time, when Vanblair three-bet shoved with A-4 over the top of Fuller’s A-9. Unfortunately for the Kansas man the board subsequently rolled out K-Q-4-5-5 to relegate him to a runner-up finish worth $48,672, while Andrew Vanblair was crowned the 2013 Mid-States Poker Tour Tama champion.
Mo Abedi-Arani has won the Card Player Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event, after besting a field of 735 players over three days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $220,626 first place prize.
Mo Abedi-Arani has now earned $485,957 since his first cash in 2008, and commenting after his remarkable victory at the main event in Durant, Oklahoma, said: “It feels great but it still hasn’t hit me. Blair [Hinkle] was on my left the whole time and he busted early, so that was lucky. Then everything else just worked out the entire time. It felt good.”
The $1,500 main event attracted a large field of both amateurs and pros alike to create a prize pool worth $1,103,091. Amongst the top name cashing in at the event but falling short of a final table apperance was
TJ Cloutier, Rob Salaburu, Doug Paxton, Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and Jim Carroll.
By the time the final table of nine had been set, Lou Barlow (3.815m) was way ahead as the chip leader, Allan Farber was in third spot (1.845m), while Mo Abedi-Arani was way behind in 7th on a 1.115m stack.
Mo Abedi-Arani, however, would go on to reach the heads-up phase of the competition against Allan Farber, albeit at a 6-1 chip disadvantage, and would subsequently manage to overcome his chip deficit before the final hand was played. In the hand, Mo Abedi-Arani had been dealt 7-6 to his opponent’s Ad-Jd, and after all the chips went in on a 6-5d-2-6d board, the river produced a 4s to relegate Allan Farber to a runner-up finish worth $136,011.
Meanwhile, Mo Abedi-Arani was crowned the 2013 Card Player Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event champion, and commenting on what winning the tournament meant to him, said: “It’s nice, the bracelet is nice, the money is nice. Obviously I’m happy. It’s great because now I can play a little bit bigger. It helps a lot.”
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Mo Abedi-Arani – $220,626
2. Allan Farber – $136,011
3. Lou Barlow – $100,271
4. Bruce Guin – $74,734
5. Matthew Ludlow – $56,445
6. Donald Thurman – $43,186
7. Blair Hinkle – $33,457
8. Bill Donnelly – $26,243
9. Thao Truong – $20,837
Mo Abedi-Arani Wins Poker Tour Choctaw For $220,626
Trevor Dineen has won the 2013 Irish Poker Championship, after besting a field of 52 players over three days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the €39,450 ($52,710) first place prize. The Irishman now boasts $196,726 in live tournament winnings and following his remarkable victory in Ireland, commented:
“I don’t even know what to think, really. This is a big one to win. Especially with a tough field like the one I played against.”
The €2,500 Irish Poker Championship attracted a small but talented field to the Poker Village in Galway to create a prize pool worth €116K. Amongst those notable players competing but falling short of the 7 paid places was Jake Cody, Paul Weekes, Jay O’Toole, Elior Sion and Christopher Day.
By the time the final table of seven had been set, a few top pros still remained in the guise of the 2013 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final champion Steve O’Dwyer and the 2010 UKIPT Dublin champion Max Silver, who were leading the way with over 500k in chips each. In the meantime, Trevor Dineen managed to reach the final table on a short-stack of just 35,100.
Nevertheless, Dineen was then able to progress all the way to the heads-up phase of the tournament, albeit at a 2 to 1 disadvantage against Steve O´Dwyer. A little later, however, Dineen successfully reversed positions before the final hand eventually came with Dineen shoving with A-Q only to be called by his opponent holding pocket tens. The board subsequently rolled out 8-6-J-Q-J to hand Dineen the crown, after which he commented:
“I played in Prague last December and I would love to play another EPT again. I want to try try getting a couple of more results now. Let’s see how it goes. I work for a living, I don’t play poker. And I don’t think this will change so soon.”
