News - EPT
2010 WSOP - Good, bad and the pro!
Looks can be deceiving! For some reason this seems so true in case of Alexander Petersen. For those who don't know who Alex Petersen is, must surely look at the winners list of this years, the 2010 WSOP, tournament. Petersen is the 2010 world champion. He bagged the winners' title at the tournament by defeating nearly 9000 odd players and took home a cash prize that was nearly worth of $257,000.
The fact that he is from Denmark, young and is quick at the poker game does arouses a lot of curiosity, which remains unanswered except for the few thing that he likes to talk about. Besides of playing poker, in his spare time; he likes making Tuna salad. From the look of thing he appears to be a perfectionist in anything and everything that he does. So is why, must be the tuna salad, prepared by him tastes so better! He took his perfectionist skill and applied it the game also and is very much evident from the striking moves that he plays at the poker table. Well, not just anybody can win a poker tournament. It requires ardent skills, a focused mind and a whole lot of luck just to make it through into the game. 'Peterson is not just 'anybody', he is what you may a call a person with great talents and even greater humbleness.
If you still wonder who this pro poker player, magician of a person is..? Wait for the upcoming WSOP event that will be held shortly.
Latin American Poker Tour - Mathias Habernig.
Mathias Habernig, the youngest poker player of just 19yr old, won the the Latin American Poker tour title and took away prize winning cheque of $435,000. He is from Klagenfurt in Austria. He also became the first player ever in the history of LAPT to leave the event incomplete without some home grown winners. None of the Brazilian star poker player could stand against Haberning's win. Ponta Rossa and Dayan Vardanega , both were the runner ups at the final table. But somehow they couldn't break his winning streak, at the table and the two were left, satisfied with the 'runner's up' title.
He rose as the chip leader since on day one of the tournament. Some brilliant card moves and in no time he was surfacing towards the final round of table. On day one alone, he managed to bag in 3 million chip points, which was the highest at the LAPT event. His strong position made sure that no one dare threaten his position and he kept on dealing deadly move until he made sure to eliminate last of the players. Dayan Vardanega was among the last of the local Brazilian player who carried some hopes for the local fans, but Vardanega's wrongly dealt cards were struck by Habernig's two pair of aces and sevens. In the end it was Mathias Haberning who took away the crowning glory.
2010 WSOP Schedule.
The preliminary schedule for the 2010 online poker tournament was released by pokerstar in early of this July. The event was declared after of a huge input from the entire poker community. This one is predicted to be the richest event so far with some $50 million of guaranteed prize pool. This could easily be the highest offered prize pool in the history of online poker.
2010 World Championship of Online Poker will have a total of 62 tournaments, which will resume with a $200 buy-in No limit hold'em poker event. This is to be at 13:00 ET on the 5th of September. This event would be a sort of treat for the entire player who wishes to participate, as the first three tournaments has been granted with an assured prize money that runs in seven figures. The kick of tournament itself offers $1.25 million of guaranteed prize money!
The second event will be played out at 15:00 ET on the same day of Sep 5th. This event features a prize pool worth of more than $2 million.
During the 2009 WSOP event, the prize ppol totaled up to some $51 million. In that event, 'Yevgeniy 'Jovial Gent' Timoshenko continued to dominate the poker world by beating down the '09 final event and claimed $1.72 Million. This is the highest amount that anyone had ever won in an online poker tournament.
The 2010 WSOP will be the biggest as the assured stakes are of the highest ever. The two day event will be in gear from, on September 26th.
PCA, EPT satellites blowing up on PokerStars.
The enthusiasm just never seems to phase, at the WSOP's! They keeping on doling out goodies, one after the other and much like those little surprises, everyone just eagerly waits for. The month is June and it is time for WSOp's summer cookout trips towards exotic beaches. Also scheduled for January of 2011 i.e six months from now the poker star Caribbean adventure. The pokerstar event is being readied for hosting more than 2000 players. So, in order to qualify, all that one needs to do is enter the 'Mega-path qualifier', which is a nine step series of event, winning which will give the winner a chance to be at the WSOP main event.
At the last years pokerstar event, Darren Keyes from Canada took 75 FPP's and made them into cash worth of $15,000 of real money. The winners at Pokerstar carribean adventure always receives a package that is worth more than the tourney itself. Those who qualify at the mega path event will receive travel cash, accommodation at the 'Atlantis', along with a buy-in package of $15,540 for the playing at main event.
Along with this, the first event of the European Poker Tour's seventh season has already resumed. It is for the very first time that the event is being held at Tallinn. Estonia. The buy-in tournament wil kick start from 11 of this August till 16th at the Swissotel Right in Talilinn. Qualifying at the pokerstar event and the winner of that event will receive £6,000 prize package that includes the buy-in for the main event, spending cash of £770 and also facilitate accommodation.
Win your seat to EPT Tallinn
The stage is all set for the first event of EPT Season 7 - in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
The £4,250 buy-in tournament will be held during August 11-16 at the luxurious Swissotel in the heart of Tallinn and a complete range of qualifiers are running now on PokerStars.
The £6,000 prize package comprises Main Event buy-in, hotel and £770 spending money.
Satellites are available from as little as £5.45 or 250 Frequent Player Points under the Events/EPT tab on PokerStars.
This is the EPT's first visit to the Baltic States but the region is well-known for PokerStars which first came to Tallinn in October 2009 for the PokerStars Baltic Festival.
Thomas Partridge won the title last year taking down the PokerStars Baltic Poker Festival Main Event for £76,750.
The second PokerStars Baltic Festival is scheduled very soon on June 16-19.
Satellites for the second event of EPT Season 7 - in Vilamoura, Portugal - are due to start at the end of June.
EPT Mixed Games Player Of The Year Title goes to Katja Thater
German Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater has won the EPT Season 6 Mixed Games Player of the Year title after the final was played out online casinos on PokerStars.
The EPT Mixed Games Award acknowledges the achievement of players who thrive in the world of the more obscure poker variations such as Deuce to Seven, Badugi, Triple Stud and Eight Game.
Thater had to struggle in competition with some of the best mixed games players in the world including EPT Berlin runner-up Ilari Tahkokallio who came second and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem, the 2005 World Champion, who came third.
Along with the EPT Mixed Games Player of the Year trophy, Thater wins a trip to beautiful Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, where the first EPT of Season 7 is taking place. She will be presented with her trophy on the first day of the EPT Tallinn Main Event on August 11. Satellites for the event start on PokerStars on June 28.
Mixed games have become very popular in recent years and PokerStars has been offering 8-Game online for more than 18 months. There are now numerous daily tourneys as well as cash games ranging from play money right up to $400/$800.
The other finalists for the EPT Award were Team PokerStars Pros Benjamin Kang from Germany, Alex Kravchenko from Russia, Americans Scott Clements and Mike Gorodinsky and Matthias Kuerschner from Germany. The eight games played during the final were: Limit Triple Draw 2-7, Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha H/L, Limit Razz, Limit Stud, Limit Stud H/L, No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omha, with the game changing every level.
EPT Mixed Games Player Of The Year Title goes to Katja Thater
The EPT Season 6 Mixed Games Player of the Year title was won by German Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater after the final was played out online on PokerStars (May 23).
The EPT Mixed Games Award acknowledges the achievement of players who flourish in the world of the more obscure poker variations such as Deuce to Seven, Badugi, Triple Stud and Eight Game.
During the final, which lasted just over four hours, Thater had to fight hard against some of the best mixed games players in the world including EPT Berlin runner-up Ilari Tahkokallio who came second and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem, the 2005 World Champion, who came third.
Thater wins a trip to beautiful Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, with the prestigious EPT Mixed Games Player of the Year trophy. She will be presented with her trophy on the first day of the EPT Tallinn Main Event on August 11. Satellites for the event start on PokerStars on June 28.
Mixed games have numerous daily tourneys as well as cash games ranging from play money right up to $400/$800. Its become very popular in recent years and PokerStars has been offering 8-Game online for more than 18 months.
The other finalists for the EPT Award were Team PokerStars Pros Benjamin Kang from Germany, Alex Kravchenko from Russia, Americans Scott Clements and Mike Gorodinsky and Matthias Kuerschner from Germany. The eight games played during the final were: Limit Triple Draw 2-7, Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha H/L, Limit Razz, Limit Stud, Limit Stud H/L, No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omha, with the game changing every level.
Winner of EPT Grand Final High Roller event, Tobias Reinkemeier
Following up the sixth place finish at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller event in January, German pro Tobias Reinkemeier won the EPT Grand Final High Roller in Monte Carlo for nearly £1 million.
The 22-year-old from Cuxhaven won £956,000 with a career-best triumph beating some of the best players in the world. The £25,0000 event attracted a record 113 entrants including Team PokerStars Pros Jason Mercier, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu.
Other stars who competed included Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker, Gus Hansen, Viktor Blom, Tony G, Erik Seidel and John Juanda. The High Roller tournament was the last of 24 events played at the EPT Grand Final, which ran from April 25 to May 1 in Le Sporting of the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Hotel.
Reinkemeier, the only German to win an EPT title in Season 6, won the tournament after beating American pro Olivier Busquet heads-up. He said: "It's an overwhelming feeling. The field was definitely tough but what do you expect for a £25,000 event? There were a lot of good players but I had a really good run and everything went in my favour."
