https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2013/03/ Betfair Poker's talented team of poker enthusiasts bring you the very latest poker news from around the globe. Covering both online poker and the live poker scene, the Betfair Poker blog is your one-stop site for the very best in poker related news, views and gossip. Along with select poker news stories, visitors will also find detailed reports and results of major online and live poker tournaments, interviews with some of poker's key figures and players and bespoke poker articles and editorials. Join Betfair Poker Now en Copyright 2026 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:26:00 +0000 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification The first ever World Series of Poker Asia Pacific series is only days away, with the first event set to kick off next Thursday, April 4. The WSOP APAC will run from April 4-15 at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, Australia (a.k.a. the Crown Melbourne), which for more than a decade has hosted the popular Aussie Millions series. In all, five gold bracelets will be awarded at WSOP APAC, the first of many bracelets to be won in 2013.     Satellites are already underway at the Crown Melbourne, including several for the AUD $10,000 buy-in Main Event that starts April 11. WSOP officials are estimating more than 150 players will be winning Main Event seats via satellites over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the poker world is curious to see what sort of turnout the WSOP APAC Main Event will ultimately draw, including how it will compare to the $10K buy-in Aussie Millions Main Event in which 629 participated this year. Five Bracelet Events The full schedule for the 2013 WSOP APAC is as follows (all $ AUD): Event #1, $1,100 NLHE Accumulator (Apr. 4-8) Event #2, $1,650 PLO (Apr. 7-9) Event #3, $2,200 Mixed Event (8-Game) (Apr. 8-10) Event #4, $5,000 NLHE 6-max. (Apr. 9-11) Event #5: $10,000 NLHE Main Event (Apr. 11-15) That initial "no-limit hold'em accumulator" Event #1 introduces a never-before-seen format to the World Series of Poker, kind of a variation on re-buy/re-entry events.  Players will have the opportunity to play one, two, or all three Day 1 flights, with each requiring the AUD $1,100 buy-in. Players surviving multiple Day 1 flights will then be able to combine whatever chips they accumulated with which to begin Day 2 of the event when the entire field will be combined. Thus will some players potentially begin Day 2 with inordinately large stacks if they manage to thrive on more than one of the Day 1 flights. Meanwhile, players busting from an earlier Day 1 flight will have the opportunity to re-enter later flights. Event #2 offers a pot-limit Omaha tournament for players, while Event #3 presents the popular 8-game mix format with games rotating between no-limit hold'em, seven-card stud, Omaha hi/lo, razz, pot-limit Omaha, limit hold'em, stud hi/lo, and 2-7 triple draw.   The Mixed Event at the WSOP APAC will represent only the third time a non-hold'em or Omaha WSOP bracelet will be awarded outside of the U.S. and the first in five years. In both 2007 and 2008, the WSOP featured a single £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, with all of the other 28 events during the WSOPE's six years featuring only hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, or a combination of the two. Event #4 then offers players a higher buy-in (AUD $5,000), short-handed NLHE tournament. Then comes the WSOP APAC Main Event (Event #5) which will follow a format similar to both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Events, although levels will last 90 minutes (as at the WSOPE Main Event) rather than two hours (as at the WSOP in Las Vegas). Another Caesars Cup, and a High Roller Also happening at the 2013 WSOP APAC will be another Caesars Cup competition such as has been staged at the WSOPE in 2009, 2011, and 2012. However, unlike at the WSOPE where two teams -- Team Americas and Team Europe -- compete, the WSOP APAC's version of the Caesars Cup will feature three region-based teams participating in the non-bracelet, invite-only exhibition, with an Asia Pacific team having been added to the mix. Captains for the three WSOP APAC Caesars Cup teams have already been announced, with Sam Trickett heading up Team Europe, Phil Ivey leading Team Americas, and Joe Hachem to pilot Team Asia Pacific. Each will select four more players to join them on five-player team rosters that will then play a combination of formats against one another. The entire event will play out on Sunday, April 14, with Team Europe initially taking on Team Asia Pacific, then the winner going on to face Team Americas in the final. Team Americas earns the bye thanks to its having won the last Caesars Cup at 2012 WSOP Europe. Among the other non-bracelet events on the schedule at the Crown Melbourne is one that will surely grab some attention, a two-day, AUD $50,000 (with re-entries) "High Roller" event scheduled to begin Saturday, April 13. The Caesars Cup, High Roller event, and the Main Event are all scheduled to be televised globally