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Trevor Dineen – Ireland – €39,450
2. Steve O’Dwyer – Ireland – €27,840
3. Marc MacDonnell – Ireland – €18,560
4. Ian Gascoigne – UK – €11,600
5. Thomas Hall – UK – €8,120
6. Max Silver – UK – €5,800
7. Peter Murphy – Ireland – €4,642
Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin‘s incredible hot streak in Macau continues to rage unabated, after she took down her fourth career Macau Poker Cup title on August 9th. In her latest victory, Celina Lin defeated a field of 205 players over two days at the HKD2,000 ($260) Deepstack event on her way to collecting the HK$85,800 ($11,061) first place prize.
Celina Lin’s unprecedented run in Macau first started back in 2008, when she captured the HK$500 Charity Event for HK$31,000 ($4,000). She then followed up in 2009 by winning the HK$9,400 Red Dragon Event for HK394,800 ($50,932), before in 2012 doing likewise at the HK$10,120 Red Dragon for HK$854,000 ($110,077).
Then, last weekend, Celina Lin won her impressive fourth MPC title having made it through to heads-up at a tough final table, where she eventually overcame a 3 to 1 chip deficit against fellow glamorous female poker pro Hazel Yuen Shan Chui to claim the title.
With her latest MPC win at the City of Dreams resort in Macau, Celina Lin Pei Fei, who has $194,666 in online winnings, not only boosts her live winnings to $376,042, but she also becomes the first poker player to make 20 final tables in ‘Asia Player of the Year’ events. Commenting on her achievement, Team PokerStars Manager for Asia, Dom Choi, said:
“Those 20 final tables are an impressive number and doesn’t even count the final tables she’s made before the APOY scoring system was introduced in 2009. It’s a credit to her consistency and hard work.”
Despite the accolades, however, Celina Lin is now fully focussed on the upcoming Red Dragon event, which is widely considered to be the most prestigious trophy in the whole of China. Winning the tournament for a third time would be an incredible feat, and commenting on her achievements thus far, Lin said:
“The milestone is nice and it’s always very gratifying to win a tournament. But everyone comes to the Macau Poker Cup for one reason and that’s to win the Red Dragon. I want to continue to play well and take that momentum heading into the main event.”
Poker Babe Celina Lin Wins 4th Macau Poker Cup Title
Adam Foster has won the Empire State Hold’em Championship Main Event, after besting a field of 426 players on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $154,958 first place prize.
The $1,650 buy-in annual Empire State Poker Classic was held at the Turning Stone Casino in New York, and this year marked the launch of a new show called ‘Poker Night in America’ (PNIA), which will be air the tournament early next year.
The TV program was created by the original producers of the Heartland Poker Tour shows, Todd Anderson and Andy Rich, along with the Media Director of the WSOP, Nolan Dalla. The filming subsequently followed some of the players as they made their way to New York to take part in the tournament series, as well as a $25/50 private cash game which had a minimum buy-in of $5,000.
“Our mission is to revolutionize televised poker. We want to make poker fun again, and that starts with bringing in some of the game’s most entertaining personalities and turning on the cameras all over the place, and capturing the magic that we all know happens, but we rarely see on television. We want this to be a real game-changer,” explained Nolan Dalla ahead of the filming.
Not surprisingly, the Empire State Hold’em Championship Main Event attracted a good sized field consisting of some of the best known players in the game to create a prize pool worth $619,830. Amongst the notable pros entering the competition was Mike Matusow, Eli Elezra, Phil Laak, David Williams, Greg Mueller, Gavin Smith, Tom Schneider, David “ODB” Baker, Shaun Deeb, Will Failla, Matt Glantz, Amanda Musumeci, Dwyte Pilgrim, and the 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon.
At least three players who were billed for the show then made it through to the final table of nine, with Darvin Moon finishing in 8th ($13,946), Matt Glantz in 6th ($26,000), and Will Failla in 5th ($32,851).
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Adam Foster – $154,958
2 Matt Parry – $86,776
3 Bud Salhob – $51,198
4 David Johnston – $39,360
5 Will Failla – $32,851
6 Matt Glantz – $26,000
7 James Rubin – $20,144
8 Darvin Moon – $13,946
9 Jason Knablo – $10,537
Adam Foster Wins Empire State Championship For $155k
Joe Kuether has won the 9th Annual Arizona State Poker Championship, after besting a field of 1,299 players over five days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $246,161 first place prize.
