A total of 170 professional poker players took to the felt yesterday in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the third day of action at the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open. Will “The Thrill” Failla, the recent winner of WPT Legends of Poker, is currently seeking his second WPT title of 2011 with a field-leading 3.255 million chips.
The last player to face elimination prior to the money was Mark Bramley, who brought A-Q suited to showdown for a Broadway straight. David Williams had him beat with pocket kings for a full house, and the room erupted when all remaining players knew that they’d at least be getting their buy-ins repaid as the tournament continued.
A number of noteworthy pros hit the rail on Day 3, including Jesse Cohen in 28th, David Williams in 31st, John Racener in 35th, Yevgeniy Timoshenko in 47th, John D’Agostino is 59th, Jeff Madsen in 60th and Eric Haber in 67th.
The aforementioned Cohen was the last player to bust for the day. Cohen moved all-in with K-10 offsuit against Chris Martin’s pocket jacks, but failed to improve his hand on a garbage board. Cohen received $16,352 for his relatively deep run.
Although Failla owns the most dominant chip stack currently, a number of dangerous poker pros remain. Jin Hwang is currently sitting in last place with just 346k chips, while Vanessa Selbst, Darren Elias, Matt Glantz and John Cernuto all have between 1.5 and 2.6 million chips.
While the first-place prize of $922,441 is obviously what’s on everyone’s mind heading into Day 4, players can take comfort in knowing that even the earliest bust will receive $18,868. If Failla manages to win, he’ll bring his live tournament earnings for 2011 to just under $2 million.
Sep 23 2011
Barney Frank to return campaign donations from Full Tilt Poker
written by: Steve Comments: Comments Off
One of the biggest advocates for legalizing and regulating online poker has been Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) so it should come as no surprise that his campaign coffers have been lined by poker players and companies over the past few years, including campaign contributions by Full Tilt poker and individual Full Tilt Poker owners.
Because of the recent troubles of the beleaguered online poker site, Representative Frank has declared that he will give all of the money he has received from Full Tilt poker and its owners to US players who find themselves on the short-end of the stick. Players’ losses are estimated to be $150 million should Full Tilt poker fail to make reparations.
Frank was quoted in the Boston Herald as saying, “I was very disappointed to hear of the allegations… But it doesn’t change my views,” Frank said. “If anything, it strengthens them. Online gambling should be legal, so government can regulate it.”
Frank was first in the firing line, as critics lined up to blast politicians who have received campaign contributions from the online poker industry, as the Herald quoted state GOP spokesman Tim Buckley as saying, “Frank should refund every nickel of the tens of thousands in campaign donations linked to online gambling. It appears Mr. Frank is another congressman willing to associate with criminals.”
According to Boston.com, “Frank had taken in $18,600 from the board members of Full Tilt Poker since 2007 and another $14,000 from the Poker Players Alliance, a group largely funded by the board members.”
Frank told Boston.com he would give the money to the defrauded players from the site, and if this was untenable he would donate the money to charity. The Boston Herald further stated that Frank said he sees no reason to return other campaign contributions from other parties in the online poker world.
The second starting flight of the World Poker Tour Malta played to completion on Wednesday at the Portomaso Casino. An additional 139 players bought into the event for 3,300 Euro, creating a total field of 240 players and a prize pool of just under 698k Euro. Tommy Vedes led the day with 115,500 chips.
Vedes’s last major live tournament victory came in 2009 when he won WPT Festa al Lago for a staggering $1.2 million. He has over $2.6 million in career live tournament winnings, making him a force to be reckoned with as play continues on Day 2.
Some of the biggest names to join the action on Day 1b included McLean Karr, Steven Kelly, Sam El Sayed, John Eames, Dragan Galic, Ivan Freitez and Phil Hellmuth. Some of these players were eliminated on Day 1a, but bought in a second time thanks to the event’s re-entry format. Hellmuth, for example, lasted only 14 minutes on Day 1a after arriving late for the 6th level of play. Hellmuth, Galic and Eames survived the day, albeit with small chip stacks. Hellmuth is relatively dangerous at 34,075. Eames will have to fight back if he wants to advance past Day 2, as he’s holding just 17,100 chips.
A total of 49 players hit the rail on Day 1b, meaning that 90 will advance to join the Day 1a survivors and bring the total competitor field to 154. Even Vedes’s stack isn’t big enough to match that of Fabien Sartoris, who ended with the overall chip lead after Day 1a.
A number of big name pros will join Sartoris, Vedes, Hellmuth and company, including William Thorson, Steve O’Dwyer, Tobias Reinkemeier, Marvin Rettenmaier, Sofia Lovgren and Antoine Saout. Some of the players who weren’t as successful and hit the rail early include Kara Scott, Fabrice Soulier, James Akenhead, Vladimir Geshkenbein and Davidi Kitai.
One of the most prestigious tournaments on the poker schedule is set to kick off this month as the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) heads to London, where players will compete for what is expected to be a £4 million total prize-pool, with a £1 million first-place prize, in the Main Event.
In all the PokerStars EPT London tournament series will feature an impressive 31 tournaments over the course of its seven-day stop in London, which will be held at the Hilton London Metropole Hotel in central London.
In addition to the Main Event, players will have the chance to partake in the £20,000 High-Roller tournament, which has become a staple on the tournament trail. Other interesting tournaments include the £2,000 buy-in European 8-Game Mix Championship and the £5,000 buy-in Heads-Up Championship; there will also be a £10,000 buy-in High-Roller “TURBO” tournament on the final day of the EPT London tournament series. For a full schedule of events at the 2011 PokerStars EPT London you can visit the PokerStars EPT website.
Last year the EPT London was won by the UK’s very own David Vamplew, who pocketed £900,000 after defeating a very tough field of 848 entrants, and a final table that included the likes of John Juanda, Kyle Bowker, Fernando Brito, and 201 Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Tom Marchese.
The PokerStars European Poker Tour London Poker Festival is the first of Season 8′s full-on poker festivals and runs from September 30 – October 6, 2011 at the Hilton Metropole Hotel.
The first starting flight of World Poker Tour Malta played from 101 entrants down to 64 just a couple of days ago, and Fabien Sartoris is currently dominating the field with 127,350 chips. Thomas Wolff, Christian Nitsche, Franco Guastamacchia and Matt Giannetti round out the top five. Giannetti is perhaps the most notable player thanks to his current spot on the WSOP Main Event final table.
Some of the more notable players who didn’t make the Day 2 cut include McLean Karr, Fabrice Soulier and Arnaud Mattern. Soulier seemed strong with A-K suited, but it wasn’t enough to top the pocket kings of Andreas Klatt given a board that provided no help to either player.
Karr faced a similar fate when he combined 9-7 suited with a K-7-7 flop. After pushing all in, Alessandro Borsa showed A-7, giving him the stronger kicker by a large margin. The 10 and 8 on the turn and river had no effect on the rest of the hand, and Karr hit the rail.
Perhaps the biggest name to bust on Day 1a was Phil Hellmuth, who showed up late and busted from the very first table. After buying in on Level 6, Hellmuth attempted a complete bluff, pushing all-in with garbage hole cards. He missed the flop, turn and river, losing to the ace-high of his opponent. It’s likely that Hellmuth will seek redemption on Day 1b thanks to WPT Malta’s re-entry format. John O’Shea, John Eames, Marvin Rettenmaier and Mihai Manole are likely to do the same.
Justin Bonomo’s semi-permanent move to Malta, largely to continue his online poker career, proved to be a good one as he survived Day 1a. Some of the notables joining him include Tony G, Dominik Nitsche and David Vamplew.
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