Enjoy.

More pics after the jump:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Days 1c and 1d Pictures

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1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Ante Up for Africa Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Day 2b Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1b Pictures

While all this is going on, the good folks at Image Masters continue to provide us with some great action shots during the tournaments.  Every morning I receive pictures from the day before that I use to enhance the stories I try to bring the readers.  I hope they’ve added to the experience.

Today I bring you some photos from Week 2 of the 2009 World Series of Poker without my ramblings.  A small taste of what we have available, look for a full gallery coming in the next few days.  All pictures courtesy of Image Masters.

Pictures after the jump, click to enlarge:

The Two Faces of Andy Black
Andy Black started off the 2009 World Series of Poker with players talking about his play AND his appearance. He seemed to be rocking the beard and laid back look at the beginning and looked completely different during Week 2. Your investigative blogger will get to the bottom of this before the end of the series.

Phil Ivey collects World Series of Poker bracelet #6 at the daily ceremony from WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

Phil Ivey wasted no time after winning his 6th WSOP bracelet. He hopped right back into action.  Full Tilt pro Beth Shak in the foreground and may be the recipient of the Ivey stare.

Legends side-by-side.  Erik Seidel and Mike Sexton grinding away in Event #15 of the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Seidel came close to winning his 9th WSOP bracelet in the Pot Limit Hold’em tournament had to settle for a seventh place finish.  Seidel is tied with another legend, Johnny Moss, with 8 WSOP bracelets.

Svetlana Gromenkova and Karina Jett were just a few of the Full Tilt pros to represent in the 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Championship. Gromenkova won this event in 2008 but was unable to defend her title.

“Miami” John Cernuto and John Juanda playing in Event #16 $1,500 Seven Card Stud tournament.  “Miami” John would put up a great fight ending up in 11th.  Juanda had his first shot at bracelet number 5 by making the final table. Juanda’s run ended with a 5th place finish.

Howard Lederer playing in the $10,000 Mixed World Championship.  It’s been a slow start to the series for “The Professor” this year with only one cash to date.  No doubt he’ll be a factor as the series progresses.

Both David Chiu and Huck Seed won their way to the final table of the $10,000 Mixed Championship with a chance to add to their jewelry collection.  Seed collected over $102,000 for his 5th place finish and Chiu was the runner up for $304,000 but no new trophies on his wrist.

Erica Schoenberg only has one cash in the 2009 World Series of Poker but continues her search for a WSOP bracelet.  As a railbird favorite, she is always easy to find in the poker room.

It’s never a dull moment when Perry Friedman is in the poker room.  He started the series by sporting a “Full Tilt Poker grill” (gold hip hop teeth things for us uncool folk) and he added a little twist in Week 2.  It’s tough to see but he rocking the cornrows on each side of his head with Full Tilt spelled out in beads.  Who knows what to expect in Week 3.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures

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1. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 5 in Pictures
2. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 4 in Pictures
3. 2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 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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With the 2009 WPT World Championship going on at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, queen of the WPT Amanda Leatherman sits down with the top players during breaks for short, informal video interviews. I’ll be posting some of them over the next few days so you can get some inside info on your favorite players. They have a bunch from the Full Tilt pros and I’ll start with two of my favorites.

After the jump you can find interviews with Erica Schoenberg talking about beer pong and Kristy Gazes discussing many things.

Enjoy.

Videos courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Erica Schoenberg and Kristy Gazes video interviews

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2. The Pros Speak: Erica Schoenberg
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Nenad Medic playing in the 2008 Festa al Lago tournament at the Bellagio
Poker legend Doyle Brunson in the foreground
Photo credit: WorldPokerTour.com

Full Tilt pros continue to make during WPT Main Events. This time up it’s Nenad Medic making the final table of Festa al Lago held at the Bellagio this weekend. The $15,000 buyin tournament brought out a small but very tough field of 368 players with first place taking away $1,411,015.