on various ESPN networks. There will also be online streaming of all WSOP APAC bracelet events as well as the High Roller event. Moving Toward a "Grand Slam of Poker" The WSOP APAC was first announced nearly a year ago in late April 2012. At the time, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart spoke of the WSOP having an ultimate goal "to establish the worldwide grand slam of poker and use our platform to elevate the game through a series of major championships." Ever since the WSOP APAC was first unveiled, observers have speculated both about the prospects for success of the series (coming just three months after the Aussie Millions) as well as how the introduction of still more WSOP events might further affect the overall value and significance of winning a bracelet. I touched on some of those debates here last spring in an article titled "The WSOP... Where the Sun Never Sets."  In addition to the five WSOP APAC bracelets up for grabs over the coming weeks, there will be a record-high 62 bracelets awarded in Las Vegas this year at the WSOP, plus another that will be won in late May at Harrah's New Orleans at the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit National Championship.   Meanwhile, there will likely be seven more bracelet events staged when the 2013 WSOPE moves to Paris this October. That number would bring the overall total of WSOP bracelets to be won in 2013 to 75. For more on the 2013 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific schedule, see the WSOP APAC landing page at WSOP.com. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/bracelets-down-under-2013-wsop-apac-starts-this-week-in-melbourne-290313-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/bracelets-down-under-2013-wsop-apac-starts-this-week-in-melbourne-290313-77.html News WSOP Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:26:00 +0000 This week in tournament poker was highlighted by the conclusion of the European Poker Tour's London stop at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino where among the highlights were a Main Event victory by the Dutchman Ruben Visser and London's own Talal Shakerchi claiming the High Roller title. Visser Gains Victory, £595K in Main Event The Main Event at the Vic saw a total of 647 entries built a total prize pool of £3,137,950 for the £5,000 buy-in tournament. Ultimately it was Ruben Visser triumphing over all, ultimately earning a £595,000 payday after a three-way deal at the final table. The top 96 got paid, and among those making relatively deep runs but failing to make the final table were Adam Levy (33rd, £12,500), Russell Carson (26th, £15,000), Jason Mercier (25th, £15,000), Annette Obrestad (23rd, £17,500), Mike McDonald (20th, £17,500), Yury Gulyy (19th, £17,500), and Nicolas Chouity (11th, £33,000). The American Steve O'Dwyer began the final eight-handed table with the chip lead, with Visser in second position.   Meanwhile Chris Moorman began the day with a short stack, and was soon all in and at risk with 7d-7s versus the Ah-Ks of Theo Jørgensen. The board brought both an ace and a jack, and they were down to seven. Another U.K. player, Tamer Kamel, went out next in seventh after falling in a hand versus Sweden's Olof Haglund. Kamel was at risk with Ac-10h versus Haglund's Ks-Qc, but a queen flopped and Kamel couldn't catch up. Visser then used 9h-9c to top Christopher Frank's Ah-Ks, and when O'Dwyer next ran Ac-2s into the Ad-As of Jørgensen, they were quickly down to four. Jørgensen's good fortune was short-lived, however, soon after getting all in with 4h-4c against Visser's As-8h. The Qh-3c-2h flop and Qs turn were okay for the player from Denmark, but the Ac fell on the river to knock out Jørgensen. The final trio then paused proceedings in order to arrange a chop of the remaining prize money (leaving £140,000 for which to play). Then Haglund was knocked out by Visser after calling all in with Kh-Jd against Visser's As-8d, then watching the board come Ad-6h-4s-5d-Qc. With that pot Visser began heads-up play with a huge chip advantage, starting with 15,595,000 versus Mantas Visockis's 3,735,000. Visockis did manage to double up once with pocket kings, then edged up further to close the gap with Visser. But ultimately the Lithuanian's luck ran out when he went all in with 10c-10d versus Visser's Ad-Qs. The board came 7s-4d-Jc, then 2s, then Qh, the queen on the river giving Visser the hand and the tourney. Season 9 EPT London Main Event final table payouts (*reflects three-way deal): 1st:  Ruben Visser (Netherlands) -- £595,000*  2nd:  Mantas Visockis (Lithuania) -- £377,436* 3rd:  Olof Haglund (Sweden) -- £427,564* 4th:  Theo Jørgensen (Denmark) -- £183,000 5th:  Steve O'Dwyer (United States) -- £146,000 6th:  Christopher Frank (Germany) -- £112,000 7th:  Tamer Kamel (England) -- £79,950 8th:  Chris Moorman (England) -- £57,000 In a five-year career that has seen Visser now amass nearly $2 million in tourney earnings, this marked the Dutchman's biggest cash so far. Shakerchi Ships High Roller Meanwhile it was London's own Talal Shakerchi coming away with the EPT London High Roller title, earning