Joe Kuether cashed in at his first live tournament back in 2009, with his previous accolades including last year finishing in 3rd at the WSOP $1,000 NL Event for $218,983, as well as taking down the WSOPC $1,620 Rincon for $111,104. Following his latest win at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Kuether now boasts $1,673,552 in winnings and commenting on his latest achievement, the Wisconsin native said :
“Pretty amazing. I played all three starting days so it was actually a pretty long grind for a 1K, so it feels pretty great to end up winning it.”
The $1,080 buy-in event attracted a huge field which included some of the biggest names in the game, including Phil Hellmuth, to create a prize pool worth $1,299,259. Amongst the notables seeing a return on their money was Billy Kopp in 128th ($1,949), Jake Balsiger in 91st ($2,598), Dan Heimiller in 80th ($3,053), David Plastik in 58th ($3,312), and John Cernuto in 34th ($3,572).
Joe Kuether was then able to make it all the way to the final table where he overcame his remaining opponents, including Kelly Minkin heads-up, to capture the 2013 Arizona State Poker Championship title.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Joe Kuether $246,161
2 Kelly Minkin $151,983
3 Daniel Hirleman $116,910
4 Justin Riches $88,982
5 Zachary Kottler $77,940
6 Jason Bidwell $64,950
7 Ed Clark $51,960
8 Nidel Salem $38,970
9 Dave Kaminsky $25,980
10 Matthew Kursar $19,485
Joe Kuether Wins Arizona State Poker Championship For $246,161
This September will see PokerStars’ 12th World Championship of Online Poper take place, with online poker players from all over the world assembling to try and win guaranteed prizes that amount to a total of $40 million.
The 2013 WCOOP online poker bonanza will kick off on Sunday, September 8 and will run for the following three weeks, drawing to a close on September 30. It is expected to be the largest WCOOP ever with 66 gold and diamond bracelet events in total. The series will follow custom and end with the $5,200 Main Event that unfolds over two days. This year’s guaranteed prizes are $3 million greater than last year, totaling at $8 million. The winner will bag $1.25 million.
The festival should have massive turnout for the $109 No-Limit Hold’em opener, as well as feature the popular $10,300 High Roller Heads-Up and 8-Game events. Players who find these fees too hefty can qualify to participate without spending a cent by taking part in the online satellites already underway. Each main event has a satellite qualifier and a most memorable story happened last year, whereby small-stakes, recreational Russian player ‘maratik’ finished first place in the Main Event to pocket $1 million after qualifying using only 40 Frequent Player Points through a satellite qualifier.
Top performing players will be awarded with lots of amazing extra prizes, like every other year. The highest overall point scorer will earn tickets for Spring Championship of Online Poker, 2014 Turbo Championship of Online Poker, and World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, as well as a 2014 PCA package. The combined value of these prizes is over $33,000. Depending on the positions they take, the other top ten finishers will get a combination of future Turbo Championship, World Championship Main Event, and Spring Championship tickets.
This year will also see a ‘Woman of the Series’ prize for the first time, awarded to the highest placed female player on the leader board. The prize will include $1,100 tournament entry plus travel and hotel expenses, amounting to a $3,500 PCA package.
Ray Piccin has won the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $1 Million Guarantee, after besting a huge field of 3,389 players over three days to capture the title, and collect the $291,087 first place prize.
Event 7 ($560 Deep Stack) of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open attracted some of the best players in the game and amongst those cashing in at the tournament was such notables as Ylon Schwartz in 295th ($1,169), Noah Schwartz in 260th ($1,169), Dwyte Pilgrim in 247th ($1,220), David Rheem in 199th ($1,288), Matt Giannetti in 126th ($2,033), Steven Levy in 82nd ($2,745), Tyler Reiman in 11th ($15,250), and Frenchman Nicolas Cardtn in 10th ($15,250).
After the final table was reached, 2011 WSOPC National Championship winner Sam Barnhart was the first to exit in 9th ($23,725), followed a few hands later by last woman standing Wendy Freedman in 8th ($33,045), Johnny Miller in 7th, and Ben Zamani in 6th.
