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Friday, November 21, 2008
Online poker gets real, by Dominic Wells - The Times - 20th November 2008
Web poker enthusiast Dominic Wells attends the first annual PKR Live tournament and walks away with a chunk of the $75,000 prize pool
Last week, 22-year-old Peter Eastgate became the youngest ever World Series of Poker champion, beating 6,843 other players to win a record $9.1 million. The game is bigger than ever, yet its outlaw past clings: two years ago the US banned the operation of online poker sites. Perhaps that’s all part of poker’s pull on the psyche. It whiffs, still, of riverboats and last-chance saloons, of Bond tuxedoes and cocktail dresses slit right up to here. It’s a gladiatorial arena in which bluff and cunning and nerve count for as much as the dry calculation of odds, where fortunes are made or lost on the turn of a card or the tremble of a hand.
The internet site that caters most directly to these fantasies is PKR.com, which this weekend held its first live tournament: 150 players, some travelling from France, Germany, Scandinavia and even Canada, descended on the Loose Cannon Club in London for a crack at a $75,000 prize pool. PKR’s unique gimmick is that you choose your own 3D avatar to interact with others in an amazingly realistic way. And now these virtual gamblers were playing each other in the real world for the first time. It promised to be a fascinating experiment: how would the fantasy of poker live up to the reality?
As we take our seats, the most glaring discrepancy is how few women there are: no more than one per table, sometimes none. The conclusion is inescapable. Some of those women you’re flirting with online… may not be women at all.
Take John, screenname GeorgieBoy4 after his son. In baseball cap and a beard, he couldn’t be more blokey. But his avatar, he confesses, is a leggy brunette. “I think players do treat you differently as a woman,” he says. “They’re less inclined to think you might be bluffing.” And do they flirt? “Oh yeah. One bloke, when he found out we were both coming to the tournament, said he’d buy me a drink, and then asked what hotel I’d be staying at. He’s in for a bit of a surprise!”
Conversely, at the end of my table is Martin, screenname ManOnFire. A young hunk in a “Counter Terrorist” T-shirt, with tattoos climbing up both bulging biceps, he says he once played on PKR “and this guy starting having a go at me. Like, ‘God, you’re so sad, choosing a muscle-bound avatar with huge tribal tattoos on the arms.’ Er, excuse me? That’s who I am!”
As for the man to my right, he says he recently became a werewolf (PKR offers some special options around Halloween and Christmas). But in real life he’s not fierce enough to repulse my finest bluff of the day.
Crucially, I’ve already established my “table presence”: I’m dressed in a Kenzo jacket and a black trilby with a sparkly skull-and-crossbones; I turn up late but unflustered and immediately start talking to my table-mates. I make an intimidatingly large raise early on; when I toss in a rubbish hand, I make out it’s a wise fold of a good hand in honour of one that I can sense is better. All this is designed to spell out “don’t mess with me”.
Back to Mr Werewolf: when he raises 400, I re-raise with my pair of sixes. He calls. The next three cards on the flop are no help – a Queen and a couple of nonentities – but all the same I confidently stick in a big raise of 2,000. He thinks hard. I keep cool, though I swear that if I weren’t wearing a jacket, you could see my heart leaping under my shirt. At long last the hapless lycanthrope folds, exposing his cards: an Ace… and a Queen! He’s only folded the top pair, with an Ace kicker! To push someone off a great hand through sheer force of will is a thrill, and something you can’t pull off online.
Not long afterwards, I knock another player out after I hit a flush, which I “slowplay” – that’s when you decline to raise, which might scare the other guy off, but call if he does so. With luck he’ll interpret this as weakness, and stick in all his chips. The best thing about it is not so much taking the guy’s stack of 7,000, but doing so while getting a massage at the poker table from an Ibiza Angel – one of a travelling troupe of trained lovelies in white, who minister to the aching shoulders of weary players. “I’ll be lucky for you,” she breathes in my ear, and so it proves. Now if online play can throw up anything quite so James Bond, I have yet to find it.
I won’t detail all the many, many hands during the long, occasionally thrilling, often arduous slog to the final two tables where the money is. Suffice to say that I survive the first day’s play, breaking up at 2.30am after 12 continuous hours when 150 players have become 20, and I go out honourably the following afternoon in 15th place to win $1,100. I have my time quite literally in the spotlight, on the final tables, and my to-camera interview for the PKR website. It’s magic.
Realistic PKR may be, and the bonds it forges are impressive: the weekend was full of lively chat between players meeting up for the first time; so lively that two rivals were ejected after punches were thrown. But for my money, nothing in the fantasy of poker can quite compare with the adrenaline rush of living it.
