56 players became 17 players during Day 4 of the European Poker Tour Berlin main event and, unfortunately, many notables were among the ones who didn't make it: Liv Boeree, Sandra Naujoks, Boris Becker, Day 1 chip leader Rony Voth and the Finnish Day 2 and Day 3 chip leader Aku Joenausta.
On Wednesday, Frankie Julius Parker attempted to rob a Medford bar to regain money he had lost playing video poker earlier that day. Parker, 34, returned to Rumors Karaoke Lounge just before it closed at 2:30 am and told one of the owners that he forgot his wallet inside. The women, who owns the bar together with her husband, left him waiting at the front door to search for the wallet. When she returned empty handed he forced his way inside, choked the women and demanded his money back.
Her 65-year-old husband rushed out of the kitchen, grabbed a pool cue and chased Parker away. He didn't get away with any money and the woman was not seriously injured, police said. Parker was found at about 2:50 am hiding behind a dumpster at a nearby inn and was arrested. He was taken to the Jackson County Jail on accusations of burglary, robbery, assault and strangulation.
Finnish poker player Aku Joentausta didn't let go of his lead during Day 3 of the Main Event when the field was narrowed down from 170 to 56 players. The young Finn played extremely well and it almost seemed like he took home every single pot. He will bring 1,039,000 chips today, ahead of the only other player with a seven figure stack: Emil Ohlsson, from Sweden, with 1,011,000.
Many big names were lost during the second day of the EPT Berlin main event: Max Lykov, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Jeff Hakim, Tobias Reinkemeier, Mattias De Meulder, Benny Spindler, Jake Cody, Vanessa Selbst, and a few others. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, the Day 1B chip leader, also failed to make it through the day. Mizrachi was sent packing during the fourth level with the nut flush against the turned full house of Khiem Nguyen, a young German player.
Boris Becker is the most familiar name among the 175 players who will return to play in a few hours. The former German tennis pro will bring 113,000 chips to the tables, which is about average. He will be joined by notables such as Theo Jorgensen (171,600), Olivier Busquet (170,000), Alex Kravchenko (135,000) and Liv Boeree (85,400). The money bubble will burst when 136 players remain (€8,000 minimum cash) and the winner will take home an incredible €880,000!
Moscow police have shut down an illegal casino that was being operated on the premises of a former sugar refinery in central Moscow, the Interior Ministry said in an statement on Monday. The owners of the casino were making approximately 10 million rubles (around $300,000) a day, police said.
The second flight of the European Poker Tour Berlin main event saw a field of 565 players, which means that a total of 912 players entered the tournament, making it the second largest EPT Berlin in history. At the end of Day 1B there were 314 players left and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi had the lead with 175,400 chips.
Mizrachi is ranked fourth when Day 2 kicks off in a few hours, and he will be joined at the table by famous poker pros such as Sorel Mizzi (119,500), Tobias Reinkeimer (81,100), Marvin Rettenmaier (47,500), Olivier Busquet (47,100) and Eugene Katchalov (38,600).
Here are the top five stacks heading to Day 2: 1 Ronny Voth 196,100 2 Mike Kunze 188,000 3 Thomas Richter 176,100 4 Michael Mizrachi 175,400 5 Sebastian Trisch 173,50
The first starting day of the European Poker Tour Berlin main event attracted 347 runners who could afford the buy-in of €5,300. After eight levels of play, Day 1A concluded with 250 survivors and Ronny Voth (picture) out in front with 196,100 chips. Many well known players will join him for Day 2 tomorrow, including Boris Becker, Mattias de Meulder, Liv Boeree, among others.
The second starting day (Day 1B) kicks off in a few hours and a greater field of players is expected to show up, so there should be a very nice prize pool up for grabs! We will be back with another brief update tomorrow morning.
18 players entered the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Manila Millions with a massive HK$1,000,000 buy-in (approx.$129,000) and four rebuys were made during Day 1 (last Thursday). 7 players returned to play last Friday and Joseph Cheong had the lead with 738,000. After a few hours of play, Cheong, Richard Yong, Paul Phua and Peter Chan were all in the money and, believe or not, Cheong eliminated all of them to claim the first place prize of $10,428,000 (approx. $1.3 million)
This was Joseph Cheong's biggest live tournament cash to date and he now has $7,000,000+ in live tournament winnings.
