https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2013/04/ 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 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:59:00 +0100 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Three major professional poker tours have crowned new champions within the last four days. On Saturday, Daniel Pidun of Germany took down the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event. Then today two more major events concluded, with Victor Sbrissa winning the Latin American Poker Tour Brazil Main Event and Mike Linster winning the World Poker Tour bestbet Open in Jacksonville, Florida. Pidun Powers Through at EPT Berlin The European Poker Tour completed its Season 9 EPT Berlin stop over the weekend with the conclusion of the €5,000 buy-in Main Event and €10,000 buy-in High Roller.   While the Canadian Griffin Benger triumphed over a 107-entry field in the High Roller, earning €429,000 for doing so, it was Germany's own Daniel Pidun claiming the trophy in the Main Event. Pidun topped a huge field of 912 to win the week-long tournament and take away a prize of €880,000 (worth more than $1.15 million USD).   An especially long final-table bubble on Friday made for a short day on Saturday, as the final nine played for almost six hours before Dashgyn Aliev was finally eliminated in ninth, earning €56,000 for the finish.   It was Robert Haigh of Germany who held the chip lead to start the final eight-handed table, with Pidun not far behind in second-position. The Russian Roman Korenev had a healthy stack as well to start play on Saturday, but lost a lot to a Pascal Vos double-up, then was knocked out by Alexander Helbig to finish eighth. It took a while after that, but then eliminations came quickly as three Germans were ousted -- Julian Thomas in seventh, Roman Herold in sixth, and Alexander Helbig in fifth. The Dutchman Vos was the next to go in fourth after his Ad-7s failed to improve versus Pidun's Ah-Qs. Then Pidun took out Denmark's Lasse Frost in third in a hand that saw the latter all in before the flop against both opponents, then only Pidun was left by the river as the board showed 5s-8d-Kc-3c-Jc. Frost had but 10h-9h while Pidun had made a flush with Ac-7c, and they were down to two. Pidun enjoyed an enormous lead to start heads-up play with Haigh with 24.5 million versus Haigh's 2.8 million. Haigh would double-up once, but finally fell with As-Kh versus Pidun's 9s-8s when the board brought an eight. EPT Berlin (€5,000) Main Event final table results: 1st:  Daniel Pidun (Germany) -- €880,000 2nd:  Robert Haigh (Germany) -- €531,000 3rd:  Lasse Frost (Denmark) -- €325,000 4th:  Pascal Vos (Netherlands) -- €255,000 5th:  Alexander Helbig (Germany) -- €202,200 6th:  Roman Herold (Germany) -- €155,000 7th:  Julian Thomas (Germany) -- €110,000 8th:  Roman Korenev (Russia) -- €77,000  The victory was by far the biggest in Pidun's career, with both of his previous best cashes coming in the previous two EPT Berlin Main Events when he finished ninth in 2011 (for €45,000) and 17th in 2012 (for €20,000). Sbrissa Soars at LAPT Brazil Early Tuesday evening it was Brazil's own Victor Sbrissa topping a field of 753 in São Paulo to win the Latin American Poker Tour Brazil Main Event, earning a cool first prize of R$512,000 (worth a little over $250,000 USD). Leo Fernandez began the final table as chip leader, but following the early exit of short-stacked Thiago Grigoletti in eighth, Fernandez lost nearly all of his chips to Daniel Murta in a preflop all-in confrontation, then saw Murta finish him off shortly thereafter to end in seventh. Murta would also cripple Marcos Paulo Ximenes, claiming most of the latter's chips in two separate hands, then Sbrissa eliminated Ximenes thereafter in sixth. Not long after that, Andre Akkari lost most of his stack to Rafael Pardo before getting knocked out by Murta in fifth. Sbrissa had assumed the chip lead with four left, and soon was claiming more chips after taking pocket eights up against an all-in Leonardo Brescia who held Kc-Qc, then drawing out quads to eliminate Brescia in fourth.   