(Credit: The Times)
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Web poker enthusiast Dominic Wells attends the first annual PKR Live tournament and walks away with a chunk of the $75,000 prize pool
Last week, 22-year-old Peter Eastgate became the youngest ever World Series of Poker champion, beating 6,843 other players to win a record $9.1 million. The game is bigger than ever, yet its outlaw past clings: two years ago the US banned the operation of online poker sites. Perhaps that’s all part of poker’s pull on the psyche. It whiffs, still, of riverboats and last-chance saloons, of Bond tuxedoes and cocktail dresses slit right up to here. It’s a gladiatorial arena in which bluff and cunning and nerve count for as much as the dry calculation of odds, where fortunes are made or lost on the turn of a card or the tremble of a hand.
The internet site that caters most directly to these fantasies is PKR.com, which this weekend held its first live tournament: 150 players, some travelling from France, Germany, Scandinavia and even Canada, descended on the Loose Cannon Club in London for a crack at a $75,000 prize pool. PKR’s unique gimmick is that you choose your own 3D avatar to interact with others in an amazingly realistic way. And now these virtual gamblers were playing each other in the real world for the first time. It promised to be a fascinating experiment: how would the fantasy of poker live up to the reality?
As we take our seats, the most glaring discrepancy is how few women there are: no more than one per table, sometimes none. The conclusion is inescapable. Some of those women you’re flirting with online… may not be women at all.
Take John, screenname GeorgieBoy4 after his son. In baseball cap and a beard, he couldn’t be more blokey. But his avatar, he confesses, is a leggy brunette. “I think players do treat you differently as a woman,” he says. “They’re less inclined to think you might be bluffing.” And do they flirt? “Oh yeah. One bloke, when he found out we were both coming to the tournament, said he’d buy me a drink, and then asked what hotel I’d be staying at. He’s in for a bit of a surprise!”
Conversely, at the end of my table is Martin, screenname ManOnFire. A young hunk in a “Counter Terrorist” T-shirt, with tattoos climbing up both bulging biceps, he says he once played on PKR “and this guy starting having a go at me. Like, ‘God, you’re so sad, choosing a muscle-bound avatar with huge tribal tattoos on the arms.’ Er, excuse me? That’s who I am!”
As for the man to my right, he says he recently became a werewolf (PKR offers some special options around Halloween and Christmas). But in real life he’s not fierce enough to repulse my finest bluff of the day.
Crucially, I’ve already established my “table presence”: I’m dressed in a Kenzo jacket and a black trilby with a sparkly skull-and-crossbones; I turn up late but unflustered and immediately start talking to my table-mates. I make an intimidatingly large raise early on; when I toss in a rubbish hand, I make out it’s a wise fold of a good hand in honour of one that I can sense is better. All this is designed to spell out “don’t mess with me”.
Back to Mr Werewolf: when he raises 400, I re-raise with my pair of sixes. He calls. The next three cards on the flop are no help – a Queen and a couple of nonentities – but all the same I confidently stick in a big raise of 2,000. He thinks hard. I keep cool, though I swear that if I weren’t wearing a jacket, you could see my heart leaping under my shirt. At long last the hapless lycanthrope folds, exposing his cards: an Ace… and a Queen! He’s only folded the top pair, with an Ace kicker! To push someone off a great hand through sheer force of will is a thrill, and something you can’t pull off online.
Not long afterwards, I knock another player out after I hit a flush, which I “slowplay” – that’s when you decline to raise, which might scare the other guy off, but call if he does so. With luck he’ll interpret this as weakness, and stick in all his chips. The best thing about it is not so much taking the guy’s stack of 7,000, but doing so while getting a massage at the poker table from an Ibiza Angel – one of a travelling troupe of trained lovelies in white, who minister to the aching shoulders of weary players. “I’ll be lucky for you,” she breathes in my ear, and so it proves. Now if online play can throw up anything quite so James Bond, I have yet to find it.
I won’t detail all the many, many hands during the long, occasionally thrilling, often arduous slog to the final two tables where the money is. Suffice to say that I survive the first day’s play, breaking up at 2.30am after 12 continuous hours when 150 players have become 20, and I go out honourably the following afternoon in 15th place to win $1,100. I have my time quite literally in the spotlight, on the final tables, and my to-camera interview for the PKR website. It’s magic.
Realistic PKR may be, and the bonds it forges are impressive: the weekend was full of lively chat between players meeting up for the first time; so lively that two rivals were ejected after punches were thrown. But for my money, nothing in the fantasy of poker can quite compare with the adrenaline rush of living it.
(Credit: The Times)
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Dwan, Hellmuth, Eastgate Round Out Premier League Roster - 19th November 2008
The Party Poker Premier League season 3 will kick off next week and there won’t be any shortage of big names on the roster. Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and World Series of Poker Main Event champion Peter Eastgate are the latest to sign on for the event, which will take place in London between the 24th and 30th of November.
Eastgate is coming off his $9 million WSOP victory earlier this month and goes into the Party Poker Premier League III as the odds-on favorite. Rather than taking a break and enjoying his newfound wealth, the youngster is diving right back into the spotlight.
“This is my first event since the WSOP Main Event final table, so I am delighted to be part of a world-class lineup,” he said. “I am the man in form and I want to show people why I am the World Champion.”
