https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2012/12/ en Copyright 2026 Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification It's that time again. We've reached the last row of the last page of the calendar, having survived the year despite those predictions of an apocalypse scheduled for last week. And since we're still here, we might as well take a look back on the last 12 months to consider the top stories from yet another wild, eventful year in poker. A year ago, the business of compiling a list of the top poker stories of 2011 was a simple enough matter. One began with "Black Friday" -- i.e., the date in mid-April when the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed its indictment and civil complaint targeting the world's top online poker sites -- and continued from there, as just about every other major story of the year was affected in one way or another by that event and its aftermath. One can't say the same of the last 12 months in poker, when the majority of the year's headlines stemmed from events taking place on the felt. Sure there were some notable legal developments that once again made courtrooms the context for poker-related stories (including still more Black Friday fallout). But more often than not the news of the day concerned the game itself, with tournament poker continuing its dominance as the most talked-about, attention-getting variety of our favorite card game. So here's another attempt at highlighting the year that was, starting with (an obviously subjective) list of 2012's top 10 stories, followed by 10 more stories of note.   10. Epic Poker League's Epic Fail Last year's list also saw a story about the Epic Poker League sneaking into the 10th spot, only then the news concerned the debut of the new professional poker league. Launched by Federated Sports + Gaming, the EPL had announced an ambitious schedule of tournaments with added prize money, plus the promise of a $1 million freeroll to culminate the league's first season. But after staging three events in the latter half of 2011, the new year began with FS+G filing for bankruptcy in late February, after which point no further tournaments were staged. At the time, the EPL's chief spokespersons Jeffrey Pollack (FS+G Executive Chairman) and Annie Duke (EPL Commissioner) suggested the filing was a measure to help the league continue to operate, with future tournaments postponed but not canceled. But by April it was reported the EPL had nearly $8 million in liabilities with next-to-nothing in terms of assets, and it was clear the experiment had proven an expensive failure disappointing to many. 9. "KingDan" Collects Half-Dozen Crowns Stories about Dan Smith winning poker tournaments seemed to pop up constantly throughout 2012, with the remarkable run of "KingDan" earning him runner-up finishes in player of the year races for both BLUFF and Card Player magazines, while the Global Poker Index rated Smith's performances highly enough to make him the top performer of the year in their rankings. Smith kicked off the year by winning the $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions in January for a $1 million-plus score. Then came an incredible three first-place finishes in preliminary events at EPT Monte Carlo in April, five more cashes at the WSOP in May-June, plus another Super High Roller win at EPT Barcelona in August (again worth more than $1 million). Smith gathered still more cashes in Europe as the year concluded, including a sixth victory two weeks ago at one more side event at EPT Prague, to boost his 2012 total over $3.7 million in tourney winnings.  8. WPT Double for "Mad Marvin" Providing a consistent challenge to the dominion of "KingDan" in 2012 was Germany's Marvin Rettenmaier who likewise dominated headlines with major victories throughout the year, the most remarkable achievement being his back-to-back World Poker Tour titles. In May, Rettenmaier closed out the WPT's Season X with a win in the $25,000 World Championship for a $1,196,858 first prize. Then in August he kicked off Season XI with a win at WPT Cyprus for $287,784 more. Meanwhile came other cashes, final tables, and wins for Rettenmaier, including closing out the year with a victory in the $10K High Roller eight-handed NLHE event at EPT Prague. In the end "Mad Marvin" barely exceeded Smith's 2012 by earning just over $3.8 million in tourney winnings, landing him the top spot in BLUFF's Player of the Year race. 7. Ivey, Ivey, Ivey  Amid the chaos of "Black Friday" and subsequent revelations regarding Full Tilt Poker's mismanagement, former Team Full Tilter Phil Ivey remained scarce throughout 2011, with Ivey steering clear of the WSOP and other events.  His return to the tables in 2012 began at the Aussie Millions in January where he finished 12th in the Main Event, then won the $250,000 Super High Roller.  