Next Pardo was all in following a Qc-Tc-8d flop with Ad-Td (a pair of tens) versus Murta's Kc-2c (flush draw), and when the turn brought the 6c to complete Murta's flush, Pardo was drawing dead. Sbrissa still led to start heads-up play, however, and soon chipped away at Murta's stack until a hand developed that saw Murta all in after a Jh-Qc-6c flop with As-Jh (jacks) versus Sbrissa's Qs-4s (queens). The turn was the Kd and river the 3s, and Sbrissa had won. LAPT Brazil (R$4,000) Main Event final table results: 1st:  Victor Sbrissa (Brazil) -- R$512,100 2nd:  Daniel Murta (Brazil) -- R$334,000 3rd:  Rafael Pardo (Colombia) -- R$231,400 4th:  Leonardo Brescia (Brazil) -- R$171,000 5th:  Andre Akkari (Brazil) -- R$128,900 6th:  Marcos Paulo Ximenes (Brazil) -- $R94,700 7th:  Leo Fernandez (Argentina) -- $R68,400 8th:  Thiago Grigoletti (Brazil) -- R$52,600 The win marks Sbrissa's largest tourney score by far, his previous best being for R$32,650 for winning preliminary event at the 2011 Brazilian Series of Poker. Linster Leaves Jacksonville a WPT Champ Finally it was Michael Linster winning the World Poker Tour bestbet Open in Jacksonville, Florida on Tuesday. There were a total of 351 entries for the event (with re-entries), with Linster earning a handsome payday of $321,521 for the win. Danny Schechter took a big chip lead to the six-handed final table with over 3.8 million when Linster was the closest competitor with 2.15 million. Meanwhile the short stacks were knocked out in short order at the start of play on Tuesday.   First David Diaz was knocked out in sixth after running Qs-10d into Danny Schechter's pocket kings. Pete Tinnesz was eliminated in fifth after getting it all in on the flop versus Bell with ace-queen-high versus the latter's flopped two pair and not improving. Then Pete Chwala went out in fourth after his Kh-Jd failed to improve versus Linster's Ac-Qh. With three left a big hand developed between Schechter and Bell that saw Schechter all in with Kd-Ks against Bell's Ad-As. The board came queen-high, and heads-up play began with Bell in front with 6.245 million to Linster's 4.3 million. Both players were especially deep, however, and in fact it would take another three-plus hours for things to be decided. Bell took a commanding lead at one point, but Linster managed to claw back and after more than a hundred hands between them finally had Bell all in with 8d-6d versus Linster's Ah-Qc. The board brought no help for Bell, and Linster had won. WPT bestbet Open ($5,000) final table results: 1st:  Michael Linster -- $321,521 2nd:  David Bell -- $175,712 3rd:  Danny Schechter -- $115,311 4th:  Pete Chwala -- $79,619 5th:  Pete Tinnesz -- $58,754 6th:  David Diaz -- $46,673 Linster had amassed over $450,000 worth of tourney winnings during the last five years prior to the win, but like this week's other winners Tuesday's victory marks the largest cash by far for him as well. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-pidun-sbrissa-linster-latest-champs-010513-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-pidun-sbrissa-linster-latest-champs-010513-77.html News Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:59:00 +0100 The 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit has entered its final push with multiple stops overlapping during the month of April. Three have completed, with accomplished pro and online phenom Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul taking the Main Event title in Foxwoods, amateur John Bowman winning at Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina, and Blair Hinkle winning for the second time in three years at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa. I had the opportunity to help cover the WSOP-C Main Events at both Foxwoods and Cherokee this month for PokerNews, and can thus attest first-hand the excitement starting to build regarding the 2012-13 season and in particular the points race that will help determine who will play in the season-ending WSOP National Championship at Harrah's New Orleans at the end of May. Here's a quick overview of how the last three WSOP-C Main Events played out -- the 16th, 17th, and 18th on the 20-stop 2012-13 schedule -- as well as information regarding the current WSOP Circuit Leaderboard. Saul soars at Foxwoods  The WSOP-C recently made its debut at the sprawling Foxwoods Resort Casino located in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The site of several World Poker Tour events in the past saw a big field of 615 entrants (including re-entries) come out for the $1,675 buy-in Main Event earlier this month, with Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul ultimately triumphing to take away a handsome $194,178 first prize. Saul emerged as a favorite during the second half of play on Day 2 of the event, and even enjoyed a significant chip lead once they had played down to the last two tables. He'd suffer a setback near the end of play that night, however, after losing a big preflop all-in confrontation with Ben Reason.   