Poker

There are days in poker when you can't even win the blinds and days where it seems as if you can do no wrong. At the final table of SCOOP 2013 Event 31-M, $215 NLHE (Knockout), it looked as if Steve "Illini213" Barshak was going to have one of the latter type of days and absolutely run over the whole table on his way to the title. But M1ghtyDucks stood up to the bully starting when play become four-handed, and for that reason it was M1ghtyDucks who grabbed the SCOOP title in this event. Event 31-M was another of the two-day events that are sprinkled liberally across the SCOOP 2013 calendar. It was also a knockout event; $41.25 of each of the 3,823 $215 buy-ins went into a knockout bounty pool. Knock out a player and collect their bounty. None of the Team PokerStars Pros made Day 2 of this event, although Henrique Pinho did manage an ITM finish on Day 1. He drove about halfway through the 495 ITM places, finishing in 260th place for $401.94 with two knockouts. The Team Pros were all on to other events by the time that the last nine players took their seats at the Event 31-M final table, just after the 5pm break. Seat 1: CHIQUIDEALER (919049 in chips) Seat 2: LukeFromB13 (2118427 in chips) Seat 3: M1ghtyDucks (2849770 in chips) Seat 4: Gustavo "PIUlimeira" Goto (1953755 in chips) Seat 5: Respect_Lt (2017109 in chips) Seat 6: bugiaso (2696750 in chips) Seat 7: -PABLIN-ARG- (831342 in chips) Seat 8: jknack10 (3722654 in chips) Seat 9: Steve "Illini213" Barshak (2006144 in chips) Level 39: blinds 25k-50k, ante 6250 Average: 2.12 million (42.5 BBs) All Barshak all the time jknack10 had the pole position at the start of the final table, but the table was loaded with players who had already made COOP final tables across their PokerStars careers. The most notable example was Barshak, who won a WCOOP event last autumn and who came into the final table with direct position on jknack10. Barshak proved just how dangerous he can be by dominating the final table during the first 25 minutes of play to more than double up to 4.5 million chips - and take over the chip lead - without going to showdown once. Barshak's good turn came at the expense of most of the rest of the table. It was as if the other eight players were all playing reactive poker to what Barshak was doing, and paying the price for it. The short stacks, however, managed to double up when they needed to do so. CHIQUIDEALER made ace-king work all in pre-flop against jknack10's ace-queen; -PABLIN-ARG- trended dangerously downward until winning a flip with pocket 8s against Respect_Lt's [kd][td] to climb back up to 900k. It thus fell to Respect_Lt to be the first player eliminated. In the 40k-80k level, Respect_Lt opened for the minimum, 160k. Action passed to LukeFromB13 in the big blind, who three-bet shoved for 1.5 million. Respect_Lt had only 1.13 million behind the original raise and snap-called with two 10s. LukeFromB13 showed down two queens and earned the first final table knockout when neither player improved. Just before the 6pm break, Barshak finally went to his first showdown. Pre-flop he raised the minimum to 160k from second position and was called by LukeFromB13. Barshak checked an ace-high flop, [7h][as][2c], then called LukeFromB13's bet of 235,650. Both players checked when a second ace hit the turn. On the river [3d] the action was checked again. Barshak tabled [ac][8s] for trip aces to drag the pot and cross the 6-million chip mark. After the break, -PABLIN-ARG- doubled up for a second time when [kd][2h] got there against jknack10's [ac][6h] in a battle of the blinds. Once again, however, all the double-up did was restore -PABLIN-ARG-'s count to 920k. LukeFromB13 announces a presence Barshak, on the other hand, kept going up. Two more big pots without showdown pushed his stack north of 7 million as the players began the 50k-100k level. It was three times the average stack. Barshak's next closest opponent, LukeFromB13, had 2.8 million but

