Posts Tagged ‘world series of poker’
Chris Klodnicki Leads WSOP Circuit Regional Championship
December 22nd, 2010
Philadelphia’s Chris Klodnicki seeks his second WSOPC title in Atlantic City later today.
The World Series of Poker Circuit Eastern Regional Championship being held at Harrah’s in Atlantic City has seen its field whittled down from a starting tally of 136 players to just nine. Now it’s time for the players to take their game in front of the cameras for everyone to see just what they’re really made of.
Leading the way when play resumes later today will be Chris Klodnicki, who holds 759,000 in chips and has had an incredible year on the WSOP Circuit. Klodnicki won the WSOPC Main Event in A.C. last December, took fourth place in the WSOPC Main Event at Caesars Atlantic City earlier this year, and finished 15th in this year’s Midwest Regional Championship at Horseshoe Hammond.
Right behind Klodnicki is Chris Bell with 706,000 in chips. Bell won his first WSOP bracelet this summer, and he is enjoying the single best year of his eight-year poker career with more than $650,000 in earnings so far. Other notables at the final table include two-time WPT final tablist Todd Terry (307,000) and reigning WPT Legends of Poker champ Andy Frankenberger (230,000). Just missing out on the final table was 10th-place finisher Matthew Waxman, who last week won the $1,600 WSOPC Main Event in Atlantic City for $117,797. The others who cashed but missed the final table were Beth Shak, Victor Ramdin, Brett Richey, Frank Calo and Eugene Katchalov, all of whom earned at least $21,600 for their efforts.
With the final table lineup now officially set, nine more players have booked their trips to Las Vegas in May for the WSOP Circuit National Championship. Regardless of where they finish, each of them is guaranteed $32,362 for this Regional Championship and a shot at the largest share of a $1 million prize pool at Caesars Palace next spring. In the meantime, though, they’ll all have their eyes on the $358,295 top prize that goes to the winner in A.C. later today.
Poker Reality Show Young Guns Coming in 2011
December 21st, 2010
More reality TV about online poker players could be coming to your cable box soon.
If you loved 2 Months, 2 Million but don’t want to wait for those guys to wrangle up another cable network to follow them around, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for a new show called Young Guns.
The show follows four online pros – Chris Jackson, Chris Sparks, Jarran Joshu and Seth Otterstad – as they live their lives in the world of professional poker. Sounds familiar, right? Pretty much, though the show’s approach does differ a bit from last year’s big poker reality show sensation. For instance, instead of living in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker like 2M2M, the Young Guns play online poker in Los Angeles when the WSOP isn’t running. And instead of living in a posh, fully appointed Vegas condo, the Young Guns are living in a posh, fully appointed $7 million mansion owned by some dude named Chris Murphy, whose role is apparently “the guy who goes around annoying the hell out of the poker players by having a fit over everything they do.” Seriously, this guy missed his calling when he was born too late to play the square who tries to keep the cool cats from having a good time in a 1960s beach movie.
The show is really pretty standard stuff for reality TV about poker, and it looks interesting enough apart from the jerk landlord. You can check out the trailer for the show, which was apparently linked from Rounders 2 production house Miramax, at the top of this post. The producers are still searching for a network to air Young Guns but there’s a good chance the entire 13-episode run could be at your Tivo-ing fingertips sometime next year.
Online Poker Player Wins Florida WPT Event
November 24th, 2010
He can’t legally buy a drink, but he could buy a couple of Ferraris if he wanted to. (Photo: Michael Laster)
Florida is one of the only places in the United States where you don’t have to be 21 years old to play live poker, so it’s no big surprise that a 20-year-old Floridian won the state’s first live tournament with a $5,000-buy-in.
Harrison Gimbel, known to his fellow online poker players as “gibler321,” conquered the Fall Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock casino and took home $330,000 for his efforts. Gimbel, who lives in Jupiter, Fla., had to overcome a field of more than 300 players, including a number of experienced poker pros, on his way to the win. Shannon Shorr and Shawn Cunix were among those who made the money, while Gimbel had to fend off Allie Prescott (9th), Raj “BadCardsAA” Vohra (4th), and Fred Goldberg (3rd) at the final table. Gimbel’s even-numbered payout came as the result of a deal with Anthony Ruberto, the second-place finisher who took home an extra $42,000 over what first place was scheduled to pay.
The win is actually the second major victory of 2010 for Gimbel. Back in January he won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, an event noted for its enormous fields packed with tough online poker players, and claimed $2.2 million in the process. Not bad for a guy who won’t be eligible to play in the World Series of Poker until 2012.
The Fall Poker Open was the first WPT Regional Event, a series of tournaments recently announced by the World Poker Tour that will sport the WPT brand but not feature any television coverage. They also apparently won’t feature much in the way of online coverage, so a tip of the hat here goes to Nick Sortal at the Action South Florida Gambling blog, who put in a marathon reporting session to get the info out where the WPT didn’t.
