Perry Friedman rocks the Full Tilt Poker “grill” to go with his corn rows

I’ve generally stuck to doing a “Week in Pictures” during the preliminary events of the WSOP but I now realize that I’ll be getting more photos than I know what to do with now that we’ve come to the Main Event.  So now we’re going to switch up to daily posts as long as we continue to get quality images.

Day 1a started with 1,116 and finished with 821 players.  A good number of Team Full Tilt survived to see Day 2.

More photos after the jump:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1a Pictures

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1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1b Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures

It’s Friday so that means it’s time for the Week in Pictures.  These are just some of the collection that did not make any posts during the week but are worthy of your time

View of the final table of Event #27 Pot Limit Omaha/8.  Three Full Tilt members were present but Roland De Wolfe would defeat Omaha-guru Scott Clements for the title.

More pictures after the jump:

Perry Friedman and John Juanda would find themselves seated next to each other to start the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event #21.  Juanda and Ivey have the unofficial lead in the massage therapist challenge.  Neither Juanda or Friedman would cash in this event.  Gavin Smith would go the furthest for Team Full Tilt just missing the final table. Blogger CK31 would take her Battle of the Blogger tournament prize and ride it to a 39th place finish in the money.

Lee Watkinson playing in Event #24. One of the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournaments where the big guns are generally looking to double up or prepare for the big 5pm game.  Watkinson has one cash during the 2009 WSOP for just over $22,000.

Jon “Pearljammer” Turner starting in the $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Low tournament.  Turner would make the final table which was loaded with names like Phil Ivey, Carlos Mortensen, and Dutch Boyd. Ivey would get the glory at the end of the day winning his 2nd WSOP bracelet in 2009.

Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie did not make his appearance at the 2009 World Series of Poker until early this week.  Wasting very little time, he entered the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event #26 and came just one spot from making his first WSOP final table.  He finished 10th for a cool $13,000 and change.

At yet another Full Tilt stacked final table, Roland De Wolfe overcame all others including Scott Clements (above) and Andy Black.  It always seems Clements is ready to come over the table and take your chips personally.  De Wolfe appears to be eyeing up the bracelet, which he would collect at the end of the tournament.

Kelly Kim plays in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #28).  Kim would cash in the tournament, his first cash since finishing 8th in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Coming into the 2009 World Series of Poker many thought this would be the year Vivek Rajkumar made a huge splash, your humble author included.  Rajkumar has collected nearly $2,000,000 in tournament earnings since September.  Unfortunately Rajkumar has found himself on the wrong end of coolers and bad beats with no cashes in the series so far this year.

Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman made the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table as well as John Juanda.  Boatman started with the chip lead but would leave the tournament is 4th place.  Also in the picture is eventual winner J.C. Tran.

French favorite Fabrice Soulier playing in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament.  Soulier would go on to make the final table and finish in 7th.  To date he has 5 cashes during the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Blogger Lana “LJ” Maier would make another deep run and represent well.  She finished just short of the final table.

Team Full Tilt members Josh Arieh and Steve Zolotow playing in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em World Championship.  The tournament would eventually be won by fellow Team Full Tilt member Greg “FBT” Mueller after a long, grueling final table.

Allen Cunningham is another Full Tilt pro who made a late appearance at the series this year.  He is playing in Event #34 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament which he would go on to finish in the money.

Nick Schulman considers his action during the No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw World Championship final table.  Schulman would go on to win after handling a very tough table that included John Juanda, David Benyamine, Michael Binger, Archie Karas and Ville Wahlbeck.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures

Related posts:

1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 5 in Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 4 in Pictures

All images credited to IMDPI.

Pictures after the jump, click to enlarge.

Eli Elezra playing in the 2009 World Series of Poker Event #3 Limit Omaha/8.
He would go on to cash in 20th place.

Fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig playing in Event # 4 “Stimulus Special”

2007 WSOP Main Event Champion Jerry Yang in The Champions Invitational, which was new to the 200 World Series of Poker.  The tournament featured former WSOP Main Event winners. Tom McEvoy eventually won the Binion’s Cup.

Poker legend Ted Forrest was eliminated in 9th at the final table of the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em Event #2.  An event to honor the 40th Anniversary of the World Series of Poker, the field was stacked with some of the best players in the world.

Prior to the 2009 World Series of Poker, there were thoughts that this would be the year of the Russian poker players.  Full Tilt pro Vitaly Lunkin started on the right foot by winning the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament.

The $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament was one of final tables to be broadcast by ESPN.  Winner Vitaly Lunkin is sitting in front of his piles of cash and giving the traditional Norm Chad post-victory interview.

Jeff Madsen ponders his action during Day 1B of the $1,000 “Stimulus Special”.
Gavin Smith in the foreground.

Amanda “Mandy B” Baker playing on Day 2 of the $1,000 “Stimulus Special”.  She would go on a great run but finish in 33rd.  $22,000 return on her $1,000 investment.