As a supporter of the All4Kids charity started by Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks and Austrian pro Markus Golser, Reinkemeier plans to donate two per cent of his winnings. He has had a great EPT season cashing in four events, including 11th place at EPT London and 46th in the PCA Main Event. He took home $108,000 for his sixth place finish at the PCA High Roller event but his win here in Monte Carlo is more than double his total live tournament winnings to date.
Max Lykov takes the lead as EPT Player of the Year
Russian pro Max Lykov, 22, winner of the very first event of EPT Season 6 in Kyiv, has won Player of the Year at the EPT Awards in Monte Carlo.
Lykov was already striving hard in the race to be Player of the Year before the Grand Final. As well as Kyiv, he made the money in two side events and finished 13th at EPT Snowfest. However his cash in the first event of the Grand Final - the £5,250 heads-up tournament - gave him enough points to put him well ahead of his opponents.
He said: "This is awesome. I worked very hard to win this. I played almost all the EPT Main Events, I played a lot of side events. I am very pleased. This is great for my profile as a player."
Danish pro Allan Baekke who won EPT Snowfest in March and came 12th at EPT San Remo a few weeks later also won the EPT Achievement of the Year, voted for by players.
EPT Berlin champion Kevin MacPhee won the Players' Choice Award, also voted for by players. While Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson was thrilled to win the Omaha Award. He dominated these events in Season 6, winning two of them.
Online Qualifier of the Year was taken by Pierre Neuville, the 68-year-old retired businessman from Belgium. Neuville qualified for ten of the 13 Season 6 events and had several cashes including runner-up at EPT Vilamoura. He said: "I'm simply the happiest poker player in the world. It couldn't be better. It's my best poker day in my life. With this award, I don't mind if I have a bad beat forever. "
The Mixed Game Player of the Year award was an eight-way tie which will be decided with an online Deep Stack Sit and Go on PokerStars in May. They are: Matthias Kuerschner, Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater and Benjamin Kang from Germany, Americans Scott Clements and Mike Gorodinsky, Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem from Australia, Ilari Tahkokallio from Finland and Russian Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko.
Jan Skampa, winner of EPT Prague, and Martin Kabrhel who won three side events in Season 6 gave a stunning performance and so the Country of the Year award goes to the Czech Republic. All Czech players who cashed this season are now invited to take part in a special free roll during EPT Prague in December 2010 with a £10,000 prize
APPT Macau: The champion of day 1B is Henrik Gwinner
The story was all about David Steicke, the terrifying high who returned late today. He soon hit quad aces to beat the unlucky Tamas Lendvai's full house - and never too a back seat. As the game got serious he bagged up 124,950, more than the previous chip leader Alex Chieng. But regardless of all that he still does hold the top place at the day 1B chip count leaderboard.
Instead, Henrik Gwinner, who adores Steicke wins the honour. Gwinner faced a war in the last few levels of play and bagged up a hefty 140,700 to take the combined day 1A/1B chip lead.
For Gwinner, big events are easy to fight with bulging prizepools. In EPT season 4 he stood ninth in the Monte Carlo Grand final for $200,000, in 2005 he finished second in the London Open for $400,000, and back in 2003 he won the Amsterdam Master Classics of Poker for another $128,000. With such a great progress is obvious that he would be leading here also, even if he is not widely recognized as a player like Steicke.
Gwinner had won some key pots to drive him toward the chip lead - then found aces which held up against pocket jacks to make him clear leader. Steicke had more than $1.7million in tournament and was second with 124,950 winnings. While at third was Romanian PokerStars qualifier Ramon Cserei ho ended up with 118,250.
From the day's 84 starters, only 36 survived. Among the big names some were PokerStars player Terrence 'Unassigned' Chan, JC Tran and John 'The Razor' Phan.
SCOOP: Taknapotin wins the title in Event #37-H NLHE
It was the final SCOOP NLHE tournament with the exception of the Main Event in the 2010 series. Hence this wasn't just any no-limit hold'em tournament. Players got a good opportunity with a $750K guarantee. And it fetched some of the biggest names in the game of poker to the online tables.
Event 37-High offered players the high-buy-in edition of this tournament with a $2,100 buy-in, though many players won their seats in satellites or qualifiers for a fraction of that cost. The field was made one mixed with amateurs and pros alike. With a crowd of 914 players and the prize pool more than doubled its guarantee the event landed at $1,828,000.
As the tournament proceeded and the money fizz loomed, two Team PokerStars Pros just missed the cash in this one: Gavin Griffin, who finished in 114th place, and Hevan "RaiNKhAN" Khan, who left in 112th place. Leo Fernandez in 105th place, Jorge Arias in 78th place, Johannes Strassmann in 70th place, and Randy "nanonoko" Lew in 52nd place were a few members of the team who took home a bit of a profit for their efforts.
And as the final table inched closer, only one Team Pro remained in the running: Chris "Money800" Moneymaker.
Eventually, though, the short-stacked pro got his chips all-in with pocket jacks, but BrynKenney was right there with pocket aces, and the board couldn't save Moneymaker's tournament. He exited in 40th place with $6,763.60.
Dates finalized by PokerStars for Season 7 of EPT
Most today declared most dates and locations for Season 7 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT) were declared today by PokerStars.com, the world's largest poker room.
From August 11-16, the new season launches with a £4,250 debut event in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. With more than 300 taking part in the first PokerStars Baltic Festival last October, Tallinn made a huge success with poker players. The onset of an EPT event at the luxurious Swissotel will encourage players across the Baltic and Nordic regions, as well as the rest of Europe and beyond. A summer-time visit to this dazzling city is likely to have extensive demand.
As well as this new destination, Season 7 will also see the EPT make return visits to the golf haven of Vilamoura in Portugal (August 28-September 2), 'EPT Snowfest' in the stunning ski resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria (March 20-25) and Germany's capital city of Berlin (April 5-10). All these events debuted in Season 6 and proved much admired.
The fresh season is all set to go involving many events which are now measured 'staples' of the tour, such as Barcelona, Prague, Deauville, San Remo and Copenhagen, not to mention the flagship 'Festival of Poker' events in London and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
John Duthie, CEO and EPT Founder, said: "The EPT just gets bigger and better every season and it shows the passion and eagerness players feel for our events. Season 6 had a thousand more players than in Season 5 and we expect the numbers to keep on growing. The prize pool last season was well over £56 million - a £4 million increase on the previous year. Side events also proved a major attraction in Season 6 and we expect participation in these to increase even more next season."
PokerStars.com is the world's largest online poker site, with over 35 million registered players worldwide. EPT, sponsored by PokerStars.com, is now the world's richest poker tour in terms of both players and prize pools.
Online satellites for EPT Tallinn, the first event of Season 7, are set to launch on PokerStars.com in mid-June with buy-ins from just a few dollars.
Tobias Reinkemeier is the champion at EPT Grand Final High Roller event
The 22-year-old from Cuxhaven won £956,000 with a career-best triumph in opposition to some of the best players in the world. Tobias Reinkemeier, a German pro has followed up his sixth place finish at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller event in January by gaining the EPT Grand Final High Roller in Monte Carlo for nearly £1 million.
Reinkemeier, the only German to win an EPT title in Season 6, won the tournament after defeating American pro Olivier Busquet heads-up. He said: "It's an overwhelming feeling. The field was definitely tough but what do you expect for a £25,000 event? There were a lot of good players but I had a really good run and everything went in my favour."
The £25,0000 event drew in a record 113 applicants including Team PokerStars Pros Jason Mercier, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu.
Reinkemeier wants to donate two per cent of his winnings for the All4Kids charity started by Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks and Austrian pro Markus Golser. His experience was great at EPT season cashing in four events, including 11th place at EPT London and 46th in the PCA Main Event. He brought home $108,000 for his sixth place finish at the PCA High Roller event but his win here in Monte Carlo is more than double his total live tournament winnings to date.
Other stars who competed included Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker, Gus Hansen, Viktor Blom, Tony G, Erik Seidel and John Juanda. The High Roller tournament was the last of 24 events played at the EPT Grand Final, which ran from April 25 to May 1 in Le Sporting of the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Hotel.
Dutch pro Paul Berende, who late registered just minutes after finishing 24th in the Grand Final Main Event came fifth for £191,200. A total of 11 players were paid. A host of good players made the High Roller final including NAPT Venetian winner Tom Marchese who came fourth for £263,000, Canadian pro Sorel Mizzi who finished sixth and American Allen Bari who came seventh.
EPT Player of the Year won by Max Lykov
The Player of the Year at the EPT Awards in Monte Carlo was won by Russian pro Max Lykov, 22, winner of the very first event of EPT Season 6 in Kyiv.
Lykov had already taken the lead in the race to be Player of the Year before the Grand Final. As well as Kyiv, he got richer in two side events and finished 13th at EPT Snowfest. However his cash in the first event of the Grand Final - the £5,250 heads-up tournament - gave him enough points to put him well ahead of his opponents.
He said: "This is awesome. I worked very hard to win this. I played almost all the EPT Main Events, I played a lot of side events. I am very pleased. This is great for my profile as a player."
Danish pro Allan Baekke won the EPT Achievement of the Year, voted for by players. Baekke also won the EPT Snowfest in March and came 12th at EPT San Remo a few weeks later.