Chuck Liddell Engaged to Heidi Northcott
November 17th, 2010
Which of these two is a professional poker player?
The cat is out of the bag – one year after he began dating her, MMA superstar Chuck Liddell is engaged to marry Heidi Northcott.
Chuck Liddell is a genuine star and is easily one of the best-known mixed martial arts fighters in the world. The former UFC light heavyweight champion, known by his nickname “The Iceman,” is tied for the most UFC fight appearances with fellow fighters Matt Hughes and Randy Couture and is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. He has made numerous cameo appearances in movies and TV series, he played in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, and he also competed on the ninth season of Dancing With The Stars.
Heidi Northcott is a bit more of an unknown. The University of Southern California grad first became known as a “celebrity” when she started dating former professional baseball player/steroid enthusiast/amateur cage fighter/women’s poker tournament crasher Jose Canseco. Northcott claims she’s a professional poker player, though evidence of the “professional” part is a little hard to come by. Her tournament track record consists of a single $500 cash in a $300 tournament at the 2008 Larry Flynt Challenge Cup. Now, it’s certainly possible that Northcott lays claim to the “professional poker player” label because she crushes the SoCal cash games. Of course, it’s also possible that those “models” on Craigslist really want you to pay them for their time in “roses.”
If you just can’t get enough of Chuck Liddell and Heidi Northcott in advance of their as-yet-unannounced wedding date, you can always go check out the viral video they did for Reebook where they were working out together in the nude. (Link obviously NSFW.)
WSOP: How to Watch Racener vs Duhamel Heads-Up
November 8th, 2010
Jonathan Duhamel may soon have nine million reasons to smile.
As you’ve probably heard by now, the final table of the 2010 WSOP main event is now down to two. Tonight at 8:30ish PM PST, Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener do battle to determine the winner of the World Series of Poker main event. And for those who want to watch history being made, there are a couple options available… at least for viewers in the US.
ESPN3′s website offers a live stream of the final table. You won’t be able to see the hole cards, but they do have commentators weighing in on the action. Saturday’s stream was, from all reports, a bit of a mixed bag, viewability-wise. They had some technical issues with parts of the match, but let’s hope they get that worked out for today. On that same site, viewers from the US can also go back and check out the stream from Saturday’s final table action.
If you prefer your poker on the bigger screen, ESPN has a two hour broadcast of highlights of the whole final table, and not just the heads-up portion, set to go on Tuesday night at 7pm PST.
And though the final heads-up action is hotly anticipated, it may not last long. Duhamel has a commanding chip lead, and the blinds are huge. Going into tonight’s final, Duhamel is sitting on 188,950,000 in chips, while Racener has just 30,750,000. To start, ante is at 200,000 and the blinds are 600,000/1,200,000. The eventual winner will walk home with the coveted bracelet, and an even more coveted $8,944,310 in prize money.
Just One Week to the WSOP Final Table
October 30th, 2010
Michael Mizrachi will be looking to add to his WSOP player’s championship win.
The one week countdown is on for the final table of the World Series of Poker main event. That means just a few days for the members of the November Nine to sew sponsor patches onto shirts, pray to whatever god they think will help and get a few last interviews in. And it means the sizeable crew at ESPN are resting up in preparation for their own WSOP marathon.
The players will make their way to the Rio in Las Vegas, and see their first cards at 12pm PST on November 6th. From then it will be a marathon of heartbreak and glory until just two players remain. At that point, heads-up play gets going at 8pm PST on November 8th, with a champ crowned and enriched a few hours later.
But just when the winner is counting his millions, and the losers are licking their wounds, the ESPN crew will be neck-deep in footage as they struggle to turn it into a TV show in just a couple days. Their coverage of the event starts November 9th, just three days after the event starts. To put it together so quickly requires twenty-one cameras, and a crew of seventy-one coffee-chugging commentators, camera operators and editors.
Like pretty much every year, the 2010 WSOP final table features players from the two extreme ends of the experience scale. This year, Michael Mizrachi plays the role of the seasoned vet looking for the ultimate poker prize. Last year it was Phil Ivey, but Mizrachi will be hoping to do better than Ivey’s early elimination. And this year’s Darvin Moon, the no-name player who’s suddenly appearing on the game’s biggest stage, will be played by amateur Soi Nguyen.
For those who like their WSOP viewing a little more raw, but timely, ESPN3.com will also be airing a delayed “live-stream” of the action.
Gus Hansen Can’t Lose
October 22nd, 2010
Gus Hansen wins because Gus Hansen can see inside your soul.
Just a few short weeks ago, Danish poker pro Gus Hansen won his first World Series of Poker bracelet. It was a win that seemed to be long overdue, as he’s been one of the most feared and biggest-name players in the world for years. Much better late than never though, and that win seems to have turned Hansen’s fortunes around at the high-stakes online poker tables.