Hellmuth was the 12th and final member added to the Party Poker Premier League roster. He commented on playing with the new world champ, saying
“only a few weeks back, Peter Eastgate broke my record as youngest world champion of poker in history at the tender age of 22-years-old. I’m looking forward to watching the way this young gun plays his hands in the Premier League.”
Eastgate (7-1), JC Tran (15-1), Nenad Medic (8-1) and Annette Obrestad (17-2) are the favorites going into the event according to partybets.com. Some of the other pros participating will be Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott (10-1), Roland De Wolfe (10-1), Tony G (11-1), Juha Helppi (16-1), Victoria Coren (21-1), and defending champion Andy Black (16-1).
Dwan, a respected high-stakes online cash player, will step out of his regular ring games to play in his first Premier League. He is listed at 9-1. “I’m really excited about coming to play the Premier League and am honored to be invited,” he said. “The line-up is simply world class and I am coming to London determined to win.”
A spokesman for Party Poker said:
“The odds say everything about the added strength of the players in PartyPoker.com Premier League III. The five young gun newcomers all head the betting. We didn’t just fill in spots — we brought in players who are more than capable of giving those who thought they were the best a whipping.”
The League features 12 of the top players in the world playing in a unique format. All players will play six times in the preliminary rounds, with the top four advancing to the final table. The next four will play heads-up for the remaining two final table seats.
The buy-in for the Premier League III was raised to from $60,000 to $75,000. Party Poker will add $350,000 for a total prize pool of $1.25 million. The draw for the heats takes place at 10 a.m. GMT on Thursday, November 20th, at the studios that are hosting the event. The draw will be blogged live at www.matchroompoker.com. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
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The Party Poker Premier League season 3 will kick off next week and there won’t be any shortage of big names on the roster. Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and World Series of Poker Main Event champion Peter Eastgate are the latest to sign on for the event, which will take place in London between the 24th and 30th of November.
Eastgate is coming off his $9 million WSOP victory earlier this month and goes into the Party Poker Premier League III as the odds-on favorite. Rather than taking a break and enjoying his newfound wealth, the youngster is diving right back into the spotlight.
“This is my first event since the WSOP Main Event final table, so I am delighted to be part of a world-class lineup,” he said. “I am the man in form and I want to show people why I am the World Champion.”
Hellmuth was the 12th and final member added to the Party Poker Premier League roster. He commented on playing with the new world champ, saying
“only a few weeks back, Peter Eastgate broke my record as youngest world champion of poker in history at the tender age of 22-years-old. I’m looking forward to watching the way this young gun plays his hands in the Premier League.”
Eastgate (7-1), JC Tran (15-1), Nenad Medic (8-1) and Annette Obrestad (17-2) are the favorites going into the event according to partybets.com. Some of the other pros participating will be Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott (10-1), Roland De Wolfe (10-1), Tony G (11-1), Juha Helppi (16-1), Victoria Coren (21-1), and defending champion Andy Black (16-1).
Dwan, a respected high-stakes online cash player, will step out of his regular ring games to play in his first Premier League. He is listed at 9-1. “I’m really excited about coming to play the Premier League and am honored to be invited,” he said. “The line-up is simply world class and I am coming to London determined to win.”
A spokesman for Party Poker said:
“The odds say everything about the added strength of the players in PartyPoker.com Premier League III. The five young gun newcomers all head the betting. We didn’t just fill in spots — we brought in players who are more than capable of giving those who thought they were the best a whipping.”
The League features 12 of the top players in the world playing in a unique format. All players will play six times in the preliminary rounds, with the top four advancing to the final table. The next four will play heads-up for the remaining two final table seats.
The buy-in for the Premier League III was raised to from $60,000 to $75,000. Party Poker will add $350,000 for a total prize pool of $1.25 million. The draw for the heats takes place at 10 a.m. GMT on Thursday, November 20th, at the studios that are hosting the event. The draw will be blogged live at www.matchroompoker.com. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
PKR Live 2008 crowns champions - 18th November 2008
LONDON, England -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Poker magazine editor Philip Conneller (PKR username: escalope) bested a field of 150 players to take down the first ever PKR Live main event and the $20,000 first prize this weekend.
After twenty hours of play over two days, Conneller's 7-2os hit runner-runner to make an unlikely straight and take down the title. As he made the call, the monster chip leader said "I've always wanted to win a tournament with seven-deuce". It appears the poker gods were listening.
The first event of its kind, PKR Live saw players make their way from all over the world to London's Loose Cannon Club to play for a share in over $90,000 in prizes while soaking up the uniquely friendly atmosphere. The event was a phenomenal success, with player comments including "Better than sex", "a success of mammoth proportions" and "an awesome weekend" (full player comments can be viewed online at http://snipurl.com/5qx5l).
