Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Poker Stars - WPT Ladies Championship down to final table

WPT Ladies Championship down to final table

Leading the pack into the final table will be Vanessa Selbst. With $182,200 in chips, Selbst has a considerable lead over the pack, with her nearest competitor being Nancy Todd Tyner with $107,400 in chips.

Selbst built up her lead steadily through two days of play in the championship. She was the chip leader after Day 1 as the playing field made its way down to the top 10 players by the end of the day.

Some of the poker pro casualties in Day 1 included Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Tilly, Evelyn Ng, JJ Liu, Shirley Williams, Anjela Brunson, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, Lily Mizrachi, Sabyl Cohen and Maureen Feduniak.

In Day 2, Karina Jett, Erica Schoenberg, Jennifer Carson and Emeline Boich hit the bricks to leave the following ladies at the final table:

  • Seat 1: Nancy Todd Tyner - $107,400
  • Seat 2: Janice Kim - $32,900
  • Seat 3: Cindy Kerslake - $16,400
  • Seat 4: Vanessa Selbst - $182,200
  • Seat 5: Donna Varlotto - $68,600
  • Seat 6: Van Nguyen - $42,300

Selbst earned her spot in the WPT Ladies Championship by winning the WPT Ladies tournament at the Commerce Casino. She said during a WPT interview that she didn't consider anyone in particular a threat at the final table, but it was the most aggressive players who made the final table so it won't be an easy win.

#img: van-nguyen_17747.jpg: left: Nguyen makes another final table.#

Perhaps the most threatening of Selbst's opponents at the final table will be Van Nguyen. She built herself back up from being the short stack while 10-handed, and she already has a WPT win under her belt after taking down the Celebrity Invitational.

The final table will take place April 25, the day before the WPT World Championship final table, and be taped for future television broadcast.

The WPT World Championship will start Saturday at the Bellagio. Selbst confirmed she plans to buy into that event as well. Men "The Master" Nguyen is also hoping to duplicate his wife's success in the Ladies Championship with a win of his own in the World.

Stay tuned to PokerListings.com for live updates, reports and more in the Live Tournaments section when the event kicks off.

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Mike Thulson is golden at HPT event in Colorado

Thulson outlasted 401 opponents and then beat Michael Pempin in heads-up play to take down first place and a cool $180,810 at the Colorado event.

It was a shining moment for the 49-year-old, who said he would buy his wife a horse if he won the tournament.

"I had such a great time," Thulson said. "Who could have thought this would happen."

Thousands of players came out to the Golden Gates Casino to play in the satellites and qualifiers for the main event, which had to be held in three separate flights because of the massive field.

Organizers were pleased with the turnout at Colorado.

"What a phenomenal event," said HPT co-founder Todd Anderson. "All I can say is the people in Colorado really love their poker. This is why we come here twice a year."

The HPT is heating up and the next event will be held at Majestic Star Casinos in Gary, Indiana, on April 17. The last HPT event in Indiana was the HPT Championship, which saw over 1,000 players get in on the action, and organizers are estimating that the prize pool for the upcoming event could hit nearly $1 million.

The next HPT event in Colorado will start on Sept. 22 and run through Oct. 5 at the Golden Gates Casino.

Here's a look at the complete final-table payouts for HTP Golden Gates:

Player: Prize:
Mike Thulson $180,810
Michael Pempin $90,405
Xue Vang $54,243
Brian Johnson $42,189
John Reno $36,162
Mark Herrera $30,135

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Inside the Tour, #88: More on Bluffing
Bluffing. What does it mean? How important is it? Can one be successful without bluffing? Unnnh… well, no. According to Dennis, you have no chance to be a winner in no-limit hold'em without bluffing. When people talk about...

MGM Mirage to lay off hundreds
MGM Mirage, which is the largest casino operator in Las Vegas, has reported that it will lay off about 440 employees. The layoffs will occur mostly in management at the corporate level, MGM Mirage reported Monday. According to a story at majorwager.com: MGM Mirage President and COO Jim ��...full article

mgm-mirage-1.gifMGM Mirage, which is the largest casino operator in Las Vegas, has reported that it will lay off about 440 employees.

The layoffs will occur mostly in management at the corporate level, MGM Mirage reported Monday.

According to a story at majorwager.com:

MGM Mirage President and COO Jim Murren said Monday that management and supervisory level staff reductions were part of a process that will save MGM Mirage about $75 million annually. Most of the local workers were told of the cutbacks Monday.

The employee reductions were companywide but the bulk of layoffs took place in Las Vegas where MGM Mirage operates 10 Strip resorts and is building the massive $8.4 billion CityCenter development. MGM Mirage also operates casinos in Michigan and Mississippi.

Whole thing here.

Earlier this year, about 150 employees were laid off at Circus Circus, one of MGM Mirage’s holdings.

MGM Mirage employs 66,000 people nationally, according to the story.



PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 2: Riisem, Lodden Lead
Norway's Oyvind Riisem, fourth-place finisher in the WSOP Europe Main Event, ended Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo as chip leader with 441,400 chips. Fellow Norwegian Johnny Lodden finished...

Catch the WSOPE on Sky next week

The World Series of Poker Europe took place in London in September 2007. The series included three events: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E., £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and the £10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event.