The Players' Choice Award, also voted for by players was won by EPT Berlin champion Kevin MacPhee. He said: "I feel awesome about winning this because I'm American and this is the European Poker Tour. I've made a lot of friends in every single place I've gone and I feel like I have friends in every single country in the world now. To be voted by them is really special."
Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson was delighted to win the Omaha Award. He conquered these events in Season 6, winning two of them. The 68-year-old retired businessman from Belgium, Pierre Neuville won Online Qualifier of the Year. Neuville qualified for ten of the 13 Season 6 events and had several cashes including runner-up at EPT Vilamoura.
Mainly due to stunning performances from Jan Skampa, winner of EPT Prague, and Martin Kabrhel who won three side events in Season 6, the Country of the Year award goes to the Czech Republic. All Czech players who cashed this season are now invited to take part in a special free roll during EPT Prague in December 2010 with a £10,000 prize pool.
Nicolas Chouity Wins £1.7 Million At EPT Grand Final
PokerStars qualifier Nicolas "niccc" Chouity from Beirut defeated his rivals by dominating the final to win a seat £1.7 million at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo after gaining his seat in a $22 rebuy tournament on PokerStars.
He managed to eliminate all but one of his opponents. He defeated Austrian Josef Klinger heads-up to win the £10,600 event. He is the only the second Lebanese EPT champion since Joseph Mouawad won EPT London in Season 4. Chouity has been playing EPTs for two seasons and came 50th at last season's Grand Final for £31,000. He also cashed at EPT Berlin this year and has won numerous online tournaments, in addition to making a deep run in last year's WCOOP Main Event.
After winning the title, Chouity said: "It's a dream come true. I feel great. I had confidence coming into the final and I had the chip lead but you never know with poker and I was going for first, only first." As Chouity was winning the Grand Final Main Event, his friend Dori Yacoub, also from Lebanon, was busy dominating the £25,000 High Roller event taking place a few metres away.
Around 848 players from 51 countries including 161 who won their seats on PokerStars were attracted to the EPT Grand Final Main Event. The total prize pool was £8,480,000. Some of the best players in the world turned up to the alluring principality of Monaco for a week-long poker festival which consisted of 24 different events.
Among the many big names contesting the Main Event were four Team PokerStars SportStars - French tennis champion Gael Monfils, making his debut in the PokerStars logo, tennis legend Boris Becker, NHL star Mats Sundin and Olympic hockey champion Fatima Moreira de Melo as well as Friend of PokerStars and football legends Teddy Sheringham and Poli Rincon. French rap star Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes also took part alongside the PokerStars-sponsored German novelist Charlotte Roche and Petter Northug, the Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier.
Dozens of Team PokerStars Pros took part in the event which was held in the beautiful Salle des Etoiles of Le Sporting at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort from April 25-30. Players included poker legend Daniel Negreanu, current world champion Joe Cada, former world champions Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker as well as defending Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, Dennis Phillips and Vanessa Rousso. Celebrated poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Viktor Blom, Andy Black, Tony G, Liz Lieu, Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Men "The Master" Nguyen also took part.
The highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro was new Czech member Martin Hruby who snagged £50,000 for 22nd place. Fellow pros Vicky Coren, Lex Veldhuis, Alex Gomes, Chris Moneymaker, Juan Manuel Pastor and Rino Mathis also cashed.
Stars prosper as EPT Grand Final enters into Day 2
A set of stars are capable to proceed to Day 2 of the EPT Grand Final counting NHL legend and Team PokerStars SportStar Mats Sundin and PokerStars-sponsored British football icon Teddy Sheringham.
Including 161 who won their seats to the £10,600 Main Event on PokerStars a total of 848 players entered the EPT Grand Final. They came from 51 different countries to create a total prize pool of £8,480,000 and a first prize of £1,700,000.
PokerStars player Thiago Nishijima from Brazil with 264,200 is the overall chip leader. PokerStars qualifier Paul Berende from Holland, whos stood in 17th place at San Remo last week is with 195,500 in second place.
Among today's other 413 survivors were the French rap star Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, French tennis champion Gael Monfils, who was making his debut as a member of Team PokerStars SportStar, the PokerStars-sponsored British footballer Teddy Sheringham and German best-selling author Charlotte Roche as well as Petter Northug, the Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier.
Including Johannes Steindl (141,300), Joe Cada (123,600), Alex Gomes (122,800), Chris Moneymaker (119,900), Vicky Coren (114,000) there were more than 20 members of Team PokerStars Proto get through Day 1.
PokerStars Team Online members Grayson Physioc, Jorge Arias, Alfio Battisti and Luca Moschitta are all returning tomorrow as are six of this season's Main Event winners: Liv Boeree, Harrison Gimbel, Aaron Gustavson, Anton Wigg, Kevin MacPhee and Carter Phillips.
The event is being held between April 25 to 30 at Le Sporting venue at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel. Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver won the Last year's Main Event for a first prize of £2,300,000.
End of Day 1a Grand Final Led By Simon Munz
At the end of Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo we can view German pro Simon Munz leading the field.
Munz has 175,200 and is closely followed by Swedish veteran Chris Bjorin with 171,100. American PokerStars player David Paredes who came fifth at the NAPT Venetian event is holds the fourth place with 144,600. Austrian Johannes Steindl with 141,300 is among the chip leaders.
A hold of other Team PokerStars Pros also lived Day 1a including Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Florian Langmann and Martin Hruby plus PokerStars Team Online members Grayson Physioc, Jorge Arias and Luca Moschitta.
Including Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Patrik Antonius, Roland de Wolfe, Men "The Master" Nguyen and Erik Seidel, we saw a total of 351 players competing on Day 1a of the £10,600 Main Event. Amanda Cesare, who is sponsored by PokerStars after winning the Australian "Poker Star" TV show, also made it through to Day 2 with 19,400.
Five of this season's EPT Main Event winners competed on Day 1a having won their Grand Final seat as part of their prize but only three made it through to Day 2. They are Aaron Gustavson (EPT London), Anton Wigg (EPT Copenhagen) and EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee.
EPT Kyiv winner Max Lykov won £17,500 for reaching the quarter-finals and also earned himself 19 points which means he is now almost certain to be the Season 6 EPT Player of the Year. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was runner-up in the £5,250 heads-up tourney for £60,000; the event sold out with 64 players and was won by Canadian Andrew Pantling.
Daniel Negreanu, world champion Joe Cada, Joe Hachem, Jason Mercier, Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso are among the stars who are set to play Day 1b.
EPT Season 6 Grand Final Set To Go!
We see a cracking start with a sell-out £5,250 heads-up tourney and vast numbers opposing in the Main Event live satellites. The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final is all set to run with no looking back.
Through PokerStars for the £10,600 Main Event, more than 500 players have already registered including 161 who won their seats online. Many more were assembling at Le Sporting venue at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel the previous night to buy in directly.
Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein, Chris Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips and Season 3 EPT Grand Final winner Gavin Griffin are among those set to play Day 1a of the £10,600 Main Event.
Antonio Matias (EPT Vilamoura), Jan Skampa (EPT Prague), Aaron Gustavson (EPT London), Anton Wigg (EPT Copenhagen) and EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee are this season's EPT five winners who receive a seat into the Grand Final as part of their prize
Among the many stars due to play Day 1b tomorrow are Daniel Negreanu, world champion Joe Cada, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jason Mercier, Dennis Phillips, Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso.
A total of 24 live events including nine "turbo" events starting from £200 all the way up to £10,000 and beyond is featured at this year's EPT Grand Final. Each day of the EPT Grand Final Poker Festival also features a nightly £300 No Limit event. No Limit Hold'em turbos with a £1,000 buy-in are being held both today and tomorrow, and the frenetic pace continues with a £1,000 six-max turbo event on April 30.
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and EPT Kyiv winner Max Lykov goes through the finals In the £5,250 heads-up tourney with other six players.
One of the main highlights of the EPT Grand Final schedule is the £25,000 three-day High Roller tourney which starts April 29. A £2,800 super satellite is takes place on April 27. The Grand Final culminates with the EPT Awards at the EPT Season 6 Wrap Party at Karement Club on Sunday, April 30.
San Remo Leader Is Snowfest Champion Baekke
Allan Baekke recently won the EPT Snowfest for a first prize of £445,000. As EPT San Remo enters into Day 5 with just 24 players left, we see the Danish high stakes heads-up pro.
Baekke had strong competitors standing against him but he is still in a successful position to win and become the first ever double EPT winner. Thang Duc Nguyen from Germany, who won EPT Baden in Austria in Season 3, is also struggling to achieve the £1,250,000 first prize.
APPT Macau champion Dermot Blain and PCA finalist Dmitry Stelmak from Russia hold the second and third place respectively. Dutch PokerStars qualifier Paul Berende, Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson's 21-year-old brother Jens, British pro Liv Boeree, Russian gaming entrepreneur Alexey Rybin and EPT Dortmund finalist Claudio Rinaldi are included among the final 24. The winner of EPT San Remo also gets a seat in the EPT Grand Final held down the coast in Monte Carlo next week.
The biggest European Poker Tour event ever held in Europe was the £5,300 EPT San Remo Main Event, creating a total prize pool of £6,014,000. Team PokerStars Pros Matthias de Meulder and Pierpaolo Fabretti as well as Alfio Battisti, member of PokerStars Team Online are the ones who cashed on Day 4.
