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Where are they now? October Nine: Greg Merson

With the final leg of the 2012 World Series of Poker drawing near, it’s interesting to see what the October Nine have been up to and where their heads have been as they’ve been preparing for what is likely the biggest poker tournament of their lives thus far. Greg Merson, one of the October Nine Main Event Final Table players, says of the upcoming D-Day, “I’m going to feel like I want to throw up before.”

Since lasting through Day 7 when 26 other players stood between him and his chance at the final table Merson has also gone from checking his email once a week to checking it once a day, checking in with his agent two times a week, and participating in numerous interviews (too numerous to count) with press from all realms of media, both mainstream and poker related. Due to the fact that Merson is a recovering drug addict, many of the reporters want to talk about his past in addition to his poker power, but he says he doesn’t mind all the attention from the media.

He explains the difference in mainstream media and poker-related press interviews: “Any interview that has to do with poker, it is so much easier to talk about, because they kind of understand it a little bit more. The mainstream media is so ignorant to both sides of poker and the drug thing. They don’t know much about either, so it is kind of difficult to explain myself without sounding crazy. I’m a professional gambler who is a drug addict, you know what I mean?”

Because Merson has been so recognized in the media after winning the $10K Six-Handed NL event this summer and then earning one of the nine most coveted seats in poker, people are actually starting to recognize him in public. After buying some drinks for a friend at a bar in Baltimore, when he went to pay the tab, the bartender said, “Don’t worry about it man, good luck.”

When the Main Event closed out in July and the October Nine was set to continue in October, Merson was the frontrunner of the Player of the Year, but after the World Series of Poker Europe last month, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari passed him on the list. Then when Hellmuth won the WSOPE, it left only one option—for Merson to be the last man standing at the WSOP Main Event Final Table at the end of this month.

And while Merson is focused on winning, he’s not doing the usual prep work that past November Niners and his fellow October Niners have participated in. He says, “I don’t really think about too much strategy. We’ve had some discussions, but everything is just going to change so quickly that discussing things too much is going to be overload.”

As for the jersey he will wear on opening night at the Penn and Teller Theater October 29^th, he’s got the black Adam Jones Baltimore Orioles picked out.

Will South Point Be Pro-Worthy?

While South Point Poker will undoubtedly be the first legal and regulated online poker site available to US players (Nevada residents specifically), some wonder if the intrastate poker operation will be able to sustain US poker pros with enough action to make a living. And will the former PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker mega-players relocate to Nevada in order to participate in legal online poker in the US?

These questions remain as Nevada ranks at only 35 in the nation for population at about 2.8 million residents, and it is unlikely that the millions of tourists who flock to Nevada each year will be offer enough participation in South Point Poker to compare to the numbers that flooded the tables at former US-friendly poker rooms.

Justin Truesdell, two-time WSOP bracelet winner, says, “I don’t think I could play online poker for a living if it is intrastate. I don’t think if it was limited to a state with the population of Nevada that it would be able to maintain the player base that is needed.”

Another career poker player Jeffe “ICuRaRook” Sluzinksi doesn’t believe that there will be adequate MTTs or players, mainly fish, to provide enough play for him to make a living playing poker like he’s accustomed to, but he’s willing to give it a chance.

He says, “It’s the same reason I am not playing on Bovada or Merge in addition to their cashout issues.”

Other pro status players, who have been travelling abroad since Black Friday in order to play Internet poker, like Kevin Iacofono and David Randall, say they will not jump at the opportunity, but will keep an eye out for it, and consider it if the stakes are right once the site gets established. Randall says, “The field sizes would just have to create good enough value to make more sense than playing on PokerStars. I definitely think that initially it will be state based and that it is not likely that it will have large enough fields.”

Full Tilt Positions Itself to Relaunch with Dwan and Blom

Things seem to be happening in the online poker realm this year that many never believed possible. The intrastate licensing granted to South Point by the state of Nevada sounds even less far-fetched than Full Tilt Poker open for business again. But it’s true. As of November 6, 2012, Full Tilt Poker will relaunch and be open for real-money online poker business.

PokerStars, who acquired all Full Tilt Poker assets (including accounts payable to former players) confirmed the news via email that after November 6^th, Full Tilt player accounts will again be active. Existing usernames passwords that players held pre-Black Friday will still work, and withdrawals will be made possible.

Also, in an effort to get the room going, Gus Hansen has been assigned as the site’s Ambassador and the face of the new, old online poker site. In addition, Full Tilt Poker has signed two big-name poker celebrity players, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, two of the most famous online poker players in the world, Dwan being a former Full Tilt Poker pro before the Black Friday saga started. So the new Full Tilt Poker room is all set to relaunch with a bang.