Next week viewers can see what it took for Thomas Bihl to become the very first WSOPE bracelet winner, along with Dario Alioto's win in the second event. What viewers may be most interested in, however, is watching Annette Obrestad win the WSOPE Main Event.

At just 18 years of age, Obrestad became the youngest winner of a WSOP bracelet and she also became the first woman to win a $10,000 Main Event of the World Series.

In an advertisement for the upcoming TV premier of the series, Obrestad said, "To find out how I did it, watch the 2007 WSOPE on Sky Sports. I look forward to seeing you at this year's WSOPE event in London on Sept. 19."

The broadcast schedule for the WSOPE is:

Date Time (GMT) Channel
April 21 9 p.m. Sky Sports 3
April 22 9 p.m. Sky Sports 3
April 23 9 p.m. Sky Sports 3
April 24 9 p.m. Sky Sports 2
April 25 9 p.m. Sky Sports 3
April 26 11 p.m. Sky Sports 2
April 27 9 p.m. Sky Sports Xtra
April 28 9:30 p.m. Sky Sports 2

The 2008 WSOPE, which will once again be presented by Betfair, will take place at three casinos across London from Sept. 19 to Oct. 1, with the final table taking place at the The Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square.

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CD Poker revs up another WSOP freeroll

The freeroll is open to players who signed up at CD Poker through PokerListings.com and then accumulated 200 player points during the qualification period.

The qualification period for Wednesday's WSOP freeroll ends today, but the poker site will have one more freeroll for PokerListings.com players in May.

The qualifying window for the May 14 freeroll begins today and ends on May 13.

Each freeroll will offer participants a shot at a $12,500 WSOP Main Event prize package. It includes the $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 Main Event plus money for travel and accommodation.

A free trip to play in the World Series is certainly nothing poker players are going to want to pass up. The WSOP Main Event has rocketed many players to millionaire status.

Jerry Yang picked up $8.25 million for his win last year, and Jamie Gold won a record-breaking $12 million in 2006.

Along with the cash has come quite a bit of fame for many of the Main Event winners. The CD Poker freeroll winners have the potential to join the ranks of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer and others who have attained world champion status.

CD Poker isn't letting the other players in the freeroll leave completely empty handed either. The poker site is putting up $2,500 to spread deep into the freeroll standings.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

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MrSmokey1 wins PokerStars Freezeout

As usual it was a poker-packed Sunday on PokerStars and hundreds of thousands of dollars were awarded. Online player graslevy was the big winner, who took home $204,562 (deals non-withstanding) for taking down the PokerStars Sunday Million. It was no small feat considering there were 7,254 runners in the event.

pitstache8888 had to do one better at the Sunday Hundred Grand because he was up against 21,424 opponents. pistache8888 did indeed overcome the competition and won $19,539 in the process. Not quite as much as the Sunday Million but a hell of a value considering pistache8888 only bought-in for $11.

In other PokerStars Sunday news, DaMadPotter beat PLAYM0NEYPRO in the $10,000+$300 heads-up challenge to win an easy $20,000 while TheTotti finished first in the Sunday Warm-Up for $108,731. Here's a look at the complete final table payouts for each event (totals do not take deals into account):

PokerStars Sunday Million

1. graslevy $204,562
2. JTD DOG
$103,006
3. Mescalin8
$72,540
4. grabskia
$58,032
5. Caetana
$43,524
6. Purrel
$31,917
7. HittinChills
22,487
8. rainmaker AD
$13,057
9. choppermen2
$8,559

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up

1. The Totti $108,731
2. anky213 $55,467
3. gango17 $39,853
4. Riverloser $24,680
5. iemins $18,258
6. QUEEN KAZU $13,221
7. zaphrail $13,221
8. Mazelucky $9,310
9. styroben33 $4,910

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand

1. pistache8888 $19,539
2. WARTHOG7 $9,769
3. dog sweater $6,770
4. cchriztal $3,842
5. solbaid $2,913
6. piersonphoto $1,949
7. 88KOOK $1,564
8. Fatross $1,264
9. Waterdragon8 $984

PokerStars Sunday $5,200 Freezeout (winner take all)

1. MrSmokey1 $50,000

PokerStars Sunday $10,300 Heads-up Showdown

1. DaMadPotter $20,000

 

 


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PKR.com gets attention with 25,000 square-foot banner
PKR.com, a 3-D online poker site, is using some unorthodox tactics to attract attention and customers — the latest is a 25,000 square-foot banner advertising the site. The giant banner has been flown over London three times already. According to pokerpages.com: The giant banner is three-quarters the size ��...full article

pkr.jpgPKR.com, a 3-D online poker site, is using some unorthodox tactics to attract attention and customers — the latest is a 25,000 square-foot banner advertising the site.

The giant banner has been flown over London three times already.

According to pokerpages.com:

The giant banner is three-quarters the size of a soccer pitch. And when trailed through the skies behind a helicopter, it can be seen for 10 miles, to an estimated 1 million people each flight.

PKR.com partnered with Helibanners Ltd. and their patented Helicopter Overcity Banner Systems to produce the huge banner and to fly it in and around London, primarily during major events.

Whole thing here.

If you’re in London, you’ll be able to see the next flight on April 26, when Chelsea plays Manchester United in soccer.


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