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2011 November Nine

The November Nine have been determined, and it has turned out to be a very internationally diverse final table with seven countries represented. The chip leader, Martin Staszko is from the Czech Republic and has more than 40 million chips to start the final table off with in November. Next is Eoghan O’Dea from none other than Dublin, Ireland with nearly 34 million chips. Then with the third highest chip stack, we have Matt Giannetti from Las Vegas, Nevada with nearly 25 million chips and running a very close fourth place is another Las Vegan, Phil Collins with just under 24 million chips. Fifth stacked is Ben Lamb, also from the US, but not from Nevada. Lamb is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and favored by many to take the bracelet. Sixth stacked is Badih Bou-Nahra from Belize with 19.7 million in chips; seventh stacked is Pius Heinz from Cologne, Germany with about 16.5 million chips. Representing Ukraine is Anton Makiievskyi with 13.8 million in chips, and with the smallest chip stack is Sam Holden from Sussex, UK with about 12.4 million chips.

The unfortunate tenth place finisher was John Hewitt from Costa Rica, who was finally knocked out by O’Dea.

The WSOP Final Table will resume on November 5^th and will culminate on the 7^th of November when the 2011 WSOP Champion will be determined at the Rio in Las Vegas. Ninth place is guaranteed $782K, and the top eight finishers are guaranteed to become millionaires. The tournament winner will earn more than $8.7 million in cash and the coveted Main Event gold bracelet.

Poker Pro Seeks Diamonds Seized by Customs 11 Years Ago

Well-known poker pro Steve Zolotow, who has a few WSOP bracelets to his name, as well as about $1.8 million in poker winnings is looking to recover $900K worth of diamonds that were seized by customs 11 years ago. The New York City club owner allegedly failed to report the diamonds to customs when he flew from Toronto to New York. When Zolotow failed to file an appeal within the required time frame, the diamonds were sold off for an estimated $886K, according to the Toronto Sun.

Zolotow is now seeking to retrieve as much as possible of the value. The judge presiding over the case though is not so sympathetic to Zolotow’s circumstance. In his ruling, the Judge Russell Zinn stated, “Mr. Zolotow pleads that the diamonds are his and that they were never legally seized or forfeited. He seeks their return or return of the proceeds the Crown received from their sale.”

The case was then dismissed on the grounds that “absence of an allegation that the officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe that the Customs Act or regulations had been contravened in respect of the diamonds.”

Louisiana’s Lenaghan Leads Day Seven of the WSOP Main Event

At the end of Day Six of the 2011 WSOP Main Event last night, there were only 57 players left from the day, which began with 148 players. Ryan Lenaghan from New Orleans, Louisiana will begin Day Seven as chip leader holding 12.865 million chips. In second place, Ben Lamb holds 9.98 million chips, and he’s now surpassed Phil Hellmuth in the Player of the Year race for this year’s series.

Lady Luck was smiling down on Lenaghan, who managed to win just about every pot he touched, growing his chip stack from around 3 million to more than 12 million in only a couple hours. But as it goes in poker, anything can happen. Day Five started out with David Bach as the chip leader with 4.7 million chips, but he’s now dropped just below 2 million chips to start out Day Seven. All remaining players are now guaranteed at least $130K.

Day Five saw the end of Daniel Negreanu, Freddy Deeb, and many others.

Forty-four of the remaining 57 players are under the age of 29, so it’s likely that the November Nine, which will be determined in less than 48 hours, will once again be a young group. Also, more than half (33) are from the US, so expect to see some a lot of US players at the final table as well. Only 14 countries remain including Canada (6 players), and UK (3 players).

Day Seven will conclude around 10:45 p.m. Vegas time on Tuesday.

Chip leader Lenaghan is a graduate of LSU with a degree in general studies. He’s only been playing poker as a professional for two years.

Full Tilt Hearing Called

The Aldernay Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has called for a public hearing on July 26th regarding the Full Tilt Poker accusations. They will likely be asked about the on goings of their company, why they have been so secretive about things, and where players’ funds are.

Hopefully Full Tilt Poker executives will reveal some more details on the rumored possible sale of the company, as well as why players’ funds were mixed with operating funds. Other issues are likely to be addressed as well.
The statement issued by the AGCC follows:

Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) will hold a public hearing regarding the future of Full Tilt Poker at 10am on 26 July at the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel in London.

The purpose of the hearing will be to make public evidence from both AGCC and Full Tilt regarding the suspension of Full Tilt’s licence and to adjudicate the findings transparently.

Full Tilt’s licence was suspended last month by AGCC following an indictment by the US government and its subsequent failure to satisfy AGCC that its activities inside and outside the US were in order.

Executive Director of AGCC, André Wilsenach, said: “AGCC’s choice to hold a public hearing in to the future of Full Tilt Poker demonstrates our willingness to act transparently and we will welcome members of the public and the media. As ever at all times, our primary concern is the protection of the player.”