Next, a short-stacked Bryan Campanello (J-8) was eliminated in 5th ($85,150) during a three-handed pot involving Jon Cohen (A-K) and Darren Rabinowitz (A-A), with a depleted Jon Cohen following suit a few hands later in 4th ($104,635).
Ray Piccin (7-7) then took care of Neville Darrell (A-8) in 3rd ($124,630) to make it through to heads-up play, albeit at a 3 to 1 chip disadvantage against Darren Rabinowitz. Nevertheless, Piccin was able to overcome his deficit and take the lead before the defining hand was played with Piccin’s K-J making a pair against his opponent’s A-2 to claim the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open title.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1st: Ray Piccin $291,087
2nd: Darren Rabinowitz $190,125
3rd: Neville Darrell $124,630
4th: Jon Cohen $104,635
5th: Bryan Campanello $85,150
6th: Ben Zamani $66,935
7th: Johnny Miller $49,140
8th: Wendy Freedman $33,045
9th: Sam Barnhart $23,725
Ray Piccin Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open For $291k
Over the last few days the August 2013 Macau Poker cup Red Dragon Main Event has been taking place and finally the players have been whittled down from 645 to just 1, the UK’s Tom Alner was awarded the trophy and won HK$723,000.
At the beginning of the final day of play there were 21 players hoping to win. All of them were already in the money and guaranteed at least HK$41,200. One of the most popular players left in the field was Akira “Clutch Hero” Ohyama, in the end he was eliminated in 12th position by Jason Chong, however, he still went home with HK$63,000.
In the end the final table contained Joao Pedro de Castro, Victor Sheerman, Frank Maley, Shinichi Takenouchi, Brian Yip, Tom Alner, Jason Chong, Chuanya “Wilson” Fu and Thomas Ward.
In the end a four-handed deal was made between Alner, Chong, Fu and Sheerman. In the final hand of the tournament, just the second hand of heads-up play, Alner moved all in pre-flop with 7D and 7C against Chong’s QC and 10C. The flop produced the 9S, 8S and 7H and Alner won thanks to the AD on the turn and 2H on the river.
Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker just had one of the best weeks in the history of online poker.
The German won $2 million in the span of just seven days, playing $400-$800 no-limit hold’em, according to tracking data from HighstakesDB. Those games have been huge lately thanks to just one mark, who isn’t necessarily a poor player, but just not world-class, according to the high-stakes community. Unknown MalACEsia, who logs on to Full Tilt Poker from Macau, has been the catalyst for these six-handed tables for about the past 12 weeks. The top no-limit hold’em pros in the world have come out to try and capitalize on MalACEsia’s gamble.
In that time span, MalACEsia has dropped more than $3.3 million after about 35,000 hands.
It was Heinecker who won big this week thanks to MalACEsia reckless play.
On Wednesday, the two players were tangled up in a massive $403,000 hand.
The action began with Heinecker ($500,000 in his stack) raising to $2,000. It was folded around to MalACEsia ($200,000 stack) in the big blind. S/he made it $7,200, and Heinecker elected to call with position and huge pot odds.
The flop fell 9Spade Suit 7Spade Suit 5Diamond Suit, and MalACEsia bet $9,600. Heinecker made it $25,600, and MalACEsia four-bet to $80,000. Heinecker five-bet shoved, and MalACEsia called.
Heinecker tabled the 8Heart Suit 6Heart Suit for the nuts, while MalACEsia was drawing for a flush with the ASpade Suit QSpade Suit. According to Card Player’s hold’em odds calculator, MalACEsia wins slightly more than a third of the time.
The plays ran it just once.
The turn brought the 7Club Suit, which wasn’t what MalACEsia needed.
A 2Heart Suit on the river completed the board and gave the German a massive pot. The hand was one of the largest of the entire year so far.
Other big winners in the game over the past week were proudlikeagoat ($436,000) and IReadYrSoul ($350,000). MalACEsia wasn’t the only player to lose at the $400-$800 tables during the aforementioned time span, but no one came close to that account’s $1 million in losses.
Going back to Heinecker: The German is having an incredible year in both live and online settings. In early June, he won $4,456,885 in the 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions.