With the possible exception of poker players who have a constitutional bias to playing so tight they can safely fall asleep at the table, everybody loves a knockout tournament. Though it is possible to run deep in tournaments without knocking anyone out, it's never a preferred path. So knockout tourneys add a little extra reward for playing good, aggressive poker, making sure that even players who don't go deep can still earn a little something for their time. In Event #31-L, a no-limit hold'em knockout tournament, $20 of every $27 buy-in went to the regular prize pool and $5 to the bounty pool. A field of 16,764 players turned up yesterday afternoon to kick off the first day of play, building a total prize pool of $419,100 - $83,820 of which was set aside for bounties. After 40 levels of play they concluded Day 1 with only 35 players remaining. The leader in KOs at the end of Day 1 was gosuopossum1 of the Ukraine, with 31 total. These 10 players led the chip counts: anco197 (Germany) 7.43M, 18 KOs AMG_hit (Russia) 7.02M, 12 KOs Coll Bratr (Czech Republic) 6.70M, 15 KOs Haifishmudda (Germany), 5.73M, 6 KOs bahiaaj (Qatar) 4.96M, 20 KOs KKremate (Brazil) 4.75M, 10 KOs Silverearth (Austria) 4.23M, 11 KOs Jeff "jeff710" Hakim (Canada) 3.76M, 5 KOs ar_gio13 (Greece) 3.48M, 9 KOs Gagarin007 (Russia) 3.08M, 11 KOs gosuopossum managed to maneuver to 14th place ($1,005.84) and remained the KO leader through the end of the tournament despite not earning another one on Day 2. Meanwhile four of the top 10 leaders from Day 1 kept pace and made the final table, which started an hour and 49 minutes later after play resumed. They and these other five players came together with blinds and antes at 125K/250K/31.25K: Seat 1: Gagarin007 (7,876,331 in chips) Seat 2: Jeff "jeff710" Hakim (11,093,772 in chips) Seat 3: leggo-boys (5,960,360 in chips) Seat 4: R4lti (15,290,144 in chips) Seat 5: blank seat (3,118,220 in chips) Seat 6: NoNeed23Bet (10,887,734 in chips) Seat 7: skarpet2 (6,914,596 in chips) Seat 8: Silverearth (15,140,006 in chips) Seat 9: Coll Bratr (7,538,837 in chips) Austria's blank_seat came to the table with the shortest stack, worth just shy of 13 big blinds, and managed to tread water for the first dozen hands thanks to a couple of blind steals. On Hand #13, with the blinds and antes up to 150K/300K/37.5K, everything fell apart. Fellow Austrian Silverearth opened for 750K in early position and blank_seat jammed for 3.42M with [Ad] [Ks]. It was a trivial call for Silverearth with [As] [Ah]. The [2c] [4s] [4c] flop presented no danger, and though the [Kd] gave blank_seat a few outs on the turn none of them came home on the [9c] river. That sent blank_seat packing in 9th place ($2,011.68). Most of the pots after that first knockout continued to be taken down before the flop. Those that didn't tended to toward the United Kingdom's NoNeedTo3Bet or Canada's Jeff "jeff710" Hakim, who had come to the final table in third and second in chips, respectively. The next major confrontation didn't come until Hand #35 on the 250K/500K/62.5K level, when NoNeedTo3Bet opened for 1M under the gun with [5h] [5c]. The Czech Republic's Coll Bratr responded with a third bet to 8.32M, holding [Ac] [Jh], and NoNeed23Bet made the call with 9.47M left behind. The [3d] [Js] [Jc] flop was all Coll Bratr needed, and the [9d] turn and [Th] river officially shipped the Czech player the 17.89M-chip pot. Just four hands later Russia's Gagarin007, who had slipped to 3.24M over the first several orbits, moved all-in before the flop with [Qc] [Qs]. A flat-call from jeff710 didn't entice anybody else into the pot, so Hakim's [Kc] [Kh] were only up against the one opponent. The [Kd] [7c] [2s] flop left Gagarin007 in need of running queens for four of a kind, but the [2h] came on the turn and left the Russian player drawing dead. Like a dagger the [Qd] fell on the river, ending Gagarin007's tournament in 8th place ($3,017.52). The very next hand sa

Any tips or suggestions for a future 3-Bet, drop a note and a link in the comments and we’ll do our best to include in a future post. Today in the 3-Bet we find a less-than-glowing review for the latest Ben Mezrich book about Absolute Poker, a last (we swear) look at the debt we all owe to Chris Moneymaker and a growing suspicion Jason Mercier might have gone over the edge with his WSOP confidence. 1) Mezrich Mezriches Absolute Poker Story Fans of salacious “non-fiction” bestsellers are likely well aware of author Ben Mezrich’s knack for fudging the facts a little for the sake of a flashier story. Bringing Down the House and Busting Vega$ (about MIT BlackJack teams) or The Accidental Billionaires (his Facebook expose that became the basis of The Social Network) are good examples of the stories he likes to fudge best – ones with money, greed and a side of sex in them, basically. The rise and fall of Absolute Poker, then, is a natural fit for Mezrich and is the subject of his new book Straight Flush. Absolute gets kid gloves from Mezrich.   