a first-place prize of £436,330 after outlasting a tough field including Faraz Jaka heads-up to win. There were a total of 112 entries including 25 re-buys for the £10,000 High Roller event, thus building a total prize pool of £1,342,600, the equivalent of more than $2 million. That money was ultimately divided among the top 14 finishers, with Scott Seiver (14th, £24,170) and Barry Greenstein (11th, £26,850) among those coming up just shy of the final table. Shakerchi began the final day with the chip lead by a wide margin, starting with more than 1.7 million chips with India's Guatam Sabharwal the closest challenger with a little over 1.1 million. Shakerchi maintained the lead for the first couple hours, then Sabharwal took it over after knocking out Eric Sfez in eighth. The eliminations of J.C. Alvarado and Vicky Coren soon followed, then Sabharwal was knocked out by Jaka in fifth, catapulting the latter into the top spot. Shakerchi would push back out in front, however, and after knocking out the red-hot Paul Volpe in fourth found himself comfortably in front again with more than 4.1 million while Fabian Quoss and Jaka were both south of 1.5 million. The end came quickly thereafter. First Quoss was all in with Ad-9h against Shakerchi's Ks-Qd, and when the community cards came As-Js-9s-10d-7h Shakerchi's straight was enough to oust Quoss in third. Just a few hands later Jaka was all in with Ad-Qs against Shakerchi's Qd-Qc, and when the board came jack-high, Shakerchi was champ. Season 9 EPT London High Roller final table payouts: 1st:  Talal Shakerchi (England) -- £436,330 2nd:  Faraz Jaka (United States) -- £241,670 3rd:  Fabian Quoss (Germany) -- £147,690 4th:  Paul Volpe (United States) -- £107,410 5th:  Gautam Sabaharwal (India) -- £87,270 6th:  Victoria Coren (England) -- £67,130 7th:  Juan Carlos Alvarado (Mexico) -- £53,700 8th:  Eric Sfez (France) -- £40,280 The win marked the largest tourney cash in Shakerchi's career, worth about twice his previous high of €223,000 for winning the 6-max. Turbo High Roller event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2012. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-visser-victorious-in-ept-london-main-shakerchi-ships-high-roller-220313-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-visser-victorious-in-ept-london-main-shakerchi-ships-high-roller-220313-77.html News Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:59:00 +0000 The professional tournament poker circuit is in high gear at the moment, with major tournaments currently playing out on the European Poker Tour (in London), the Latin American Poker Tour (in Chile), and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (in Seoul).  As those events began, three other champions were crowned within the last week on the World Poker Tour (Kai Chang), the United Kingdom Ireland Poker Tour (Sergio Aido), and the World Series of Poker Circuit (Joseph McKeehen).  WPT:  Chang champ at Bay 101 Season XI of the World Poker Tour rolled into San Jose recently for the always popular Bay 101 Shooting Star event.  A total of 643 entries for the $7,500 buy-in event meant a whopping prize pool of $4,444,950, with Kai Chang of Albany, New York ultimately taking the top prize of $1,138,350. The final table featured a few interesting stories, including Paul Volpe -- who finished 20th in last year's WSOP Main Event (for $294,601) -- making his second straight WPT Main Event final table after finishing runner-up in the L.A. Poker Classic just a couple of weeks before (for $651,170).  Volpe ultimately finished third for yet another huge six-figure score ($435,610).  Also of note was Erik Seidel's continued return to form, finishing fourth to pick up close to $300K.   The tourney was stacked with accomplished players, thus making the list of notables lengthy.  Among those reaching the final three six-handed tables were Danny Wong (8th, $91,120), Antonio Esfandiari (9th, $64,150), Matthew Stout (12th, $48,890), Christian Harder (13th, $37,780), and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (15th, $37,780). Season XI WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table payouts: 1st:  Kai Chang -- $1,138,350 2nd:  Joe Nguyen -- $666,740 3rd:  Paul Volpe -- $435,610 4th:  Erik Seidel -- $295,590 5th:  Chris Johnson -- $208,910 6th:  Joe Kuether -- $162,240 UKIPT: Aido, Evans emerge triumphant in London Last weekend Spain's Sergio Aido took down the last Main Event of Season 3 of the United Kingdom Ireland Poker Tour at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, topping a big field of 1,099 entries to claim the first prize of £144,555.   Others making deep runs but not quite reaching the final table in the £700 buy-in event were Mark Gardner (10th, £10,450), Gary Fisher (15th, £4,480), Dara O'Kearney (18th, £3,730), and Olivier Busquet (21st, £3,730).  