Day 4 Of EPT San Remo is led by Jakob Karlsson
A huge number of players in the EPT San Remo Main Event were filling rooms all over the casino. Now, only few of them are left who don't even fill the main tournament area after another worried day of eliminations.
Jakob Karlsson from Sweden leads the 66 remaining players with 1,800,000. Kadir Karabulut holds the second place with 1,577,000 while EPT Snowfest winner Allan Baekke is near behind with 1,485,000. Jens Thorson from Sweden survived a tricky table to outlast both his dad Olof and his Team PokerStars Pro brother William, to bag up 1,300,000 and finish in fifth place.
Also still in the running for the £1,250,000 first prize are Belgian Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder, Italian PokerStars Team Online player Alfio Battisti, British pro Liv Boeree, French veteran Michel Abecassis, EPT Baden winner Thang Duc Nguyen, EPT5 Monte Carlo finalist Dag Martin Mikkelsen and PCA champion Harrison Gimbel. The winner also gets a seat in the EPT Grand Final which takes place just down the coast in Monte Carlo next week.
Despite San Remo's magnificent sunbeams and numerous charisma, nearly half those eliminated from the main event headed straight back to the tables today for the £2,000 NLHE freezeout. It kicked off at noon with 490 runners.
San Remo breaks EPT Record
With a total of 1,240 players competing in the Italian Riviera resort, The Season 6 EPT San Remo Main Event is the biggest European Poker Tour event ever held in Europe.
There was supposedly a 1,100 cap for the £5,300 main event but that went out the window as tables were set up in far-flung corners of the casino to accommodate the extra players.
Among more than 40 members of Team PokerStars Pro were some strong players who braved volcanic ash and Europe-wide chaos to reach San Remo. Among the entrants were Peter Eastgate, Barry Greenstein and NAPT Mohegan Sun High Roller winner Jason Mercier. Inclusive of them were a group of players who hired a bus all the way to San Remo , after their flights from Heathrow Airport in London were cancelled.
Eastgate survived only one level before being eliminated and heading straight to Monte Carlo while Greenstein bust in the last level of the day. However Mercier doubled up early on and goes into Day 2 of San Remo with 117,600, well over double the average stack.
Team PokerStars SportStars Fatima Moreira De Melo and Boris Becker, world champion Joe Cada and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier participated on Day 1b. ElkY won a succession of big pots, inclusive of a hit with quads early in the day, and is now second in chips with 232,200.
Fatima also survived the day with 52,300 but Becker and Cada are out. Belgian Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder is thriving with 172,400 and will be joined for Day 2 by numerous team-mates including Thomas Bichon, JP Kelly, Luca Pagano, Jude Ainsworth, Lex Veldhuis, Sandra Naujoks, Andre Akkari, Arnaud Mattern and Pieter de Korver.
At EPT San Remo is chip leader Russian Alexey Rybin
At the end of EPT San Remo the world watches the chip leader of Day 1a, Alexey Rybin. The Russian has 213,100, closely followed by Italian Manuel Coppola with 212,000.
A total of 585 players began the day but nine levels later and close to midnight almost half were out of the running of the £5,300 Main Event.
Italian Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano and Dario Minieri as well as PokerStars Team Online member Alfio Battisti were among the 274 survivors. The other Team PokerStars Pros who are made it to Day 2 are Jude Ainsworth, Michael Keiner, Humberto Brenes and Arnaud Mattern.
Team PokerStars SportStars Boris Becker and Fatima Moreira de Melo, world champion Joe Cada, PCA champion Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, EPT Season 5 Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver and Vanessa Rousso are all set to compete. Hence it is clearly seen that a greater field is expected for Day 1b
To play EPT San Remo is World Champion Joe Cada
The current world champion and member of Team PokerStars Pro Joe Cada. He is one of dozens of top names who are competing in the popular event. Joe is set to play EPT San Remo in Italy next week.
Team PokerStars Pros Peter Eastgate, the 2008 world champion, Bluff Player of the Year Jason Mercier and PCA champ Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier are all set to attend the £5,300 tournament, which runs April 15-21 at glamorous Casino Sanremo. More than 140 players have already won their seats to the event on PokerStars and satellites are still running right up until Sunday (April 11).
Last year's event was won by 20-year-old Dutch student Constant Rijkenberg for a £1,508,000 first prize. It was the biggest tournament of EPT Season 5, with 1,178 players turning up to the beautiful resort on the Italian Riviera.
There'll be added tension at this season's event as the race to become EPT Player of the Year heats up. EPT Kyiv champion Max Lykov is the current leader but performances will count right up the new EPT Grand Final champion is crowned. A super-tight finish is promised in almost all the categories with top players battling it out for the prestigious titles.
Nominees for the EPT Achievement of the Year and EPT People's Choice Awards, the two awards being chosen by public vote, will be announced the day after the San Remo final on April 22. All Season 6 EPT Main Event players will be entitled to take part in the online vote.
Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson who is Best Omaha Player- One only Award winner is home and dry. There are no Omaha events left on the Season 6 schedule which means the talented Swede can start his celebrations right now.
World Series of Poker Gambling Comes To Us In May
Since few years The World Series of Poker is one of the leading gambling competitions. The reputation has become so huge due to the fact that they are able to get the word out by holding broadcast tournaments for the entire world to see. Las Vegas, Nevada has started making preparations now for the big turnout due to the popular WSOP event.
This is the 41st tournament of the World Series of Poker. May 27th - July 17th, the Gambling tournament will take place at the Rio. Many gambling events have been organized tournament inclusive of 57 gold bracelet events. 27 players will be participating in tournament against each other through many gambling matches.
The tournament of champions is the most exciting event. In this event the former winners of the World Series of Poker are invited back to join in a gambling free roll game. The prize for the winner is $1 million. But the rule is only those who have their bracelets will be able to participate. Some generous gamblers such as Marty Smyth don't want to take home the cash but have decided to contribute the reward to a specific charity. Marty took home his Gold Bracelet in 2008 in the Omaha World Championship. He chose the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and Our Lady's Church in Ireland.
Gambling players are given a chance to vote for their favorite poker players to be in the event. Since Marty has promised his winnings to charity, there is a safe bet that he will participate in this year's tournament. Other champions attending the tournament includesgold bracelet winners, Phil Ivey, Phil Helmuth, Eli Elezra Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and David Skylansky.
LAPT Declares Lima, Peru Stop
For the first time ever, a televised live poker tournament will be hosted by Lima, Peru. June 1-5, the Latin American Poker Tour will take a trip to the historic city to award the next LAPT title.
Lima's Atlantic City Casino is the host venue, located neighboring to Miraflores, a little away from the Pacific Ocean. For several years, the casino is widely considered as the heart of Peruvian poker and has successfully run high-stakes international poker tournaments. It also has a large collection of traditional casino games, five-star dining, and tons of entertainment options. The $2,700 championship Main Event will easily draw the bulk of the players.
"We are thrilled to host such a prestigious event as an LAPT in Miraflores," said Manuel Masias, the Mayor of Miraflores. "It will be a great opportunity to offer a taste of the local Peruvian sights, sounds and culture to the international community."
The LAPT has once again structured a fantastic schedule of side events, which includes a new $300 + 1 re-buy short-handed (6 max) no-limit hold'em event. A successful first run at February's Punta del Este event and then the LAPT Invitational High Stakes Cash game will be televised with more action
Allan Baekke Becomes The First EPT Snowfest Champion
Allan "Sifosis" Baekke, a PokerStars player and online pro has won the first EPT Snowfest for a big cash of £445,000. Baekke from Copenhagen easily defeated American PokerStars qualifier Russell Carson and won the tournament at the Alpine Palace in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, one of Austria's premier ski resorts.
Runner-up Carson is recognised online as "rdcrsn" and was railed excitedly by Canadian supporters during the game. A total of 546 players from 48 countries entered the £3,750 buy in Main Event creating a total prize pool of £1,853,680.
Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann won £166,000 by standing in third place but was upset as he lost the EPT title. This German player, 25 years old played his fourth EPT final table and ninth EPT cash overall.
At Snowfest, a total of 27 Team PokerStars Pros participated which combined action on Saalbach-Hinterglemm's celebrated ski slopes with world-class poker action indoors. Seven Team PokerStars Pros made the money including Richard Toth, Johannes Steindl, Christophe De Meulder, Lex Veldhuis and Alex Kravchenko. Vadim Markushevski came 28th, his fourth EPT cash this season.
The forthcoming European Poker Tour is the £5,400 buy-in PokerStars.it EPT San Remo event to be held in Italy, during April 15 - 21, 2010.
Bække, Chip Leader At EPT Snowfest Finals
PokerStars player and online pro Allan "Sifosis" Bække was leading Day 4 of EPT Snowfest and has reached the final with a enormous lead and 4,688,000 chips.
The high-stakes heads-up expert from Copenhagen has played 15 EPT Main Events but has never run deep before. His best live result so far was runner-up in the £2,000 side event in Berlin two weeks ago.
Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann, 25-year-old from Bonn - currently living in Berlin - has had eight EPT cashes including two finals and two ninth places. For him deep runs and EPT final tables are known territory however. His best result was £152,000 for sixth place in Dortmund two years ago; his most recent was 23rd place in Berlin. He now stands in fourth place with 2,034,000 chips.