Allen Cunningham ponders the action during the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament

Erick Lindgren starts Day 2 of the World Championship Seven Card Stud

Erica Schoenberg playing in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #7

Between hands in the No Limit 2-7 Draw tournament, Chris Ferguson takes time to play some games on his phone

Phil Ivey plays Day 2 of the No Limit 2-7 Draw tournament.
Bracelet number 6 is just days away.

Phil Ivey eyes up bracelet number 6 during NL 2-7 Draw final table.
He would win it eventually after a 3 hour heads-up battle with John Monnette.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – The Week in Pictures

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1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 4 in Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 5 in Pictures

Allen Cunningham is among many Full Tilt Pros ready to cash in the Five Diamond Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Your humble blogger has returned successfully from a Las Vegas vacation with my liver and bankroll intact. There are many tales to come from playing in the charity poker game, watching bloggers donk their way through a deepstack tournament at the Venetian and playing too many -EV games. I’ll have those stories later in the week.

There are a couple of really big tournaments going on these days and Full Tilt has their representatives. The World Series of Poker Circuit event in Atlantic City is down to their Main Event final table and the Five Diamond Poker Classic at the Bellagio will have the money bubble burst later today. Those details and the final payouts from the Big Money Sunday tournaments after the jump.

Bill Gazes was the deepest Tilter in the World Series of Poker Circuit event in Atlantic City but came up short of the money in 24th. With only 179 players deciding to play, only the top 18 paid. Notable players to make it through are pro-player/blogger Matt Mattros finished in 12th for $13,874 and AC tournament regular Alan Bari goes in the final table sitting second in chips.

Most of the big names could be found playing in Doyle Brunson’s Five Diamond Poker Classic in Las Vegas. Just shy of 500 players paid $15,000 to enter the big Bellagio event and Day 3 will see the money bubble burst. Full Tilt pros sitting in the field looking for a deep run include Allen Cunningham, Robert Mizrachi, Jon “Pearljammed” Turner (cheers to the online pro) and David Oppenheim. Mike Matusow and Roy Winston are still alive but below the average chip stack. Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Scott Clements and Kristy Gazes have some work to do sitting on shorter stacks. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to let you know who makes it through to the cash and who’s going to make a big move for the championship.

Over 13,000 players generated nearly $1.5 Million in prizepool money this Sunday during the big guarantee tournaments. Unfortunately they all occurred while I was busy running around various Las Vegas poker rooms and was not able to catch any of the action. Listed below you can find the final table payouts for all 4 tournaments.

The Sunday Brawl
Entrants – 1,944
Prizepool – $388,800
First place – $80,092.80

Final table results:

1st – Tojabei – $80,092.80
2nd – Sumpas – $52,876.80
3rd – ChokerFold – $39,268.80
4th – f1rebetman – $30,715.20
5th – KingFish83 – $22,939.20
6th – Scary_Tiger – $15,940.80
7th – oh i win yay – $9,720
8th – The Lab Rat – $6,609.60
9th – stockbrokerr – $4,665.60

$100K Double Deuce
Entrants – 7,000
Prizepool – $140,000
First place – $27,232.80

Final table results:

1st – Kenny the Stud – $27,232.80
2nd – jetsfan411 – $16,660
3rd – Fathomer – $11,760
4th – aegisfang – $8,400
5th – Keep3r – $6,020
6th – jiddygee – $4,060
7th – anders2206 – $2,800
8th – snydes26 – $1,960
9th – IAMATOOLSHED – $1,400

$750,000 Guarantee
Entrants – 3,485
Prizepool – $750,000 ($53,000 overlay)
First place – $132,787.50

Final table results:

1st – dudetronic – $132,787.50
2nd – skullkicker – $80,250
3rd – oldist – $52,500
4th – rusotreet – $41,400
5th – czares – $31,050
6th – shAAAArk – $23,025
7th – smfit29 – $17,250
8th – The Yid – $13,500
9th – Bbuddy4brkfst – $10,050

The Sunday Mulligan
Entrants – 1,084
Prizepool – $216,800
First place – $48,780

Final table chip counts and results:

1st – H n F R Mangos – $48,780
2nd – cwm1981 – $31,436
3rd – jAbAthenuts – $23,306
4th – cuzitsdelicious – $17,886
5th – rscpunk – $13,550
6th – IBetANickel – $9,756
7th – Margin Of Error – $6,504
8th – cmdnst – $4,878
9th – pojai – $3,468.80

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Big Money Sundays – December 14th

Related posts:

1. Big Money Sundays
2. Big Money Sunday – December 7th
3. Big Money Sunday – December 21st

This time around, we’re talking about the man, the myth, the swine legend that is Allen “Clever Piggy” Cunningham.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of sitting across from the quiet Mr. Cunningham at the poker table, all we can say is consider yourself lucky. It’s not that Allen is a bad guy. Far from it – he’s one of the nicest, mellowest people you’ll ever meet. He’s also a bad-ass motherfucker who’ll take every last chip from your stack and get you to thank him for the experience.