The last few years have been one long downward plunge for Hansen. But he’s been on an epic heater the last few weeks, culminating in nearly $600,000 in winnings in action last night. And that’s on top of the $723,000 he won in action last week.
Most of yesterday’s good fortune came at the hands of an online pro named Luukie21. The two battled it out at the $500/$1,000 Cap Pot Limit Omaha tables, with Luukie21 ending the session $595,000 down. Hansen made a few more bucks off a variety of other opponents, mixing it up playing everything from $200/$400 PLO to $1,000/$2,000 HORSE.
For the year so far, Gus Hansen is looking at winnings of $2.5 million dollars. Add that to his WSOP Europe bracelet in the High-Roller NLHE Heads-up Tournament, and 2010 is looking pretty sweet for the great Dane.
Johnny Chan on Survivor?
October 18th, 2010
Will we soon see Johnny Chan wallowing in mud and eating bugs?
Earlier in the Summer, there was some talk around TwoPlusTwo and elsewhere that a pro poker player may be appearing on an upcoming season of the hit reality show Survivor. And now there’s some intriguing hints on a popular spoiler site for the show that poker legend Johnny Chan (Warning: show spoilers) may have snuck off to Nicaragua to appear in the upcoming 22nd season.
Of course, it’s all total speculation at this point. But there are a couple facts that seem to make the rumors somewhat believable. On July 29th, Chan posted this message to his Twitter: “Going on vacation with family for a few weeks…time to relax and take a break!” Then he didn’t post again until October 3rd. That missing time approximately coincides with the shooting season for Survivor. As well, according to posters on TwoPlusTwo, Johnny didn’t play at the World Series of Poker Europe, which is a bit unusual.
The current season of Survivor, #21 in its long history, takes place in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. But apparently they’re filming back-to-back seasons in the same location. Assuming Chan is on the show, we may see him scheming and struggling in the central American jungle for season #22, which will air next year.
WSOP Circuit Coming to American TV on VERSUS
October 15th, 2010
VERSUS joins ESPN in the poker business with a new WSOP Circuit deal.
The World Series of Poker announced late yesterday that it has reached an agreement with cable network VERSUS to broadcast coverage of the WSOP Circuit beginning in June 2011.
VERSUS is perhaps best known in the U.S. for its coverage of the National Hockey League, though it also airs some college football and mixed martial arts programming, as well as coverage of the Tour de France. The network has never ventured into poker programming before, but it’ll have some help when it starts seeing flops: Poker PROductions, the company behind the broadcasts of WSOP Europe, High Stakes Poker and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, will be producing the coverage for VERSUS.
“This is a big milestone for the industry,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart. “We’re thrilled that one of the premier all-sports networks has recognized the brand power of the WSOP and decided to take the plunge into broadcasting our game.”
Jeff Goldberg, Vice President of Programming for VERSUS, was equally excited about the news. “We are very excited to present coverage of the World Series of Poker Circuit tour to a national audience of more than 75 million U.S. homes,” he said. “The WSOP tour is one of the most successful in the business and we knew it was a great opportunity for our first venture into poker tournament coverage.”
The announcement comes as the latest WSOP Circuit stop gets going at the Horseshoe Hammond casino in Hammond, Ind., just miles from Chicago. The first event held there last year was the largest poker tournament in the six-year history of the WSOP Circuit, attracting nearly 1,500 players, and the Hammond stop paid out more players than any other single stop in the rest of the WSOPC season.
The last tournament of this year’s stop in Hammond will be the first $10,000 Regional Championship event of the new season. All of the final tablists will receive automatic entry into the WSOPC National Championship next spring, and the tournament will also be the first aired on VERSUS when the new broadcast deal goes into effect next summer.
WSOP Main Event Action on ESPN Tonight
October 12th, 2010
ESPN’s WSOP coverage features the rise and fall of Matt Affleck.
The 2010 World Series of Poker main event final table is less than a month away. Yes, in just a few short weeks, the lucky (and good) members of the November Nine will sit down to play for obscene amounts of money. And with that climactic action looming just over the horizon, things are starting to heat up in ESPN’s weekly TV coverage of the event.
Starting at 9:30pm EST tonight, ESPN will show back-to-back hour-long broadcasts of action from day 7 of the main event. And for those who remember, things were starting to get plenty intense by that time. Stacks were large, the field was dwindling, and the relatively few remaining players couldn’t help but imagine themselves winning just those few hands necessary to secure themselves a spot at the final table.
Based on the promos up on the ESPN poker site, tonight’s action is going to feature a whole lot of Michael Mizrachi. And why not, given that The Grinder has secured himself a November Nine seat, and was one of the best known names still alive on day 7. It also looks like the young Matt Affleck will feature prominently in tonight’s show. For those who didn’t follow the action as it was happening this summer, the saga of Affleck is almost enough reason to watch all by itself.
