Aussie Millions visit

I didn't end up getting to Crown for the start of the Aussie Millions Main Event as planned. We had a big night out the night before and spent Sunday drinking at the Riverland Cafe. After a game of buzz at my friend's place we had dinner and figured a quiet night in was the way to go.

So Monday I dropped in to check out the action. As I was heading down to the poker room I passed by Lee Nelson and Jeff Lisandro. I then ran in to some friends in the poker room and they gave me the lay of the land and told me stories about the players they had met and the games they had been in. Cat had her shirt by virtually every big name player at the event, I was just happy to see a few of them.

After wandering around in the main room for a little while I headed up to Studio 3 which was where the final table of the high rollers event was taking place as well as some feature tables from the Main Event. On the final table was of course the great Phil Ivey as well as Tony G and a few other name pros. On the outer tables were Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Annette Obrestad and the rather hot Leo Margets. Apparently I didn't notice Shane Warne, Dani Stern and Lucky Chewy on the outer tables.

Downstairs I eventually found Tony "Bond18" Dunst, Jay Rosenkrantz (2M2MM) as well as Jeff Fenech and Amanda De Cesare, winner of The Poker Star.

Here are some of the photos I took (excuse the quality, they are off my iphone and I didn't want to make it too obvious I was taking players pics):

Jay Rosenkrantz in the middle, Jeff Fenech front right corner

Tony "Bond18" Dunst in the jacket of course, surprisingly no tie

Lee Nelson

Jeff Lisandro and his trademark hat

Phil Ivey ... human

I was at trivia last night (we won for the first time!) and didn't get to watch The Poker Star on One HD. The show cops a lot of flack from regular online poker players on the forums ... but its poker so I watch regardless of how good or bad it is. While looking for episode 5 on YouTube I stumbled across the following:



Unbelievable that a pro, let alone possibly the greatest player in the world would make such a basic/rookie mistake like that. Not to mention making this type of mistake with 3 tables to go in the World Series of poker for 1/4 of your stack!

Ivey & Teddy KGB

I've never played on Full Tilt Poker before but came across these ads today that are pretty good featuring Phil Ivey & Teddy KGB from Rounders. It seems the game against KGB is a follow-on or add-on from the original series of commercials that they made.

Part 1 is unable to be embedded but click here to see it.

Part 2


I then stumbled across this ad that for some reason never made it to the screen.

World Series of Poker - November nine set!

This (below) just in from PokerNews, the November Nine are set and Phil Ivey has made it in as second short-stack!

Live Reporting | 2009 World Series of Poker | Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em | PokerNews.com

Meet Your November Nine

What a day of poker! If you asked anyone in the media when we got here this morning if we thought the tournament would be down to its final nine players -- the November Nine -- before 11pm, we would have laughed and challenged you to put your whole bankroll on it. Yet here we are, just shy of 11pm, with the final nine players bagging and tagging for the night.

But that's getting slightly ahead of the action. We started today at noon with 27 players. Leo Margets, the sole woman in the field, was the first elimination just twenty minutes into the day. That seemed to set the tone for play, as players got their chips into the middle with glee. Before we finished the first level of play, three more players were eliminated, including the good-for-television Antonio Esfandiari.

All through the day, players continued to be eliminated at a rapid pace. We thought there would be mini-bubbles at 19 left, 16 left, and 13 left. In fact there were no such bubbles.

The big stacks did their jobs today, as Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter and Billy Kopp all applied relentless pressure on the short stacks. It was unfortunate for Kopp that he ran a small flush into a bigger flush and went busto in 12th place, a classic elimination that is sure to haunt Kopp for a long time.

Of course there's one other player whom everyone was watching today. Some consider him to be the greatest player in the world; all were hoping he'd make the final table. Phil Ivey started off trending dangerously downwards, but he seemed to recognize what many other players did not -- the stacks were still relatively deep and the levels were still two-hours long. No need to panic. Ivey didn't panic, and as a result he secured a spot in the November Nine.