EPT Snowfest finalists also include two players who won their seats for nothing in PokerStars' online Frequent Player Point satellites, they are Jonathan Schroer and Lukas Baumann.
The finalists are striving to win the title of first EPT Snowfest champion, along with the huge prize of £445,00 prize that goes with it. The winner also receives a £10,000 seat into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo next month.
A total of 72 players have already cashed at the £3,750 buy-in tournament at the luxurious Alpine Palace Hotel, the first EPT to take place in the Austrian Alps. Hungarian Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth, Swiss Berlin finalist Marcel Koller and American internet pro Jim Collopy picked up a share of the £1,853,680 prize pool included. EPT Kyiv winner Max "Decay" Lykov was eliminated in 13th place however he's won enough points to ensure he now leads the race to become EPT Player of the Year.
Big Names Rule EPT Snowfest
A set of top players are ruling at EPT Snowfest - the first EPT ever to take place in the Austrian Alps - as the £3,750 Main Event goes into Day 3.
Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann from Germany takes lead at the field with 741,000. Strassmann already has a long and illustrious EPT career behind him - three final table appearances and eight cashes since Season 3. His best result was £152,000 for sixth place in Dortmund two years ago; his most recent was 23rd place in Berlin two weeks ago.
Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth from Hungary with 584,500 holds the second place. Following him is EPT Kyiv winner Max Lykov from Russia with 575,000 who is already in first place for EPT Player of the Year. Jim Collopy holds the fourth place with 458,500. And in fifth place with 428,500 is German pro Alexander Debus who bubbled the EPT Warsaw final table.
The £3,750 buy-in tournament, which is taking place at the luxurious Alpine Palace Hotel in the premier ski resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm, still has not reached the money - although it came close with just 86 players now remaining and 80 places to be paid.
All are hoping to snag the £445,000 first prize and title of first ever EPT Snowfest champion. Creating a total prize pool of £1,853,680, a total of 546 players from 48 countries competed in the game. Some 27 Team PokerStars Pros took part while Vadim Markushevski, Christophe De Meulder, Johannes Steindl, Alex Kravchenko, Lex Veldhuis and Luis Medina were the eight remaining ones on the list.
Team PokerStars Pros successful at EPT Snowfest
After two days of superior poker high up in the Austrian Alps, PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest leads with a total of 259 players on day 2 still in the running for the £445,000 first prize.
A total of 140 players made it through Day 1b and will be participating 119 players who survived Day 1a.
During March 21-16 the £3,750 tournament is taking place at the luxurious Alpine Palace Hotel in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, one of Austria's premier ski resorts. The EPT's first ever trip to the Alps proved popular with players; 546 turned up, from 48 countries, creating a total prize pool of £1,853,680. Among those competing were 138 players who won their seats online and 27 members of Team PokerStars.
Dutch player Lex Veldhuis survived with 134,300 and was the leading Team PokerStars Pro of Day 1b. His fellow team mates Rino Mathis, Luca Pagano, Johannes Steindl, Florian Langmann, Luis Medina, Richard Toth and Nacho Barbero also made it through.
A member of Team PokerStars SportStar, Tennis legend Boris Becker lost out towards the end of the day by Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano but his wife Lilly is surviving with 99,800.
Still up among the overall chip leaders is the PokerStars-sponsored French player Julien Brecard who celebrated his birthday on Sunday by amassing 238,100 in chips. American Jim Collopy turned 21 the next day and marked the occasion with a 72,400 chip stack. The overall chip leader remains German player David Wintersberger with 290,200.
Feast of poker assured for EPT Grand Final
If you are among the ones who love to play poker on a speedy run, then you're going to appreciate the schedule held at EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. A total of 24 tournaments are planned From April 25 - 30 the event will be held with 24 tournaments among which nine of them have the descriptor "turbo".
The game will have Two Table Turbo tournaments available at a variety of buy-ins starting from £200 during the day from 12:00pm until the wee hours of the morning.
Also, every day excluding Day 1a features a nightly £300 No Limit event. These tournaments proved a big hit at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, gathering fields of up to 370 players.
Stepping up the stakes, there are £1,000 No Limit Hold'em turbos being held on each of the two starting days - the first time the EPT has organized turbos with such a large buy-in. till the last day Main Event with the confusion of a No Limit Turbo £1,000 six-max event the pace will go on hectic. A three-day six-max £5,250 freezeout event is also scheduled, starting April 28.
One of the main highlights of the EPT Grand Final schedule is the £25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout tournament - a format which proved highly popular at the recent North American Poker Tour Venetian event in Vegas.
If £25,000 is tough to get through, try your luck at winning a seat in the £2,800 super satellite on April 27.
Heads-up fans can enjoy a list of online Battleship events as well as a live £5,000 event. Like the PCA, this will take place over two days and be capped at 64 players. Anyone wishing to take part should note that Day 1 starts 2pm on April 24, the day before the Grand Final Main Event starts.
The now regular EPT Ladies Event forms the showpiece for the PokerStars Luxury Ladies Poker Club' five-day extravaganza of poker, pampering and boot camp tuition. Only ladies can win their way to this unique event on PokerStars.
Team PokerStars Pros successful at EPT Snowfest
After two days of superior poker high up in the Austrian Alps, PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest leads with a total of 259 players on day 2 still in the running for the £445,000 first prize.
A total of 140 players made it through Day 1b and will be participating 119 players who survived Day 1a.
During March 21-16 the £3,750 tournament is taking place at the luxurious Alpine Palace Hotel in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, one of Austria's premier ski resorts. The EPT's first ever trip to the Alps proved popular with players; 546 turned up, from 48 countries, creating a total prize pool of £1,853,680. Among those competing were 138 players who won their seats online and 27 members of Team PokerStars.
Dutch player Lex Veldhuis survived with 134,300 and was the leading Team PokerStars Pro of Day 1b. His fellow team mates Rino Mathis, Luca Pagano, Johannes Steindl, Florian Langmann, Luis Medina, Richard Toth and Nacho Barbero also made it through.
A member of Team PokerStars SportStar, Tennis legend Boris Becker lost out towards the end of the day by Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano but his wife Lilly is surviving with 99,800.
Still up among the overall chip leaders is the PokerStars-sponsored French player Julien Brecard who celebrated his birthday on Sunday by amassing 238,100 in chips. American Jim Collopy turned 21 the next day and marked the occasion with a 72,400 chip stack. The overall chip leader remains German player David Wintersberger with 290,200.
EPT Snowfest has birthday boy Brecard in 3rd place
Saalbach-Hinterglemm will be the first ever Austrian Alps where EPT will be held, it is one of the country's foremost ski resorts and for the 151 players who were eliminated of the Main Event on Day 1a, hence you have lots of opportunities to choose and enjoy.
A total of 119 players reached and will be in place of thier seats at 2pm on Tuesday to fight on in the EUR 3,750 tournament.
The PokerStars French player Julien Brecard, is among the day's survivors. He is the sponsored winner of the People's Choice award at the France Poker Awards, who celebrated his 31st birthday by accumulating 238,100 in chips and stands in third place.
The chip leader is German player David Winterberger with 290,200. Also through are Team PokerStars Pros Johannes Strassmann, Alex Kravchenko, Vadim Markushevski, Arnaud Mattern, Daniel Negreanu and Matthias De Meulder.
A total of 270 players joined in participating on Day 1a and almost 270 more are predictable for Day 1b, which means EPT Snowfest, taking place March 21-26 at the luxurious Alpine Palace Hotel, has exceed its original 500 cap. The game includes 27 Team PokerStars Pros and 138 players who won their seats online.
EPT Snowfest has a surprising start with Sun, snow and poker.
The first european poker tour event to take place in the austrian alps, saalbach-hinterglemm began in complete enthuse today with 270 players taking their seats for day 1a of the £3,750 event.
500 was the original cap for snowfest but so many players have appeared at the luxurious alpine palace hotel that extra tables had to be arranged to accommodate the huge crowd.
today you will see star players like team pokerstars pro daniel negreanu, chad brown, arnaud mattern and sandra naujoks as well as team pokerstars sportstar fatima de melo, the dutch olympic field hockey player.
overall more than 260 pokerstars players have made their way to EPT snowfest including 27 team pokerstars pros and 138 players who won their seats online.
last night scores of players made their way up the ridge behind the alpine palace for the EPT snowfest welcome party at goasshall bar, europe's top apres-ski venue.
Austria's premier ski resort provides compensation to those PokerStars players who won or walked in with a full EPT Snowfest package.
Takayama leads at APPT Manila while Huntly stands second
Pagcor Chairman's Cup witnessed the day's chip leader Gordon Huntly, a UK player who ends Day 1 Flight 2 APPT on 118,000. However, Day Flight 1 player Mike Takayama is still the overall chip leader at Manila with a monster stack of 197,400.
Out of a total of 109 players who began on Day 1 Flight 2 of the Manila, only 59 proceeded to Day 2. Nikica Maric is a Croatian player from Day 1 Flight 1 to stand in third place in overall chips (105,200) but Marc Rivera from the Philippines steals fourth place in overall chips by ending the day on 102,400.