PKR Live kicked off with a friendly $60 welcome tournament. With 138 runners, the prize pool grew to over $8,000 with the top prize being scooped by popular forum poster Gareth 'ChivalrousGent' Rees.
The $500 Main Event started on day two, and with every seat filled it meant a juicy prize pool of $75,000.
The third day provided the conclusion of the main event plus another shot at glory in a special $10,000 bounty freeroll that offered extra prizes for players eliminating one of the twelve PKR staff enrolled in the tournament. After a fun filled eight hours, Demetris 'magicmoves' Theophanous prevailed to take the final title of the weekend.
The first foray into the live realm saw members from all tiers of PKR.com staffing including Malcolm Graham, CEO and PKR creator, Jez San, mixing it up with the players. The three-day festival was captured by a professional TV crew and highlights will be available to watch exclusively on PKR.tv
PKR Live 2008 Main Event Final Standings
1. Philip 'escalope' Conneller (London, UK) $20,000
2. Henrik 'Pokey85' Eklund (Stockholm, Sweden) $12,000
3. Daniel 'Dappadan777' Moosah (London, UK) $8,500
4. Raymond 'callmebabe' O'Mahoney (Dublin, Ireland) $6,500
5. Thomas 'OleEinar' Gunia (Weimar, Germany) $5,250
6. Pieter 'EurootJE' Salet (Tilburg, Netherlands) $4,250
7. Andrew 'Alfiemyster' Miles (Southampton, UK) $3,250
8. Barry 'Bazultra' Cole (Southampton, UK) $2,500
9. Kent-Ivan 'GreenFaith' Danielsen (Arendal, Norway) $1,850
10. Michael 'TheSqueeze' Panayiotou (London, UK) $1,400
The main event proved an extremely entertaining affair with the final table attracting a remarkable rail of observers soaking in the action as it drew to a close. Here's a closer look at the final tablists:
The PKR Live November Ten
1st place in seat 2: escalope (Final table starting stack 219K)
A veteran of the poker industry and seasoned live poker player, the very first PKR Live champion took down the main event in outrageous fashion – hitting a straight on the river after calling his opponent's all-in pre-flop. His hole cards – 7-2 off-suit (obviously) improved on the final card to beat off pokey85's J-8 and top two pair.
Having gone into the final table in fine shape with a 219,000 stack, escalope showed solid play to become chip leader by some margin, gaining a formidable presence behind the wall of chips he built over three and a half hours of final table action.
Prior to the start of the final table he revealed his slightly sinister side claiming that his favourite hand had to be pocket sixes looking to improve to trips. The ultimate victory with Texas Hold'em's worst starting hand suggests some kind of 'divine intervention' may have indeed been involved! But escalope truly deserves his $20,000 for first place and a massive congratulations for emerging triumphant after more than twenty hours of intense tournament poker.
2nd place in seat 4: pokey85 (232K)
Beaten at the last by home-grown escalope, pokey85 was gracious in defeat making him a true champion in his own right. Always the underdog in the heads-up battle against the eventual winner - who enjoyed a 5-1 chip lead - his defeat whilst ahead until the river adds a degree of weight to 'chip gravity' theories.
A native to Sweden's capital city, pokey85 plays both online and live games back home and recently enjoyed a trip to Macau after winning his way to an APT qualifying package on PKR.com. He claims to be a firm follower of Phil Ivey and judging by his current form it might not be long until he's giving his pro-idol a run for his money.
PKR.com is offering the chance to book a flight to Manila for the next leg of Asia's richest ever poker tour, the APT. Satellites are rolling right now up until the event takes place in January 2009.
3rd place in seat 5: dappadan777 (188K)
Another player on home soil, dappadan777 started the final table with a healthy stack of 188,000 in chips. He held firm to walk away with $8,500 and a commendable third place finish.
Although the 'Dapper Dan' likes to play in big tournaments, he is well-known on PKR.com as a cash game king with a super tight-aggressive style.
The only exception to his strict starting hands rule, he claims, stem from his love-affair with J-10 of clubs – apparently "heads up you can get a lot of pocket pairs into trouble with the draw options…"
Besides being a hugely successful online player, you can also find dappadan777 hitting the real-life baizes. An avid attendee of The Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London (The Vic) and sometimes The Empire, Leicester Square, he adorns the £2 / £5 tables twice a week, looking for shark-feed in the "juicy action" on offer.
4th place in seat 8: callmebabe (340K)
Rolling in late on the first day, callmebabe used his hyper aggressive style to maximum effect, recovering well and building his stack into the chip lead by the start of the final table. Unfortunately the overnight favourite lost some big pots early on and slid down the rankings as the game progressed.
A considerable payday still came his way with $6,500 for a fourth place finish – a result he says has inspired him to move more into the live poker realm and away from the £3 / £6 cash tables he frequents online.
A big fan of Andy Black and of 10-7 suited in the hole (for the disguise value of course), his experience at PKR Live has shown callmebabe the value of the live tournament because of the interaction you get over a long period of time. Finishing fourth, he was battling wits for over 14 hours of tournament poker – a priceless addition to his experience library.
