Posts Tagged ‘player of the year’
Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year
January 3rd, 2011
Mizzi’s success in 2010 was good enough to earn him honors from Bluff.
Pro poker player Sorel Mizzi has been named the 2010 Player of the Year by Bluff Magazine.
Mizzi’s year started off with a bang when he took third place in the Aussie Millions Main Event, good for $659,000. He followed up that performance with a preliminary event win at the Wynn Classic and two preliminary event wins at EPT Snowfest in March and a victory at the Borgata East Coast Poker Championship in Atlantic City in April. A string of big finishes in high roller tournaments followed, with the EPT Grand Final (6th place), WPT Rendez-Vous a Paris (2nd), EPT Tallinn (2nd) and EPT London (5th) big-ticket tournaments providing him more than $525,000 in winnings.
Mizzi didn’t slow down as the end of 2010 approached. He was the TV table bubble boy at the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in October, good for nearly $89,000, and he made two final tables at the LA Poker Open, including a win in a $1,585 bounty event. The Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio was the site of Mizzi’s fina impressive performances of 2010: he finished sixth in one preliminary event and then took ninth place in the WPT main event there. All told, his take in 2010 added up to nearly $1.9 million, ranking him 12th on the year’s money list even though he didn’t win a major title.
Finishing in second place in the Bluff Player of the Year race behind Sorel Mizzi was Tom Marchese, who won the 2010 Player of the Year award from Card Player magazine. Other top performers included Fernando Brito, David Peters, Vanessa Selbst, Eric Baldwin, Dwyte Pilgrim, Chris Bjorin, Bluff’s 2009 POY Jason Mercier and Chris Bell.
Cristiano Ronaldo Plays Online Poker
December 7th, 2010
Now here’s a guy who’s fully bankrolled for the Durrrr Challenge.
Cristiano Ronaldo, as the online kids would say, has a “sick life.” At just 25 years old the Portuguese star has already won the FIFA World Player of the Year and is one of the highest-paid soccer players in the world, having milked Manchester United for all they were worth before jumping ship to play in Spain with Real Madrid last year. With all that money lying around, what better way to pass the time than playing online poker with some of the game’s most recognizable names?
The cat was out of the bag when Daniel “Jungleman12” Cates posted to Twitter a few days ago that he was playing against Cristiano Ronaldo. Cates started off the session winning, telling a Twitter follower “I’m winning lol, fortunately not playing football 
”. But that turned around eventually, with Cates telling his Twitter followers that he didn’t do so well against Ronaldo despite the good start. Luckily for him he still has the Durrrr Challenge waiting for him, where he’s been making his name by scalping Tom Dwan.
Ronaldo was later spotted before a training session playing $25/$50 no-limit hold’em against none other than superstar Patrik Antonius. When a railbird asked why Antonius stepped down in limits, Ronaldo replied, “Didn’t move down in levels…we are friends.” As he left the table for training – and left the table up for the session, no less – Ronaldo told Antonius to “text my mobile” so they could play again the next day.
It’s too early to say just yet that we can expect Cristiano Ronaldo to bring his soccer millions to the tables regularly – but wouldn’t it be great if he did?
WPT Festa al Lago Main Event Starts Today
October 15th, 2010
It’s major-league tournament time at Bellagio once again.
The Festa al Lago poker tournament festival has been running at Bellagio since late last week, and the list of winners so far reads like a roll call for poker pros. Among the winners of the 11 preliminary events were “Miami” John Cernuto, James Van Alstyne, John Phan and Scott Clements. Also in their company was Matthew Jarvis, the November Niner from Canada. He won a $1,000 no-limit hold’em with rebuys event, taking home $71,895 for defeating a final table that included NAPT Venetian champ Tom Marchese and 2009 Card Player Player of the Year Eric Baldwin.
Now that all the prelims have been completed, it’s time to move on to the World Poker Tour main event, which begins at noon PT today. The buy-in is $10,000 this year, down from $15,000 in previous years. It remains to be seen whether that will help the event improve on its total of 275 entries from 2009; Bellagio tournaments are notoriously tough because of the high percentage of the field that’s made up of skilled poker pros. One thing that seems certain is that the top prize will be smaller than the $1,218,225 won by Tommy Vedes last year.
As usual, the WPT will be providing live updates for the duration of the Festa al Lago main event.
Big-Name Poker Pros Survive WSOP Europe High Roller Day 1
September 22nd, 2010
Phil Ivey is easily the biggest name left in the WSOP Europe High Roller field.
The first-ever WSOP Europe High Roller heads-up tournament started yesterday and drew 103 players, meaning that 25 of the field drew a bye in the first round. Everyone else drew an opponent in the first round and got down to business.
A slew of players who have solid years in 2010 fell by the wayside yesterday, including Sam Trickett, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Jeffrey Lisandro, Sorel Mizzi, Tom Dwan, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, and November Niners John Racener and Joseph Cheong. Others who failed to make it to round three included 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, former WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka, November Niner Michael Mizrachi, EPT London winner Jake Cody and LA Poker Classic High Roller winner Scott Seiver.
