Archive for July 21st, 2009
21
Jul

More female players on the prowl says recent study

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

Since the beginning of the game, the crowds surrounding poker tables have had a decisive male majority. Of course anyone that’s familiar with the modern poker scene recognizes the faces and names of lethal lady pros like Annie Duke or Jennifer Harman. Still, despite the millions of dollars female pros have been raking in they remain remarkable to the general public not because of their excellence but because of their gender. If recent statistics are to be believed, then you’d better get used to losing to girls.

According to a new study from the independent market analysts at Poker Players Research, the female poker playing population is going to explode. By 2011 female players are expected to claim at least one-third of the ring game seats. The World Series of Poker was clearly ahead of the curve when it offered its first ladies event in 1977 (there’s been at least one every year since). The World Poker Tour also showed their love for the fairer sex when they launched their Ladies Only League last year. The online poker rooms aren’t far behind with popular sites like PokerStars targeting new marketing toward a growing female audience.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

Ante Up for Africa: better late than never

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

Well folks with all the excitement of the first days of the Main Event we let another important WSOP event slip under our writing radar. Last week the pro-founded poker charity Ante Up for Africa held its third annual WSOP event. The charity’s founders Norman Epstein, Annie Duke and Don Cheadle often lament that our less fortunate African friends are frequently overlooked in favor of more trendy causes, but in this case the slight was completely unintentional. With the huge celebrity turnout at least it’s safe to say they didn’t miss us.

The ever-present pro wannabes Matt Damon and Ben Affleck made an appearance, as did Nelly, Charles Barkley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Sarah Silverman. (Naturally there was also an abundance of C-list stars hoping to use the event to boost their own PR, but we’ll let someone else talk about them.) Even Duke’s former Celebrity Apprentice opponent Herschel Walker anted up. Joan Rivers, naturally, was absent but the poker pros she openly disparaged earlier this year made a point of proving her “trashy” accusations wrong by coming out in big numbers to support the charity.

Daniel Negreanu, Greg Mueller, Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, Jennifer Harman and a whole slew of other big-name players put the heat on their celebrity contemporaries. In the end, the pros came out on top proving yet again that it’s easy to look like a poker player but much harder to actually win. Event champion Alex Bolotin did both and true to the nature of the event donated half of his $176,449 earnings back to the charity.

Of the 138 players that paid the $5,000 buy-in 18 cashed, and they must have been feeling generous because over $360,000 was donated back to Ante Up for Africa.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

World Series of Poker Day 2B update

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

Legendary poker personality Scotty Nguyen lost out on his bid to add another title to his 1998 World Championship and his 2008 HORSE title on Day 2B of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Nguyen suffered the fate of many a player of his caliber: he put his money into the pot with the best hand and took a bad beat on the river.

Nguyen went all in with pocket aces with a board that was 5-5-K-10. His opponent had K-10, but Nguyen’s aces and fives held up until the river when another king appeared, giving his opponent a kings-over-tens full house and sending the former champion to the rail.

Other notables eliminated on Day 2B include poker author David Sklansky, two-time bracelet winner Howard Lederer and 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren.

On the other side of the proverbial coin, young poker pro Phil Ivey has built up a large chip stack. At the end of Day 2B, Ivey stood at 325,000 in chips, good enough for sixth place on the day. Ivey is attempting to win his third bracelet of this year’s Series, his eighth in his career and his first Main Event title.

The only man this year who has won three bracelets, all of them in Seven-Card Stud events, is Australian pro Jeffrey Lisandro. Lisandro is also alive and thriving at the end of the day with 180,000 in chips.

As the field narrows down and the tensions rise, who will walk away with the US$8.5 million first prize? Watch here for our daily updates on the most prestigious tournament in poker!

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

World Series of Poker Day Ones completed

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

The Fortieth Annual World Series of Poker Main Event has concluded its round of “Day Ones” with some notable eliminations, a memorable entrance and a rather large controversy.

Among the previous Main Event champions that will not be repeating this year are Tom McEvoy (1983), Huck Seed (1996), Jamie Gold (2006) and Jerry Yang (2007). Other notables who will not see a Day Two include former Players of the Year Daniel Negreanu (2004), Allen Cunningham (2005) and Jeff Madsen (2006). Also, celebrities such as actor/comedian Gabe Kaplan and former baseball pitcher turned broadcaster Orel Hershiser will have to return to their day jobs, as their dreams of WSOP gold came to a halt on Day One.

