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Poker News

Last week's poker recap

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I've been on vacation for the past 10 days or so, hence the lack of updates. I retreated to a beach away from poker, and as it turned out away from email when my laptop decided to die!

So the blog wasn't updated.... Sorry about that.... I have to get more of the guys to contribute regularly, but it's tough to find the time with their busy workloads.

So what happened in Poker over the past week?

  • Scotty Nguyen won the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike, beating amongst others Poker.com's own DaddyPhatStax who won his seat last year in a Poker.com tournament.

  • Daniel Negreanu had a return to form and won a WSOP circuit event in Tunica, taking home $755k for his trouble. It's good to see him notch a win early in 2006 after struggling throughout 2005 with ordinary tournament performances.

  • Lots of people seemed to be arrested in the USA for playing poker.... Don't break the law folks - check your local laws before organising a tournament or hold one for free online!

  • Bluff Magazine launched a European edition - I recommend all of our European friends check out Bluff, it is a great publication.

  • The World Poker Tour (WPT) just announced that it would be stopping at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino as part of the tour's fifth season and it has removed the Party Poker Million Cruise and The Ultimate Bet Aruba event from the WPT calendar.

That's a brief recap of what went on in the Poker world whilst I was away.

In other upcoming news, Poker.com celebrates our first birthday next month and we will be announcing some new tournaments and other promotions very soon. We're busy working on some updates to the software right now, but stay tuned for some cool birthday party fun after we roll out Poker.com version 2.7.

Until next time...

Kris @ Poker.com


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Staff Tourney Wrap Up

Saturday, January 21, 2006

My laptop battery went flat yesterday and I couldn't finish blogging the Poker.com 'Dom Perignon' staff tournament.

It didn't take long for Jared to bust out, then surprisingly the bubble boy didn't last until the bubble! But he did go and offer some advice to 'Beaner' and helped him bust on the bubble instead.

Dan was going well, but ended up finishing 4th.

It came down to heads up between Scotty (PHP programmer) and Vance (Lead Software Developer). Scotty only joined the Poker.com team this month, but had plenty of support as the web/marketing team was barracking for him and all of the Software guys were cheering on Vance.

Scotty was a little behind Vance in chips and offered a deal to split the cash and play for the bubbly. Vance accepted (scaredy cat) and they were playing for the 1998 Dom.

It took about three hands until Scotty called Vance's all in with A9. I can't remember what he ended up with - a full house or something - but he won and took down the first 2006 staff tourney. Congrats Scotty!


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Poker.com Staff Tourney

Friday, January 20, 2006

The cards are in the air for the first 2006 Poker.com staff tournament. There's a bottle of Dom Perignon and $500 on the line as well as numerous side bets and a bounty on Paul the Tournament Director's head.

One of the owners, Steve, just busted out when his Aces over 5s full house was busted by Aces over Queens.

0:45 We're down to 24 after 15 mins. And Morto raises me out of a pot. Cold cards so far.....

Michael is the early chip leader with 3495 at level three.

1:04 I just joined Doug, Drew, Marty and Steve on the bench when my 777 was busted by Jonathan's sneaky pocket 5s and a full house. Nice hand Jon!

1:07 There's 18 left. Paul, Dave and Alex just busted. Richard scores the bounty on Pauls's bust out.

1:10 Helen is complaining about the RNG...... GG Helen, you've been hanging around on that forum too much!

1:11 Scott is the chip leader now.

1:13 Dan took down a big pot as is leading with 5210 chips.

1:14 Scott bets at a pot and Jared goes in over the top of him & shows a made full house. Nice laydown Scotty.

1:16 Blinds are at 75/150. Michael raises Vance...... Vance calls with trip 4s, but Mick's nut flush holds up for the big win.

1:18 Dan is playing like a fairy.....

1:20 Ivan is all in. Nobody calls, but he rabbits to show the crabs. (33) All in with crabs.... Crazy play here folks....

1:21 Ivan is betting big again, what's he got this time? 2s? Jared calls him.... Ivan bets 400..... Jared's All in and Ivan calls. Bye bye Ivan. Jared's KKK crushed his pocket jacks.

1:22 We're down to 13 players. Scotty and Mark are the chip leaders, but the field is quite even.
Scotty raises up a pot, flop comes A56. E bets again, they all fold and he rubs it in by showing KJ.

1:24 Sean, the shot stack is making a move. Flop's TQA, Turn T, River 7. Mark tries to push him out, Sean calls and loses..... He is really short stacked now.