The Head of Marketing at Full Tilt Sarne Lightman released a statement on the new partnerships: “The game of poker is always evolving. Through our continual innovations, Full Tilt Poker is proud to have been at the forefront of that evolution. In choosing our Pros we approached the three poker players whose unique and innovative styles have had the most impact on how modern poker is played.”

Blom had signed with PokerStars back in 2011 following the reveal of his identity, which remained a mystery for months, generating quite a buzz about who he was and where he was from. He conveniently left Stars back in August for no apparent reason, but was now just seems as if it was part of the plan to reignite the Full Tilt Poker brand for the relaunch. He said, “I always loved playing on the Full Tilt Poker software, it is where I made my name and enjoyed some of my greatest victories. When they approached me about joining the team I knew this was the right fit for me.”

Dwan said on the rejoining, “I’m very excited that Full Tilt Poker is relaunching. I think it is great for poker and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Secret New Online Poker Pro Added at PokerStars

If you think you’ve got what it takes to identify an online poker pro, check out the PokerStars contest that will pay you $50 for guessing the name of the next PokerStars pro Internet poker player. While PokerStars has been busy getting Full Tilt’s name out of the gutter, execs have some new things in mind for Stars as well. They have announced that a new Team Online Pro will soon be unmasked to the poker realm.

The PokerStars blog has recently announced that they will soon reveal the newest member of Team Online PokerStars, but are giving current players the chance to guess the identity of this player. A shadow photo and a video clip on the blog offer clues to who this player is.

To participate, players may submit their guess to the PokerStars Blog Twitter account (@PSTeamOnline). To enter, tweet the following message: “I’m (PS Username) on @PokerStars, and I think the new @PSTeamOnline member is (PS Username or Real Name of Player) # GuessTeamOnline.” One guess per player.

Correct guesses will earn players an entry into a drawing that will award up to 50 players $50. Remember what Chris Moneymaker did with less than $50. It’s obviously no Dwan or Blom, who just recently announced they have signed with the new Full Tilt Poker. Take a guess. It could be the easiest $50 you’ve ever made.

View clues here: http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/team_pokerstars_online/2012/guess-the-next-member-of-team-pokerstars-123282.html

Hellmuth’s Lucky 13th

What began with a field of 420 players, turned out to be a 13^th WSOP bracelet win for NLH tournament specialist Phil Hellmuth. The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event title goes to Hellmuth, who won his 12^th bracelet this year at the WSOP. Hellmuth has managed to make a comeback this year, proving the critics wrong who said he was washed out and used up. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Following his win, Hellmuth commented, “”This was the best poker I’ve ever played in my life, I know that for certain. I played as good as I can possibly play, caught a few breaks, and here I am. I’m very thankful.”

Apparently his best was good enough and landed him a prize worth €1.02 million. According to commentator Antonio Esfandiari, Hellmuth’s playing style throughout this tournament was unexpected. Redefining his game may be just the strategy that Hellmuth needed to get back on top.

Entering the final table as chip leader, Hellmuth managed to stay that way most of the day. Only second place Sergii Baranov was able to give the Poker Brat a run for his money. But ultimately, Baranov was no match for Hellmuth’s aggressive and extremely loose game.

Ukrainian Baranov had predicted the WSOPE Main Event would lead to a heads up match between himself and Hellmuth. What he didn’t foresee though was coming in second.

“I know people don’t expect me to use this word, but I’m humbled,” Hellmuth said. “I’m trying to figure out if this is real or not.”

The conservative Hellmuth was in hiding, as he was calling out of position with less than hopeful cards (something he’s always shamed other players for doing—apparently he figured it must have some strategic value to it), and making large bets to intimidate his opponents.

This makes Hellmuth’s 95^th WSOP cash and tops him out at more than $17 million in tourney winnings.

Portugal’s First Win at WSOPE

The World Series of Poker Europe has kicked off and the first Portuguese bracelet winner is Francisco Da Costa Santos. He is the first poker player from Portugal to win a bracelet in the entire WSOP history. Thirty-six-year-old Da Costa Santos is a small business owner and poker pro won the same event this year that he landed a second place finish to Canada’s Philippe Boucher at last year’s WSOPE Cannes.

This year, he was victorious, winning the Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha event and €83,275. There were 10 countries represented in the top 21 finishers. Second place went to Spanish player Ana Marquez, who lost fair and square, saying, “I am so happy for him. Francisco winning is almost like me winning….that’s how happy I am.”

And Da Costa was very happy himself, explaining after breaking down in tears, “Words cannot express how I feel at this moment. I really thought I was going to win it. But until it happens, you really can’t believe what the feeling is like. It’s incredible.

This has been a big year at the WSOPE with lots of “firsts” including Event #1, in which Tunisia had its first gold bracelet winner, Imed Ben Mahmoud. And then in the second event, Roger Hairabedian became the first Frenchman to win on French soil, breaking the home field curse once and for all.