One former World Champion who knows how to make an entrance is 1989 Main Event Winner Phil Hellmuth. Last year, he entered the tournament area dressed as General George S. Patton. The year before that, he was dressed as a racecar driver. This year, he has truly outdone himself. Check out the video below:

 

Watch Phil Hellmuth Caesar Entrance at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv

 

Our readers can only hope Hellmuth does not suffer the same fate in July as befell Caesar on the Ides of March.

Some players made the strategic decision to wait until “Day 1D” to sign up for the Main Event. With that day selling well over the two thousand seats available and with five hundred players shut out, that strategy seems to have backfired. Many players who tried to register also complained of “special treatment” given to big-name pros over online qualifiers or amateurs who tried to enter late. World Series Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack is reputedly working on a solution to bring these additional players into the field.

Currently, the field is at just under 6,500 players, with a total prize pool of just over US$61 million. As of this writing, the first-prize winner is scheduled to receive over US$8.5 million. Keep checking back with us for more updates on the biggest event in poker!

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

WSOP Main Event hopefuls fight for their right to buy in

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

This year’s World Series of Poker has been setting records and selling out events at every turn, so it should come as no surprise that the Main Event has been…well, eventful. While the first fiftysome events of the series ran rather smoothly, the first few days of the Main Event have been marked by several snafus, not least of which was a marketing error that left almost 500 players out of the action on Monday.

Some of the shunned players have claimed that the WSOP promised seats to 3,000 players on Day 1d, but with all three tournament rooms packed with tables—and even with some additional tables set up near a restaurant at the back of the Rio—there simply wasn’t enough room for all the people that came to play. Having the registration office doors closed in their faces didn’t deter the angry mob which turned on WSOP commentator Mike Sexton.

Among the players turned away were pros like four-time WSOP bracelet winner Mickey Appleman and Tom Franklin who’s been a regular competitor at the series for 20 years. Sexton and Franklin had a private audience with Tournament Director Jack Effel, but ultimately it was determined that nothing could or would be done for the Day 1d shutouts. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was given the unhappy task of delivering this news to an increasingly agitated crowd. After several attempts to console the rejected players, Pollack left the stage amidst a chorus of boos and even some threats of legal action.

A total of 6,494 players were allowed into the 2009 Main Event, many of whom made their $10,000 buy-in days, weeks, or even months prior to the series.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

World Series of Poker day 2A Update

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

Day 2A of the 40th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event has wrapped up. Day 2B starts today at noon PDT. The entire field will come together for Day 3 on Thursday 9 July.

Among the former world champions who will not win another gold bracelet this year is poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson. Brunson was the first man to win back-to-back Main Event titles under the current format when he took down the biggest prize in poker in both 1976 and 1977 – well before most of today’s field of online qualifiers was born! The senior Brunson fell on Saturday when his set of threes on the flop lost to his opponent’s seven-high straight on the turn.

Todd Brunson, Doyle’s son and a notable pro in his own right, was eliminated shortly after the dinner break on Day 2A. The sole member of poker’s first family still left standing is Doyle’s daughter Pamela with about 139,000 in chips.

Another world champion sent to the rail was the last man to win back-to-back titles, Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan. Chan won his main event titles in 1987 and 1988, but will not add the 2009 title to his collection of ten total bracelets. He was knocked out early in Day 2A when his ace-four off-suit could not catch up to Matthew Woodward’s pair of nines.

Late in Day 2A still another former world champion was sent packing. Poker legend Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston was knocked out late in Day 2A when he went all-in with eight-nine and his opponent called with a pair of nines. Slim did not improve his hand and lost his chance to add the 2009 title to his 1972 victory.

With all of these great champions eliminated, who will win the US$8.5 million first prize? Keep checking back here for daily news on the biggest event in poker!

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

2009 World Series of Poker news and notes

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

With the conclusion of all the preliminary events at this year’s World Series of Poker, the tournament the entire poker world waits for every year has finally begun. Here is a wrap-up of the stories that came out of the earlier events:

• Australian poker pro Jeffrey Lisandro leads the World Series of Poker Player of the Year standings with 355 points. His three bracelets and three other cashes have netted him a total of over US$800,000 in winnings.