Digging into the lives of Scott Tom, Brent Beckley and the rest of the AP founders Mezrich’s take comes off as a tale of young, ambitious frat boys unfairly persecuted. Parts of which may or may not be true, but either way the storytelling didn’t sit well with NY Times critic Janet Maslin, whose review of the book – and Mezrich’s hackneyed prose - is less than flattering. A sample: “He is expert at making up conversations he did not hear, sexing up parties he did not attend, pumping up the thrills of getting rich quick and playing down the legal liabilities of characters who may have done a teeny bit of innocent law-bending or moral compromising on their ways to the top. If he has a single favorite sentence, it is this, best savored slowly: Billionaires.'" Then she gets a bit meaner. Check the full review here. 2) Thanks Again, Moneymaker Still perfect after all these years.   Ok, ok. We truly did think we were done recommending Chris Moneymaker retrospectives with yesterday's Grantland post but what can you do when another one pops up that’s too good to ignore?  Stepping away from the actual play-by-play of the event, PokerStars Head of Blogging Brad Willis gets personal in his retrospective and delves into exactly what the Moneymaker decade has meant to him - a career change, travel, amazing friends etc. He also makes the fantastic point that Moneymaker is still, a decade later, the perfect ambassador for the game: "In an age where we're all looking for the best of our people to represent us to the straight world, Chris is still the perfect everyman. He is still the guy who can explain this game to normal people. "Why? Because he is normal people. He's good people. And he's still good for the game." Also making an appearance in this piece is Paul “Eskimo” Clark, which is always delightful. Read it here. 3) Mercier Offering 3-1 On Bracelet, Called “Insane” So we know Jason Mercier has been on a Jason Mercier-esque heater of late, but he really seems to want to push the envelope with a few big bracelets bets on himself: Looking for action at 3 to 1 on winning a bracelet this summer.Also willing to bet on myself vs almost anyone and lay small odds... — Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) May 23, 2013 ... Players I won't lay odds against- Ivey, @realkidpoker and @phil_hellmuth — Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) May 23, 2013 U can bet on Daniel or Hellmuth against me at even money.X amount per bracelet... If I don't know u too well we can escrow — Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) May 23, 2013 RT @innerpsy: @jasonmercier what's minimum bet on 3:1 for bracelet bet? — Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) May 23, 2013 Which is, well, pretty sick. Insane to some, even. We wouldn't go quite go that far, but bracelets bets are definitely a double-edged sword. And things could get costly if he whiffs altogether like he did last year. Let's call him crazy like

The Borgata Summer Poker Open, June 4-21, is fast approaching and offers up an even 50 tournament events over the 18 days counting evening tournaments and satellites.So really, there's something here for every grinder's taste.Like prize pool grantees? Seven of 19 main events carry prize pools totaling $1.275 million.That includes a $300,000 guaranteed $350 + $50 Deepstack No Limit tournament to kickoff the Open on June 4.The event has two opening days, Day 1A June 4 and Day 1B June 5.The biggest prize pool guarantee belongs to the Summer Poker Open Championship event, June 16-20. The $2,500 + $200 Double Play No Limit tournament carries a half million dollar guarantee, also known as $500,000 in some circles.Double Play tournaments allow players busting out on Day 1A (June 16) to re-buy on Day 1B (June 17), regardless of what level they went out.Here's the main event schedule.Satellites for the championship event begin June 14 with six different tournaments offered until June 16. They range from a $135 + $20 tournament (Event 38) at 3pm June 14 to a $540 + $60 No Limit Tournament (Event 41) at 3pm Sat, June 15.Each satellite sends a different proportion of players to the championship event depending on buy-in. For example, Event 38 will send 1 in 20 players to the championship while Event 41 sends 1 in 5.Secondary events ( Events 20 through 50) have evening and afternoon starts. For the Summer Poker Open, 15 of the secondary events are "Bounty" tournaments, where players can win cash chips from players they knock out of the tournament, regardless of where they ultimately finish.The secondary events also include six survivor tournaments and three Deepsatck tournaments.So you see, there's kind of a lot to choose from. Here's a look at the Borgata Summer Poker Open full schedule.Online reservations for all events are now open.Also, you can win a seat to the Borgata Summer Poker Open Champiosnhip by entering our special drawing.Summer comes early the Borgata Poker Room.