1:26 Sean got some more chips, but he's still lowest. Lots of River raiding going on. The Poker.com staff play like vikings.

1:28 Dan is still playing like a fairy, but takes down a pot from Richard.

1:30 Shane 'Snoop' Bridges takes a pot from Chris "Bubble Boy" Morton with two pair. Scotty is playing the role of chip bully well, but Jonathan doesn't have a bar of it and pushes Scotty off a pot.

1:32 My laptop is going to go flat before this thing finishes! Hurry up and go all in. There's still 13 left.

1:34 Beaner (our accountant, Chris - The bean counter) thought he was doing okay for himself until Snoop went all in to take down a pot. Now Snoop is betting again. Flop comes all trees. Snoop raises to 500....... gets two folds and shows a K of spades only......

1:36 Marty is whispering hair-brained headhunter tourney schemes in my ear. He no longer dabbles just in parties, he wants to add Paul's tourney director job to his empire too!

1:38 The obilgatory teasing of Helen continues. Oh how she loves being the only girl this side of the office. Sean & Richard busted without me noticing - we're down to 11.

1:39 Big pot on table 2! 2 players all in with 2 callers and Dan busts them both to extend his chip lead even further. It's tough when the chip leader is holding AA and you try to go over the top...... Seeya Brett & Mick.

1:40 Final Table time. The background changes. I love that feature.

1:41 Bubble boy is the short stack on 1725, Dan has the massive chip lead with 13840.

1:42 Scotty raises it up pre flop and is all in on the flop. He wins with JJ, cutting a leg off Jared and busting out Mark in 9th place.

1:44 Scotty is back to playing bully and his target is Snoop. Snoop folds and is now our short stack. Next hand Dan raises, Jared & Chris call. Flop is 29T..... Jared bets, Chris folds, Dan raises..... Jared folds. Dan adds to his stack.

1:46 4567 on the board and Jon is all in. Vance calls! Beaner thinks..... folds. Vance wins, and Jonathan is out in 8th place.

1:47 My battery is really going to die now... Scotty just busted Snoop in 7th place and has the chip lead with 15,495.

1:49 Bubble boy is all in. Surely he will win as we are not at the bubble yet. Yep - he wins.

1:50 Dan raises. Jared is all in. Dan calls and shows A7c Vs Jareds A6. Ace on the flop and then a 6 on the river gives Jared the river raider win and a double up.






















---
Kris @ Poker.com


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Lee Nelson wins Aussie Millions!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Lee 'Final Table' Nelson has won the Crown Australian Poker Championship and the $1.2 million first prize.
The New Zealander, best known as the host of the recent Australian television show, 'Joker Poker' won from Rob Neary.

Here are the final results and money finishers.

1st: Lee Nelson (NZ) - $1,295,800
2nd: Robert Neary (USA) - $689,700
3rd: Nenad Medic (Canada) - $376,200
4th: Shannon Shorr (USA) - $271,700
5th: Jeff Sealey (USA) - $209,000
6th: Russell Davies (AUS) - $167,200
7th: Wes Bugiera (AUS) - $125,400
8th: Mark Vos (AUS) - $83,600
9th: Kenna James (USA) - $83,600
10th: Gerry Fitt (AUS) - $50,160
11th: Antonio Esfandiari (USA) - $50,160
12th: Cruz Baca (USA) - $50,160
13th: Kathy Liebert (USA) - $50,160
14th: Jethro Horowitz (AUS) - $33,440
15th: Bernard Beh (AUS) - $33,440
16th: Scott Kilcullen (AUS) - $33,440
17th: Joe Riena (AUS) - $33,440
18th: Sam Yousseff (AUS) - $33,440
19th: Billy Argyros (AUS) - $25,080
20th: Gary Benson (AUS) - $25,080
21st: Mark Smithies (AUS) - $25,080
22nd: David Natoli (AUS) - $25,080
23rd: Phil Matthews - $25,080
24th: Steve Hohn (USA) - $25,080
25th: Charlie Thorn - $20,900
26th: Jason Mellross - $20,900
27th: Billy Sukkar (AUS) - $20,900
28th: Michael Gracz (USA) - $20,900
29th: Dominic Italiano (AUS) - $20,900
30th: Graeme Putt (AUS) - $20,900
31st: Asher Derei (Israel) - $16,720
32nd: Brett Thomas (AUS) - $16,720
33rd: Gillian Hoey (AUS) - $16,720
34th: Michael Zarb (AUS) - $16,720
35th: Benjamin Jones (USA) - $16,720
36th: Olle Sundin (Sweden) - $16,720
37th: Nick Georgoulas (AUS) - $12,540
38th: Kristy Gazes (USA) - $12,540
39th: Jamil Dia (NZ) - $12,540
40th: Andrew McGregor - $12,540
41st: Harry Demetriou (AUS) - $12,540
42nd: Jim Keating - $12,540
43rd: Tony Bloom (UK) - $12,540
44th: Mick Stanton (AUS) - $12,540
45th: Dave Schuele - $12,540
46th: Greg Cook - $12,540
47th: Willie Tann - $12,540
48th: Daniel Cairns - $12,540