In that hand, Reason had Jd-Jc and Saul Ah-Kh, and while a king came on the turn one of the two remaining jacks fell on the river, thus catapulting Reason to the top of the counts with 18 players left. From those 16 would make it to the third and final day of play, with Reason on top and Saul sitting in the middle of the pack. But Reason would come up short to finish in fifth while Saul chipped back into the lead, then eventually finished off Lall Bharat heads-up to win. Other notables at the final table included sixth-place finisher Bobby Corcione who took 21st at last summer's WSOP Main Event and fourth-place finisher Paul Snead who coincidentally also finished 21st at the 2006 WSOP ME. Meanwhile, Saul's victory represented a kind of return to prominence for the 32-year-old Illinois resident, despite the fact that he's been steadily collecting cashes over the last several years. The win marked the first major live victory for Saul since 2007 when he won the WPT Bellagio Cup for a whopping $1,342,320. 2012-13 WSOP-C Foxwoods final table results: 1st:  Kevin Saul -- $194,178 2nd:  Lall Bharat -- $119,742 3rd:  Cory Waaland -- $87,842 4th:  Paul Snead -- $65,096 5th:  Ben Reason -- $49,007 6th:  Bobby Corcione -- $37,356 7th:  Ethan Foulkes -- $28,664 8th:  Pete Campo -- $22,654 9th:  Stephen Dare -- $18,031 Bowman brings it at Cherokee The following weekend saw another WSOP-C debut take place at the Harrah's Cherokee resort located in the mountains of North Carolina. There were big turnouts throughout the series, which like at other WSOP-C stops featured 12 ring events plus numerous non-ring tourneys including ladies and seniors events. The Main Event ended up attracting 856 entries, making the Cherokee stop the fourth-largest on the WSOP-C this season. In the end it was the 30-year-old amateur John Bowman earning the title and $250,380 first prize after making the short trip from nearby Hickory, NC. We heard at the time that Bowman had only played his first big live tournament a few days before the Main Event, making his victory all the more remarkable. Bowman survived a tough and entertaining final table that was fairly dominated much of the way by 69-year-old Raymond Weaver. Weaver enjoyed the chip lead for much of that final day, and with three players left had a large advantage.   But after remaining quiet for much of that Day 3, Bowman soon doubled through Weaver then eventually knocked him out to set up heads-up play between himself and Daniel Weinman.   Weinman had shown himself to be a formidable player, knocking out Greg Raymer in 29th on Day 2 and looking like one of the late favorites along with Hugh Henderson who led everyone going into the last day. However, Bowman had a better than 3-to-1 chip lead on Weinman to start heads-up play that the latter ultimately couldn't overcome. As mentioned, the tourney was one of the first Bowman had ever played and thus he starts his career tourney résumé with a nifty quarter-million dollar score. Bowman also won himself a seat in the WSOP Main Event this summer, a special prize awarded at Cherokee. 2012-13 WSOP-C Harrah's Cherokee final table results: 1st:  John Bowman -- $250,380 2nd:  Daniel Weinman -- $154,722 3rd:  Raymond Weaver -- $113,968 4th:  Kory Kilpatrick -- $85,052 5th:  George Zinaty -- $64,303 6th:  James Kinney -- $49,241 7th:  Hugh Henderson -- $38,186 8th:  Jonathan Moseley -- $29,981 9th:  Jerry Monroe -- $23,831 Hinkle beats brother, others at Council Bluffs Finally on Monday of this week another WSOP-C Main Event finished at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa. Unlike at Cherokee, this one saw another well known player earn an ME title as WSOP bracelet holder Blair Hinkle triumphed over a smaller field made up of 367 entries to win a $121,177 first prize. The victory marked Hinkle's second WSOP-C Main Event title, the other having also come at Horseshoe Council Bluffs back at the start of the 2010-11 WSOP-C season. Also of note from the event was the fact that Hinkle's brother, Grant Hinkle, who also owns a WSOP bracelet, made a deep run as well to finish just shy of the final table in 11th place. Blair had an above-average stack to start the final table, in third position behind leader Sean Small and Brendan Waite. Those three would be the last players standing a few hours later, then Waite knocked Small in third to set up heads-up play. Waite had 4.35 million to Hinkle's 2.95 million to begin their battle, but Hinkle quickly took the advantage when a hand arose in which both players flopped trip sevens, but Hinkle's kicker was best. It wasn't an all-in hand, but Hinkle did get a couple of post-flop streets of value on it to push his stack up over 5 million. Waite would eventually retake the lead, then Hinkle wrestled it back as heads-up play lasted over three hours. Finally a final hand arose in which the pair bet back and forth as the board came Ks-5c-3d, then Kd, then 6s.  