Poker From The Rail
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Posted by admin | Filed under Heads Up
UPDATE: Erik Seidel plays Chris Moneymaker in the final
Erik Seidel has taken down some top players on his quest for yet another big win of 2011 at the Heads-Up Poker Championship. He now faces Andrew Robl in the Semifinal. Chris Moneymaker takes on Jonathan Duhamel in the other Semifinal. Keep updated with how it all unfolds over on AlCantHang’s live blog of Day 3.
Here’s what Phil Gordon had to say about facing Seidel before their game yesterday.
Erik and Andrew about to get started:
Tags: 2011, championship, Erik Seidel, nbc heads up poker, Phil Gordon, semifinal
Posted by admin | Filed under Heads Up
Winners updated
Quarterfinal match ups for tomorrow:
Clubs
Olivier Busquet versus Jonathan Duhamel – Winner Duhamel
Spades
Chris Moneymaker versus David Oppenheim – Winner Moneymaker
Hearts
Andrew Robl versus David Benyamine – Winner Robl
Diamonds
Erik Seidel versus Vanessa Selbst – Winner Seidel
Great to see Full Tilt Pros represented in each round.
Here’s a look at how the field has been shrinking
Tags: 2011, David Benyamine, Erik Seidel, NBC Heads-up, poker championship, Quarterfinals
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s always fun to play in the other guy’s sandbox once in a while and a few our pros did just that over the last week. Newly inked Full Tilt pro Shawn Buchanan reportedly won the PCA $5,000 8-game mix tournament for an unknown amount of money and a trophy which is not TSA approved. Team Full Tilt and recent Poker Hall of Fame inductee Erik Seidel crashed the party in the $25,000 High Roller event but only managed a 4th place finish while the $100,000 High Roller final table had both Nick Schulman and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger sporting the Full Tilt logos.
Friend o’ the blog and part of the infamous “poker media”, Kristin “Change100″ made us all proud and will be hoisting a fine ROI after she satellited into the PCA Ladies Event then followed it up with a victory. (Allow this post to be my official congrats!). She battled a tough field and defeated Lauren Kling heads up to take the title. Kling settled for second in that event but did not rest. Just a day later and she had another deep run in the Sunday Mulligan, just missing another final table.
Jon “EMSBas” Spinks was the most visible player during the Sunday majors with a final table in the Sunday Brawl and monthly $1million Guarantee. There was a 3-way chop at that final table assuring all would pick up at least $125,000 with “TheoWalcott14″ making the most added money in the deal. Melanie Weisner was the highest finishing red pro in the $200,000 Guarantee (rebuy) reaching the final table along with Alex “ArgentinaBoy” Queen and Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania. The prize for the dullest heads up match easily goes to Russian players “tvh-tmk888″ and “Nice hAnd ok” who min-raised their way til the sun came up in the Sunday Brawl.
Keep your eyes open for a few promotions coming your way including Double Guarantees Week beginning on January 24th and FTOPS XIX on February 6th. You may also have noted the new Multi_Entry Tournaments were rolled out last week, another crazy twist in tournament poker. Now there is a nightly event aptly dubbed “The Kitchen Sink” and features something for everybody. It is a Multi-Entry, Knockout, SuperTurbo, 6-handed Rush tournament with a $3,000 Guarantee for just a $2.50+.20 buyin. It is one of the craziest tournaments I have ever witnessed, you should give them a shot.
Big Money Sunday results listed below.