Here’s a look at the leader board for the high-stakes online games this year:
Winners In 2013
cottonseed1: $3.8 million
Rhje: $2.9 million
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom: $2.8 million
Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn: $2.7 million
Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene: $2.7 million
Losers In 2013
samrostan: -$3.4 million
Gus Hansen: -$3.39 million
MalACEsia: -$3.3 million
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey: -$3 million
punting-peddler: -$1.6 million
High-Stakes Online Poker: Niklas Heinecker Up $2 Million In Seven Days
Day 3 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open saw the field dwindle from the 100 runners that started the day to just 21 who still have a shot at the over $1,700,000 first place prize.
At the top of the chip counts is Florida resident and professional poker player Mukul Pahuja followed closely by Blair Hinkle. Justin Bonomo started the day with the chip lead and he survived the day still sitting with a top ten chip stack.
Also finding success is 2013 November Niner Amir Lehavot, David “Doc” Sands and WSOP bracelet winner Mark Radoja.
Action resumes at 12:00PM EST with players guaranteed to take home at least $58,175. Play is expected to reach a final table by the end of the day. For additional updates and chip counts from the tournament floor.
Twenty-One Remain at Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event has reached it’s final day as only 6 of the 21 runners that started Day 4 are left to compete for the over $1.7M first place prize. The Final Table is headlined by a duo of online superstars in Blair Hinkle, who sits with the overnight chiplead, and Justin Bonomo, who has been at or near the top of the chip counts since Day 2.
Both Hinkle and Bonomo sit extremely deepstacked, each with over 120bb’s, but are followed closely behind by Ray Qartomy and Day 4 starting chipleader, Mukul Pahuja. Samuel Guilabert has a little room to work with 31bb’s, while the table shortstack, Greg Lehn, will need to make a move early and double thru a few times if he’s to become one of the two players who will find themselves millionaires by day’s end.
Chip counts, payouts and live updates will be available on the SHRPO website when action resumes at 12 noon EST and plays down to a champion.
Final Table Set At Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
The PokerStars sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT) opens its tenth season in Barcelona by partnering with the Estrellas Poker Tour to create the largest ever poker festival to take place in Spain.
Starting this week cash games and a variety of preliminary events are taking place at the Casino de Barcelona at Port Olimpic with the € 5000+€ 300 EPT Barcelona Main Event starting on September 1.
Also, for the first time ever on the EPT, PokerStars is allowing players to buy-in directly to any of the planned 27 tournaments by way of their PokerStars-com or PokerStars-eu accounts. This includes the Main Event as well as featured events like the 8-handed €50,000 Super High Roller with Unlimited Re-Entry, the €10,000 Heads Up Championship and the €10,000 High Roller which are spread throughout the schedule of events.
Last year, EPT Barcelona drew over 1000 runners to provide the field with a prizepool of nearly €5.25M with over €1M for first place. PokerStars will also be bringing back EPTLive starting on August 30 with coverage of the €50k Super High Roller Day 1 and continuing through September 7 with coverage of the Main Event Final Table, which will be shown complete with commentary courtesy of veterans James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton, as well as hole cards.
European Poker Tour Opens Season X in Barcelona | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open final table came to a conclusion Wednesday and it was poker professional Blair Hinkle who walked away with the massive $1,700,000 first place prize.
Hinkle was the chipleader at the start of the day and, while he didn’t go wire to wire, he ended up with all of the chips at the end of it all by besting fellow pro Justin Bonomo after a lengthy, multi-hour bout of heads-up play.
Bonomo claims his second biggest live career score with his $1,163,500 payday, right behind his high roller victory at the 2012 EPT Monte Carlo while Florida poker pro Mukul Pahuja found himself in third place for over $870,000. Ray Qartomy, Samuel Bernabeau Guilabert and Greg Lehn took 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively.
In addition to the money, and the sweet Hard Rock guitar trophy, Blair Hinkle may have also found some piece of mind. One may recall that Blair Hinkle, after chopping up the Full Tilt Online Poker Series XIX Main Event (for $1.162M), found himself with over $1M stuck online right after Black Firday. While the prospects of that money are looking good to be returned, over two years later, fortune has smiled on Hinkle once again and he’s secured another $1M+ payday. This time though the only part of that money that will get stuck is what goes to the IRS.