WSOP Day 4 Starts Now

The World Series of Poker Main Event has completed Day 3, and there are now less than 900 players remaining. Day Four, which picks back up tonight, will take players into the money when the 693rd place is guaranteed to receive at least $19,359. The game starts back up at noon Las Vegas time today.

Yesterday marked the first ever WSOP semi-live television coverage when ESPN aired Day 3 of the WSOP with a 30-minute delay. This semi-live coverage will continue through July 19th when the November Nine will be determined. In addition, every Tuesday night ESPN will air an additional 34 hours of semi-live coverage.

When play ended last night, Patrick Poirier from New York was chip leader with 1.3+ million in chips. In the past, Poirier has cased twice and earned about $6,700, so the pressure is on. Former WSOP champions Joe Cada, Huck Seed, and Tom McEvoy were eliminated, but some former champs still remain in the running including Carlos Mortensen, Robert Varkonyi, Berry Johnston, and Phil Hellmuth.

Other well-known players still in the tournament include Todd Brunson, Daniel Negeranu, Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes, and many more.
The Main Event champion is set to win more than $8.7 million for winning the tournament.

On Day 1-A, former WSOP champs Jerry Yang, Greg Raymer, and two-time champ, Doyle Brunson were eliminated, as was 2006 WSOP Player of the Year, Tom Schneider. Day 1-B took down Michael Mizrachi. On Day 1-C, former WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker got knocked out of the tournament, as did Ray Romano, David Benyamine, Robert Mizrachi, and several hundred others.

WSOP 2011 – A Success

More than 100 countries were represented at the 42nd annual installment of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada this year. Across 58 events, a record number of registrants participated at 75,672, making for a total prize pool of $191,999,010—the biggest yet. This is the 7th year that the prize pool totaled more than $100 million, and in the history of the series, $1.4+ billion has been awarded in cash prizes for events.

This year, the series saw amateurs and pros alike, peppered with celebrities and sports figures. The youngest player is from Cocoa, Florida, Logan Deen. His 21st birthday was Day 1-B of the Main Event, so he was just barely old enough to play. On the other end of the spectrum, the oldest competitor in the 2011 WSOP was Ellen Deeb, 91, who also played in the Main Event.

Ty Stewart, WSOP Executive Director, said, “This summer underscores the appeal of the game and the power of this event. We’re so thankful for all those who came from around the world to demonstrate that poker continues to grow.” He continued, “All across the board at the 2011 WSOP, from our signature gold bracelet events to cash games to satellites and daily tournaments, records were made to be broken.”

Despite speculation that attendance to the Main Event would suffer this year in light of the Black Friday events and those thereafter, this year’s Main Event growth was in line with percentages from past years.

The biggest single event attendance was Event #30, the $1,500 event that say 3,752 players attend. Daytona Beach, Florida’s Tony Cousineau has actually cashed 49 times in the history of the WSOP, including this year, but is yet to win a single event. Brian Rast won two bracelets, and was the only one to do so.

While Phil Hellmuth did not win any bracelets this year, he added to his all-time cashes with 84 (he holds the record for the most WSOP cashes) and final table appearances (43).

22-Year-Old Scandanavian Semi-Pro Wins WSOP Bracelet

After 42 days and 56 events of the 2011 installment of the WSOP, more than one million hands of poker had been played when a final hand Royal Flush won a gold bracelet to the first Scandinavian player of the year. And the bracelet went to 22-year-old semi-pro player from Uppsala, Sweden, Alexander Anter on event #56 the $1,500 NLH event.

He eventually beat out a playing field of more than 3,300 players after five days of the event. It was Anter’s first time cashing at the WSOP. He won almost $778K. Anter is also known as Hansan Alexander Anter and is a full-time college student now thinking about going full-time pro.

As a student, Anter studies website development and has been playing poker since he was 16 years old. He plays online poker and live poker at private local clubs in Sweden. It is his first year at the WSOP. He originally came to play in the WSOP Main Event, but he decided to go for a few of the cheaper events in the mean time, and it’s a good thing he did. This was his second tournament and his first cash. He didn’t do so well in the $1,000 NLH, but made a great comeback in event #56.

When Anter was asked if he expected to win, he replied, “No, I didn’t expect to win. I was happy to make the money. My goal was to make the money in the Main Event. I came for the Main Event. I didn’t even plan to play this, so this is a big surprise.”

He also explained his feelings on winning the gold. He said, “It’s a big honor. Now I can finally show my parents that I’m a poker player and maybe they won’t yell at me to be studying.”

Poker Player’s Champion – Brian Rast (Not Hellmuth)

This year, the 2011 $50K buy-in Poker Player’s Championship was taken down by pro player from Las Vegas, Nevada, Brian Rast. Rast beat out a field of 128 other players in the mixed game format that spanned five days. He earned more than $1.7 million in winnings for the one bracelet. Only the Main Event top prize will go over this win.