5th place in seat 9: OleEinar (86K)
A very colourful character from Weimar in Germany, OleEinar started the final table as one of the shorter stacks and in complete fear of callmebabe.
After a manic first day in the main event he admitted that fatigue was affecting him but the thought of jetting off to Vegas with the grand prize in his pocket kept spurring him on.
OleEinar is no stranger to the live game but plays the majority of his poker online – both cash and tournaments. Notably, he recently registered a respectable fifth place in the Oktoberfest 2008 'TV Sunday' and is looking forward to his moment of fame on PKR Tournament Television.
All TV tournaments, including the TV specials from Oktoberfest can be viewed 24/7 on PKR.tv. PKR Live footage will also soon be available to watch exclusively on the web channel.
6th place in seat 3: Eurootje (84K)
Eurootje finds a place somewhere in the PKR.com record books having raked enough to make Platinum member level of Club PKR within ten months. Club PKR is unprecedented in the industry with its 'always up, never down' policy and Platinum status made sure Eurootje received VIP treatment at PKR Live as well as entitlement to a host of other exclusive benefits for life.
A live game aficionado, Eurootje finds the selection on offer not quite up to scratch in his home town of Tilburg, Holland. Nonetheless, he frequents live card rooms up to four times a month and was all too happy to make the trip over to London for PKR Live.
Rewarded handsomely with a cool $4,250 for his sixth place finish, the 'push-fold' strategy he has based around calculated players, like Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer, proved to be a worthwhile investment.
7th place in seat 6: Alfiemyster (87K)
Alfiemyster considers himself a cash game titan and only signed up to PKR.com after seeing PKR Live featured in a respected poker magazine. A week later he made the final table of the very event he signed up for, successfully transferring his tight-aggressive ring game strategy from the UK circuit to the tournament scene.
Playing across a range of casinos and card rooms nationwide, including Grosvenors and Stanleys, Alfiemyster enjoys the offerings on PKR.com because, "PKR brings the fun factor back into poker. When I saw the preview for the live event I thought it was amazing value, so here I am!"
Adopting a 'raise-fold' strategy into the second day of the main event, his short stack didn't go too far but cashing over $3,000 for his efforts should take his bankroll up a rung or two.
8th place in seat 1: Bazultra (120K)
Also hailing from Southampton, Bazultra took the trip northbound to PKR Live with mixed expectations. After running bad for weeks he made three final tables in the week prior and then took down the coveted 'TV Showdown'.
A frequent player across brick and mortar card rooms, 'Baz' as he is known in the PKR forums, is looking to raise his stakes in live play – PKR Live giving him a decent bit of practice on his way up.
His game in the run up to the final table proved him to be a hard rock to crack and, inevitably, he admitted that his favourite hand was indeed bullets. Eighth place and $2,500 of winnings left him happy to return to the south coast after what he described as a "top notch weekend."
9th place in seat 7: Greenfaith (50K)
"When I win I'll buy a new car and travel a bit, probably to Vegas, but I have to make a move soon!" Unfortunately at the final table the 'faith' only went so far for a rock solid player who likes to use the 'bluffer' stereotype commonly associated with Scandinavian players to his advantage.
Greenfaith is a massive live tournament player, getting involved in live Sit & Go action three or four times a week when at home in Norway. Favourite hands include low pairs, especially 3-3 and 4-4 which he moves with ultra-aggression pre and post flop.
10th place in seat 10: TheSqueeze (45K)
The earliest exit on the final table, TheSqueeze went from nothing to something and back to nothing again – trebling up early on with a pair of threes which held, blind, against two over cards – the insurrection of the shortest stack was, however, short lived.
Forum favourite and ever the entertainer, TheSqueeze graced the table with character reminiscent of his avatar (he often dons a clown suit on PKR.com) and took home $1,100 – a sum just a fraction of his epic win in the PKR.com Sunday Classic a week earlier.
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LONDON, England -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Poker magazine editor Philip Conneller (PKR username: escalope) bested a field of 150 players to take down the first ever PKR Live main event and the $20,000 first prize this weekend.
After twenty hours of play over two days, Conneller's 7-2os hit runner-runner to make an unlikely straight and take down the title. As he made the call, the monster chip leader said "I've always wanted to win a tournament with seven-deuce". It appears the poker gods were listening.
The first event of its kind, PKR Live saw players make their way from all over the world to London's Loose Cannon Club to play for a share in over $90,000 in prizes while soaking up the uniquely friendly atmosphere. The event was a phenomenal success, with player comments including "Better than sex", "a success of mammoth proportions" and "an awesome weekend" (full player comments can be viewed online at http://snipurl.com/5qx5l).
PKR Live kicked off with a friendly $60 welcome tournament. With 138 runners, the prize pool grew to over $8,000 with the top prize being scooped by popular forum poster Gareth 'ChivalrousGent' Rees.