All in following fifth street, Waite showed 7c-6h for sixes, but Hinkle had 4h-2d for a straight to win. A Missouri native, Hinkle earned over half a million dollars back in 2008 when he won his WSOP bracelet in a $2,000 NLHE event. And while the field was relatively small at Horseshoe Council Bluffs this week, it was larger than the 251 entry-field Hinkle topped when he won his earlier WSOP-C ME ring in Iowa. 2012-13 WSOP-C Horseshoe Council Bluffs final table results: 1st:  Blair Hinkle -- $121,177 2nd:  Brendan Waite -- $74,881 3rd:  Sean Small -- $54,716 4th:  Mark Bonsack -- $40,627 5th:  Cord Garcia -- $30,635 6th:  Trevor Deeter -- $23,448 7th:  Sterling Savill -- $18,209 8th:  Ben Smith -- $14,343 9th:  Tim Hughes -- $11,457 2012-13 WSOP National Championship drawing near Saul, Bowman, and Hinkle -- like everyone who wins a WSOP-C Main Event -- earned automatic entries into the WSOP National Championship that will take place at Harrah's New Orleans from May 22-24, just before the 2013 World Series of Poker kicks off in Las Vegas. The WSOP National Championship features $1 million donated to the prize pool, with the winner also earning a WSOP gold bracelet. They are three of the 100 players who will earn seats into the event. All 20 of the WSOP-C Main Event champs get seats, as do the 20 "Casino Champions" at each stop -- that is, the players who earn the most points among the 12 ring events played at each WSOP-C series. The other 60 seats will then go to the players who accumulate the most points over the course of the entire 2012-13 schedule. No one can win two seats, so the ME winners or Casino Champions are taken out of the mix with the other top 60 performers on the WSOP-C leaderboard winning the entries. In addition to those 100 players, the top 100 players from the 2011 and 2012 WSOP and WSOPE will also be eligible to buy their way into the National Championship for $10,000. Thus it is possible for as many as 200 players to play in the event, with a potential for the total prize pool to add up to $2 million. Here's a look at the top of the WSOP-C National Leaderboard through the conclusion of the events at Horseshoe Council Bluffs and only the series at Harrah's Philadelphia and Harrah's New Orleans left to play out. 2012-13 WSOP-C National Leaderboard: 1.  Rex Clinkscales -- 287.5 pts. 2.  Ari Engel -- 235 pts. 3.  Pedro "Pete" Rios -- 217.5 pts. 4.  Aaron Massey -- 215 pts. 5-tie.  Yossi Azulay -- 192.5 pts. 5-tie.  Trevor Deeter -- 192.5 pts. 7.  Carter Myers -- 182.5 pts. 8.  David Nicholson -- 177.5 pts. 9.  Michael Sanders -- 172.5 pts. 10.  Ting Ho -- 170 pts. Read more about the World Series of Poker Circuit and how the National Championship works over at the WSOP site.   Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2012-13-wsop-circuit-draws-to-close-saul-bowman-hinkle-latest-me-winners-260413-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2012-13-wsop-circuit-draws-to-close-saul-bowman-hinkle-latest-me-winners-260413-77.html News WSOP Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:47:00 +0100 The first ever World Series of Poker Asia Pacific concluded yesterday with Daniel Negreanu topping a field of 405 to win the WSOP APAC Main Event and his fifth WSOP bracelet overall. Negreanu joined Aussie Aaron Lim as the last two bracelet winners down under, while Philip Gruissem took down the non-bracelet High Roller event and Team Europe winning the Caesars Cup. Aussie Aaron Lim Wins Event #4 (NLHE 6-max $5,000) After Americans claimed the first three bracelets in Melbourne, Aaron Lim finally won one for the home country by taking down Event #4, the $5,000 buy-in six-handed NLHE event (all dollar amounts AUD). Lim outlasted a field of 167 to win the gold, in what you might call a complete betting performance, in a final table entirely comprised of his fellow Aussies. The top 18 finishers were paid in Event #4, with Jason Gray (7th, $27,722), Dominik Nitsche (10th, $19,940), Jonathan Karamalikis (13th, $10,354), and Oleksii Kovalchuk (15th, $10,354) among those cashing but not quite reaching the final table. According to PokerListings' live updates, the final table took 81 hands, the last 50 of took place between Lim and Andy Lee in a lengthy heads-up battle.  Lee led to start their duel, though Lim earned an early double-up to seize the advantage and would extend his lead further before finally claiming the last of Lee's chips on a final all-in hand pitting Lee's As-Qd versus Lim's Kh-5h. The Js-6c-3s flop and 8d turn were okay for Lee, but the 5s river paired Lim to give him the win.   