Congratulations Lee! If an Aussie couldn't win, then I guess a Kiwi is the next best thing.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Aussie Millions Final Table

The Aussie Millions is down to the final table.

Here are the chip counts from the start of today's play;

Seat 1: Jeff Sealey (USA) - 1,982,000
Seat 2: Nenad Medic (Canada) - 1,841,000
Seat 3: Shannon Shorr (USA) - 1,532,000
Seat 4: Russell Davies (AUS) - 777,000
Seat 5: Wes Bugiera (AUS) - 594,000
Seat 6: Robert Neary (USA) - 617,000
Seat 7: Lee Nelson (NZ) - 1,024,000

The table is actually down the final 3 now of Neary, Medic & Lee "Final Table" Nelson living up to his nickname once again.

Shannon Shorr was just eliminated in 4th place after Lee Nelson went all in on a flush draw, then drew a Q to give him top pair over Shannon's pair of 8s.

Jeff Sealey finished in 5th, Wes Bugiera 6th and Russel Davies was 7th.

There's no aussies left, so we are cheering for Bobby. Why? Bobby Bobby Bobby! Oi Oi Oi! That's why.....

And also congratulations are in order for Poker.com player Zmacintyre who entered the $550 NL Holdem event at the Aussie Millions yesterday and came a very impressive 10th out of a 300+ field. Well done mate! Hope you have fun spending your prizemoney tonight, making the most of your last night in Oz.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Down to 10, Antonio's gone.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The Aussie Millions is down to 10 players, with Antonio Esfandiari knocked out in 11th spot, taking home $50,160.

The chip counts when play resumed with 2 tables of 6 were as follows.

Table 1:
1. Nenad Medic - 880,000
2. Baca Cruz - 407,000*
3. Kenna James - 1,505,000
4. Russell Davies - 419,000
5. Lee Nelson - 420,000
6. Robert Neary - 760,000

Table 2:
1. Jeff Sealey - 587,000
2. Wes Bugiera - 569,000
3. Antonio Esfandiari - 379,000*
4. Gerry Fitt - 1,366,000
5. Shannon Shorr - 872,000
6. Mark Vos - 336,000

* knocked out in 11th & 12th

I really don't like how the TV table is off in a separate room. If you are at the casino you should be able to watch the final table of the tournament....


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15 left in the Aussie Millions

The Aussie Millions in Melbourne is down to 15 players remaining. They are playing down to the final table today and at last count the chips stacks were approximately;

Table 43:
1. Shannon Shorr - 700k
2. Mark Vos - 320k
3. Lee Nelson - 330k
4. Bernard Beh - 250k*
5. Jeff Sealey - 660k

Table 44:
1. Jethro Horowitz - 300k
2. Cruz Baca - 340k
3. Wes Bugiera - 320k
4. Gerry Fitt - 1300k
5. Scott Kilcullen - 260k*
6. Russell Davies - 270k

TV Table (no chip counts)
1. Kathey Leibert
2. Kenna James
3. Nenad Medic
4. Antonio Esfandiari
5. Robert Neary
6. Joe Reina*

* Since busted out in places 15-17

Most of the big names are gone, but Kenna James is the chip leader with over a million in chips.

There's a good story doing the rounds of how last year's winner, Jamil Dia busted out Phil Ivey yesterday when Phil made an all in bluff at a board showing 4 diamonds. Neither player had a diamond, but Dia took his time and eventually called with AK and top two pair to bust Phil's Q7 bluff.

Another story worth telling is that of Shannon Shorr, a twenty year old student form the USA who isn't even old enough to play in US based casinos. He's been going great guns and has developed quite a following with his stellar play.