When Jordan Smith said "Good night, Moon" and exited in tenth place, the November Nine were determined. Here they are!

Seat 1: Darvin Moon
Seat 2: James Akenhead
Seat 3: Phil Ivey
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter
Seat 6: Eric Buchman
Seat 7: Joe Cada
Seat 8: Antoine Saout
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman

Moon will be the chip leader for the next four months.

Many will argue that this is the most talented Main Event final table to have been assembled in years. They'll have almost four months to argue back and forth over which player they think has the best shot. The final table festivities will take place from November 7 - 10.

It has been our great pleasure to be your source of live updates during the 2009 WSOP. We hope you'll join us throughout the rest of the year as we cover major poker tournaments around the globe. Please stop back in November for what is sure to be an exciting conclusion to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

World Series of Poker update

Day 6 at the World Series of Poker was rough for many of the players I was following.

First elimination was Joe Hachem. He couldn't get anything going on day 5 or 6 and ended up pushing all-in short-stacked with jack 9 suited. Joe was called by pocket 4's but his hand didn't improve and he finished 103rd.

Kenny Tran was struggling near the bottom stacks, doubling up occasionally but not staying far enough ahead of the blinds. He pushed with a suited ace, got called by pocket 8's, didn't improve and bust out in 86th place.

Also hitting the rail on day 6 were one-time chip monster Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in 122nd, one-time chip leader Matt Affleck in 81st and last year's champ Peter Eastgate in 78th.

The story of the day was the rise and rise of Phil Ivey. He had sat in the middle of the pack for much of the tournament but by the end of day 6 he was in 3rd and looking very dangerous. Midway through day 7 he's still cruising along in 2nd place and the field has narrowed to just 29 players left in action.

Phil Ivey, the man to watch

Top 2009 WSOP Performances

I came across this great summary on PokerNews this morning about the top performances so far from the World Series of Poker. Not surprisingly "Aussie" Jeff Lisandro (pictured below) leads the way with his ridiculously good form this series with 3 final tables which he converted in to 3 bracelets.

Once day 2b finishes this afternoon, I'll update you on the Main Event.

The PokerNews Top 10: Top 2009 WSOP Performances | PokerNews.com

It has been a summer full of amazing individual achievement at the World Series of Poker, with no less than four players winning multiple bracelets, and several others with five or more cashes and several deep runs. With only the Main Event to go, it’s a good time to look back and consider the top ten performances from this summer. It should be noted that the following list does not strictly mirror the points model employed by the WSOP to determine its player of the year, although many of the names on this list appear at the top of the POY list as well. Nor does the list rate players strictly according to the number of cashes a player has accumulated or total winnings earned, but rather the overall consistency of a player’s achievements at this year’s WSOP, with added weight given to those who managed to realize the goal of every poker player who enters a WSOP event by capturing the bracelet.

10. Barry Greenstein -- 7 cashes, 2 final tables, total winnings $161,243; Daniel Negreanu, 8 cashes, 2 final tables, total winnings $331,860

Both Greenstein and Negreanu came up short this summer in their quests for bracelets, but both once again ably proved themselves as belonging among poker’s elite. Greenstein’s seven cashes came in a variety of games (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, H.O.R.S.E., no-limit 2-7 draw lowball). The California resident made two final tables this year, finishing ninth in the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event (No. 40) and fifth in the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) event (No. 47).

Negreanu’s eight cashes also came in many different varieties of poker (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, PLO/PLH, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, Omaha hi-low 8-or-better, 2-7 triple draw). Toronto’s most famous poker player managed a fourth-place finish in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 18) and had a near miss by finishing runner-up in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 14).

9. John Juanda -- 4 cashes, 4 final tables, total winnings $170,745

The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event winner had a stellar 2009 WSOP, making no less than four final tables. Born in Indonesia and now residing in California, Juanda finished fifth in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event (No. 16), fourth in the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 23), ninth in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event (No. 30), and fourth in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Limit event (No. 55).

