A big congratulations to Ryan Riess, the champion of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event!! Riess had about 20 million chips less than Jay Farber when the final day and heads-up began, but he played very well and grinded Farber down to a short stack early in the match.
Team PokerStars Online member Mikhail 'innerspy' Shalamov, a legend on the local scene in Russia, has a very popular video blog in Russia that is being updated on a regular basis. After spending the past 9 summers in Las Vegas for the WSOP, Shalamov has now launched his first video blog episode in English. In the first English version we get to follow Shalamov's adventures during the 2013 World Series of Poker.
According to WSOP's website, poker players at the 2013 World Series of Poker raised more than 1.3 million dollars for One Drop, a non-governmental organisation based out of Montreal, Canada that fight poverty worldwide by supporting access to clean water.
After 2 months of silence, Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu was back with a new edition of his very popular Rant last Sunday. In a 20-minute video, Negreanu talks about his 2013 World Series of Poker, his chase for several Player of the Year titles, recently implemented tournament rules that he doesn't like, and more.
Two of three Day 2 flights are in the books now and about 800 players are through to Day 3 of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event. The chip leader (at the moment - Day 2C still to be played) is Nick Schwarmann (413,600 chips) who overtook the lead from Jason DeWitt (ranked 2nd with 382,900) during the last level of Day 2. Schwarmann, from Orlando, Fla. has more than $400,000 in tournament earnings, including a 2nd place finish at this year's WSOP (Event #38: $2,500 NLH Four-Handed).
Now, two of the biggest names to make it through Day 2 with plenty of chips were former main event champions Doyle Brunson and Greg Merson. Brunson (two-time main event winner) started Day 2 with 81,025 chips and finished the day with 224,000! Merson, the winner of the 2012 Main Event, started with 81,650 in chips and finished with 275,000 after a fantastic day at the tables. It will be interesting to follow Brunson and Merson during Day 3!
We will be back with another WSOP Main Event update tomorrow, so stay tuned!
The fifth and final day of this event started with a final table of eight. Jonathan Duhamel was one of the two big names on the final table, but, unfortunately, he was eliminated already on the fourth hand. The 2010 Main Event champion was all in with kings and an open-ended straight draw against George Danzer's two pair, but failed to improve.
The third day of Event #55: The Poker Players Championship ($50,000 buy-in) is in the books. Don Nguyen (picture), from USA, will lead the remaining 26 players to Day 4 of the tournament. He will be joined by big names such as Jonathan Duhamel, David Benyamine, Joe Hachem, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren and Huck Seed.
When the remaining field of 26 has been narrowed down to 16 during Day 4, then all players will be guaranteed a minimum payday of $111,893 - with the chance of laying hands on the first prize of $1,774,089 and the coveted gold bracelet!
We will be back with another brief update tomorrow!
It took four days of play until a winner had been crowned in Event #53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. The winner, Brett Shaffer from USA, bested a field of 2,816 players and defeated British poker pro David Vamplew, who earned his second 2nd place finish of the series, in a heads-up battle that lasted 23 hands to collect his first bracelet and a whopping $665,397!
1 Brett Shaffer $665,397 2 David Vamplew $413,157 3 Arttu Raekorpi $291,392 4 Loni Harwood $210,456 5 Mike Watson $153,850 6 Deigo Zeiter $113,819 7 Jonathan Cohen $85,193 8 Darren Rabinowitz $64,513 9 Matias Ruzzi $49,420
Dana Castaneda Wins Event #54: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em This tournament saw a field of 2,883 players battle it out for three days. At the end of it all, Dana Castaneda, of USA, was crowned the champion and received her first gold bracelet and $454,207 in prize money. Castaneda is the first women to win an open event at this year's World Series of Poker. But not only that, she's also the first female open event winner other than Vanessa Selbst since 2007!
The second day of Event #55: The Poker Players Championship ($50,000 buy-in) came to an end a few moments ago. David Benyamine will lead the final 78 out of 132 players into Day 3 of the tournament with a stack of 729,000, and Jonathan Duhamel (Day 1 chip leader) is not far behind with 666,100 chips.
Besides Benyamine and Duhamel, there are lots of poker stars among the remaining squad of players. However, the most notable one has to be Mr. Doyle Brunson! That's right! The godfather of poker is playing his first (and most probably only) event at the 2013 World Series of Poker. He will bring 265k to Day 3 and, according to his twitter, there are several side bets on how well he will do it in the tournament. So far it's looking pretty good. It will be interesting to follow him during Day 3!
Event #52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em (six handed) is one of the most prestigious events at the 44th annual World Series of Poker. The tournament attracted a field of 175 players, of which many were well-known poker pros!
The third and final day saw 18 players return to their seats and Germany's Max Lehmanski had the lead. Lehmanski eventually finished in 5th place and, after Stephen Chidwich and Dani Stern had been eliminated in 4th and 5th place, the heads-up battle for the coveted gold bracelet and the $1,205,324 first-place prize was between Phil Galfond and Steve Sung (both from the U.S. and 1 career WSOP bracelet each on the resume).
Marco Johnson Wins Event #48 $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six Handed
Marco Johnson has finished runner-up at a WSOP event not less than three times in his career! Last Saturday, however, he finally laid hands on his first bracelet by besting a field of 343 players in Event #48 $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six Handed (an event he finished 2nd in last year). Besides the coveted gold bracelet, Johnson received $206,796 in prize money - the second biggest cash of his career!
A total of 166 players entered the $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller and created a prize pool of $17,891,148. The final table began during Day 3, but due to time constraints, the last four players had to return for a fourth day.
Bill Perkins 14,700,000 Anthony Gregg 13,900,000 Chris Klodnicki 12,000,000 Antonio Esfandiari 9,200,000
Ben Volpe Wins Event #45 $1,500 Ante-Only No Limit Hold'em
Congratulations to Ben Volpe, of USA, who bested a field of 678 players in Event #45 to lay hands on the first prize of $201,399 and, of course, the WSOP gold bracelet! The final table of this event lasted for, believe it or not, 12 hours and included a 100-hand heads-up match between Volpe and Paul Lieu! It was a well-deserved win by Mr. Volpe, who earned his third cash at the 2013 World Series of Poker!
1 Ben Volpe 201,399 2 Paul Lieu 124,352 3 Louis Bonnecaze 80,839 4 Blair Hinkle 59,375 5 Chris Moorman 44,227 6 Horacio Chaves 33,371 7 Adam Stone 25,472 8 Danny Johnson 19,660 9 Samuel Panzica 15,331
Day 2 of the One Drop High Roller saw 108 players returning to the tables with Brandon Steven and Tobias Reinkemeier being the only players with over 1 million chips. Steven played did well during Day 2 and will bring 3.1 million chips to Day 3. Reinkemeier, on the other hand, was eliminated in the final stages of the day after losing a massive pot against William Perking (AA vs a set of queens).
Martin Jacobson from Sweden will bring the largest stack (3.2 million) to Day 3 of the tournament. Jacobson will be joined by poker stars such as Antonio Esfandiari (winner of the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop last year), Oliver Busquet, Mike Sexton and Phil Laak. Only two of the remaining 26 players need to be eliminated before everyone's guaranteed a minimum payday of $173,723 - with the chance of winning millions of dollars on the final table!
A total of 166 players entered the $111,111 buy-in event One Drop High Roller ($11,111 from each buy-in is for "One Drop" charity). A great turnout if you ask the promoters, because they expected 130-150 participants! The total prize pool is $17,891,148 and the top 24 finishers will get paid. The winner will get an incredible $4,830,619 while the other top 5 finishers will received over a million dollars each. In other words, expect it to be a thrilling final table with lots of nerves!
Event #43: 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit) attracted 87 players who could afford the $10,000 buy-in. It was a relatively small field but, as always, some of poker's finest participated! Big names who made the money were Dan O'Brien (14th), Ashton Griffin (9th), Paul Vople (8th), Jeffrey Lisandro (4th), Konstantin Puchkov (3rd) and, last but not least, David "Bakes" Baker who finished runner-up.
United States and Canada have been taking down most events at the 2013 World Series of Poker so far while big poker nations like Great Britain and France have gone winless. Yesterday, however, another country received a bracelet as Norbert Szecsi from Hungary took down the country's forth bracelet in WSOP history.
The final table Event #42: $1,000 No Limit Hold'em had no previous gold bracelet winners and only one player (Chris DeMaci) had played a WSOP final table before. Szecsi overcame the final table in just a few hours time after a few dramatic all-ins that gave him the title. The 22-year-old poker player from Budapest received a gold bracelet and a sweet $345,037 first prize.
1st: Norbert Szecsi - $345,037 2nd: Dennis Gnidash - $214,760 3rd: Chris DeMaci - $149,281 4th: Kirby Martin - $107,512 5th: Rory Mathews - $78,576 6th: Bryce Landier - $58,126 7th: Ariel Celestino - $43,564 8th: Dana Buck - $33,065 9th: Jonathan Bennett - $25,392
Almost 7 years ago Jeff Madsen made a name for himself in the poker scene by winning two gold bracelets within a week at the 2006 WSOP! He was 21-years-old at that time and became the youngest ever to win a WSOP bracelet (a record since broken). Besides the two wins for over $1.3 million, he finished in third place in a Omaha Hi/Lo event for about $97k and received the 2006 Player of the Year award! Madsen has been active on the poker scene since then with 25 cashes at the WSOP, but it wasn't until two days ago that he scored a third bracelet...
Chris Dombrowski Wins Event #30: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Congratulations to Chris Dombrowski, of USA, who battled through a field of 2,108 players over three days to earn his first gold bracelet and $346,332! Dombrowski was ranked third when the final day began and there were 13 players left. After a few hours of play, he was the chip leader and played heads-up against Mathew Moore.
Poker pro and western singer Tom Scehneider is the latest winner at the 2013 World Series of Poker. He bested a field of 261 in the $5,000 buy.in H.O.R.S.E. event for $318,955 and a fourth gold bracelet! Scehneider won the $1,500 HORSE event along with $258‚000 less than a week ago and he's the only two-time winner at the 2013 WSOP.
Josh Pollock Wins Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha This event concluded after three relatively quicks days of play with Josh Pollock as the champion. The 29-year-old from Silver Spring, Maryland bested a field of 1,021 players and defeated no one else than Noah Schwartz heads-up to win his first gold bracelet and a sweet $279,431 (the biggest cash of his entire career!).
1st Josh Pollock $279,431 2nd Noah Schwartz $172,931 3rd James Parks $108,196 4th KT Parks $78,532 5th Shawn Silber $57,974 6th Eric Shanks $43,460 7th Eddie Blumenthal $33,057 8th David Greene $25,483 9th Brandon Crawford $19,909
When 14 of 2,017 players returned for the final day all eyes were on Phil Ivey, even as Taylor Paur held the chip lead. But Mr. Ivey didn't get many minutes in the spotlight as he was the first player to be eliminated (14th place ). Once Phil Ivey was out of the picture, all eyes were on Taylor Paur, who made it to the final table as the chip leader.
924 players entered Event #11 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed and created a prize pool of $2,102,100. The final day (and the final table) of the tournament was played today and, after 13 players had hit the rail, Levi Berger took down the first prize of $473,019 and a his first gold bracelet! Berger's win also means that Canadians have now won four bracelet at the 2013 WSOP!
Final table results: 1 Levi Berger $473,019 2 Scott Clements $292,339 3 Ben Palmer $185,426 4 Eddy Sabat $121,711 5 Jacob Bazeley $82,297 6 David Gonia $57,282
Event #7: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em The final day of this event saw 5 amateurs who combined for $2,968 in WSOP earnings and five established pros with more than $4 million in combined earnings. After several hours of play, Matt Waxman and Eric Baldwin were the last men standing and Waxman had 3.1 million to Baldwin's 2.4 million. The two would battle for, believe it or not, 187 hands over the course of almost seven hours before a winner finally had been decided.
The brand new event began on Saturday with 6,343 entrants and concluded yesterday after four days of play. Benny Chen brought the largest stack to the final table, which kicked off yesterday, but lost the chip lead almost straight away. He was second in chips when four players remained.
Four-handed play lasted 95 hands with each player taking turns at holding the lead. However, at the end of the night, it was Chen who was the last man standing and received the first prize of $1,198,780 and the coveted gold bracelet!
Final table results: 1. Benny Chen $1,198,780 2. Michael Bennington $741,903 3. Jonathan Gray $534,506 4. Justin Liberto $400,408 5. Dan Kelly $302,104 6. Chris Hunichen $229,575 7. Upeshka Desilva $175,714 8. Robert McVeigh $135,467 9. Theron Eichenberger $105,154
The first ever "Millionaire Maker" event (Event #6: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em) has been a huge success at the 44th Annual World Series of Poker! The brand new tournament attracted 6,343 players and the final table is now set after 3 days of action-packed poker. The final table, which begins tomorrow, will see 10 players battle it out for a first prize of $1,199,104!
Benny Chen (picture) will bring the largest pile of chips to play (5,865,000), but it won't be a walk in the park as he's closely followed by poker star Dan Kelly (4,130,000), who laid hands on his first WSOP bracelet in 2010 by winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max event.
Event #4: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Six Handed) On Monday, the fourth gold bracelet was awarded at the 44th Annual World Series of Poker. After 1,069 players entries and three days of play, John Beauprez had all the chips and received $324,764 and the coveted gold bracelet! The biggest name on the final table, as you can see in the results below, was the 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada, who finished in fourth place for $83k.
1 John Beauprez $324,764 2 Manig Loeser $200,698 3 Eric Blair $127,300 4 Joe Cada $83,558 5 Mike Mustafa $56,499 6 Keven Stammen $39,325
Event #2: No-Limit Hold'em / Eight Handed (buy-in: $5,000) A total of 481 players entered this event and created a $2,260,700 prize pool. The final table was set after 3 days of play and Trevor Pope had half the chips in play. He eliminated six of seven competitors at the final table and was crowned the winner after roughly four hours of play.
Just a few hours ago the very first event at the 2013 WSOP (Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em) concluded at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Chad Holloway, whose previous biggest cash was $3,719 in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the WSOP in 2012, bested a field of 898 players during two days of play to lay hands on $84,915 in prize money! In addition to that, he received the first gold bracelet of the 44th annual WSOP!
Final table results:
1 Chad Holloway $84,915 2 Allan Kwong $52,318 3 Bobby Rooney $33,903 4 Brian Pingel $24,811 5 Daniel Ellery $18,426 6 Sean Small $13,868 7 Tyrone Smith $10,567 8 Michael Trivett $8,146 9 Hieu Le $6,348
Doyle Brunson has won an impressive 10 WSOP Gold Bracelets in his poker career. He won the first bracelet back in 1976 ($5,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw) and his 10th bracelet in 2005 by winning the $5,000 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event for $367,800 - one of the biggest tournament cashes in his career. His last WSOP cash occurred in 2009 when he finished in 17th place in the WSOP Europe £10,000 Main Event in London for £31,198. As of 2011, his total live tournament winnings exceed $6,000,000. He has totaled $2,945,053 in earnings from his 34 cashes at the WSOP
Do you dream of going to Las Vegas and participating in the World Series of Poker? Believe it or not but you can realize your dream already this summer without spending a dime! That's right! PartyPoker is running freerolls and satellites around the clock to a tournament each Sunday where they award 1 of 20 players a 2013 WSOP package worth $14,000!
Each Main Event package consists of:
$10,000 WSOP Main Event buy-in
$2,000 in spending money
Hotel accommodation in Las Vegas for 10 nights
Besides the main event package, PartyPoker is also running daily satellites and freerolls to a tournament (also played every Sunday) where packages worth $5,000 are up for grabs!
The $5,000 package consists of:
$2,500 WSOP side event buy-in
$1,650 in spending money
Hotel accommodation in Las Vegas for seven nights
The promotion is running until 16th June, 2013. Satellite buy-ins range from as little as $1 to $700+$50, but not to be forgotten: you can win a package for free in the daily WSOP freerolls!
The official schedule for the 2013 World Series of Poker has now been released. The tournament series will include 62 bracelet events and run from May 29 to July 7 at the All-Suite Hotel & Casino. During the opening weekend, a new "Millionaire Maker" (Event 6) will be played. The tournament will have a buy-in of $1,500 and will see one person taking home $1,000,000!
On November 14, WSOP revealed on its website that the 44th running of the World Series of Poker will begin on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at the Rio-All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The series will run for 49 consecutive days, concluding the final nine players of the Main Event on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.
Tournament buy-ins start as low as $75 and cash games will run around the clock starting May 29 throughout the seven-week tournament series. About 500 poker tables will be set up across more than 100,000 squares-feet of ballroom space to make sure that there is plenty of space for the thousands of players from around the world who attend the 2013 WSOP.
Big One for One Drop, the biggest buy-in tournament in poker history, took place in Las Vegas during the 2012 WSOP and attracted a field of 48 professional players and amateurs who put up $1 million each. The tournament was won by Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari ($18.3 million) and raised a total of $10 million for charity.