The $500 Main Event started on day two, and with every seat filled it meant a juicy prize pool of $75,000.
The third day provided the conclusion of the main event plus another shot at glory in a special $10,000 bounty freeroll that offered extra prizes for players eliminating one of the twelve PKR staff enrolled in the tournament. After a fun filled eight hours, Demetris 'magicmoves' Theophanous prevailed to take the final title of the weekend.
The first foray into the live realm saw members from all tiers of PKR.com staffing including Malcolm Graham, CEO and PKR creator, Jez San, mixing it up with the players. The three-day festival was captured by a professional TV crew and highlights will be available to watch exclusively on PKR.tv
PKR Live 2008 Main Event Final Standings
1. Philip 'escalope' Conneller (London, UK) $20,000
2. Henrik 'Pokey85' Eklund (Stockholm, Sweden) $12,000
3. Daniel 'Dappadan777' Moosah (London, UK) $8,500
4. Raymond 'callmebabe' O'Mahoney (Dublin, Ireland) $6,500
5. Thomas 'OleEinar' Gunia (Weimar, Germany) $5,250
6. Pieter 'EurootJE' Salet (Tilburg, Netherlands) $4,250
7. Andrew 'Alfiemyster' Miles (Southampton, UK) $3,250
8. Barry 'Bazultra' Cole (Southampton, UK) $2,500
9. Kent-Ivan 'GreenFaith' Danielsen (Arendal, Norway) $1,850
10. Michael 'TheSqueeze' Panayiotou (London, UK) $1,400
The main event proved an extremely entertaining affair with the final table attracting a remarkable rail of observers soaking in the action as it drew to a close. Here's a closer look at the final tablists:
The PKR Live November Ten
1st place in seat 2: escalope (Final table starting stack 219K)
A veteran of the poker industry and seasoned live poker player, the very first PKR Live champion took down the main event in outrageous fashion – hitting a straight on the river after calling his opponent's all-in pre-flop. His hole cards – 7-2 off-suit (obviously) improved on the final card to beat off pokey85's J-8 and top two pair.
Having gone into the final table in fine shape with a 219,000 stack, escalope showed solid play to become chip leader by some margin, gaining a formidable presence behind the wall of chips he built over three and a half hours of final table action.
Prior to the start of the final table he revealed his slightly sinister side claiming that his favourite hand had to be pocket sixes looking to improve to trips. The ultimate victory with Texas Hold'em's worst starting hand suggests some kind of 'divine intervention' may have indeed been involved! But escalope truly deserves his $20,000 for first place and a massive congratulations for emerging triumphant after more than twenty hours of intense tournament poker.
2nd place in seat 4: pokey85 (232K)
Beaten at the last by home-grown escalope, pokey85 was gracious in defeat making him a true champion in his own right. Always the underdog in the heads-up battle against the eventual winner - who enjoyed a 5-1 chip lead - his defeat whilst ahead until the river adds a degree of weight to 'chip gravity' theories.
A native to Sweden's capital city, pokey85 plays both online and live games back home and recently enjoyed a trip to Macau after winning his way to an APT qualifying package on PKR.com. He claims to be a firm follower of Phil Ivey and judging by his current form it might not be long until he's giving his pro-idol a run for his money.
PKR.com is offering the chance to book a flight to Manila for the next leg of Asia's richest ever poker tour, the APT. Satellites are rolling right now up until the event takes place in January 2009.
3rd place in seat 5: dappadan777 (188K)
Another player on home soil, dappadan777 started the final table with a healthy stack of 188,000 in chips. He held firm to walk away with $8,500 and a commendable third place finish.
Although the 'Dapper Dan' likes to play in big tournaments, he is well-known on PKR.com as a cash game king with a super tight-aggressive style.
The only exception to his strict starting hands rule, he claims, stem from his love-affair with J-10 of clubs – apparently "heads up you can get a lot of pocket pairs into trouble with the draw options…"
Besides being a hugely successful online player, you can also find dappadan777 hitting the real-life baizes. An avid attendee of The Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London (The Vic) and sometimes The Empire, Leicester Square, he adorns the £2 / £5 tables twice a week, looking for shark-feed in the "juicy action" on offer.
4th place in seat 8: callmebabe (340K)
Rolling in late on the first day, callmebabe used his hyper aggressive style to maximum effect, recovering well and building his stack into the chip lead by the start of the final table. Unfortunately the overnight favourite lost some big pots early on and slid down the rankings as the game progressed.
A considerable payday still came his way with $6,500 for a fourth place finish – a result he says has inspired him to move more into the live poker realm and away from the £3 / £6 cash tables he frequents online.
A big fan of Andy Black and of 10-7 suited in the hole (for the disguise value of course), his experience at PKR Live has shown callmebabe the value of the live tournament because of the interaction you get over a long period of time. Finishing fourth, he was battling wits for over 14 hours of tournament poker – a priceless addition to his experience library.