Event #4 ($5,000 NLHE 6-max.) final table results: 1st: Aaron Lim (Australia) -- $233,800 2nd: Andy Lee (Australia) -- $144,530 3rd: Jan Suchanek (Australia) -- $103,766 4th: Brendon Rubie (Australia) -- $74,590 5th: Sam Higgs (Australia) -- $53,615 6th: Billy Seri (Australia) -- $38,545 Negreanu Wins WSOP APAC Main Event #5 (NLHE $10,000) The five-day Main Event at WSOP APAC then finished up on Wednesday in dramatic fashion with a star-studded final table and victory by Daniel Negreanu. The win marked Negreanu's fifth WSOP bracelet and first $1 million-plus score since finishing second in the 2011 PCA $100K High Roller. The top 40 finishers from the 405 entrants made the money, with a number of well-known names among those cashing but not making the eight-handed final table, including Antonio Esfandiari who bubbled the final table to finish in ninth for a $65,408 cash. Others making the money included Tino Lechich (11th, $51,941), Raymond Rahme (17th, $25,778), Todd Terry (24th, $25,778), Oliver Gill (27th, $22,316), Minh Nguyen (31st, $22,316), Joseph Cheong (32nd, $22,316), Jeff Lisandro (35th, $20,392), and Erik Seidel (39th, $20,392).  PokerListings' hand-for-hand reports from the final table show it took 220 hands altogether for the final eight to play down to one.   Benny Spindler of Germany began the final table with the chip lead, with Negreanu next and the Aussie George Tsatis not far behind. But Spindler would fall in sixth and Tsatsis in fourth, and by the time Negreanu knocked out Winfred Yu in third, Negreanu had a better than 11-to-1 lead over Daniel Marton. Marton battled for 26 hands with "Kid Poker," surviving three all-ins by winning one and chopping two more. Finally Marton was all in again with As-7s against Negreanu's 2s-2h, and when the board came 6d-Js-Kh-Th-4d, Negreanu had won. Also of note from the WSOP APAC Main Event final table was the presence of Russell Thomas who finished eighth. Thomas also make the 2012 WSOP Final Table where the "Octo-Niner" took fourth. Event #5 ($10,000 NLHE Main Event) final table results: 1st: Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- $1,038,825 2nd: Daniel Marton (Australia) -- $637,911 3rd: Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) -- $423,225 4th: George Tsatsis (Australia) -- $284,715 5th: Kahle Burns (Australia) -- $201,994 6th: Benny Spindler (Germany) -- $146,205 7th: Mikel Habib (Australia) -- $107,730 8th: Russell Thomas (United States) -- $82,721 Gruissem Gathers Another High Roller Win The German Philipp Gruissem earned himself yet another major High Roller win in Melbourne this week by topping a field of 44 entries to win the non-bracelet $50,000 High Roller NLHE event on Sunday. The win netted Gruissem a payday of $825,000 and marks his third High Roller victory after winning the High Roller events at both EPT/UKIPT London and the EPT Barcelona event, both in 2011. The official final table for this event was eight-handed, although only the top six spots made the cash. Gruissem and Elton Tsang occupied the top spots in the counts when the final table began. Kyle Cheong then went out in eighth, followed by Marvin Rettenmaier in seventh, both players falling in hands versus Joseph Cheong. Eventually Cheong and Gruissem would meet heads-up, and at one point Cheong enjoyed a better than 3-to-1 chip lead against the German.   But Gruissem won an all-in with Ac-Tc versus Cheong's Kh-8s after drawing a flush. Then not too long afterwards Cheong was all in and at risk with 7h-7s versus Gruissem's Qd-Jd, and when the board brought a queen and no sevens, Gruissem had won. $50,000 High Roller results: 1st: Philip Gruissem (Germany) -- $825,000 2nd: Joseph Cheong (United States) -- $511,000 3rd: Paul Phua (Macau) -- $325,000 4th: Lo Shing Fung (Macau) -- $225,000 5th: Elton Tsang (China) -- $155,000 6th: Tom Hall (England) -- $115,000 Team Europe Wins Caesars Cup Finally, it was Team Europe claiming the latest installment in the WSOP Caesars Cup by first defeating Team Asia Pacific, then Team Americas in the final in the non-bracelet, team-based event.  Team Europe was captained by Sam Trickett and consisted of Marvin Rettenmaier, Philip Gruissem, Dominik Nitsche, and Sam Holden. In the final, Trickett and Nitsche defeated Team Americas' Negreanu and Esfandiari in one doubles match, then Rettenmaier and Gruissem came back to beat Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth in the second to even the score. That set up a heads-up final between Holden and 2012 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Merson. Merson built a big lead in the match, but Holden managed to score multiple double-ups to grab the advantage, then used 8h-8d versus Merson's Qh-4c to clinch the win. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/negreanu-wins-main-event-5th-bracelet-as-wsop-apac-concludes-160413-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/negreanu-wins-main-event-5th-bracelet-as-wsop-apac-concludes-160413-77.html News WSOP Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:21:00 +0100