Although Team Pro Bryan Huang lost the competition but Team PokerStars Asia Pro Celina Lin survived Day 1 Flight 1 with 33,000. The average stack for Day 1 survivors totals to 40k, with 35 out of the total 103 survivors above the fold.
Fresh from a victory at ANZPT Perth and playing tomorrow is PokerStars Team Australia Pro and 2009 ANZPT Player of the Year, Tony Hachem, who will participate in the group of 44 PokerStars players on the third and final Day 1 tomorrow.
At end of Day 1a , Takayama is the leader
Local pride create fame at the end of Day 1a of APPT Manila: Pagcor Chairman's Cup with Mike Takayama from the Philippines becoming chip leader on a monster stack of 197,400.
Croatian player Nikica Maric on 105,200 standing in second place and in third is Canadian player Van Binh Pham on 100,700. These two players stand for the international field out in force at the event where the prize pool is guaranteed at USD$1 million.
The Day 1a field was cut from 99 players at the start of the day, and Takayama is now part of a field of 44 that moves forward to Day 2.
APPT stalwart Andrew Scott (APPT2: Macau: High Roller, 2nd $269,230 and APPT3: APPT Macau Season 3, 23rd $12,488) also sees the start of Day 2 finishing Day 1a in 7th on a stack of 70,600.
Average stacks run around 45,000 with 14 players holding above the average.
42 PokerStars.net Qualifiers begins APPT bash at Manila
The APPT Manila: Pagcor Chairman's Cup was there to witness 42 PokerStars.net Qualifiers in the running. USD$1 million is the prizepool guaranteed but players will have to negotiate poker's best in the form of Team PokerStars.net Pros.
42 PokerStars qualifiers have grabbed their seats on-line, eight PokerStars.net players purchased through PokerStars, and Team PokerStars.net Asian Pros Noh Taejoon, Huang Diwei Bryan, Celina Lin, Raymond Wu along with Team PokerStars.net Australia Pro Tony Hachem will be rising the flag for PokerStars.net.
The USD$2,700 (2,500+200) Main Event has three Day ones with Day 1a where Players have until Monday March 22 to enter the tournament, which concludes on Thursday March 25 with the final table.
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour carries a unique history of handling events in Manila. In 2007, American Brett Parise won $179,775 first prize after defeating a field of 255. In 2008, it was the turn of Van Marcus who took $162,857 for besting a field of 285. Both events cleared the half a million dollar prize pool mark making it one of the richest tournaments in Manila.
ANZPT Perth: Day 1B at level 1 (blinds 50-100)
PokerStars.net Team Australia's Emad Tahtouh continues to be the early chip leader on Day 1b at ANZPT. New Zealand PokerStars Qualifier Linas Leonivas was fortunate to be saved during the tournament when he was involved in a conflict with Tahtouh on a flop of Q-5-4. Tahtouh's queens held up against the fives of Leonivas to climb up to 32,000. Never a player had been eliminated in the first 45 minutes, having the main event tally currently at 221.
ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem gave a short introduction and the game was set to head on day 1B of the ANZPT Perth Main Event. With the total field to 210, the day was up with 137 players. The game was at an exciting result for the first major event to be held on Australia's western seaboard.
Other prominent players participating in the day's field are top online players Steve Leonard, Chris Evans and Ben Delaney, Billy Argyros, Julius Colman, 2010 Aussie Millions six-handed winner Kristian Lunardi. The tournament area has nine tables in use, and seven in the Poker Room.
PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event has almost twice as many players as the previous day to take the order of "shuffle up and deal" for day 1B. So we are welcomed back to Burswood Casino on the banks of the Swan River in the heart of the Western Australian state capital for the second of the two day one flights. So will be the size of the day 1B field that tables will be used in both the tournament area and the Burswood poker room.
No disregard to the day 1A field, but this day has huge players to fire the big guns during the game. PokerStars.net Team Australia pros Emad Tahtouh, Grant Levy, Eric Assadourian and reigning ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem are in line here today. We also have PokerStars.net Team Asia's Bryan Huang.
Other big stars in action today include reigning Aussie Millions main Event champion Tyron Krost, 2008 New Zealand Poker Champs Main Event winner David Borg, 2009 APPT Auckland champ Simon Watt and 2009 ANZPT Player of the Year second and third placegetters Chris Levick and Joel Dodds. Play is scheduled to start in the next few minutes, with the blinds for today's play.
Nik scored well on day 1A at ANZPT Perth
Burswood Casino had seen a historic game with 46 players leading to day two in the first PokerStars.net ANZPT event ever played in Perth, Western Australia.
Nik Lackovic, a player from the local area completed atop the chip count with 104,625. He managed to beat and lead Melbourne's Kelvin Beattie (90,125) from two other Perth players - Jimmy Wong (77,925) and Aleks Lackovic (69,575) - and 2009 Aussie Millions $100k Hold'em Challenge champion David Steicke (61,300), who gave the field a two-hour start.
Wong's chips came helpful of the last hand of the day when he pushed with K-7 chasing a flush against the flopped two-pair, aces and eights, of Sean Dunwoodie. Wong made his twist on the turn, and shot into the top five as a result. Dunwoodie remains in good shape on 53,800.
Other players who'll return in the game included Matthew Kirk (49,475), ANZPT Adelaide winner Rennie Carnevale (48,050), past Sapphire Series winner Lynn Brooks (47,200), Lizzie Clarke (38,450), Tim English (29,275), Jovo Scekic (27,350), Hugh Cohen (22,450) and Singapore's Ivan Tan (16,660).
Australian Poker Hall of Fame Legend and Burswood poker ambassador Jeff Lisandro was seldom over the chip average but remains in conflict with 20,100. A total of six PokerStars Qualifiers and two PokerStars Players were among the 46 survivors.
Players to fall by the wayside on day 1A included Tom Grigg, Julian Cohen, Peter Aristidou, Nino Marotta, Amanda De Cesare, Octavian Voegele and Daniel Neilson.
Americas Cup comes back to PokerStars
The great American songwriter Randy Newman once joked, "South America stole our name!"
While Newman was mentioning on the patriotic atmosphere of the times, he must have well guessed the advent of the PokerStars Americas Cup of Poker. The good news is that the Americas Cup is back, and it will ditch countries from around the Americas against each other to win the title.
From March 15-April 14 players from the USA, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil and Argentina will be defeating for spots on their country's team. A tenth team will be formed of the left behind Latin American counties.
In a series of points tournaments, the players from the ten teams will compete. The four players who mount up the most points will stand for their country at the live final - if their team makes it there.
When all the matches are completed, the six countries with the most wins will involuntarily qualify for the live final. The remaining four teams will then play off for the final two positions.
Then in May, the eight teams will compete for a share of $150,000 and the Americas Cup title at Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.
Winner of EPT Berlin is Kevin Macphee
The 29-year-old American PokerStars qualifier Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee defeated Ilari Tahkokallio from Finland to grab Germany's biggest ever poker tournament and the first EPT in the German capital. Macphee achieved his place by winning EPT Berlin for a £1 million first prize
MacPhee participated in15 events since the start of Season 5, winning seats to 14 of them and has also won a seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April. He has won several seats to EPT tournaments but never made this huge success.
MacPhee is a well-known online pro who broke the PokerStars record for most Tournament Leader Board points in April 2008, mounting more than $100,000 profit in a month. He said: "Winning an EPT was a real goal of mine. I have worked very hard for this. It feels awesome. Ilari is an extremely great player and I've got a lot of respect for him."
A total of 945 players from 48 countries entered the £5,300 Main Event creating a prize pool of £4,725,000. Out of those who cashed in the EPT Berlin Main Event were Russian EPTLive commentator Ilya Gorodetskiy, who stood 16th for £25,000 and Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth who went out in 19th place for £23,500. Other Team PokerStars Pros to cash included Johannes Strassman, Ben Kang and George Danzer from Germany, Vlad Zguba from Ukraine, Vadim Markushevski from Belarus, Briton Julian Thew, the "Flying Dutchman" Marcel Luske and William Thorson from Sweden.
EPT Berlin Announces About The Robbery
It was learned that a robbery took place at the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Berlin. The registration desk outside the tournament area was targeted by four armed men were involved in the robbery. Thankfully nobody was badly injured.
Though they had arms no shots were fired and the security guard immediately took action against the robbers. By a research conducted by the police it was found that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used. The suspects did not enter the tournament premises and the money taken was considerably less than what has been reported.
Things were in control after few hours and the tournament resumed but the police investigation still continues. The tournament was held on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.
The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are enquiring to find information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them.
EPT Berlin moves into final with leader Kevin MacPhee
American online phenom Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee had already become a huge chip leader when the robbery took place took place and there was no looking back once play resumed. The PokerStars player currently has 6,070,000 in chips, more than a million clear of his nearest competitor, Ketul Nathwani from Britain.
In April 2008, MacPhee shattered the PokerStars Tournament Leader Board record and has since total more than $100,000 clear profit. He has played numerous EPT tournaments but this is his great attempt in a Main Event. Last October he stood second in a £1,000 side event in London, which was won by Ilari Tahkokallio, who is now in 3rd place going into the final table in Berlin.
Among the other competitors are German pro Nico Behling, who reached the final table at EPT Warsaw last season, and Ketul Nathwani who was also on the final table of the London PLO/PLHE tourney that was won by Tahkokallio.