A news report from The Register this past Monday suggested that Canadian anti-money laundering and financial crimes regulations and disclosures will not apply to bitcoin exchanges in Canada. This was based on letters apparently received by some exchanges from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC). I have not seen the letters, but today I confirmed this position with a spokesperson for the FinTRAC. This posture presents an exciting opportunity for bitcoin exchanges that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently confirmed are subject to registration, monitoring, and reporting as money services businesses and money transmitters in the United States. On the financial regulatory side, those exchanges may find a more welcoming environment north of the border. However, remember that future changes to the regulatory structure in Canada are possible. What is FinTRAC? FinTRAC is an independent agency of the Canadian government that reports into the federal Minister of Finance. It is Canada’s financial intelligence unit for purposes of the Financial Action Task Force’s 40 Recommendations. FinTRAC’s mandate is to facilitate the detection, deterrence, and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing activities. FinTRAC was set up and is empowered under the federal Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the PCMLTFA) and the attendant regulations, including the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations (the Regulations). If you are a casino, life insurer, accountant, securities dealer, or dealer in precious metals in Canada, among others, you will need to report to FinTRAC in certain cases. (FinTRAC-regulated persons are often referred to as reporting entities.) If you are a money services business, you’ll need to register with FinTRAC, name a compliance officer, implement and periodically review your compliance regime, identify your clients, keep various records, and report several types of transactions to FinTRAC, e.g., suspicious transactions and large cash transactions, meaning single transactions of $10,000 or more or structured transactions of $10,000 or more. The ongoing compliance and disclosure requirements are extensive. One province, Quebec, has its own legislation, the Money Services Businesses Act, with some overlapping requirements with the PCMLTFA and the Regulations. FinTRAC has many of the same responsibilities and functions as FinCEN, which is the United States’ FIU. Enter bitcoin Bitcoin is a virtual decentralized currency that has gained value, interest, and supporters since its introduction in 2009. Bitcoin is also a global payments system. This currency allows value to be stored and transferred anywhere, at any time, potentially anonymously, with little — and oftentimes no – counterparty risk. It’s a revolutionary concept that is changing how we think about everything from money and value to the roles of central banks and governments in issuing currency and coinage. As mentioned above and elsewhere (also here), FinCEN has issued guidance confirming that bitcoin exchanges will be subject to the Bank Secrecy Act and the rules governing money transmitters. Therefore, many have been interested in the position of Canadian and other international regulators when it comes to these types of exchanges. Will Canada regulate them as money services businesses? Or would it take a more laissez faire approach? Could Canada become a zone that could act as a testing lab for startup bitcoin exchanges? We now have our first answer from FinTRAC. Generally, it views bitcoin exchanges as entities that do not have to register, identify clients, and report under the money services business rules. Bitcoins aren’t “funds” Money services business is defined in subsection 5(h) of the PCMLTFA. An MSB is a person or entity “engaged in the business of foreign