He'd turn up again at EPT Monte Carlo in the spring, then came back to Las Vegas to participate in the 2012 WSOP. As it happened, the first half of the summer was dominated by stories regarding Ivey's World Series return, as the eight-time bracelet winner made no less than five final tables within a two-week span.  His best finish was a second-place in the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em event (No. 17) won by Andy Frankenberger.  Ultimately Ivey would earn nearly $3.7 million in tourney winnings in 2012, pushing him into second place on the All-Time Money List. 6. The States of Online Poker During a year in which online poker was all but unavailable to players in the U.S. (aside from a few small, uncertain "rogue" sites and networks), there was much activity on the legislative front potentially paving the way for Americans to return to the virtual tables in 2013. While no federal bills were passed, several states took up the matter themselves, with Nevada in particular moving forward with legislation and the state's gaming commission granting licenses to numerous entities to begin offering online poker. Nevada passed its legislation earlier in the year following a revised opinion from the U.S. DOJ regarding the Wire Act only applying to sports betting. That bill became law in June, and just a couple of weeks later Delaware followed suit by passing similar legislation. And earlier this month New Jersey likewise passed its own bill to begin licensing businesses to offer online gambling, with only Governor Chris Christie's signature needed for the bill to become law. 5. Ladies' WSOP Main Event Near-Miss When the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event field had been trimmed from 6,598 to less than 100, many noted how five women remained alive, each with a shot to become the first woman to make a WSOP Main Event final table since Barbara Enright finished fifth in 1995. And heading into the final day of play in July, there were still two left among the final 27 -- Gaelle Baumann of France and Elisabeth Hille of Norway. Both women found themselves nursing short stacks as play wound down that day, with Hille ultimately falling in 11th and Baumann going out in 10th, both knocked out by the Hungarian Andras Koroknai. While many were disappointed at the outcome, the finishes of Baumann and Hille provided much excitement and a memorable conclusion to the last day of play during the summer.  4. #12 and #13 for Hellmuth Following up a summer full of close calls at the 2011 WSOP -- including three second-place finishes plus ending runner-up to Ben Lamb in the WSOP POY race -- Phil Hellmuth broke through to grab bracelets at both the WSOP in Las Vegas and WSOP Europe in Cannes, France this year, including grabbing the WSOPE Main Event title to land his record-extending 13th career WSOP bracelet overall. In Vegas, Hellmuth won his first-ever non-hold'em bracelet by taking down the $2,500 Razz event (No. 18).  He'd add another final table -- and $2.6 million-plus score -- with his fourth-place finish in the $1 million "Big One for One Drop" as well. Then in September the "Poker Brat" would overcome a tough field of 420 to win the WSOPE Main Event, thus becoming the first player ever to win collect WSOP and WSOPE Main Event titles.  However there was one title Hellmuth didn't win in 2012, as he'd take runner-up again in the WSOP Player of the Year race (behind Greg Merson). 3. The PokerStars-DOJ-FTP Deal It was a somewhat surprising development, even if rumors regarding the possibility that PokerStars might actually acquire its one-time rival Full Tilt Poker as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice had been swirling for several months. But in late July came official word that such a deal had in fact been struck, with PokerStars forfeiting $547 million to the U.S. government while also taking responsibility for paying back non-U.S. FTP players the $184 million they were owed. Having acquired Full Tilt Poker's assets, PokerStars then relaunched the long dormant site in early November. Meanwhile, U.S. players continue to await the return of their FTP funds, with the U.S. DOJ now handling that matter. While Americans have already waited more than 20 months for the return of their FTP balances, indications are it will still be some time before the approximately $159 million will be made available to U.S. players. 2. The Magician Wins More Than $18 Milly The $1 million buy-in "Big One for One Drop" at the 2012 WSOP broke all sorts of records for tournament poker. A total of 48 players bought into the event, a group including many poker pros (most of whom were backed considerably) and businessmen from around the world (most of whom covered the buy-ins themselves). $111,111 of each entry went to the One Drop Foundation charity founded by Guy Laliberté, who himself managed to finish fifth in the tournament.   