As for the winners, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies defeated Mike Matusow in round two only to draw WSOP Tournament of Champions winner and former NBC National Heads-Up champion Huck Seed in round three. The November Nine’s Matt Jarvis conquered Brandon Adams and drew EPT Prague High Roller winner Martin Kabrhel. And Jani Sointula will play Phil Ivey for what might be the first time since they were both in the final three of the 2004 Monte Carlo Millions. (Sointula won that time.)
Other poker pros who survived to round three include Shawn Buchanan, Howard Lederer, Ram Vaswani, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, McLean Karr, Amit Makhija, Daniel Negreanu, Andrew Robl, Neil Channing, Chris Moorman and Ludovic Lacay. They’re already back in action and you can check in on their progress via WSOP Europe live updates.
Jeffrey Lisandro Wins Fifth Bracelet at WSOP Europe
September 18th, 2010
Jeffrey Lisandro made it four bracelets in two years with a win in London.
This year’s WSOP Europe £5,250 Pot-Limit Omaha event drew a small but distringuished field of poker players, every one of them capable of winning the event. In the end it was a man who had been there four times before who ended up posing for the winner’s photo.
Jeffrey Lisandro sat in the middle of the pack as the final table began, but he surged into the chip lead by taking out Chris Bjorin (9th place) and Jeff Kimber (8th). Joe Serock was the other main force at the table, eliminating Felipe Ramos (7th) and Karl Mahrenholz (6th). They took turn knocking out John Racener (5th), Jeff Madsen (4th) and Willie Tann (3rd) before taking each other on for the bracelet. Serock held the advantage chip lead and had his man against the ropes, but Lisandro managed to double through with K-K-x-x against A-A-x-x and grab a 3-to-1 lead. A few hands later it was all over, giving Jeffrey Lisandro £159,514 ($248,450) and the second bracelet of this year’s WSOP Europe.
The win gives Lisandro five career wins in WSOP events, tying him for 12th place on the all-time list with a number of the game’s greats, including Stu Ungar, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Scotty Nguyen and Allen Cunningham. Three of those bracelet wins came last year, helping him to earn the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year award. Lisandro’s career tournament earnings now total more than $4.5 million.
Sam Stein Leads Star-Studded WSOP Europe Pot-Limit Omaha Event
September 17th, 2010
Sam Stein hopes to add a gold bracelet to his stellar 2010 list of accomplishents in WSOP Europe Event #2.
Sam Stein has proven that he knows what he’s doing at the poker table in 2010, taking home more than $875,000 in big no-limit hold’em tournaments. And now he’s proven that he knows what he’s doing with four cards in the hole, too, leading the WSOP Europe £5,250 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the end of its first day.
The tournament drew 120 players, down from last year’s total of 154 players and 2008’s 165 players. As you might expect from the small field and big buy-in, the field was packed with players of the highest caliber. Only 49 of them lasted until the end of the day, with Stein’s 112,600-chip stack leading the way. He has a lead of more than 20,000 chips over his nearest competitor with blinds at 300/600, giving him a sizeable buffer against the swings of variance that Day 2’s PLO action is sure to bring.
The rest of the top ten counts at the end of Day 1 included Jeff Madsen (81,300 in chips), Scott Fischman (71,200), Michel Abecassis (62,300), Joe Serock (60,000), Barry Greenstein (56,500), Chris Bjorin (54,000) and 2006 WSOP Main Event final tablist Erik Friberg (53,500). Other notable players still chasing gold include 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, WPT London High Roller winner Justin “Boosted J” Smith, 2010 WSOP Europe Event #1 winner Phil Laak, and 2010 November Niner John Racener.
Sam Stein and his star-studded cast of fellow WSOP Europe Day 1 survivors will get back to chasing the £159,514 (US $250,437) top prize at 3 p.m. London time today.
WSOP Europe Event #1 Sells Out
September 14th, 2010
The wait is over – WSOP Europe has finally arrived. (Photo: Rob Gracie)
WSOP Europe Event #1, £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, got underway at noon London time today – and all of its seats sold out almost immediately.
The tournament had a cap of 204 players, a number that was easily met by the crowd of bracelet hopefuls gathered at London’s Casino at the Empire. Dozens more players who couldn’t be seated immediately still wanted to play the tournament, so WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel extended registration to allow alternates to enter the field when players busted. By the time registration closed a total of 244 players had entered the event, making the first event of WSOP Europe a smashing success.
Among the early chip leaders was Phil Ivey, who stacked small pot after small pot en route to the top of the leaderboard. Other early leaders included WSOP Circuit Caesars Palace winner Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger, two-time WSOP bracelet winner and former WSOP Europe Main Event final tablist Praz Bansi, 2010 November Niner John Racener, and 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Annette Obrestad.