Poker players need to eat and the poker kitchen will not sustain a person for an entire summer. PokerListings has been embedded in Vegas for the WSOP for the better part of a decade and we’ve built a database of restaurants to frequent over the entire summer. We thought it would be a good time to share with our readers some of our favorite spots to take a break after working 14-hour days at the Rio. Just like our Insider’s Guide to Poker in Las Vegas, we’ve compiled a list of Twitter handles that belong to excellent eating options. These aren’t $100-a-plate dinners so you won’t have to dip into your precious bankroll to get a little sustenance. Food Trucks and Delivery @AllAmericanDave Description from Twitter: "Fitness Coach, Dietary Guru,& Creator of the All American Dave Meal Plan based out of Las Vegas, Nevada." Sample Tweet: @ladyluckpokerI will absolutely be delivering food all summer at WSOP and yes I will have Vegan and Vegetarian options...FInally! — David Swanson (@AllAmericanDave) April 26, 2013 @fukuburger Description from Twitter: "All-American burgers with a Japanese twist for people who don't take life too serious." Sample Tweet: Just got slapped by my daughter, for no reason. She said,"I didn't slap you, I just high-fived your face!". Can't argue with that logic.. — FukuburgerTruckVegas (@fukuburger) May 12, 2013 @RoaminDough Description from Twitter: "A Roamin' Eatery with pocket pies - fresh dough filled with meats and cheeses then fried to perfection." Sample Tweet: Today we are at 2550 Paseo Verde Parkway, Ste. 100 Henderson. It's Hawaiian Day so dig out that Tommy Bahama shirt and stop by. — Roamin' Dough (@RoaminDough) May 17, 2013 @SinCityWings Description from Twitter: "Las Vegas' First WING TRUCK. A Southern Boy and Girl's Dream is becoming a reality. Made with Southern Love and dressed up with Flavor and Spice." Sample Tweet: ello Vegas, and happy Friday! Would you like some FREE chicken tenders or wings? Thanks to Titan Insurance, you can get them! Come see us... — Sin City Wings Truck (@SinCityWings) March 22, 2013 @CurbsideCafeLV Description from Twitter: "great burgers, seafood tacos, Sanoran dogs, grilled cheese and more. Just fresh made to order, good food!" Sample Tweet: Curbside Cafe Gourmet Deli Express Truck is up and running. Let us know if you would like us to stop by your work! — Curbside Cafe (@CurbsideCafeLV) April 1, 2013 Close to the Rio @capriottis Description from Twitter: "Voted the Greatest Sandwich in America by AOL|Lemondrop. #1 Overall Excellence by Sandelman and Associates. We share our passion, one sandwich at a time." Sample Tweet: If your love for sandwiches has turned into an addiction, than the CapAddicts eClub is calling your name: sos.me/GCUqz/0 — Official Capriotti's (@capriottis) May 23, 2013 @Bonitomichoacan Description from Twitter: "RESTAURANT BONITO MICHOACAN (702)257-6810 3715 S. DECATUR BLVD LAS VEGAS NV USA 89103" Sample Tweet: Me he suscrito al canal de bonitomichoacan en YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/bonitomichoacan?feature=autoshare). — Bonito Michoacan (@Bonitomichoacan) April 20, 2011 @leesandwiches Description from Twitter: "Let's Meet At Lee's!" Sample Tweet: Message:"Lee's Sandwiches LAS VEGAS - Grand Opening!" - http://grsnip.com/r/XpJu — Lee's Sandwiches (@leesandwiches) March 22, 2011 @innoutburger Description from Twitter: "Please call 800-786-1000 for an experienced In-N-Out service rep Su-Th 8am-1am PT Fr-Sa 8a-1:30a PT" Sample Tweet: Official Opening/Commencement for the new Dallas @innoutburger location is 10:30am this Thursday but the store might be open earlier. — In-N-Out Burger (@innoutburger) June 21, 2011 @HotNJuicy_LV Description from Twitter: "Get down n dirty with Louisiana style live crawfish and offering the best seafood in town!!" Sample Tweet: Is Hot N Juicy on your mind? Well, these crawfish are calling you!! fb.me/25P2aM4Su — Hot N Ju