I'll post a day 4 wrap once play concludes for the night.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Our Poker.com players are out

Monday, January 16, 2006

They played hard and tried their best, but all of the Poker.com players have now been eliminated from the Aussie Millions Tournament.

Chris1234 was the last to be busted, by of all hands, pocket twos! In a heartbreaking hand, he had his AA trounced by a 2 on the flop to triple up his opponents ducks. What a way to go!

In all it was a great achievement by our players, with 5/6 lasting through day one. They did a lot better than many poker pros such as Mike Sexton, Daniel Negreanu, Clonie Gowan & Chip Jett who all busted on the first day. Liam will be writing a full trip report with photos that we'll get online as soon as possible.

Even though they didn't make the bubble, all of the Poker.com players can be proud of their achievements and their sportmansship throughout the event. We brought together a great group of people from all over the world, and it was a pleasure meeting all of you.

The tournament is still in progress of course with about 140 players remaining. Here's a rough list of some players still playing and their chip stacks.

Kathy Leibert - 35,000
Anthony Rattler - 110,000
Kristy Gazes - 58,000
Dr. Bob - 47,000
Marcel Luske - 8000
Nick G. - 105,000
Phil Ivey - 92,000
Olle Sundin - 26,000
Scott Fischman - 140,000
Mick Guttman - 31,000
Dom Italiano - 95,000
Willie Tann - 60,000
Steve Hegyi - 24,000
Emad Tahtouh - 135,000
Billy the Croc - 52,000 (just doubled up)
Kenna James - 85,000
Lee Nelson - 92,000
Gary Benson - 38,000
Antonio Esfandiari - 140,000
Dr. Wes - 52,000
Michael Gracz - 120,000
Mark Vos - 75,000
Angie Italiano - 61,000
Tony Trimarchi - 40,000
Richard Holmes - 70,000
Tony Bloom - 78,000
Tino Lechich - 95,000
Joe Hachem - 55,000
Jethro Horowitz - 90,000
Mick Stanton - 55,000

More updates soon.

Kris @ Poker.com


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1 hour to go in level 3

Sunday, January 15, 2006

There's 372 of 418 players left in the Aussie Millions and we have an hour to go at level 3, the blinds at 100/200 with a $25 ante.

All of the Poker.com players are still going strong, with 'Rooter' being our chip leader on about $43k. (everyone started with $20k)

Of the high profile players, Daniel Negreanu is faring the worst and is just about down to the felt. He's having a good time though, laughing and joking on the feature table.

Liam's getting some good shots of everyone, we'll post some pics soon.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Aussie Millions Update

Saturday, January 14, 2006

I'm in the Crown Poker Room right now and the tournament is just about to start. Joe Hachem, the tournament's ambassador is giving a speech to open proceedings. Phil Ivey just walked past and deflated the hopes of 9 other players when he took a seat at their table.

Anyway, the dancing girls are just walking out with Lleyton Hewitt to announce that it's time to shuffle up and deal.

Exciting stuff!

Kris @ Poker.com


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Aussie Millions here we come!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Liam arrived in Melbourne today to meet and greet all of the Poker.com Aussie Millions entrants. Some more of us are flying down tomorrow morning to meet up with them and check out what's happening in Melbourne.

Liam told us today that a few of the players have already hit the Crown poker room's tables and are up over $500 each. Good work guys! If you can handle yourself in a Poker.com tournament than I guess a Melbourne limit game is easy pickings. :)

There's a No Limit Holdem $1000 rebuy tournament on today and apparently everyone went nuts, with about 300 rebuys already taken! The total prize pool is over $430,000. That's not bad for a small lead up event.

The guys have been star watching and today spotted Marcel Luske, Phil Ivey, Tony Bloom, Maria Sharapova & Andy Roddick. I'll try and get some snaps of the Poker.com players meeting their favorite pros and post them here.

On the agenda for the next few days is;
  • A Freeroll S&G for the Poker.com players to get them acquainted with the Crown Poker Room
  • A Friday afternoon one day cricket match between Australia & Sri Lanka - I know I'm going to spend the whole game explaining the rules to our US & European friends!
  • Crash the party to celebrating the finish of the Speed Poker tournament
  • Check out the heads up grudge match for $100,000 between Tony G and Billy 'The Croc' Argyros on Saturday afternoon
  • Take the Poker.com players out to dinner Saturday night along river to watch the Crown Casino flame show
  • Tuck the players into bed to get their rest, then hit the casino!
  • Watch the first day of the main tournament
  • Wish everyone luck on the 2nd day and fly home to do some more Poker.com work.
    (only Liam is staying for the duration of the tournament and the Aus Open Tennis - the rest of us have work to do!)
It should be a fun weekend. I'll post some more updates of how it's all going tomorrow.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Maria a Poker Convert?