Yeah, we like Allen a lot. That’s why it’s nice to report that he’s achieved not one, but two, career milestones this past week. First, he won his first-ever WSOP-C title and champion’s ring, so he has a little more jewelry to flash along with his five WSOP bracelets. If that’s not enough, the more than $499K Allen took home for first place put his career tournament winnings at more than $10.1 million – good enough for fourth place on the all-time money list.

Of course, we all know that Allen – like Chuck Norris – thinks fourth place is for losers. Look for him to take this title by the end of the summer*

*This is a Big Donkey prediction and therefore, should be treated with the same gravitas as if you gave a blindfolded midget three shots of Jose Cuervo and asked him to throw darts at pictures on the wall.

OK, let me start by apologizing to Steve Martin for my homage to Navin R. Johnson’s famous phone book scene from The Jerk. Sometimes, you just can’t improve on the original. (And if you’re too young to remember The Jerk, my advice is rush right out and pick up a copy – as soon as you finish reading this blog, of course.)

Anyway, all of that is just my way of saying that FTP released a pretty big update with some cool new features that you probably want to check out. Open up the game (go ahead, we’ll wait) and check out the lobby. See all those smiley faces? That’s Happy Hour where you can earn double and triple points just by playing in ring games and tourneys. Sweet, huh?

If you’re a tournament fan, you probably want to check out the new Shootouts that the programming geeks have created for your pleasure. Playing like a combo of an SNG and MTT, shootouts give you a chance to win an entire tournament just by winning two or three individual tables. Last, but certainly not least, there are completely new Tournament Leaderboards so you can follow all of your progress as your tournament game improves. You can even create custom Leaderboards to track your favorite events.

Now, pardon me while I play the Poker From The Rail four-player, $1 SNG. The winner quadruples their bankroll.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: One Clever Piggy

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1. The Week at FTP: Another Week, Another Bracelet
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3. The Week at FTP: WPT Action

In other news, this week’s match will be a short one due to the fact that I’m now on the run from the police for a crime I was falsely accused of – I’m like The Fugitive, except I’m not as cool as Harrison Ford and I’d never let myself get pwned by a one-armed man. At any rate, this week’s match features a three seed versus 14 seed showdown, with Allen “I wish people would stop calling me Clever Piggy” Cunningham taking on Chip “Husband of Karina Jett” Jett. Check out the full bracket below, on to the show:

Category	Allen Cunningham	Chip Jett	Survey Says
Career Earnings	Nearly $10 million (hot damn – you could buy a really nice car with that kind of cash!)	Over $2 million	Man, these poker players with their millions of dollars really grind my gears. You know what else really grinds my gears? People who wear shorts everyday, even when it’s cold outside. What’s up with that? Anyway, Cunningham takes the early lead due to his whopping tourney cash-outs.
Major Titles	5 WSOP gold bracelets	None	You know what else really grinds my gears – albinos. Get some pigment, for the love of god. Cunningham two, Jett zero.
Tournament Play	One of the best tourney players in the world.	Excellent tourney player, almost as good as his wife, Karina Jett.	While good old Chippy is no slouch at tourney play, this category has to go to Clever Piggy. As Norman Chad might say: “What are they thinking? This is Allen Cunningham!” The beat down continues.
Cash Game Play	As long as it doesn’t affect his tourney schedule.	As long as he’s sitting next to his wife, Karina Jett.	I’m no expert on these things (which is exactly why I write this column), but I don’t think either of these guys are big cash game players. I’m sure they both play in the cash games on occasion, but both are known more as tourney players. With that in mind, this category goes to Cunningham because he’s a clever piggy and you’re not (which is a good thing, I think).
Playing Style	Pig In Shit	Whiplash	I was going to make some clever comment here about Chip Jett being vaginally whipped, but thought better of it. Who am I to judge? The last time I had a girlfriend (which was approximately 1907) I was more whipped than Cobra Kai after Daniel-son Crane-kicked their asses back to last Tuesday (and yes, I did just watch The Karate Kid the other night). All of which has nothing to do with how these two play poker – I just wanted to talk about movies for a minute. Let’s give this category to Chip – I’m sure he’s the one who wears the pants in that family.
Nickname	Clever Piggy	Karina Jett’s Husband	Clever Piggy might be the worst nickname ever bestowed upon a poker player. But considering that Chip Jett has no nickname, this one has to go to Cunningham as well. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

So there you have it, Cunningham takes down Chip Jett by a score of five to one. Sorry for the abbreviated session this week kids, I’ll be back in full swing next week. Unless Tommy Lee Jones catches me, but he’s pretty old now so I can’t see that happening. And just so we’re perfectly clear on everything, I didn’t kill my wife! Until next week…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: Allen Cunningham Versus Chip Jett

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