Ultimately Antonio Esfandiari outlasted Sam Trickett to win the bracelet and eye-popping $18,346,673 first prize. Trickett earned a handsome $10,112,001 himself for finishing runner-up, with David Einhorn picking up $4,352,000 for taking third. Even if Esfandiari didn't take away the entire first prize for himself (having divided it with his backers), the win still helped catapult "The Magician" to the top of the All-Time Money List as he ends 2012 with more than $23.7 million in career earnings. 1. Merson Binks the Main Like Hellmuth, Ivey, Esfandiari, and others, Greg Merson had a remarkable 2012 WSOP himself, punctuated by his win in the Main Event in late October to claim the coveted ME bracelet and $8,531,853 first prize. The Maryland native entered the final table third in chips, and had claimed the lead to start three-handed play with Jesse Sylvia and Jacob Balsiger. That trio would play a remarkable 264 more hands before Merson emerged the winner, with Sylvia taking second and Balsiger third. Merson's win marked his second bracelet of the year, as he'd earlier captured a victory in one of the last events of the summer, the $10,000 no-limit hold'em six-max event (No. 57). There Merson had earned $1,136,197 for besting a field of 474, which along with three other WSOP cashes (including one more final table), was enough to make him the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year and Card Player's POY. Finally, here are ten other stories of note from 2012, presented in no particular order: Poker Hall of Famer and 1972 WSOP Main Event champion "Amarillo Slim" Preston passed away in April. This year the poker world also mourned the untimely losses of popular players Nikolay Evdakov (in February) and Ryan Young (in July) and noted poker author Lou Krieger who passed away in early December. 2012 was a breakout year of sorts for online wunderkind Viktor "Isildur1" Blom when it came to live tournaments, highlighted by a win in the $100,000 Super High Roller at the PCA in January, good for a $1,254,400 payday. There was another "Super High Roller" event in Macau in August featuring a $2 million (HKD) buy-in (with re-entries!), the equivalent of about $258,000 USD. There were 73 entries all told, with Stanley Choi winning the event and claiming a first prize worth more than $6.46 million USD. While attendance at this year's WSOP remained steady when compared to 2011, fields for the WSOPE in Cannes were significantly down, with some events seeing dips of 30-40% in turnouts. The WSOPE moves to Paris in 2013, while the new WSOP Asia Pacific series will debut in Australia in April. Amid ongoing negotiations surrounding the "Black Friday" indictment and civil compaint, Howard Lederer gained considerable notice after doing a mini-publicity tour in which he granted interviews to PokerNews and the Two Plus Two Pokercast in September. Lederer's subsequent participation in cash games and tournaments provoked considerable ire in the poker community. Earlier this month Lederer settled his civil case with the U.S. DOJ, admitting no wrongdoing while forfeiting cash, real estate, and a luxury automobile. Shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice brokered deal involving PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker was finalized in late July, another deal was announced between the DOJ and Absolute Poker/UltimateBet in which the sites and associated companies forfeited their assets to the DOJ in return for the dropping of money laundering and fraud charges. Meanwhile, players with balances on AP and UB continue to await news regarding the possibility of recovering their funds. In September, controversy erupted at the Partouche Poker Tour when it appeared a €5 million guarantee for the Main Event would not be honored. Eventually the guarantee was met, but not until after much argument and an announcement by PPT CEO Patrick Partouche that the 2012 PPT Main Event in Cannes would be the tour's last.  Belgian player Davidi Kitai won the EPT Berlin Main Event in April, making him one of poker's few "Triple Crown" winners following his WSOP bracelet win in 2008 and World Poker Tour victory in 2011. 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer spent the latter part of 2012 tearing up the Heartland Poker Tour, winning no less than four Main Event titles between July and November. In October, the Poker Hall of Fame announced its newest two inductees. Brian "Sailor" Roberts, co-hort of Preston and Doyle Brunson as one of the original "Texas Road Gamblers," was inducted, as was tourney director and player Eric Drache. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/top-poker-stories-of-2012-281212-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/top-poker-stories-of-2012-281212-77.html News WSOP Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000