Medic was unable to add to his 2005 WPT Caribbean or 2008 WSoP titles, falling short of the championship in 4th, cashing for a cool $373,010. Bertran “Elky” Grospillier hit the final table with a commanding chip lead and ran over the field with ridiculously aggressive play to claim his first WPT title.

Along with Nenad Medic, the following Team Full Tilt pros made a nice run and cashed in the event.

19th – Scott Clements – $42,630
20th – Erica Schoenberg – $42,630
22nd – Brad Booth – $31,975
45th – David Chiu – $21,315
48th – Beth Shak – $21,315

David Benyamine and Erica Schoenberg playing during 2008 Festa al Lago
Photo Credit: WorldPokerTour.com

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2008 Festa al Lago Final Results

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2. 2008 North American Poker Championship – Gavin Smith makes final TV table
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Yesterday’s $750,000 Guarantee attracted a nice field of 4,057 players and had a prize pool of more than $800K. A hearty round of congrats are in order for all of the players who took part in this enormous donkament (go ahead, pat yourselves on the back), but especially our winner syzygy-1-1-1-1, who can now afford to go on a nice little shopping spree with his newfound $143,285.13.

But the big story of the day had to be David Benyamine’s better half (much, much better), Erica “The Poker Babe” Schoenberg, making a deep run in the $750K Guarantee all the way to the final table. Unfortunately, Erica didn’t quite complete her mission and wound up being the first player eliminated from the final table. Don’t feel too bad for Ms. Schoenberg though, she took home more than $10K for her efforts – not a horrible return for a $200 investment. Brains, beauty, and poker skills to boot – she really is the complete package boys.

Meanwhile, there was some seriously sick action going down at the PLO ring-game tables yesterday. Team Full Tilt’s Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen and John Juanda were joined at a $200/$400 PLO table by high-stakes regulars SteveSung, Pr1nnyraid and LoLiNa for some $20K flips. This was degeneracy at its finest folks – please do not try this at home.

JJ was the big winner for the session, taking home around $280K – a nice payday for one of the nicest guys in poker. LoLiNa also had a very nice session, ending the day up about $90K. I look forward to the day I can afford to take $20K flips, seems like it would be fun. Then again, I look forward to the day when I actually make at least $20K a year (target date: 2052).

The Madness strikes back as we wait for the return of the FTOPS…

Just a heads up for all the Tilters out there in Pokerland – as promised, we’re running another round of Sit & Go Madness this weekend. The fun kicks off on Friday, August 1^st at 14:00 ET and goes all the way through to Sunday, August 3^rd at 14:00. There’s more than $75K in cash and prizes up for grabs, so if you’re a SNG player or just like winning cash and prizes, this one’s for you.

We’re also rapidly approaching zero hour for FTOPS IX (or 9, for those of you not fluent in Roman numerals). The action gets going on Wednesday, August 6^th with Event #1, a $1 million guarantee NLHE donkament, and runs through Sunday, August 17^th when the $2.5 million guaranteed Main Event takes place. There’s more than $15 million guaranteed over the 25 events of this mammoth series, so please don’t miss out on a second of the best donkament action around.

That’s all for now folks. If you’re hankering for more of The Rail we’ll have some new Bond18 action up for you in a bit, and AlCantHang will return soon with another round of Bloggers On The Rail – make sure to check them both out. Have a good one…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: Schoenberg Me the Money!

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1. Erica Schoenberg and Kristy Gazes video interviews
2. The Pros Speak: Erica Schoenberg
3. The Week at FTP: It’s Manic!

Of course, we can’t afford the kind of vacation that Reverse can now treat himself to, but then again, we didn’t just take down more than $456K for winning the Main Event. Nearly 5,300 players ponied up the $500 entry fee for this Mother-of-All-FTOPS events and, in the end, the fight for the gold jersey came down to Reverse and FTP’s own Thomas the Walrus Wahlroos.