Final table results: 1 Joseph Cheong $10,428,000 2 Richard Yong $6,548,000 3 Peter Chan $4,123,000 4 Paul Phua $3,151,000
Maxine Brown, 58, and Prince Wilson, 57, both of Hemingway, were arrested earlier this week for leaving two children, ages 7 and 11, in a hot vehicle for over an hour while they played video poker in a convenience store on Third Loop Road in Florence County (located in the U.S. state of South Carolina).
Brown and Wilson are now facing charges of Cruelty to Children, a crime that is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or a fine of not more than $200, according to carolinaalive.com. Officials stated that the children were in their care and custody for now.
On Thursday, the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Manila Millions with a massive HK$1,000,000 buy-in (about $129,000) kicked off at Resorts World Manila. 18 players (Joseph Hachem, Sam Trickett and a few other big names) signed up for the tournament and 4 of them even made a rebuy. After several hours of play, the first day came to an end with 7 men still "standing".
The schedule for the 2013Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is now official. The tournament series take place May 12-26 and feature 44 events available in a low, medium and high buy-in. The buy-ins will range from as little as $5.50 to $21,000 and $40,000,000 is guaranteed across 132 tournaments. New for this year is that SCOOP will include Zoom (a fast-paced format where your opponents change every hand) tournaments. Check out the tournament schedule on PokerStars website.
On Tuesday, New York Times, NBC and other major newspapers reported that FBI agents had made arrest and implemented search warrants in New York City, the metro area and other places in the United States in connection with an illegal gambling ring operated by Russian organised crime.
Kevin "1SickDisease" Eyster is the latest member of the World Poker Tour Champions Club after taking down the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown main event for $660,395 last night. The American online pro bested a field of 542 players and a final table that included no one else than Jeff Madsen. Eyster now has close to $1.2 million in live tournament earnings!
Final Table Results: 1st: Kevin Esyter - $660,395 2nd: Ben Tarzia - $389,750 3rd: Zo Karim - $252,190 4th: Paul Dlugozima - $171,950 5th: Daniel Letts - $122,275 6th: Jeff Madsen - $100,000Read more » Kevin Eyster Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown
The World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown main event lost some familiar faces during Day 4, including Faraz Jaka (9th place), Ben Hamnett (10th place), Tony Ruberto (12th place), Matt Salsberg (13th place) and Matt Giannetti (21st place). Luckily, one big name made it to the final table...
On Monday, Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu took down the WSOP APAC Main Event for AUD$1,038,825 and received his fifth WSOP gold bracelet! He outlasted a field of 405 players and had to defeat a tough final table that included big names such as Benny Spindler, Thomas Russel and Winfred Yu.
542 players entered the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown main event over Day 1A and Day 1B last week. Now, after 3 days of play, there are 21 players left fighting for the first prize of a whopping $660,395! The chip leader is Kevin Eyster with 1.9 million and Champions Club member Tony Ruberto (1.5 million) and Faraz Jaka (1.47 million - left in picture) are ranked second and third in chips.
A part from Jaka and Ruberto, notables such as Jeff Madsen, Matt Salsberg (right in picture), Ben Hamnett and Matt Giannetti will return to the tables today. At the moment it looks like we will have a few familiar faces at the final table, but, of course, anything can happen in the game of poker.
We will be back with another update tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Sam Trickett, 26, was a very promising football player as young and had a bright future envisaged, but a knee injury crushed his dreams of becoming a football pro and instead he started playing poker in 2005. Today he's considered one of the best poker players in the world and he has almost $20,000,000 in live tournament winnings. Besides poker, he's still trying to stay in shape - not on the football pitch but by frequently visiting the gym.
However, it seems like he's not fully satisfied with the results, because last week he tweeted that he was looking for a personal trainer to travel with him to Macau, Monte Carlo and Las Vegas for the next 2-3 months. If you got what it takes, you can send him a message on twitter. Good luck!
The final table of the WSOP APAC AU$10,000 Main Event is being played right now at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. Daniel Negreanu (Canada) and Benny Spindler (Germany) are two of the big stacks on the final table. Check the live stream below to find out how they are doing.
We are very happy to announce that we are hosting a new leaderboard competition for all eligible mobster to join! Between April 15th and 30th, you have the chance to grab your share of €2,200 in freeroll and leaderboard prizes! The venue for this event will be the Play2B powered poker room Ballpoker! For 16 days, you will be able to cashin on 4 daily €25 freerolls while you earn the points to climb the leaderboard! Your freeroll cash winnings will also count as points towards the leaderboard.
Important: Please note that Ballpoker offers multiple poker networks. This freeroll series/leaderboard will be hosted on Ballpoker's Play2B network!