8. Steve Sung -- 2 cashes, 2 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $883,380

Sung earned his first ever WSOP bracelet in the so-called “Stimulus Special” $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event (No. 4) during the first week of the series. That meant he bested the largest field in any event this summer -- 6,012 -- outside of the Main Event itself. The native of South Korea, who now makes his home in California, followed up on his Event No. 4 victory with an impressive third-place finish in the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw event (No. 23).

7. James Van Alstyne -- 3 cashes, 3 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $519,080

Van Alstyne’s summer just kept getting better as it went along, with three final tables all in mixed-game events. Born in Georgia and currently residing in Las Vegas, Van Alstyne finished sixth in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12) in which players play eight different games (the H.O.R.S.E. games, plus 2-7 triple draw, pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit hold’em). Then he finished as the runner-up in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 21). Finally he broke through and won Event No. 31, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, thus capping off a remarkable WSOP.

6. Greg “FBT” Mueller -- 3 cashes, 3 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $709,635

After taking seventh in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), Mueller came back two weeks later to win another of the $10,000 World Championship events, the Limit Hold’em event (No. 33). Then the one-time professional hockey player from Vancouver turned around and became the fourth player this summer to win multiple bracelets when he took another limit hold’em event, the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout (No. 50).

5. Ville Wahlbeck -- 6 cashes, 4 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $1,082,176

Not only did all of Wahlbeck’s cashes this year come from deep runs, but five of the six came in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship events, the only exception being his 12th place finish in the $2,500 Razz event (No. 44). During the first week of the Series, the Finnish pro took third in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), first in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12), and 13th in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 18). He then nearly won the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 23), finishing runner-up. Wahlbeck then capped off his WSOP with a sixth place in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 49).

4. Brock Parker -- 4 cashes, 2 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $806,870

Along with Wahlbeck, Parker was the talk of the WSOP in the early going after he became the first player this summer to win two bracelets. In fact, the Maryland native’s victories came in two consecutive events, as Parker entered the second the day after winning the first. Both were also in short-handed events, the first in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 14), and the second in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 19). Parker would additionally cash in Events 29 and 50, both also hold’em events.

3. Phil Ivey -- 5 cashes, 3 final tables, 2 bracelets, total winnings $356,994

Ivey added to his already formidable stature in the poker world by capturing two more bracelets this summer, bringing his overall total to seven. Ivey won the $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event (No. 8), then also landed the $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better mixed event (No. 25). The native of California and New Jersey resident would additionally final table the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (No. 41), as well as cash in another hold’em event (No. 13) and a pot-limit Omaha event (No. 30).

2. Vitaly Lunkin -- 4 cashes, 3 final tables, 1 bracelet, total winnings $2,696,385

Lunkin ends the summer as the highest earner over the first 56 events -- by a long shot -- having started off the Series in grand fashion by winning the prestigious $40,000 buy-in 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em event (No. 4). After scoring a modest cash in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (No. 12), the Russian would come close to winning a second bracelet on two more occasions, finishing runner-up in Event No. 40, the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event, then taking fourth in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (No. 49) after having had a sizable lead at the final table.

1. Jeffrey Lisandro -- 6 cashes, 3 final tables, 3 bracelets, total winnings $807,521

Lisandro tied an all-time WSOP record this summer by winning three bracelets, taking down the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event (No. 16), the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 37), and the $2,500 Razz event (No. 44). The native of Australia who now makes Italy his home just missed another final table, finishing ninth in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud event (No. 6), and additionally cashed in a pot-limit Omaha event (No. 35) and a pot-limit Omaha hi-low event (No. 27).

World Series of Poker update

Its been a week or so since I've updated this blog but seeing as tho only a few people read it at the moment, I don't feel quite so bad. Like my poker game, this blog is a work in progress so its early days.

As mentioned in a previous update, I've really taken an interest in the early events of this year's World Series of Poker. As I have only played no-limit and limit hold'em, I don't fully understand what's going on in games like omaha and razz but I'm getting an idea.