Blair Hinkle Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
The European Poker Tour Barcelona (EPT) €50,000 Super High Roller came to a conclusion over the Labor Day weekend and it was Russian professional poker player Vitaly Lunkin who claimed the trophy, Shamballa Jewels bracelet and €771,300 first place prize.
The high priced event drew 40 of the games biggest names for a total of 51 entries, thanks to 11 rebuys, generating a healthy prize pool of nearly €2,500,000.
It was a victory truly earned as Lunkin not only had to fade a stacked field and final table, but when it came to heads up play he found himself across from the King of the High Rollers, Eric “Seiborg” Seidel. Seidel, if you will recall, once amassed over $3M in high roller winnings in a single month in 2011, and regularly finds himself deep when the buy-in exceeds $10k. Even though he was unable to overcome Lunkin, Erik currently sits in 3rd in the prestigious Hendon Mob All-Time Money list with the addition of the €557,100 second place cash from this event.
In addition to Seidel, Lunkin survived as EPT Grand Final Champion Steve O’ Dwyer (€355,100), EPT Dortmund Champion Mike McDonald (€269,400) and current November Niner David Benefield (€208,150) all hit the rail before him at the final table.
Also making the money were a pair of German professionals, rising star Ole “wizowizo” Schemion (€159,200) and Fabian Quoss (€128,515). Canadian Timothy Adams also made the official final table of eight players, but would be the first to bust, thus making him the bubble boy for the tournament as only the top seven cashed.
The World Poker Tour announced that after three seasons in the anchor’s chair for the flagship WPT broadcast, Kimberly Lansing is stepping down from her position with the tour. She will be replaced by PokerNews-com personality and current anchor of the new WPT Alpha8 Super-High Roller broadcasts on FOX Sports 1, Lynn Gilmartin.
Lansing, who spent three season as anchor of the WPT weekly broadcasts, is hailed as the first female anchor of a major poker series. She will be making her final television appearance for the WPT on September 5 at the WPT Foundation Ladies’ Night Invitational.
Lansing, along with female poker pros Vanessa Rousso, Lily Kileto, Jessica Dawley and Liz Lieu will be playing to raise money for various women’s charities including Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, Breast Cancer Awareness Association, Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), We Advance, the National Council for Research on Women, and Domestic Violence Project of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County. The event is set to be shown on the Fox Sports Network in 2014.
Gilmartin will be assuming the featured role starting with the very first televised event of Season VII which is the WPT Legends of Poker, currently being held at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA. Lansing announced her departure on Twitter where she stated that while she is indeed leaving the show, she is not retiring from television.
Lansing Steps Down As WPT TV Anchor | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
Among 2,500 players in the last NLH event this year, she managed to break last year’s Allyn Jaffrey Shulman’s record, who had until held the record for the highest sum won by a woman (Senior’s Event). With a paycheck totaling more than $600,000, Harwood is only second to the largest winning woman in the WSOPE, Annette Obrestad. Furthermore, Harwood, who had no WSOP earnings at the start of this year’s WSOP, is now 8th for all-time money winners in WSOP history with a whopping total of $874,698 in total WSOP winnings, in just this year alone. She also now holds the record for the most money won at a single WSOP by a female.
Harwood, who is also a regular on the WSOP circuit, is one of many Circuit regulars who have won a first place title this summer. Bryan Campanello and Jonathan Taylor have also won gold bracelets and have frequented the Circuit this year. And if that wasn’t enough, Harwood is only the fourth player to make three final tables in one WSOP, tying her with Cyndy Violette (2005) for the most final tables by a female in one year. She also became the second woman do win an open-field NLH event since Annette Obrestad, the second being Dana Castenada, who completed the feat only days before Harwood.
She is now in the running for WSOP player of the year. Her performance has put her third in line behind Daniel Negreanu (2nd) and Matthew Ashton (1st).
Harwwod won her first gold bracelet in a showdown against Canadian player Yongshuo Zheng, who could have been the next Chris Moneymaker after winning his seat online at a Canadian poker site. Though he didn’t win the bracelet, he took home a rather decent consolation prize totaling $378,607.
2013 WSOP: Breakout Female Player