Season 3 UKIPT London Main Event final table payouts: 1st:  Sergio Aido (Spain) -- £144,555 2nd:  Thomas Ward (England) -- £116,845 3rd:  Pat Simcoe (England) -- £63,560 4th:  Philippe Souki (England) -- £44,870 5th:  Wim Neys (Belgium) -- £33,680 6th:  Guy Goossens (Belgium) -- £22,490 7th:  Cesar Garcia (Spain) -- £15,050 8th:  Chris Dowling (Ireland) -- £12,691 9th:  Juan Pastor (Spain) -- £10,450 Also coming with the end of Season 3 of the UKIPT was the Champion of Champions event in which Aido and other winners from the season competed against one another in a single-table tourney the winner of which earned a "Season 4 Passport" -- that is, free entry into at least five £1,000 events on the tour next season. Aido went out in ninth at that table, while Richard Evans, winner of the UKIPT Dublin event last May, emerged victorious to win the Passport. WSOP Circuit: 21-year-old McKeehen captures ring Meanwhile earlier this week the latest Main Event winner on the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit was found when 21-year-old Joseph McKeehen managed to top a field of 540 entries to grab the ring and a hefty $174,147 first prize in the $1,675 buy-in tournament at Caesars Atlantic City. McKeehen took the chip lead late in Day 2 of the three-day event after picking up pocket aces in back-to-back hands, carrying his advantage into Monday's final day of play.  He then kept that lead throughout as the final eight players fell, with only eventual runner-up Tony Sinishtaj coming close to his stack to start heads-up play. Matt Glantz was among the notables finishing relatively deep in the event (27th, $5,427), along with Christian Harder (35th, $3,750), and Timothy Finne (42nd, $3,394). 2012-13 WSOP-C Caesars Atlantic City final table payouts: 1st:  Joseph McKeehen -- $174,150 2nd:  Tony Sinishtaj -- $107,673 3rd:  Ido Ashkenazi -- $78,659 4th:  Dennis Thurman -- $58,312 5th:  Hend Matthews -- $43,853 6th:  John Holley -- $33,453 7th:  Raymond Morgan -- $25,880 8th:  Leo Walker -- $20,307 9th:  Allie Prescott -- $16,160 The win actually marked the second six-figure score in McKeehen's short career as he earlier picked up a $116,230 first prize for winning a $2K Turbo NLHE event at the 2012 PCA in the Bahamas. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-chang-aido-mckeehen-victorious-1-150313-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-chang-aido-mckeehen-victorious-1-150313-77.html News Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:08:00 +0000 "Brilliant young minds" or "arrogant little pricks"? Such is the question with which authors Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback leave their readers at the conclusion of Ship It Holla Ballas!, a book-length portrait of a group of young, successful poker players whose games were nurtured online during the "boom" era. Grotenstein and Reback earlier teamed for All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker, a lengthy blow-by-blow history of the WSOP. With Ship It Holla Ballas!, the pair have chosen a narrower scope for their storytelling, concentrating chiefly on the dozen or so players loosely grouped under the name from which the book takes its title. The result is a quicker, less arduous read than was the case with All In, with the anecdotes and characters engaging enough to keep the pages turning. Self-named heroes in an adventure of their own making The story begins in the late 1990s and early 2000s amid the earliest days of online poker, carrying through the period of the game's explosion in popularity and ending shortly before Black Friday. The first half of the narrative gradually introduces the "Ship It Holla Ballas!" one by one, interestingly choosing to identify them only by their online screen names as though they were characters in some fantastic adventure story. The book then goes on to relate the story of their subsequent self-identification as members of a group bound by a shared desire to win big at the tables and party hard while doing so. Good2cu (Andrew Robl) and Raptor (David Benefield) emerge early on as the book's primary protagonists, with TheUsher (Alan Sass), Irieguy (Dave Elliot), Apathy (Peter Jetten), Inyaface (Max Greenwood), Jman (Phil Galfond), and durrrr (Tom Dwan) earning a lot of attention as well. Others gliding in and out of the story include Traheho (Alec Torelli), FieryJustice (Jonathan Little), DonHolatchya (Dustin Sitar), Deuce2High (Mario Silvestri), and Travis Rice (TravestyFund). Soon, however, the reason for the authors' decision to stick with the players' screen names becomes readily apparent. This is some fantastic adventure story they are telling, mostly populated with young, brash, skillful poker players who in some cases seem as interested in becoming "internet famous" as in reaping the significant rewards available to online players.  Tales surrounding the group members' staggering online successes and occasional failures dominate the narrative, with the gradual accumulation of their several significant live scores earning mention once they begin to occur (in most cases later on, after players have turned 21). These individual stories play out against a contextual backdrop of the poker "boom" and the game's quick growth during the mid-2000s, the minor speed bump of the UIGEA in 2006, and continued prosperity until the story concludes just before Black Friday. How the "ballas" roll For a book about poker players, there's a curious lack of conflict throughout.   