I don't have too much to report regarding my own play of late. However, I have been delivering some seriously good vibes to my friends who keep going deep in big tourneys. In fact, it seems like recently everyone around me in our little entourage has been doing well, and I have no choice but to attribute it to the great support they've been getting from me! I'm joking, but the truth is it can be very important to have support from others when you play. Recently I've been traveling not just with my brother, Matti, but also with our friends Wim Neys, Pieter Aerts, and Bart Lybaert, and all of those guys have been putting up some nice results this year. Having a group like that not only makes traveling and playing more fun, but can really help with maintaining focus, too. Poker's an individual sport, obviously, but having some friends and/or family there rooting for you -- especially when it gets down to a final table -- can be incredibly helpful, not just in terms of emotional support but also to discuss strategy and bounce ideas off one another as a tournament goes on. Having friends there to share those experiences can be nice, too, when you later look back on them as memories. I actually think there's a kind of "social control" (or whatever you want to call it) that happens when your friends are there watching you play. What I mean is, you are much less likely to blow up or make bad decisions at the table when you know you'll have to explain it later not just to yourself but to your friends, too. So it kind of keeps you in line a little, which is just another of the real, tangible benefits of having people supporting you when you play. A lot of times in the poker world you'll see players only railing other players when they have a piece of them, but I'm actually one who likes to see my friends do well and will be there at their final tables without having to have a piece of them. My friends are also always there for me in those situations, too, although as I was suggesting that hasn't been happening too much lately because I have been on a bit of a downswing since January. I had been playing a full schedule in terms of online tournaments as well as a lot of the live tourneys, and unfortunately haven't been cashing like I'd like. So I've kind of taken my foot off of the gas pedal and have reduced my volume a bit of late, and once I get some results again I can turn things back up. Not long ago I listened to a podcast featuring Tommy Angelo in which he talked about how the winter months can be difficult for people. The longer nights and the cold can make things hard for people sometimes, and they need that sunshine to keep them upbeat. I think I kind of suffer from that a little, and so with the spring arriving and the summer on its way, I'm hopeful that will help turn things around for me. Meanwhile, though, I'll keep on supporting my friends. I'll keep being their sunshine, you could say. Christophe de Meulder is a member of Team PokerStars Pro

A few years ago, photographer Neil Stoddart and PokerStars' tourney guru Bryan Slick hustled Dan Kelly into what amounted to a large closet at the PCA in the Bahamas. They shoved two bracelets onto his wrists and took the picture below. Why? Well, it was a big deal. Kelly had won not one but two WCOOP bracelets. Say it aloud: it was a BIG DEAL! Now, it's sort of quaint. See, last night, as Dave Behr wrote, Kelly won his second SCOOP title. Add that to his four WCOOP wins, and you have a 6-COOP man, which qualifies him as...I dunno...a demigod of some sort. Want to see who else is on their way to Dan Kelly status? Click any of the headlines below to see our wrap-ups. (Hint: Check out Randall Flowers who one event and final tabled another in the same night) zeus-tseuji wins first for Japan in Event #29-L, $11 NL Hold'em Entries: 18,102 Prize pool: $181,020 Places paid: 2,475 1st place: zeus-tseuji (Japan) $19,534.41 2nd place: SHUR43 (Russia) $15,386.70 3rd place: RONNALDO 9 (Mexico) $11,776.30 4th place: Celfhtd (Russia) $8,145.90 5th place: sakiss99 (Cyprus) $6,335.70 6th place: darkarchon-8 (Bulgaria) $4,525.50 7th place: MYspearGUN (Cyprus) $2,715.30 8th place: kuuuuuk (Norway) $1,629.18 9th place: DDrunkson (Portugal) $1,086.12 Passagero-LM flies high in Event 29-M ($109 NLHE) Players: 5213 Prize pool: $521,300 Places paid: 675 1. Passagero-LM (Brazil) - $56,043.54* 2. PutItAllYin (Canada) - $40,838.72* 3. beed2 (Slovakia) - $48,418.71* 4. dariepoker (Romania) - $54,966.22* 5. rounder3989 (Germany) - $36,874.22* 6. What0ver9000 (Germany) - $16,942.25 7. gardze_wami (Poland) - $11,729.25 8. holla@yoboy (Canada) - $6,516,25 9. dyng247 (Sweden) - $4,170.40 * denotes 5-way deal OverTheTop43 on top after chop in Event #29-H ($1,050 NLHE) Players: 1,534 Total prize pool: $1,534,000.00 Places paid: 171 1. OverTheTop43 (Germany) $199,446.39* 2. kikobicu (Brazil) $200,696.28* 3. MonkeyBudg (Ireland) $197,963.93* 4. Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth (Ireland) $104,312.00 5. Tim "blumenkind53" Ulrich (Germany) $75,933.00 6. FONBET_RULIT (Russia) $60,593.00 7. Giuseppe "Ansgar2000" Pantaleo (Germany) $45,253.00 8. korjae (Canada) -- $29,913.00 9. Elia001 (Russia) -- $16,567.20 *reflects three-way deal Jomppeli_32 jumps to a win in Event #30-L, $27 Razz Entries: 2,192 Prize pool: $53,183.60 Places paid: 288 1st place: Jomppeli_32 (Finland) $9,243.37 2nd place: Jesseb888 (Canada) $6,538.35 3rd place: TomaszRa (United Kingdom) $5,112.29 4th place: erot1 (Norway) $3,766.95 5th place: scroosko (United Kingdom) $2,690.68 6th place: margenov (Bulgaria) $1,614.40 7th place: ViTaMin_F22 (China) $1,076.27 8th place: Kazerog (Russia) $538.13 lowballeric earns a lowball title in Event #30-M ($215 Razz) Players: 461 Total prize pool: $92,200.00 Places paid: 64 1. lowballeric (United Kingdom) $17,518.00 2. krec23 (Russia) $12,908.00 3. Gigaloff (Russia) $9,459.72 4. shrek7771 (Russia) $6,915.00 5. capeta333 (Brazil) $4,610.00 6. Paul "padjes" Berende (Netherlands) $3,227.00 7. Desslock (Canada) $2,305.00 8. Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (Mexico) $1,844.00 Kelly captures sixth COOP title in Event 30-H ($2100 Razz) Players: 97 Prizepool: $194,000 Places paid: 12 1. Daniel "djk123" Kelly (Australia) - $45,377.50* 2. SebbyGl (Germany) - $43,377.50* 3. ShellyCalls (Australia) - $27,160.00 4. redeste (Russia) - $18,430.00 5. AceQuad (Mexico) - $13,580.00 6. Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (Canada) - $10,185.00 7. villepn (Finland) - $8,245.00 8. blanconegro (Mexico) - $6,305.00 * denotes 2-way deal FoRiu89 pots victory in Event #32-L ($27 Pot Limit Omaha Turbo ZOOM) Entrants: 5,419 Prize pool: $133,036.45 Places paid: 720 1st FoRiu89 (Bulgaria) - $16,295.07* 2nd JeffBaas (Netherlands) - $15,497.07* 3rd N0b0dy (Canada) - $15,496.07* 4th badalhas (Portugal) - $7,516.55 5th mitsakos21 (Greece) - $5,654.04 6th ace201220 (Belgium) - $4,323.68 7th VernonH (Germany) - $2,993.32 8th Alexx_N (Russia) - $1,662.95 9th Funeraler (Ukraine) - $1,

On May 23, 2003, I was a television news reporter. I played online poker on the side. I'd already fallen in love with the movie Rounders. I played local home games regularly. I'd been to Vegas the year before and cut my teeth at the Bellagio. Two weeks earlier, a co-worker introduced me to Positively Fifth Street by Jim McManus. I spent nearly every rare moment of free time I had that spring playing poker, reading about poker, or thinking about poker. But on the morning of May 23, I had no idea how something that was happening in Las Vegas would change my life. How much would everything change? I'd end up writing poker stories that were crazier than Rounders. I'd play in games in casinos all over the world. I'd sit around with Jim McManus and talk about Positively Fifth Street. That's how much things changed because of May 23, 2003. That's how much changed because of this guy. Chris Moneymaker In the days before Twitter, the fastest way reporters got their outside news was via the Associated Press wire. My newsroom's fancy new software had an AP feed that came directly to our computers. That was where I first saw that a man named Moneymaker had won the biggest Main Event in history. That was ten years ago today, an historic Friday in Vegas that changed the lives of an uncountable number of people. Moneymaker's win struck me and my poker friends like it struck every other wannabe in