Day 4 began with 24 players but the Team PokerStars Pros Jude Ainsworth and Johannes Strassman were among the early eliminations. The popular Danish pro Theo Jorgensen and former EPT Warsaw champion Joao Barbosa from Portgual were also knocked out. The cheerful Stetson-wearing Italian Alfonso Amendola was eliminated in tenth place.
Kfir Yumin, leader at EPT Berlin
As Day 1a drew to a close at EPT Berlin, Israeli player Kfir Yumin was heading wisely of his nearest rival by some 50,000 - he had achieved a good total of 213,500. PokerStars qualifier Rachid Ben Cherif from the Netherlands with 163,800 stands in the second place. Out of a massive starting field of 389, a total of 196 players reached the nine levels of Day 1a.
Popular German player George Danzer, has bagged up by 132,400A and has survived among the Team PokerStars Pros. Along with him on Thursday for Day 2, fellow team-mates will participate including Sebastian Ruthenberg, Benjamin Kang, Katja Thater, Michael Keiner and Johannes Steindl as well as Vicky Coren from the UK and Vlad Zguba from the Ukraine.
The first EPT to take place in the German capital is the £5,300 five-day event and is being organized in the rich Grand Hyatt Hotel on Marlene Dietrich Platz in partnership with Casino Spielbank Berlin. On Day 1a The Hyatt's Grand Ballroom seemed pretty full will be even more packed for Day 1b.
Ziad Alameddine, is also competing on Day 1b after winning his seat on PokerStars. He was the one who took down the charity event at the new PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Venetian event last week. Fellow American and PokerStars qualifier David Paredes who came fifth in the NAPT Main Event for $184,816 will join him on Day 1b.
Tennis legend Boris Becker and field hockey pro Fatima de Melo - both members of PokerStars SportStar - as well as actress Charlotte Roche who is being sponsored by PokerStars are expected to be a part of this wealthy game. In total there will be more than 450 players.
A few of Team PokerStars Pro will also be striving for their place on Day 1b including Jude Ainsworth, William Thorson, Juan Maceiras, Thierry Van Den Berg, Lex Veldhuis, Johnny Lodden, Noah Boeken, Julian Thew, Luca Pagano, Marcel Luske and Vadim Markushevski.
A team which includes Florian Langmann, Jan Heitmann, Rino Mathis, Anton Alleman, Johannes Strassman and Sandra Naujoks will be flying the flag for the Team PokerStars Pro Germany.
EPT Berlin ready to meet records
The room was packed and the ambiance got thrilling while the first ever EPT Berlin has kicked off today. With nearly 400 players competing for a guaranteed first prize of £1 million euros. Already the event looks set to smash last year's record of 667 players at EPT Dortmund.
The £5,300 five-day event is taking place in the main place of the German capital in the luxurious Grand Hyatt Hotel on Marlene Dietrich Platz in partnership with Casino Spielbank Berlin.
Tennis legend and PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker along with 100 players were celebrating the EPT's arrival in the heart of the German capital with a stunning welcome party at trendy nightclub E4. A scantily-clad fire-breather and dancing girls were a part of the entertainment and the club was alive until well past midnight.
Team PokerStars Pros Sebastian Ruthenberg, Vlad Zguba, George Danzer, Benjamin Kang, Johannes Steindl, Arnaud Mattern, Katja Thater, Tom McEvoy, Vicky Coren and Jude Ainsworth as well as new German Team PokerStars Pro Michael Keiner along with nearly 400 players who took their seats in the Grand Ballroom for Day 1a including. The field also includes around 160 players who won their seats to the event on PokerStars.
The ones in the competition for the day are PokerStars-sponsored players Thomas Bichon, who won the French "Job 2 Stars" promotion, and fellow Frenchman Julien Brecard as well as former chess champion Jeff Sarwer, Ludovic Lacay, Barny Boatman, Marc Goodwin and Alexia Portal.
Anton Wigg won EPT Copenhagen Title
Anton Wigg from Sweden played for four long hours and defeated his opponent by winning the title of EPT Copenhagen. He proudly moved out with the incredible first prize of DKK 3,675,000 (approx. £493,700). Italian Francesco de Vivo stands in 2nd place where he completed the day with a reputable DKK 2,275,000.
Anton Wigg is 22 years of age and has been practicing poker since four years. His best performance in an EPT event so far was when he won £55,000 at European Masters in Barcelona.
EPT Copenhagen involved great victory including 423 players who came and created a prize pool of DKK 14,212,800 (approx. £1,909,000). Fellow PRO Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier stood 40th by gaining DKK 65,000. Team PokerStars PRO Peter Eastgate completed in 22nd winning DKK 80,000.
Ilkka Koskinen takes a narrow lead at EPT Copenhagen
Ilkka Koskinen, Finnish champion has goes ahead of German Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg as Day 1b of EPT Copenhagen ends. Ruthenberg is just 100 chips less with 140,800 while Koskinen leads with 140,900. However both players are still sheathing behind Day 1a leader Andrew Pantling from Canada on 155,800.
Koskinen, currently ninth in the Finland All Time Money List, has won three major Finnish championships in the last three years including the Helsinki Freeze out in January for £138k. Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate from Odense in Denmark stands in fourth place with 128,300. He was the 2009 world champion and runner-up at EPT London this season while Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is also thriving with 113,700.
Around 243 players competed on Day 2 of the 37,250 Danish Kroner buy-in Main Event, which had a set of 423 players in the beginning. The participants gathered from 36 countries including 152 Danish players who are playing tough on their home turf.
Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano - possibly heading for a record 15th EPT cash - and fellow team-mates Arnaud Mattern, Dario Minieri, Ruben Visser and Johnny Lodden are the lucky stars who has made it through the Day 2.
Now all have their focus on the first prize of DKK 3,675,000 (£493,700 approx.). The total prize pool is DKK 14,212,800 (approx. £ 1,909,000) with 56 places paid.
NAPT Emits A Prize Of $25,000
There have been many famous poker players who strived hard to reach the stage of fame. Now, you will watch every player with a jagged vision at the next North American Poker Tour stop.
The Venetian stop receives a new announcement about a new event from the NAPT. The Invitational $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout is different from any other tournament you have witnessed. It's a standard no-limit Texas Hold'em game, but with a couple of twists. In this shootout event, players have to win the equivalent of a $25,000 sit and go to make the money. Also, every player will have a $5,000 bounty on his mind. Whoever kicks out the player out wins the cash that's extra.
An interesting twist is that PokerStars is adding $100,000 to pay off whoever achieves the most value. PokerStars' head of global events Jeffrey Haas shares his views about how they want to offer new formats and unique events to players so that they enjoy better. This will surely be a lead to both players and the people who watch on television."
There will surely be a star-studded field with a confirmed player Daniel Negreanu. This is enough to begin as its being heard that dozens of big-name players are lining up to play in this event.
Every player who reaches the final table will win $50,000. Then, the prize pool (less the $50,000 per person and $5,000 bounty per head) is taken by the winner. The $25,000 Bounty Shootout will be live on February 23 and 25 at the Venetian.
Quick Crowd At The NAPT Venetian Field
Even though The Venetian Poker is considered to be the hugest in Vegas but it never got filled up so quickly. People have been throbbing on the PokerStars qualifying satellites to get in since the North American Poker Tour's stop at the Venetian February 20-24 was declared.
235 people have participated and qualified for NAPT Venetian to receive their prize packages. Each of them are entitled to win $5,000 buy-in, a free hotel room at the Venetian, and cash to facilitate their plane ticket and food.
So, it's indeed a great thought to ponder that 235 qualifiers are already in with more than two weeks to go before the tournament starts. And we would fall short of words to talk about the rich ones who will just step in and plop their $5,000 down on the registration desk. So this room is going to be packed and jammed very soon. For those who are unaware about the NAPT, it began with the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure wherein Harrison Gimbel became the winner to grab $2.2 million for the first place
The next where we can move is to the Venetian in Las Vegas for the main event of that poker room's Deep Stack Extravaganza. This month is on to the Venetian before proceeding to Connecticut's Mohegan Sun in April. More venue announcements are expected to rise in future as said by the officials of NAPT.
Model Joanna Krupa has be assigned by the NAPT to host a televised broadcast of the events, produced by 441, the same production company that relays the WSOP broadcasts.
The poker industry supports Haiti The earthquake in Haiti
The poker industry supports Haiti The earthquake in Haiti, possibly made tens of thousands of people homeless, and is now slowly shaping up as one of the biggest natural disasters of modern times. The extent of the humanitarian drama is only matched by the unprecedented mobilization that aid agencies and various other organizations have commenced. The poker industry has decided to land a helping hand too, in some way or the other.
Several online poker sites have come up with different ideas to raise money for various charities linked to the Haiti disaster. Full Tilt Poker heads the effort through the "Aid for Haiti" poker tournaments . All tournament fees collected in these events will be donated and plus there are also tourneys called "Aid for Haiti no play" which allow players to make a donation without having to play a game of poker. Additionally, all donations will be matched by Full Tilt and to transfer funds directly, there is also an "Aid for Haiti" player account.
While PokerStar players can make direct donations to a special player account called "Haiti Fund". On top of that, in their Special Tournaments section, players can register for the "Haiti Earthquake Relief" tournaments. These events are not actual competitive ones. Players can buy in from $1 to $1,000 and all buy-ins will go to charities as donations.