Since I've been playing more online poker recently and checking out blogs and forums, I'm tracking other players not just your big names (Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, etc). Not that any of the bloggers I follow (Bond 18, Assassinato, etc) have had any great results as yet but there's still time and of course the main event yet to come.

Over the last week, the main stories have been about the double-bracelet wins by Brock Parker, Phil Ivey and then (Aussie) Jeff Lisandro. Here's the current Player of the Year Standings:

Player of the Year Standings

View All-Time WSOP Player Stats

Name	WSOP POY Points	Bracelets	Cashed	2009 WSOP Earnings
Jeffrey Lisandro	255 pts	2	5	$619,131
Ville Wahlbeck	255 pts	1	4	$849,785
Phil Ivey	225 pts	2	4	$340,255
John Brock Parker	220 pts	2	5	$802,514
James Van Alstyne	220 pts	1	3	$519,080
Roland De Wolfe	195 pts	1	5	$410,063
Angel Guillen	180 pts	1	3	$846,238
Pete Vilandos	175 pts	1	2	$1,080,538
Daniel Negreanu	165 pts	0	5	$316,190
Daniel Alaei	165 pts	1	3	$587,102

As we speak, I'm following the live updates on Poker News as Phil Ivey goes for his 3rd bracelet of the series in event 41, the $5000 no-limit hold'em shootout. I didn't know what a shootout event was before this series and for those who don't, you have to win your table to make it through to the next round where you have to do the same thing again. When it gets down to the final few in the tournament they play 6-handed.

Phil Ivey has just been knocked out in 8th place so he will have to wait a while longer for another bracelet. The points will certainly help in the Player of the Year race tho.

World Series of Poker update

In previous years I really haven't taken much notice in the early events of the World Series of Poker. This year tho I've been following on Poker News and the official World Series of Poker website.

Today I also watched a bit of the live coverage from ESPN and Bluff TV. Coverage today was the final table of the $5000 no-limit hold-em event.

Of note from the first few events is how the cream of the poker world is already rising to the top:

• Phil Ivey has already picked up his first bracelet (event # 8, $2500 no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball), cashed another time and is 3rd in the Player of the Year standings
• Daniel Negreanu has a 2nd placed finish (event #14, $2500 6-handed limit hold-em), two other cashes and is 7th in the standings
• "Aussie" Jeff Lisandro won event # 16: $1500 seven card stud

Phil Ivey wins WSOP bracelet #6

‘Face the Ace’ Poker Show

After I mentioned last month about the upcoming Australian poker show "The Poker Star", it seems NBC in the US have just announced a new show of their own. I think I prefer the format and the concept behind the Australian show, but more poker on TV, I'm certainly not going to complain.

Click on the title below to read the full story or click here to visit the official website.

NBC’s New ‘Face the Ace’ Poker Show Debuts in August | PokerNews.com

Adding to its roster of poker-themed shows, NBC has announced plans to air a new poker game show called “Face the Ace”. Hosted by 'The Sopranos' actor Steve Schirripa (below), the show will give contestants the opportunity to play no-limit hold’em against famous poker pros for a chance to win big prize money. “Face the Ace” will premiere on Saturday, August 1st at 9 pm ET, and will receive one more airing in primetime the following week, before moving to its regular timeslot on Saturday afternoons.

The theatrical premise will place contestants in front of four smoked-glass doors, each concealing an “Ace” in the form of a professional poker player. Once the contestant has chosen a door, he will play a heads-up match of no-limit hold’em against that poker pro. If he defeats the poker pro, he will then be given the choice to either walk away and keep the money he has won, or risk his winnings and choose another “Ace” to compete against for even more lucrative prize money. And if he wins that match, he will again be faced with the decision to either quit while he’s ahead, or put everything on the line to compete against a third pro – this time for a chance to win the tidy sum of $1 million. Full Tilt pros are expected to be the contestant’s opponents, with the new facetheace.com website prominently displaying a studious Phil Ivey.