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Maria Sharapova arrived in Melbourne this week dispelling doubts that she may not play in the Australian Open due to a sholder injury. But she also aroused intrigue by wearing a "Give me two pair" t-shirt.

Apparently she has been playing some poker in Las Vegas and the press latched onto this t-shirt as an opportunity to spread a rumour that Sharapova may be in Melbourne to play the Aussie Millions poker championship, not the Aus Open tennis!

In exciting poker news, Harrahs announced today that a H.O.R.S.E. event is returning the World Series of Poker schedule.

H.O.R.S.E. is comprised of Texas Hold 'em, Omaha/8 (or better), Razz, Seven-Card Stud, and Seven-Card Stud high-low (the “E" stands for 8 or better in the high-low Seven-Card Stud game), which are played in alternating order. All games in H.O.R.S.E. are played at fixed limits, with the blinds/limits rising and the game type changing according to a preset time schedule.

Some are saying that the buy-in for this event is going to be $50,000, making it the first time the WSOP has included an event with a buy-in greater that $10,000.

That should make some pros lick their lips with anticipation, but I don't think there'll be too much dead money in that game...

Kris @ Poker.com


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Tourney Sunday at Poker.com

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Sunday's are tournament day at Poker.com. Today's lineup included a WSOP Grand Final, the $20,000 weekly freeroll and our $10,000 Sunday guaranteed.

Congratulations to Brian41683 and Dmac0023 who have won their place in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event. Both players receive a $12,500 package that includes their buy-in at the Rio, a Poker.com VIP gift bag and travel and spending money.

Dmac0023 had never even deposited with us! He built up his bankroll through the daily freerolls and has managed to score a WSOP main event seat. Oh Wow... What an effort!

In the $20,000 freeroll Yona24 took down a tough final table and the $5000 first prize from a field of 1290 players.

The $10,000 guaranteed is still paying out over $4000 in free money every week! It has to be one of the best deals on the internet when it comes to value for your tournament dollar. Buckless lasted the distance this week from Nodoubt58 and Dougwins. Hopefully the number of entrants wil continue to grow so we can start upping the prizemoney.

You can qualify for the WSOP grand finals or the Sunday Guaranteed via daily satellite tournaments and Sit & Gos. Weekly $20,000 freerolls are easy to get into, you just need to earn 2000 comp points in the previous 7 days.

Good luck this week at Poker.com. I'm off to Melbourne soon to meet up with our Aussie Millions qualifiers at the Crown Casino. I'll check back often wth updates of how your fellow Poker.com'ers are going in the tournament.

Liam @ Poker.com


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New Blog Look

Well we've updated the blog for 2006. I don't love it yet for some reason, and think there'll be a few little tweaks over the next few weeks. But it's a good start for a new year. I think maybe I've just been looking at it too long!

Here's a cartoon to to christen the new look blog.


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Where'd the week go?

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Last year flew past, and already 2006 is getting away from me too. It's the 7th already? Where'd that first week go?

Next week some of us fly down to Melbourne to meet the Poker.com members that made it through to the Aussie Millions. The lead up tournaments have already started at the Crown and it's shaping up to be a quite an event with a lot of big names already in town to play some warm up tournaments.

The bad news is that Tina isn't going to make it. She has another modelling gig that weekend. :( We may have to find another poker queen for the weekend.

This week was the first week back in the office for a lot of staff and we've been busy preparing for a big 2006 at Poker.com. There's so much in store for 2006. I wish I could say more, but every time I mention something here on the blog someone steals my idea and uses it at another site. There's spies among us!

The WSOP satellites are going great guns and tomorrow we'll be giving away at least two seats to the main event. It's great value to get a crack at a WSOP seat in a freezeout for just $250. It's even better for the players that have worked their way up from a $5 or even a $1 tourney! Hopefully one of se will have the time to blog the final table of tomorrow's WSOP grand final final table

I'm going to put the final touches on a new blog layout and get it uploded. Hopefully it works and I don't lose everything..... Wish me luck....

Kris@Poker.com


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