This wasn’t his first bracelet though. Earlier this year, he won the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold ‘em event to become the only player to win more than one bracelet this year. His name was also added to the list of champs that includes other poker greats like David “Chip” Reese, Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb ,Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, and David Back. The trophy is named after late Reese, who was the winner of the first championship back in 2006.

At the heels of Rast was Phil Hellmuth, who was on the verge of winning his 12th bracelet when Rast took it out from under him. Hellmuth finished second. This would be Hellmuths third second place finish this year, and while he hasn’t won any bracelets yet, he did become the first player to land in second place three times in one year without any wins, so he managed to make history anyway. And he took in a $1.06 million prize for his championship second place finish.

Hellmuth said, “Look, I wanted to prove to myself, and just to myself really, that I’m a pretty good player… The world in general has been great to me. My fans have been great to me. I feel really good about the treatment and a ton of people were watching. It just makes me feel really good that there are so many people out there rooting for me. And I’m so happy about that. I’ve been way to cocky in the past, and I hear my critics. That’s my problem.”

Razz Champ Porter Wins Event #44

Event #44, the $2,500 Razz Championship has concluded and determined Seattle-based pro Rep Porter as the 2011 champion, who not only won his second bracelet but scored a $210K+ payout as well.

Porter follows in a long line of Razz champs that include Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier, Barry Greestein, Huck Seed, Tom McEvoy, Linda Johnson, Ted Forrest, Lakewood Louie, Jeffrey Lisandro, O’Neil Longson, Berry Johnston, Katja Thater, and Frank Kassela. But the first Razz champ was Sam Angel, legendary poker player who won the first Razz Championship back in 1973. The Razz event has made for an entertaining tournament ever since.

Porter beat out a field of 362 other players and took his second WSOP bracelet. His first came in 2008 in the 6-Handed No Limit Hold ‘em event. The Razz tourney lasted four days and was a draining tournament, but all worth it. On his journey to #1 he faced 2^nd place Stephen Su, Robert Williamson II and Chris Bjorin, both former bracelet winners who finished in 4^th and 6^th, respectively.

Other former bracelet winners who cashed in the Razz Championship include John Monnette, David Sklansky, Chau Giang, Dan Idema, David Warga, Perry Friedman, and Chris Viox.

Forty-year-old Porter is a pro poker player and financier. His real name is Ralph, but since his initials are R.E.P., he goes by Rep. He is married and has two children. Before going pro, Porter actually worked on Wall Street for six years. He began playing poker back in 1977 when he was in elementary school.

Porter first cashed at the WSOP back in 2005, but in 2007 he made almost $250K when he placed 39^th in a field of 6,358 players in the Main Event. In addition to his two bracelet wins, Porter also has five final table appearances and 16 cash finishes. His total WSOP winnings fall just short of $1 million. He’s cashed twice this year out of 15 events played.

On his WSOP history, Porter said, “After I won, I started a business.  So, I did not play much poker in 2009 or 2010.  I still came to the WSOP both years.  I played like 22 or 23 events each year.  I made two final tables in 2009, both in Limit Hold’em.  Last year was a very rough WSOP for me.  I had just one cash for the entire series.  Outside of the WSOP, I did okay….but this year I came back focused.  I went deep in one event.  I was chip leader when we reached the money.  But you know how tournaments are.  You lose one or two pots, and that was that.”

Pakistani Poker Player goes Heads Up with Mizrachi

Another amateur poker player swept Event #47 $2,500 Mixed High/Low Split tournament, practically taking it off the arm of Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, who came in second place. The bracelet and a $255K+ prize purse went to Pakistanian player Owais Ahmed, who won the tournament sometime around 3:00 a.m. this morning.

Mizrachi had a three to one chip lead, a rail full of supporters, and was just the favored player based on his experience alone, but victory was in the cards for 27-year-old Ahmed, who is a data warehouse analyst and supply chain manager.

Pot after pot went to Ahmed, and slowly but surely, Mizrachi’s chip stack got smaller and smaller.

Ahmed said after the tournament’s end, “Actually, when we started the match, it was like a 50-to-1 crowd advantage for Mizrachi. I had a chip disadvantage.  The whole room felt really small, and it felt like it was me against the world….I meditated a little bit, and I said, you know I am just going to come out and play my A-game, and that is going to win me that bracelet.  The crowd doesn’t matter.  I put my glasses on, I was in my zone, and when I do that, I am as good as anyone in the world.”

Ahmed, who currently resides in Orange County, CA, added, “I can’t believe it’s real right now. I played my heart out. I played my A-game and in the end, it all worked out for me. I’m ecstatic.”

While Pakistan has sent forth champion athletes before, but poker has not been a popular part of Pakistani culture, though Hasan Habib, WSOP bracelet winner, is from Pakistan as well. This was Ahmed’s fourth consecutive year at the WSOP. It is his second final table appearance, and he’s cashed six times in past WSOP events over the years.

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