On the flip side, a number of notable pros have already found their way to the exits. Among them are Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, WPT London High Roller winner Justin “Boosted J” Smith, WSOP Tournament of Champions winner Huck Seed and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela.
Play continues through the evening before pausing and returning to play down to a final table tomorrow, while WSOP Europe Event #2, £5,250 Pot-Limit Omaha, will begin on Thursday at noon.
Justin Smith Wins WPT London High Roller Event
September 7th, 2010
Justin Smith finally grabbed his first live poker tournament win in London.
Justin “Boosted J” Smith came close to adding a live poker tournament title to his long list of online poker successes back in July when he finished second at the Bellagio Cup VI. Now he’s finally gotten over that hump, thanks to a victory in the £15,000 High Roller Event at WPT London.
The tournament drew a small field of 19 players, no big surprise considering the price tag for entry. But the field was every bit as tough as you might expect, drawing experienced players like Huck Seed, Jeffrey Lisandro, Luke Schwartz, Jason Lester and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela.
The final table was a brutal one – nearly nine hours passed before a single player was eliminated from contention. Once Emeline Boich found her way to the rail things sped up, with Justin Gray and Philipp Gruissem following her out within minutes to leave the tournament with four players on the money bubble. Then another three hours would pass before Bruno Fitoussi fell by the wayside, leaving Smith to duke it out with Tony G and Freddy Deeb.
Deeb already had one WPT High Roller title on his resume from Paris in May, so he was just sharing the wealth when he went from chip leader to third place finisher (£56,400/$87,653). After grabbing a 2-to-1 lead in heads-up play, Tony G was looking good to win his first tournament win since the Moscow Millions back in 2007. But Smith battled back to claim the lead and eventually got the G-man to ship his stack on a draw against Smith’s top pair; the draw never came home, sending G home in second place (£84,600/$131,479).
For the win, Justin Smith takes home £141,000, a snazzy little trophy, and the satisfaction of having won his first live poker tournament title against an exceedingly tough field of top-level poker players at the first WPT stop in London.
WPT: Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey Atop London Leaderboard
August 31st, 2010
It was another smooth ride for Phil Ivey yesterday in London.
WPT London might be a new event on the World Poker Tour schedule, but it’s playing out more like an old one with three-time WPT final tablist Erik Seidel leading the way after the completion of one of the tournament’s two starting flights. Seidel finished up Day 1A of the first-ever WPT London with 226,200 in chips, good enough to lead the 31 players remaining of the 72 that began that starting flight. The eight-time WSOP bracelet winner won his only WPT title at Foxwoods in 2008 but has come close to another WPT title numerous times, with fourth- and sixth-place TV table finishes and four other top-ten finishes to his credit.
Joining Erik Seidel in the top ten chip counts at the end of the day was none other than Phil Ivey, who wrapped up the day fourth in chips with 146,200. Like Seidel, Ivey has a single WPT title on his resume (the 2008 LA Poker Classic). But Ivey has made nine TV table appearances, second only to Gus Hansen’s record of 10. The last of those TV tables came at Bellagio Cup VI just last month, when Ivey bought in at the last possible second on Day 3 but still finished third.
Today’s Day 1B action is already underway at the Mayfair Palm Beach Casino in London. Plenty of recognizable poker players have turned up, including Chris Moorman, Neil Channing, Heather Sue Mercer, Richard Ashby, Marty Smyth, Tyron Krost and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela among the faces in today’s crowd. Last year’s WSOP Europe Main Event champ Barry Shulman also showed up, but he was the first player eliminated on the day.
Play continues through the seventh level tonight, at which time the remaining players will bag up their chips and add their names to the Day 2 roster alongside Erik Seidel and Phil Ivey.
WPT: 15 Remain As Legends of Poker Starts Day 4
August 24th, 2010
Jonathan Little is looking to repeat his considerable past WPT success at the Bike.
Three days of poker have reduced the 2010 Legends of Poker main event from 462 players to just 15, and today will see that field whittle down to just six for the televised final table. Holding the biggest stack when play resumes this afternoon will be Andrew Frankenberger, who holds 1,958,00 in chips. That’s more than two and a half times the average stack, so Frankenberger’s fate in this tournament is really in his own hands. The New York poker pro has five cashes this year, the last being a win in a $2,000 event at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza this summer.
Meanwhile, Season VI World Poker Tour Player of the Year Jonathan Little lurks in second place with 1,314,000 in chips. He’ll be looking to make his fifth WPT final table today, which would give him a chance to tie the all-time record of three WPT wins currently held by Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen. Part of Little’s ascent to the front of the pack involved picking off a big river bluff with second pair against former chip leader Phil Collins to send the online star home in 29th place. If he makes the final table, Little will make his first appearance in front of the WPT cameras since winning the Foxwoods World Poker Finals in November 2008.
Play resumes at the Bicycle Casino at 1 p.m. PT today and will go on until the Legends of Poker TV table lineup is set; the WPT will provide live updates all day on its website.