Da Costa says, “Poker is still very new in my country. We do not have so many players right now. But I think it’s going to catch on and be more popular. There are a lot of younger players now who are starting to get interested in the game.”

It sounds like Portugal has caught the poker bug like many other countries worldwide.

A WCOOP Win for the Online Poker History Books

In a story that sounds very familiar to Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP Main Event win after qualifying in online at PokerStars, is the Main Event winner of the most recent installment of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Low-stakes Russian grinder “maratik” had entered into a qualifier for a mere 40 Frequent Player Points. Days later, he’s a millionaire after winning the WCOOP Main Event, outlasting 1,825 players in the $5,200 buy-in event.

By the second day of the two-day event, the player field was whittled down to just 245 players, 225 of those would be getting paid. Cashers included 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

When the 10-hour final table was reached, maratik was in fourth place, while Mike “munchenHB” Telker was in the lead of the remaining nine players.

After only six players remained, play paused and deal negotiations went on for nearly an hour. munchenHB’s demands were eventually granted when his cut was upped from $948,584.34 to $1 million.

Ultimately in a heads-up battle between Ryan “TheCart3r” Carter and maratik, maratik had a better two pair, and the near 25-hour of play across two days was over.

Full Tilt to Re-Launch in November and Funds Expected to be Returned

After taking over the Full Tilt Poker entity in a deal with the Department of Justice on August 9th, PokerStars has finally announced their plan to repay the $184 million still owed to former non-US Full Tilt players. Furthermore, the Full Tilt Poker platform is scheduled to re-launch the first week of November.

Since the deal was sealed, a plan to repay the delinquent accounts has been in the works, discussing ways in which to carry out the paybacks with multiple regulators in global jurisdictions. The process is required to follow all local regulatory criteria; thus, the repayment procedure will vary between jurisdictions of individual players. Needless to say, this was a big undertaking but was a requirement of the deal made between PokerStars and the DoJ. Also under the terms of the arrangement, the DoJ would be responsible for repayment of US players.

PokerStars has already enlisted the help of a locally licensed platform to handle repayment in Spain, France, Denmark, Belgium, and Estonia. Players will be able to link their Full Tilt player accounts with a PokerStars account through which they will have access to their funds and be allowed to withdraw or use their balance to play online. Players located in Italy must wait longer, as PokerStars has not yet determined the proper repayment process and is still working with regulators.

When the Full Tilt Poker site re-launches in November, other non-US markets will have full access to their Full Tilt accounts as well. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly and within less than six weeks, forlorn Full Tilt players will be back in business.

Long Time Coming for Jason Mercier

PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, also known as WCOOP, event #64 the 8-Game High Roller was completed and the title went to Florida’s Jason Mercier, who outplayed a field of 93 players. Four and a half hours later, he’d won the title and the $253K+ payout. This win takes his overall online tourney winnings to $1,559,648.

Just after winning, Mercier hopped on a plane to France, tweeting, “Id like to go to sleep, however, I have a flight to Cannes in 3 hours. Gotta pack and head to airport. Wsope plo 5k event at 5pm #neverstop..First tourney win of 2012… Why stop now? #itaintending.”

With confidence like that, who needs sleep?!

Mercier cashed his first live tourney in 2008 and has amassed nearly $8 million since. At only 25 years of age, he’s earned a seven-figure income each year since, until this year. He hadn’t even earned the cost of his buy-ins. Another tweet he recently posted:

“Really over the ridiculous losses, beats, and #justbadluck that I have experienced at every single point in this wonderful year of 2012..I am very fortunate to be where I am today in poker..This I know. However, this year has been unbearable. Almost any pro poker player..Would be completely broke if they ran like I have run this year.”

With any luck, he’ll sweep the WSOPE in Cannes. He’s on a roll though, taking down the likes of Daniel Negreanu (3^rd place) and a slew of other tough competitors in the 8-Game High Roller WCOOP event.

More Nevada Licenses for Online Poker Granted

As Nevada moves in the right direction for legal and regulated intrastate poker, three more companies have been approved for Internet poker licenses by the state. These and other companies will be ready to open when legislature allows online poker within the state and Nevada gives the green light on intrastate Internet poker.

The Nevada Gaming Commission approved slot machine fabricator WMS Industries of Waukegan, Illinois was approved for an online poker license as an interactive gaming system manufacturer and service provider.

Also, the company that owns Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Hotel & Casino on the Strip, American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC was also approved for an interactive gambling operator’s license. ACEP plans to launch a free to play poker site by the end of the year to anticipate moving over to real-money bets in 2013.

And thirdly, Las Vegas’ PokerTrip Enterprises Inc. was also granted approval as an online poker marketer.

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