the world. The restaurant accountant from Tennessee was just some guy. He wasn't a Brunson. He wasn't a Chan. He wasn't a star, but he was about to change our lives. There will be many retrospectives and re-told stories today. They're all worthy tales, and they all deserve their due. But today, I'm struck by a personal feeling of gratitude that I can't shake, and that's what this is about. *** So, why would I thank Chris? I stayed in TV news for another 18 months. My friends and I talked about Moneymaker. He was around our age, and he was the most unlikely of heroes in a game that we played. Our softball team was never going to walk into Fenway. Our disc golf games weren't going to land us in some disc golf version of The Masters. But our poker game...well, Chris Moneymaker gave us hope. I played poker as much as I could. I managed to win my first $10,000 tournament seat just a few weeks before I got the opportunity to start doing work for PokerStars (a seat I gave up for the privilege of doing what do today). PokerStars was exploding by that point in January 2005. It had put the last two World Champions into the WSOP. It was on its way to becoming the world's biggest online poker site. I gave up a career I'd been in for a decade to write about the people who were chasing...well, they were chasing my dream. I wasn't on the job long before then card room manager Lee Jones pulled me aside and laid it out for me. I don't remember his exact words, but in my head it sounded like this: "We're all here because of what Chris Moneymaker did." That may sound like dramatic hyperbole, and it probably discounts the role television and the hole card cameras played in the game's growth. Nevertheless, I feel comfortable that neither I nor most of the poker people I know would be where they are today if it weren't for Moneymaker making the choice to play that $39 satellite on PokerStars that put him in the WSOP Main Event. As always, Lee Jones was right. Our lives and the lives of many other people changed in an immeasurable way when Moneymaker finally took off his sunglasses and smiled ten years ago. *** I'll be honest. The first time I saw Chris was the morning of Day 1 of the 2005 PCA, and he didn't look especially good. He looked tired and a little worn out by the duties and obligations of being a world champion. I didn't ask him if I could write that--or even if it is true--but I don't think he would deny it. I only mention it to highlight the fact that playing the role of a hero when you don't have experience in the field can be

Some of poker's best known names from the west are looking east for a chance at winning big. PokerStars Macau recently announced the June 5 HK $1 Million (US $130k) buy-in GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) tournament at the City of Dreams casino. There was never any doubt that the regional super high rollers would show up. Now we can confirm the train from the western world is filling up. Players among the the early confirmations include Jonathan Duhamel, Isaac Haxton, Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Greg Merson, and Celina Lin. Organizers report they also have commitments from John Juanda, Joseph Cheong, Tony Gregg, Mike Watson, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Igor Kurganov, Tobias Reinkemeier, Aaron Lim, JC Alvarado, Devan Tang, and Nick Wong. Isaac Haxton among super high rollers headed to Macau They are part of a list of more than 50 people already signed up, an unprecedented number of pre-registrations for an event of this magnitude. At least one more will qualify for the main event this Sunday in a special satellite on PokerStars. The GDAM main event will be webcast live on PokerStars.TV June 5-7 beginning at 3pm HKT each day. GDAM SCHEDULE Tue, June 4 @ 3:00 PM - HK $250,000 GDAM Warm-Up Event Wed, June 5 @ 3:00 PM - HK $1M + 2R GDAM Main Event - Day 1 Thu, June 6 @ 3:00 PM - GDAM Main Event - Day 2 Fri, June 7 @ 3:00 PM - GDAM Main Event - Final Table Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging