Archive for the Poker category.
November 01, 2007
The field for Day 1b of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Dublin event was larger than Day 1a, with 132 players joining the 91 that took to the felt on Day 1a, making a combined field of 221 of the top players from Ireland, Europe and around the world. Among the top pros playing on Day 1b were Ram Vaswani, Surinder Sunar, 2006 EPT Dublin champ Roland De Wolfe, 2007 EPT Baden winner Julian Thew, and 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette ‘Annette_15′ Obrestad. Many more local Irish stars played on Day 1b including Roy ‘The Boy’ Brindley, Liam ‘The Gentleman’ Flood, Marty Smyth and former soccer star Tony Cascarino.
The day started eventful and unpleasant for Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani when
$1,000,000 freeroll at paradise Poker
he moved all-in over the top of Florian Langmann’s bet on the turn when the board read (10-Hearts)(3-Clubs)(4-Spades)(J-Hearts). Vaswani picked a bad time to make a move, as his (6-Clubs)(7-Clubs) was no good against Langmann’s (A-Hearts)(A-Spades). No gutshot on the river, and Vaswani was eliminated early.
Roland De Wolfe saw his chances at a repeat championship disappear early when his top two pair did not hold up against his opponent’s open-ended straight flush draw. The flop of (J-Diamonds)(9-Diamonds) x hit De Wolfe’s J-9 hard, but when his opponent tabled (Q-Diamonds)(10-Diamonds) after all the money went in, the (K-Diamonds) peeled off on the turn to send De Wolfe packing. Among other notable eliminations on Day 1b were Thomas Wahlroos, John Magill and Age Spets, who lost a coinflip with A-K versus pocket Jacks to end his tournament. 2007 Irish Open champion Marty Smyth ran into pocket Aces to end his tournament early, and early chip leader Anthony Lellouche flopped a straight and got all his money in good against an opponent holding top pair and a flush draw only to fall to runner-runner full house.
The day went much better for Surinder Sunar, who picked up a monster pot early in the day that left him in good position all through Day 1b. After calling a preflop raise, Sunar raised on a flop of (J-Diamonds)(6-Hearts)(K-Hearts). His opponent called, then checked to Sunar when the turn brought the (9-Diamonds). Sunar fired at the pot again, and led out again when the (8-Clubs) came on the river. His opponent paid him off on every street, and Sunar tabled pocket sixes for a flopped set and dragged the pot. Sunar held on to his chips all day, finishing in the top 5 on the leaderboard.
Liam ‘The Gentleman’ Flood rode a chip rollercoaster for much of the day, finally getting off the short stack as the end of Day 1b approached. Flood picked up Aces against Raul Mestre, and all the money went in preflop as Flood’s Aces dominated Mestre’s Queens. The board came down (7-Clubs)(J-Diamonds)(4-Hearts)(8-Clubs)(J-Clubs), and Flood doubled up to finish the day in good shape for Day 2.
As the day wore on, Annette Obrestad was relatively quiet until she managed a late-day double up. In the big blind with 6-7, Obrestad checked preflop and along with the small blind and a limper from the button saw the flop of 6-7-J. Obrestad checked the flop, and the button led out. The small blind folded and Obrestad raised substantially. The button reraised enough to put Obrestad all in, and she called with her flopped two pair. The button tabled his Aces, having limped in with a monster, and Obrestad doubled up with her big blind special.
As the end of Day 1b neared, Liam Flood and Roy ‘The Boy’ Brindley tangled in a big hand. On a 9-high flop with two clubs, Brindley checked, Flood led out, and Brindley check-raised. Flood pushed all-in over the top and Brindley called with (J-Clubs)(8-Clubs) for a flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. Flood turns over (J-Hearts)(J-Spades), and no club comes to keep Brindley alive. ‘The Gentleman’ finished the day with a strong chip stack while ‘The Boy’ went to the rail.
November 01, 2007
October 20th turned out to be a momentous day in the history of ladies-only event poker. This has been an annual event for several years, one that local ladies look forward to. But this year the tournament was different, as reflected in the name: “Ladies” was removed from the event title. Men were allowed to play this year due to a pending lawsuit with the Hustler Casino.
The $100+$25 event, with one rebuy and a guaranteed prize pool of $15,000, drew 105 players of which 31 were men. That’s right, once again the men have felt their feminine side surfacing to draw them to play in a ladies-only event. I can only envision the stock soaring at Milwaukee’s Best Light, but the poker gods didn’t
Pokerstars
see the bright light at the Hustler Casino. Something else was amiss here, but what? Amid the rumblings, Larry Flynt, the owner of the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California, made a rare appearance at his wife Liz’s hosted poker event.
Mr. Flynt opened the event by welcoming everyone, then explaining the current situation that caused the casino to allow registration into the event by men. It seems that the Hustler Casino is involved in a situation that will cause them to defend their ladies-only events, while also addressing another situation that caused Mr. Flynt’s attorneys to advise against advertising “ladies only”. While the situation is still unclear, it appears that once again Larry Flynt is defending his constitutional rights according to his own views and beliefs. The Ladies Only event obviously is related only on the basis of debate. In an earlier article I stated the California anti-discrimination law that would be enforceable in many situations like this. California law states that all business establishments must provide all services and advantages to customers without discriminating against age, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, or gender. With the usual Larry Flynt flair, he vowed to fight this lawsuit to the highest courts. Larry, you have about 300,000 women in your support corner! Good luck!
Jose Canseco Spotted at Caesar’s Ladies Classic
The first Caesar’s Classic ladies event drew 121 ladies to play for a prize pool of $129,000. Winner Mary Louise took home the $34,000 first-place prize. In another part of the tournament room, a satellite was being played for seats into the Caesar’s Classic main event. I spied Jose Canseco giving it a go for a main-event seat. Maybe he didn’t know there was a Ladies Only event going on at the other end of the room, or he’s learned his lesson!
October 31, 2007
Another semester has nearly passed at the University of Minnesota, which would typically mean yet another cold front is on the horizon for students looking for poker action around the Twin Cities. But this year seems to go against the norm, as poker games have become abundant on and off campus, not to mention the addition of a new campus-sponsored poker club. With midterms and finals just around the corner, students at the University of Minnesota are seeing an end to an impressive semester of poker.
Though the close of the fall semester brings about an end to many semester-long campus poker events across the country, the students at the University of Minnesota have just witnessed the creation of
Mansion
Campus Poker Night, the first campus poker organization for the university. The CPN will begin hosting weekly meetings in the form of tournaments on Friday nights starting in November which will be held in the Electrical Engineering/CSI building. The tournaments are free and are open to any students wishing to participate. Each tournament will run for two hours or more with prizes being poker-related items such as poker chip sets, decks of cards, and poker books. The CPN hopes that the tournaments will focus more on learning strategy and helping students develop a better understanding for the game, rather than being a competitive, intimidating setting.
Prior to the CPN, the only school-sponsored poker action University of Minnesota students could take part in was the Gopher After Dark program, a casino night for students which focused more on the beginner’s side of things. The CPN hopes that students will find their meetings as an alternative most suited to their poker tastes. For now the majority of the Campus Poker Night meetings will be NL Hold’em tournaments, but Kristian Lovato, president of the CPN, looks forward to branching out and including some mixed events in the future, ranging from H.O.R.S.E. all the way to Deuce-to-Seven Lowball and 5-Card Draw. While these events may be a ways off, Lovato wants to see the group help students build their arsenal of poker knowledge, something mixed events will certainly accomplish.
Outside of the CPN, students throughout the Twin Cities and St. Paul campuses have many poker options available to them, some of which are new this year and already seeing great success. The Sportsman Bar and Grill holds two free tournaments on Sundays and Mondays, with the first session starting at 7pm and the second at 10pm. The tournaments are free to enter, though you must be at least 21 years old to be admitted. These tournaments mostly serve as a great time for friends to get together, drink, and play poker, but they do offer up bar tabs as prizes for the top finishers.
Students should also make sure to check out www.twincitiespoker.com for regularly scheduled events and tournaments. The site features schedules for weekly tournaments at bars located around the Twin Cities, plus forums where players can find ring games and tournaments and discuss events. The site has a massive amount of information on freerolls, so if you’re a student just trying to find a fun, cheap way to play or learn, this site has an event for you.
Students wishing to stay around the campus instead of venturing further into the city will find mostly fun, light games in dorm rooms and off-campus residences. There are regular, easy-to-find $5 tournaments across campus while some students hold ring games off campus with stacks a bit steeper. But be warned, the $5 tournaments are typically short games, where students are more interested in socializing and drinking than they are at turning a good profit, so if you’re looking to build up your bankroll, you may have to leave the comforts of home and head to Canterbury Park in Shakopee.
While the trip from campus may stretch over 30 minutes, Canterbury Park makes it well worth your while with regular cash games, NL Hold Em tournaments, and sit-’n'-gos. Canterbury Park houses a poker room with no less than 34 poker tables, spreading regular games of Hold’em, 7-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, and Omaha Hi/Lo. Stakes vary from as small as $2/4 to as big as $30/60. If you’re looking for ring-game action with great chances to increase your bankroll, look no further. Tournament buy-ins vary from as low as $50 for a NL Hold’em Shootout to as high as $200 for the Wednesday night tournaments. Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and 7-Card Stud all also feature bad-beat jackpots, with just $1 dropped from the first $15 of each pot. But possibly the best attraction of Canterbury Park for students is the age restriction for the card room. Players must be only 18 or older to play, making it a prime destination for students.
Students at the University of Minnesota have seen an explosion in poker throughout the area this year. With campus gatherings such as Campus Poker Night, as well as the local card room in Canterbury Park, students are never without a great poker game, whether on or off campus. Although the first semester of the year is almost over, these options certainly give poker-playing students something to look forward to upon returning next semester.
October 30, 2007
Over 130 online poker players have assembled in Melbourne over the past week, and played their hearts out at the PokerNews Cup. Over 15 different countries were represented among the players, who enjoyed a week of activities and poker – most of them paying zero for the entire experience.
Things got underway last Thursday with the Team PokerNews welcome party at the Crown Casino. Every group of players you passed at the party, you heard poker being discussed in a different language. The players were chomping at the bit and ready to play some poker.
Event number one kicked off with a bang, as 554 players saddled up for the very
Duplicate Poker
first PokerNews Cup event ever. Steve Charles wound up outlasting the field, coming back from having less than one big blind at the final table to take down the win.
The players were treated to a day tour of one of Australia’s oldest wineries, the De Bortoli Winery, as part of their Team PokerNews winner’s packages. Winners toured the facility, learning a fair bit about winemaking while tasting the fruits of the vineyard and talking poker into the night.
Shaking off the wine rust, the winners were up early the next morning for a cruise up the Yarra River. The boat lazily drifted up the river as the players started the prior night’s party all over again. As the boat floated back into the dock, most of the players made it an early night, with the Main Event looming the next day.
The PokerNews Cup Main Event drew 428 players, creating a $1.1M prize pool. Players fidgeted up and down the aisles as the start drew near, some of them playing in their first ever ‘big buy-in’ poker tournament. Some lucky and good poker player was going to take home a $300,000 first prize.
Of the 130 players that won packages, about 100 of them qualified completely for free. For most of them, this was the first trip they had ever won for poker and many of the players nervously took their seats as play began.
Achim Grimm, a player from Cologne, Germany, had this to say about his PokerNews Cup experience: “I came to Australia, and didn’t know what I could do at the table. I’ve only been playing poker online for about eleven months and I wanted to represent myself well. I played in the $230, the $550, and the Main Event. I feel I played really well in the events. I won the package on a freeroll at Everest Poker, so my cost for the whole trip was only my entries into the preliminary events; everything else was included. It was a great experience.”
Theirry Jamar, a player from Pua, France, who qualified for the PokerNews Cup for free on Full Tilt, agrees. “It was great. The hotel was first class, the tournament staff was excellent, and overall it was a very nice experience.”
When the dust settled, it was Dory Zayner that took down the title and won AU $300,000. As for the Team PokerNews representatives, Jordan Lamberg, who qualified for free on Duplicate Poker, turned his $0 investment into a $47,900 payday.
The PokerNews Cup was a smashing success. Ready for another? Keep checking back with PokerNews.com for an announcement on the next PokerNews Cup Event. The experience is one to remember, and you can’t beat the price.
October 29, 2007
The city’s two video bingo parlors have brought in more than $4.2 million in gross profits during their first complete year of operations, according to estimates based on city tax collections.
The two parlors pay a 20 percent tax on their total take to the city each quarter.
Together, they paid $848,673 in city taxes on revenues from Oct. 2, 2006, through Sept. 30 this year.
The yearly estimates are based on the city’s latest quarterly tax collections for video poker, which is also the fourth public accounting of the parlors’ business.
In the period of July through September, the parlors brought in an estimated $1.1 million in revenues and paid the city $224,240 in taxes.
Video bingo is much like video poker in that users insert money into machines to play the games.
However, video bingo machines are used by sponsoring charities for fundraising purposes and are regulated under laws other than those controlling video poker.
The parlors — Cypress Palace Bingo and Hammond Bingo Palace — opened their doors on Oct. 2, 2006, which was more than a year after the City Council enacted a controversial ordinance in 2005 authorizing video bingo inside city limits.
Mayor Mayson Foster vetoed the ordinance, but the council overrode the mayor’s veto.
Video poker was outlawed throughout Tangipahoa Parish by a local-option vote in 1996.
A quarter of the city’s video bingo revenue goes into a reserve fund for a proposed children’s museum. For the latest quarter, $56,060 was set aside, officials said.
The remaining tax revenues were earmarked solely for capital-improvement projects by the City Council last month. For the latest quarter, $168,180 will go into a capital-improvements fund.