5th place in seat 9: OleEinar (86K)
A very colourful character from Weimar in Germany, OleEinar started the final table as one of the shorter stacks and in complete fear of callmebabe.
After a manic first day in the main event he admitted that fatigue was affecting him but the thought of jetting off to Vegas with the grand prize in his pocket kept spurring him on.
OleEinar is no stranger to the live game but plays the majority of his poker online – both cash and tournaments. Notably, he recently registered a respectable fifth place in the Oktoberfest 2008 'TV Sunday' and is looking forward to his moment of fame on PKR Tournament Television.
All TV tournaments, including the TV specials from Oktoberfest can be viewed 24/7 on PKR.tv. PKR Live footage will also soon be available to watch exclusively on the web channel.
6th place in seat 3: Eurootje (84K)
Eurootje finds a place somewhere in the PKR.com record books having raked enough to make Platinum member level of Club PKR within ten months. Club PKR is unprecedented in the industry with its 'always up, never down' policy and Platinum status made sure Eurootje received VIP treatment at PKR Live as well as entitlement to a host of other exclusive benefits for life.
A live game aficionado, Eurootje finds the selection on offer not quite up to scratch in his home town of Tilburg, Holland. Nonetheless, he frequents live card rooms up to four times a month and was all too happy to make the trip over to London for PKR Live.
Rewarded handsomely with a cool $4,250 for his sixth place finish, the 'push-fold' strategy he has based around calculated players, like Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer, proved to be a worthwhile investment.
7th place in seat 6: Alfiemyster (87K)
Alfiemyster considers himself a cash game titan and only signed up to PKR.com after seeing PKR Live featured in a respected poker magazine. A week later he made the final table of the very event he signed up for, successfully transferring his tight-aggressive ring game strategy from the UK circuit to the tournament scene.
Playing across a range of casinos and card rooms nationwide, including Grosvenors and Stanleys, Alfiemyster enjoys the offerings on PKR.com because, "PKR brings the fun factor back into poker. When I saw the preview for the live event I thought it was amazing value, so here I am!"
Adopting a 'raise-fold' strategy into the second day of the main event, his short stack didn't go too far but cashing over $3,000 for his efforts should take his bankroll up a rung or two.
8th place in seat 1: Bazultra (120K)
Also hailing from Southampton, Bazultra took the trip northbound to PKR Live with mixed expectations. After running bad for weeks he made three final tables in the week prior and then took down the coveted 'TV Showdown'.
A frequent player across brick and mortar card rooms, 'Baz' as he is known in the PKR forums, is looking to raise his stakes in live play – PKR Live giving him a decent bit of practice on his way up.
His game in the run up to the final table proved him to be a hard rock to crack and, inevitably, he admitted that his favourite hand was indeed bullets. Eighth place and $2,500 of winnings left him happy to return to the south coast after what he described as a "top notch weekend."
9th place in seat 7: Greenfaith (50K)
"When I win I'll buy a new car and travel a bit, probably to Vegas, but I have to make a move soon!" Unfortunately at the final table the 'faith' only went so far for a rock solid player who likes to use the 'bluffer' stereotype commonly associated with Scandinavian players to his advantage.
Greenfaith is a massive live tournament player, getting involved in live Sit & Go action three or four times a week when at home in Norway. Favourite hands include low pairs, especially 3-3 and 4-4 which he moves with ultra-aggression pre and post flop.
10th place in seat 10: TheSqueeze (45K)
The earliest exit on the final table, TheSqueeze went from nothing to something and back to nothing again – trebling up early on with a pair of threes which held, blind, against two over cards – the insurrection of the shortest stack was, however, short lived.
Forum favourite and ever the entertainer, TheSqueeze graced the table with character reminiscent of his avatar (he often dons a clown suit on PKR.com) and took home $1,100 – a sum just a fraction of his epic win in the PKR.com Sunday Classic a week earlier.
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WPT Online Poker Room Sends Customers to InterPoker - 18th November 2008
In an e-mail sent to customers on Monday, the World Poker Tour’s Casino and Poker Room referred its players to InterPoker. The WPT’s poker room is scheduled to cease operations this Thursday, November 20th. Operations at ClubWPT, its subscription-based online poker room, should continue as normal.
The e-mail distributed Monday afternoon read, “The World Poker Tour wants to make certain that you get access to the best online poker available. To make this happen, we have arranged for some great deals with our partners at InterPoker. InterPoker is one of the best established and most trusted poker rooms online today.” In October, WPT Enterprises, the online poker room’s parent company, announced that it planned to terminate an agreement with CryptoLogic, effectively shutting down its online poker room. The WPT’s original agreement with CryptoLogic was signed on August 24th, 2007.
In a statement releasing the company’s 2008 third quarter results, WPT Founder, CEO, and President Steve Lipscomb cited “disappointing returns” as the chief reason for departure from the online gaming business. Instead, the company plans to direct its assets towards building three primary components of its business: “our emerging sponsor model of distributing the World Poker Tour television series, the ClubWPT.com online subscription business, and WPT China.”