EPT heads to Deauville
Next week the European Poker Tour is going back to Europe for the start of EPT Deauville on the French Normandy coast, leaving back the sunny Bahamas and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Players from all over the world still have a chance to win a seat to the £5,300 main event in a £530 qualifier taking place on Sunday, January 17.
Among the top players attending the event are Peter Eastgate, Arnaud Mattern, Vicky Coren, Greg Raymer, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Dario Minieri, Katja Thater, Luca Pagano, and Vadim Markushevsky. EPT founder and John Duthie is on the jury and among the players up for an award are Jason Mercier (International Player of the Year), Christophe Benzimra, the winner of EPT Warsaw (New Player of the Year), Vanessa Rousso (French Woman Player of the Year) and ElkY for "Performance of the Year".
In addition to the main event, EPT Deauville is featuring numerous other events including numerous No Limit tournaments with buy-ins ranging from £500 to £2,000 as well as the £20,300 High Roller event and a £220 Ladies Only event on Saturday January 23. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is sponsoring up to 15 female players for this Ladies only event.
Also taking place at 9pm on January 20 - Day 1a of the main event - is the French Poker Awards. Organised by the French Poker Players Federation, the ceremony sets out to reward successful French poker players and organizations. All EPT players are invited to attend.
More news from EPT Deauville only on eptseasons.com
Kelly Rowland to perform at PokerStars PCA party
Player at the PCA party will be treated to a unique performance from R&B star Kelly Rowland on January 9. Rowland is one of the founding members of the hit R&B group Destiny's Child. Her appearance at the PCA party follows the stunning performance by American rap star Nelly at PokerStars' WSOP party in Las Vegas last summer.
The PCA party, is limited to PokerStars players only, venue for which is the stunning Paradise Harbour from 9pm to 12am on January 9. All PokerStars players are invited, along with one adult guest. This is not the only party taking place during the PCA; there is also a Welcome Party Reception taking place on the eve of the main event on Monday, January 4th from 7pm to 9pm on the Atlantis Resort Royal Deck. Free hours d'oeuvres and drink will be provided along with local entertainment.
More than 900 players are taking part in the Caribbean Adventure which starts from January 4-14 at Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. More than 50 events are scheduled including the $10,000 main event, $25,000 high roller tournament and $5,000 for celebrity charity tournament.
More news coming soon on www.eptseasons.com
£1 million guaranteed first prize for EPT Berlin
The first prize winner of EPT Berlin will walk away with a guaranteed £1 million, that's a promise and also a new year gift from the organizers of EPT Berlin. This enormous first prize will draw the attention of the poker world to EPT Berlin, and make the championship truly memorable.
Berlin will be the venue for the biggest professional poker tournament ever held in Germany when European Poker Tour (EPT) visits the city from March 2 to March 7, 2010. Mark these dates on your planner too.
More than 1,000 players are expected to play in the Main Event. Among those set to play are tennis legend Boris Becker, Season 5 Germany winner Sandra Naujoks, and Jan Heitmann from Munich who is Boris Becker's poker coach.
More updates on EPT Berlin and other EPT Tournaments only on www.eptseasons.com
EptSeasons.com wishes you all a very Happy New Year.
PCA schedule continues to build excitement
PCA schedule is generating lot of excitement as players realize exactly how many different kinds of events and buy-ins are on offer at this season's Festival - many for the first time ever at a PokerStars live event.
For a start, aside from its famed Battleship events, PokerStars has never hosted live heads-up tournaments before but PCA players will have not just a variety of Heads-Up buy-ins to choose from ($5k, $2k and $1k) but both NLHE and PLO as well. All Heads-Up tourneys are three days, with two starting days (up to 64 players each). Day 1 will see a total of four rounds played down to four players who will return for the quarter-finals on Day 2. Each round is best-of-three until the semi-finals and finals (which will all be best-of-five. The 5K event will have a 10K starting stack throughout and the 1K and 2K events will have a 5K stack throughout with a 10K stack for the finals.
The PCA will also host the first ever live PokerStars Tag Team event. The cost is $2k per two-man team with one member would play Pot Limit Hold'em throughout, and the other PLO. Levels will be of time duration 60 minutes: 30 minutes of PLH followed by 30 minutes of PLO. Teams start with 12k in chips.
A great news for female players as they are being given an extra special welcome at this season's PCA with a dedicated "Ladies Weekend" from January 9-10. Satellites have started on PokerStars, starting from just $2.20, with packages worth $3,500 up for grabs including three nights' accommodation at the luxurious Atlantis Resort + Casino, $900 towards travel expenses, a $250 spa voucher and buy-in to the PokerStars NLHE $1k Ladies Event, which also marks the Grand Finale of the Pokerstars-sponsored High Heels Poker Tour Grand Final. Im sure, there is going to be a huge rush for this event, by the participants and also by the viewers.
There is also a charity poker tournament to support the work of the AIDS reseach organisation amfAR. Dozens of celebrities and top poker pros are due to take part in the $5,250 event on January 8 with half the prize pool going direct to amfAR to support its innovative research into HIV and AIDS. Among those set to play are major sports stars such as NHL Olympic gold medalist Mats Sundin and tennis legend Boris Becker as well as members of Team PokerStars Pro.
Among all these glittering activities, don't forget about the $10,300 PCA Main Event altogether. Yet again however, this premier tournament is expected to attract well over a thousand players and make at least one of them a multi-millionaire. More than 500 players have already won seats on PokerStars and satellites will be running right up to December 27. Those who don't manage to win a seat can always buy in direct, either in person or from their PokerStars account or with W$ (subject to status) or by wire transfer. Stay updated to know more on PCA event only on eptseaosns.com
Jan Skampa wins EPT Prague - luck lies in the home town
Its official, Czech student Jan Skampa has won EPT Prague for a first prize of £682,000.
Skampa, is studying economics at St Charles University in Prague and is the first Czech champion in EPT history.His winning words were: "It feels great to win. It's my fourth EPT and I won it in my home town - that must be one of the greatest accomplishments you can have in poker. It was tough when we were three-handed but once Stefan Mattsson was out, I felt confident I could win."
In side events, Melanie Weisner won the £330 EPT Prague Ladies Event for £3,100. There is more to follow on the poker circuit after christmas. Stay updated on www.eptseasons.com
Pagano makes it to another EPT final
Luca Pagano has broken yet another of his own records at EPT Prague by making his sixth EPT final table and 13th EPT cash. It's been only six weeks since Pagano made the final in Warsaw and came fourth for £87k.
Also in the league is Jan Skampa, playing in his home town who is also the current chip leader. Skampa has made back-to-back EPT final tables after coming fourth two weeks ago in Vilamoura. This economics student, who won £117,128 in Portugal, is already the most successful Czech player on the EPT circuit.
In second position is Swedish pro Stefan Mattsson who has played numerous EPT's and has made over $800k in live events like the WSOP and WPT, this is his first EPT final.
Champions from PokerStars have been enjoying success in the side events too. PokerStars qualifier Melanie Weisner has won the £330 EPT Prague Ladies Event for £3,100. A total of 18 women entered this EPT event. A total of 584 players competed in the £5,250 main event at the Hilton Hotel creating a £2,842,100 prize pool. More updates are coming soon, as the final day approaches soon.
Start Of Day 4, Avitan Leads EPT Prague
Israeli businessman Eyal Avitan was the chip leader as EPT Prague on Day 4. He has nearly two million in chips, some 700,000 ahead of his nearest rival, the Finnish pro Juha Lauttamus.
Also on playing Day 4 were Luca Pagano who had now cashed for the 13th time at an EPT - far more than any other player. He came fourth at EPT Warsaw in October and had reached five final tables since the EPT started in 2004.
A total of 24 players remained in the £5,250 main event and all are guaranteed at least £15,500 although it's the £682,000 first place prize that everyone is eyeing up. A total of 584 players took part in the third EPT Prague event, creating a massive £2,842,100 prize pool. Still in the league are French pro Antony Lellouche and Swedish pro Stefan Mattsson. More news and updates as always only on eptseasons.com
Pieter de Korver going steady at EPT Prague
EPT5 Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver has managed to increase his chips more than 15-fold during Day 2 of EPT Prague and is now playing on third position in the £5,250 Main Event.
This 27-year-old lad from Leeuwarden in Holland will be returning to the Hilton's Congress Hall with 465,800 tomorrow - compared to the 30,800 he started with at noon today.
95 players are still holding on for the ?682,000 first place prize in Prague, including Pro Luca Pagano who has 280,400. A total of 584 players started the event creating a prize pool of £2,842,100.
Also through to Day 3 are Arnaud Mattern, Marcin Horecki, Jude Ainsworth, Sandra Naujoks and Florian Langmann. The current chip leader is Frenchman Yann Brosolo with 574,000 while Rui Cao is still in second place.
Other big names who have cruised through Day 2 are French pro Antony Lellouche, Pierre Neuville, runner-up at the recent EPT Vilamoura event in Portugal, and Jan Skampa, the Czech student who came fourth in Vilamoura. Leo Margets - the Spanish player who was the last remaining female in this year's WSOP - went out in the last hand of the day
More updates from EPT Prague soon on eptseasons.com