The group does encounter a few troubles amid the accumulation of ever-growing bankrolls, the frequent trips and parties, the crazy (and sometimes dangerous) prop bets, and other high times, with the occasional totaled BMW or burglary of laptops causing momentary setbacks. A couple of downswings also induce periods of self-doubt in some, although these episodes never seem to last especially long. Indeed, in most cases such problems are resolved by the end of the short chapter in which they arise. And rarely do any conflicts occur between members of the group, giving the impression at times of a hard-to-fathom harmony among the poker-playing fraternity. The general threat of the new generation of "ballas" to the established pros -- played out as a conflict between online vs. live players and/or young vs. old -- receives some attention very late in the book, highlighted by Dwan's infamous heads-up battle versus Phil Hellmuth at the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. But again the "war" between the two factions begins and ends abruptly, just as Dwan and Hellmuth's match did with durrrr catching that lucky ten to crack the Poker Brat's aces. A consequence, perhaps, is a kind of double difficulty for some (many?) readers to identify with the oddly-named "heroes" of Ship It Holla Ballas! Not only are the stakes for which they play beyond what most have experienced, but the general lack of resistance they seem to encounter makes their story that much more fantastic seeming (and harder to relate to). That said, the portraits of Robl (Good2cu) and Benefield (Raptor) do provide some depth, with both at least having to struggle with inner conflicts along the way. Benefield's frequent bouts of "existential despair" over the meaning -- or lack thereof -- of his chosen occupation are well presented by the authors. Meanwhile, Robl's various insecurities manifest themselves in several ways, most notably in his creation of the group's website, part of an ongoing effort to create (and perhaps live up to) an imagined persona (the "balla").  A "crew" or a collection of characters?  Early on the authors seem to hint at broader themes, such as the way each of these disparate individuals from all over the U.S. and Canada not only find each other, but perhaps need each other in ways that go beyond having someone with whom to discuss optimal sit-n-go strategy. Benefield's status as an adoptive child and the divorce of Robl's parents (for example) seem to suggest that they along with the other "Ship It Holla Ballas" will find in the group something they each lack otherwise. But these ideas ultimately prove largely incidental to the group's story, and in fact by the latter stages of the book as individual members ultimately are shown moving on to continue in poker on their own or to pursue other endeavors, the whole notion that this ever was an actual, functioning "crew" is thrown somewhat into doubt.   The book's positives include an interesting portrait of the subculture of online poker as it existed during the 2000s, a subculture shaped in large part by internet forums (especially Two Plus Two) and blogs. While much of this community's development has played out publicly online already, it has done so in highly fragmented fashion, thus adding some value to Grotenstein and Reback's work of culling and compiling. The exploration of some of the subjects' conscious efforts at creating various online personae -- Robl's, in particular -- proves intriguing as well, although interestingly there is little connection drawn between the importance of image creation at the poker table and this kind of social experimentation at identifying oneself through forum posts, blog posts, and other mediated means. The writing is also clear throughout and at times clever, too, thus making the book a relatively easy and enjoyable read.  "Living the dream" or "acting like total idiots"? Ultimately the authors leave it to their readers to decide for themselves how to answer the question of whether to admire or abhor the "Ship It Holla Ballas." Grotenstein and Reback most certainly spend a lot of time in their book celebrating the young men's entrepreneurial ingenuity and free spiritedness. However, to their credit they aren't always romanticizing the "balla" lifestyle, especially when revealing as well unflattering details that somewhat humanize their subjects. While it might be regarded by some as covering a niche within a niche, Ship It Holla Ballas! nonetheless is an engaging read that should prove interesting in particular to those who themselves experienced the whole "rise and fall" narrative of poker during the 2000s, albeit likely not to the extremes of Good2cu, Raptor, Jman, durrrr, and their cohorts.  Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/poker-book-review-ship-it-holla-ballas-by-jonathan-grotenstein-and-storms-reback-080313-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/poker-book-review-ship-it-holla-ballas-by-jonathan-grotenstein-and-storms-reback-080313-77.html News Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:02:00 +0000