• Poker pro Phil Ivey got off to a strong start with two early bracelets as well as three other cash finishes. He is currently third in the Player of the Year rankings and has earned almost US$357,000 in prize money.

• Another famous poker pro, Canadian-turned-Las Vegan Daniel Negreanu, is tied with David Baker for the most cash finishes at this year’s Series with eight. Although Negreanu did not win a championship bracelet this year, he made two final tables, including a second-place finish at the US$2,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Six Handed event. His total winnings this year are over US$330,000.

• The big-money winner so far this year is Russian pro Vitaly Lunkin. His win at the 40th Anniversary US$40,000 buy-in event, along with two other final tables and a fourth finish in the money, have netted the Moscow native nearly US$2.7 million for the year. Five other players have also surpassed the US$1 million mark thus far.

• Online poker pro Alex Bolotin won the US$5,000 buy-in Ante Up for Africa charity tournament, the last one before the Main Event. As is tradition with these charity events, Bolotin donated a portion of his winnings to charities that deal with caring for refugees in Darfur. Other notable pros that made the final table at this event were Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel and Jennifer Harman-Traniello.

As the Main Event progresses, we will have daily updates on who’s in, who’s out and who’s going to walk away with the greatest prize in poker!

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

WSOP boasts $1 billion in payouts

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

While the final figure on 2009 WSOP payouts is not yet available, what is known is that this year’s winnings will push the World Series of Poker’s 40 years of payouts over the $1,000,000,000 mark.

It’s no secret that the series has been growing steadily throughout its history and that it has experienced explosive growth in the last few years. Last year’s prize pool set a record with over $180,000,000 awarded and, despite the weak world economy, this year’s series was just as popular with several events selling out.

Amateur poker players wondering about the future of the game do not need to worry. A significant majority of the $1,000,000,000 paid out by the WSOP was distributed in just the last four years with the 2006-2009 tournaments averaging well over $150 million each. No other competition offers such amazing prizes; with their prize money combined, the most prestigious professional horse racing, tennis, PGA, and NASCAR events don’t even come close. When you consider that the WSOP event buy-ins are open to virtually everyone, it’s easy to see how this six-week series can be life changing for new and returning contenders alike.

This year’s World Series of Poker is winding down with just the Texas Holdem Main Event tables left standing, but Gambling Planet readers now have a whole new year to start qualifying for the 2010 series.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

Atlantic City at a loss

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

The new Asian gambling markets are booming, but old fashioned American standbys like Atlantic City are suffering from the American lack of cash. While the online gambling industry has posted reliable gains throughout the recession, live destinations like Atlantic City and Las Vegas have taken major hits as Americans have tightened their wallets. A recently released report by the independent credit analysts at Moody’s suggests that an immediate comeback is unlikely.

While a new wave of small, local gambling establishments has meant more casino choices for East Coast gamblers, it has also tarnished the appeal of large-scale operations like Atlantic City, and dwindling finances among the city’s main investors means an overhaul is out of the question. Gambling revenues have dropped for the third year in a row, inspiring many gambling groups to delay or outright abandon plans to build or expand in Atlantic City. Sadly this news isn’t surprising to the analysts who have been predicting hard times for Atlantic City for years.

Tourism as a whole has been hard hit by the stagnant world economy, and gambling-related tourism has been an especially hard sell on Wall Street where it was recently reported that June saw an overall drop in American gambling stocks after two months of steady gains.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

21
Jul

U.S. poker legislation delayed despite increasing support

No commentsPokerJuly 21st, 2009admin

Even as individual states open their doors to expanded gambling opportunities, the United States government continues to resist change. Longtime online gambling supporter Congressman Barney Frank was set to lead hearings on his bills HR 2266 and HR 2267 later this month, but earlier this week the Poker Players Alliance announced that the House Financial Services Committee has pushed the hearings back until September.

This news comes on the heels of a WSOP-inspired spike in support. The PPA-sponsored petition for the legalization of online gambling in the U.S. gained over 6,000 new signatures last weekend alone and is expected to surpass 250,000 signatures before the end of the series. The signing period will end later this month, and the finished petition will be delivered to the White House on July 22 for President Obama’s consideration. If you have not yet signed the petition, you may do so at www.pokerpetition.com Petitioners whose signatures have been validated by the PPA will be given one-time access to special $3500 freerolls on popular sites like PokerStars.

Sources: http://www.gamblingplanet.org/

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