About 10 days ago, the WPT announced that it had signed a sponsorship agreement with Full Tilt Poker for its seventh season, which will air on cable station Fox Sports Net. The first five seasons were shown on The Travel Channel. Then, GSN acquired the rights to Season VI before declining its exclusive option for Season VII. As part of the arrangement, FullTiltPoker.net will become the title sponsor of the World Poker Tour and receive “exclusive rights to in-show educational gaming brand integration for the 26 all-new WPT Season VII episodes,” according to the official announcement. Lipscomb told Poker News Daily that on-felt logos may also be part of the sponsorship package.
The e-mail sent to WPT members outlines a sign-up promotion for InterPoker that features a cash bonus of up to $500 as well as a Flip Ultra camcorder. The cash bonus is a 100% match deposit bonus that starts at $35 and in order to qualify for the camcorder, players must accrue at least 1,500 MPPs by December 31st. Players should open new accounts at InterPoker, meaning that the WPT is not automatically transferring its patrons over to InterPoker’s site. $90,000 Bounty Hunt tournaments are also part of the e-mail’s promotions, where the top five finishers in a series of eight tournaments compete in a bounty tournament.
Existing players on the WPT’s casino and poker room must withdraw their funds by Thursday. Any balances that remain after that time “will be credited to you by check or a refund to your credit card, Neteller, or Moneybookers account,” according to the WPT. North American customers who have questions can call 877-874-0274. International inquiries can be directed to +800-0874-0274 and a UK freephone can be reached at 00800-0874-0274.
ClubWPT is a subscription-based site that accepts customers from the United States. It offers over $100,000 each month in cash and tournaments. Six members of ClubWPT compete on televised tournaments that premiere on Fox Sports Net on Sunday afternoons and then replayed throughout the week. ClubWPT software looks very similar to the one used by Ultimate Bet and a two week free trial is available. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
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In an e-mail sent to customers on Monday, the World Poker Tour’s Casino and Poker Room referred its players to InterPoker. The WPT’s poker room is scheduled to cease operations this Thursday, November 20th. Operations at ClubWPT, its subscription-based online poker room, should continue as normal.
The e-mail distributed Monday afternoon read, “The World Poker Tour wants to make certain that you get access to the best online poker available. To make this happen, we have arranged for some great deals with our partners at InterPoker. InterPoker is one of the best established and most trusted poker rooms online today.” In October, WPT Enterprises, the online poker room’s parent company, announced that it planned to terminate an agreement with CryptoLogic, effectively shutting down its online poker room. The WPT’s original agreement with CryptoLogic was signed on August 24th, 2007.
In a statement releasing the company’s 2008 third quarter results, WPT Founder, CEO, and President Steve Lipscomb cited “disappointing returns” as the chief reason for departure from the online gaming business. Instead, the company plans to direct its assets towards building three primary components of its business: “our emerging sponsor model of distributing the World Poker Tour television series, the ClubWPT.com online subscription business, and WPT China.”
About 10 days ago, the WPT announced that it had signed a sponsorship agreement with Full Tilt Poker for its seventh season, which will air on cable station Fox Sports Net. The first five seasons were shown on The Travel Channel. Then, GSN acquired the rights to Season VI before declining its exclusive option for Season VII. As part of the arrangement, FullTiltPoker.net will become the title sponsor of the World Poker Tour and receive “exclusive rights to in-show educational gaming brand integration for the 26 all-new WPT Season VII episodes,” according to the official announcement. Lipscomb told Poker News Daily that on-felt logos may also be part of the sponsorship package.
The e-mail sent to WPT members outlines a sign-up promotion for InterPoker that features a cash bonus of up to $500 as well as a Flip Ultra camcorder. The cash bonus is a 100% match deposit bonus that starts at $35 and in order to qualify for the camcorder, players must accrue at least 1,500 MPPs by December 31st. Players should open new accounts at InterPoker, meaning that the WPT is not automatically transferring its patrons over to InterPoker’s site. $90,000 Bounty Hunt tournaments are also part of the e-mail’s promotions, where the top five finishers in a series of eight tournaments compete in a bounty tournament.
Existing players on the WPT’s casino and poker room must withdraw their funds by Thursday. Any balances that remain after that time “will be credited to you by check or a refund to your credit card, Neteller, or Moneybookers account,” according to the WPT. North American customers who have questions can call 877-874-0274. International inquiries can be directed to +800-0874-0274 and a UK freephone can be reached at 00800-0874-0274.
ClubWPT is a subscription-based site that accepts customers from the United States. It offers over $100,000 each month in cash and tournaments. Six members of ClubWPT compete on televised tournaments that premiere on Fox Sports Net on Sunday afternoons and then replayed throughout the week. ClubWPT software looks very similar to the one used by Ultimate Bet and a two week free trial is available. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
Media Man Australia Profiles
World Poker Tour
Poker News
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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