On the final hand, Wahlroos pushed all-in with K-9 of diamonds only to be dogged by Reverse who made the call holding the A-5 of clubs. When a 5 fell on the flop, Reverse’s small pair was enough to secure his victory. Wahlroos earned more than $276K for second place, which is the second highest cash prize a pro has won in any FTOPS event. (Erick Lindgren claimed bragging rights last week when he took home nearly $292K and the gold jersey for winning Event #9.)

If we were the guys over at Wicked Chops, we’d spice this section up with photos of some really hot looking women. Unfortunately, we’re not those guys and our bosses remind of that fact every time we try to slip some skin into this blog.

So, for a less-than-satisfying online quickie, here are some of the big numbers from FTOPS VII:

• Events – 20
• Guaranteed prize money – $10 million
• Overall players (all events) – 43,247
• Actual prize money (all events) – 15,353,500
• Combined prize money of all event winners – $3,214,082.12

All we can say at this point is “Yowza!” (We’ve got limited vocabularies, if you haven’t noticed.)

Andy Black’s tournament drought is over. The “Mad Monk” of poker won his first major title earlier this week by becoming the Party Poker Premier League Champion after defeating fellow FTP pro Roland de Wolfe in heads-up play.

Black, who’s built a reputation as one of the game’s premier player and (unfortunately) choke artists, managed to avoid the costly mistakes that have derailed him in the late stages of other large tourneys like the WSOP and the Aussie Millions. Aside from the all-important title, Black victory added $250K to his bankroll.

It’s a good thing Monks no longer have to take a vow of poverty, huh Andy?

But not as much as our pros do – especially the ones who are in town for the World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic. We’re still a week away from the $10K Main Event, but the side games and preliminary tournaments are drawing a big crowd to the Commerce. Some of the highlights over the past week include:

• Toto Leonidas taking fourth in Event 18, a $,2500 NLH tournament
• Erica Schoenberg finishing 12^th in Event 19, a $1,000 NLH tournament
• David Pham taking eighth in Event 22 – another $2,500 NLH tournament

And, for those of you who follow these things, it’s worth noting that David, who was the 2007 CardPlayer Player of the Year, is currently fifth on this year’s leaderboard. He’s followed closely by fellow FTP pros Erik Seidel in 10^th and Lee Watkinson in 14^th.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Week at FTP: Another FTOP-ical Post

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Always pleasant, she was quick to respond and tell us a bit about herself. Here’s what she had to say:

What does “poker lifestyle” mean to you?

It’s an unusual life that has lots of pros and cons – as with any job. I think that one of the most difficult aspects of the lifestyle is that it’s filled with extreme highs and lows. The reality is that you’re not going to be winning tournaments on a regular basis. It’s kind of like going to work and failing a lot of days.

What’s an “average” day consist of for you?

When I’m not involved in a major tournament, my daily life is filled with simple pleasures. I have breakfast, walk my dogs, answer emails, etc. When David wakes up (usually in the afternoon), we usually play golf or online poker. During tournament time, we basically play poker 24 – 7, like during the Bellagio’s Five Diamond. We keep a room there because we are both playing every day.

Do you like being on the road for tournaments?

Being on the road is sometimes really cool, depending on where you are going. But I always prefer to play in Vegas. It’s nice to play on your “home turf.”

Do you ever play poker just for fun?

When you are away from poker, what do you do to relax?

I love to spend time with my three-year-old nephew. He puts everything back in perspective for me. I also enjoy spending time with David and the dogs, cooking, and watching movies. I read a lot, especially thrillers. And, of course, I listen too all kinds of music. 

What would you do if you weren’t playing poker for a living? 

Couldn’t even venture a guess – this feels like exactly what I was meant to do.

How about telling us a few things about yourself that people probably don’t know?

I’m a dancing machine – my next stop is Dancing with the Stars. In general, I love to laugh and I love animals…and I’m a natural blonde.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

The Pros Speak: Erica Schoenberg

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