Daily freeroll schedule ("Bankrollmob Freeroll Series" in Ballpoker Play2B client): 15.30 CET (registration opens 14:30 CET) 17.30 CET (registration opens 16:30 CET) 19.30 CET (registration opens 18:30 CET) 21.30 CET (registration opens 20:30 CET)
On Thursday, Day 1A of the 2013 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown kicked off at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. 205 players entered the tournament for $5,000 each and, after 10 levels of play, Donald Nicholson (355,100) had the biggest stack amongst the remaining 75 players. Below are the top 10 stacks of Day 1A.
1. Donald Nicholson 355,100 2. Danny Shiff 229,200 3. Ben Tarzia 213,100 4. John McEwen 184,600 5. Faraz Jaka 181,900 6. Jerry Wong 180,000 7. Danny Suied 140,000 8. Kevin Eyster 137,500 9. Richard Leger 134,500 10.Andy Hwang 124,700
Aaron Lim is the latest champion at Crown Casino in Melbourne. The 26-year-old Australian poker pro bested a field of 167 players in WSOP Asia Pacific Event #4 ($5,000 NLHE Six Max) and collected a first prize of $233,800 - along with a WSOP gold bracelet. This marked his second win of a major tournament this year. That's right. Lim took down the 2013 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul Main Event last month for $111,000! Very impressive!
"It's huge," Lim said following the win. It's at my second home, Melbourne's my second home. I'm incredibly honored to be the first Australian to take down a bracelet. I was a bit concerned when Americans took the first two, then Ivey took the third, so it is lucky number four for me I guess.
WSOP APAC Event #4 Final Table Results
1 Aaron Lim $233,800 2 Andy Lee $144,530 3 Jan Suchanek $103,766 4 Brendon Rubie $74,590 5 Sam Higgs $53,615 6 Billy Seri $38,545
A total of 249 players signed up for the season XI World Poker Tour Barcelona main event earlier this week and yesterday, after four days of play, the final six battled it out on the final table. Characy Khun, from Canada, sat down at the final table with the largest stack and, believe it or not, he eliminated every single opponent during seven levels of play to lay hands on the first place prize of $258,448 - the largest cash of his career! Read more » WPT Barcelona: A winner has been crowned
Just a few moments ago, Phil Ivey won another WSOP bracelet at World of Poker Asia at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The $2,200 buy-in tournament (WSOP APAC Event #3 - Mixed Event) drew 81 of the best mixed game players in the world, generating a total prize pool of $168,000. The top nine players received a piece of the prize pool and Mr. Ivey received $51,840 after defeating Brandon Wong heads up.
The American pro now has an incredible 9 bracelets under his belt and has climbed to 3rd place (shared with Johnny Moss) on the all-time WSOP bracelet leaderboard. Below are the top 5 players of that leaderboard.
1. Phil Hellmuth 13 2. Johnny Chan 10 2. Doyle Brunson 10 3. Phil Ivey 9 3. Johnny Moss 9
The final table of the World Poker Tour main event is set after 4 days of play. The six finalists (no notables) are already guaranteed $47,813 each but, of course, the $258,448 first prize (+a seat in the WPT Final) will make sure that everyone play their very best game and make it an interesting final table! Below are the finalists:
1 Chanracy Khun (picture) 2,393,000 2 Benjamin Pollak 1,899,000 3 Tahiri Hassani Najib 1,636,000 4 Bruno Garcia Cotelo 722,000 5 Sergio Fernandez 548,000 6 Antonio Alfaia 273,000 Average Chip Count: 1,245,000
There are now only 13-players left in the WPT Barcelona main event. Leading the field is Sergio Fernandez who had an incredible winning streak during Day 3. He will bring 1,268,000 chips to Day 4 and has a great chance of making his first WPT final table. Another player that impressed yesterday was Chanracy khun. The Canadian citizen sent several players packing during Day 3 and will bring the second largest stack (838,000) to the tables today.
The action resumes at 14:00 CET and will, according to the plans, continue until a final table of 6 players has been reached. The remaining players are guaranteed $14,215 each with the chance of laying hands on the top prize of $258,448 + a seat in the WPT final.
On Thursday, Day 1A of the 2013 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown kicked off at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. 205 players entered the tournament for $5,000 each and, after 10 levels of play, Donald Nicholson (355,100) had the biggest stack amongst the remaining 75 players. Below are the top 10 stacks of Day 1A. 