The Sunday Brawl
Entrants: 2,864
Prizepool: $572,800
First place: $116,278
1st – tvh-tmk888 – $116,278
2nd – Nice hAnd ok – $75,036
3rd – Guithome – $55,561
4th – PeterPan Fratti – $41,814
5th – LivesWithMommy – $29,212
6th – Crazy Elior – $19,475
7th – rbeckwith – $13,174
8th – Zolyshka – $9,164
9th – Jon “EMSBas” Spinks – $6,873
$200,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)
Entrants: 592
Prizepool: $285,000
First place: $71,250
1st – NatWork – $71,250
2nd – bigt439 – $44,175
3rd – Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania – $32,062
4th – Melanie Weisner – $24,937
5th – leoron2001 – $18,525
6th – torkolort – $13,537
7th – MC Vapor – $8,835
8th – 007paghman – $7,125
9th – Alex “ArgentinaBoy” Queen – $5,557
Notables: Ryan “ryanghall” Hall (16th), Roberto Romanello (20th), Christian “da_professional” Iacobellis (23rd), Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp (24th), Peter “Nordberg” Feldman (28th), Philipp “philbort” Gruissem (31st), JC “PrtyPsux” Alvarado (35th), Somyung Sim (45th), Ross “zestfulyclean” Myers 47th), Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick (51st)
$1,000,000 Guarantee
Entrants: 1,969
Prizepool: $1,181,400
First Place: $217,377
1st through 3rd made a deal:
1st – KiKaMo – $176,731
2nd – elitesrush – $136,568
3rd – TheoWalcott14 – $125,000
4th – CaseL11 – $69,702
5th – Jon “EMSBas” Spinks – $53,163
6th – Young_Jedi76 – $38,041
7th – Dan “Ladbrokes” Smyth – $27,762
8th – huntsville77 – $21,855
9th – MeCrazyYouSane – $16,539
Notables: Ross “zestfulyclean” Myers (12th), John Dolan (20th), Jeremy “JBurleson” Burleson (38th), Marc Karam (52nd), Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson (82nd)
The Sunday Mulligan
Entrants: 1,266
Prizepool: $253,200
First place: $55,704
1st – AshTheDonkey – $55,704
2nd – BadBankroll – $35,448
3rd – Connor “negroblanco” Drinan – $25,636
4th – Ronald “ScarJo” Lee – $20,572
5th – el_klonkador – $15,521
6th – SpaceyFCB – $11,394
7th – smokrokbyflock – $7,342
8th – Motionless Me – $5,317
9th – Sfurtherz – $3,798
Notables: Lauren “locoenlacabeza” Kling (21st), Michael “m_hawk_1″ Hawkins (23rd), Nick “FU_15″ Maimone (40th), Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson (49th), Christiano “crisbus” Guerra (58th), Ryan Daut (59th)
Tags: AlCantHang, Big Money Sunday, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Seidel, Melanie Weisner, Shawn Buchanan
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The World Series of Poker announced today that Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington were elected into the Poker Hall of Fame as the Class of 2010. They bring the Hall up to 40 members which include Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Puggy Pearson, Phil Hellmuth, Stu Ungar, Chip Reese, and Mike Sexton. Seidel and Harrington will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a ceremony on November 8th.
Erik Seidel, a charter member of Team Full Tilt, will enter the hall courtesy of his 8 World Series of Poker bracelets, 3 WPT final tables, 1 WPT title, and over $10,000,000 in career tournament earnings. Seidel’s overall poker skill is on display as eight of his WSOP titles came in five different variations. Limit Hold’em (2 titles), No Limit Hold’em (2), Deuce to Seven Draw (2), Omaha 8 or better (1), and Pot Limit Omaha (1). Unfortunately Seidel may be remembered most for his second place finish in the 1988 Main Event to Johnny Chan which was immortalized in the movie Rounders. Something few people realize, that was just Seidel’s first major poker tournament and the first of his 60 WSOP cashes.
One of the good guys of poker.
Dan Harrington made his mark in the poker world mostly playing part time yet has remarkable resume. He doesn’t have the huge career numbers as some others, but if he is in the field then he is a threat to win make some noise. “Action” Dan has only 10 WSOP cashes to his credit but two of those are victories and five final tables, four in the Main Event which is a feat which may never be repeated. Harrington is probably best remembered for his back-to-back Main Event final table appearances in 2003 and 2004 in the middle of the “Moneymaker” boom. Harrington is also the author of the popular “Harrington on Hold’em” poker strategy series.
The eight players who were nominated this year remain eligible for election in the future. They were Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu and Scotty Nguyen.
Poker Hall of Fame members (by alphabetical order):
Tom Abdo (1982)
Crandell Addington (2005)
Bobby Baldwin (2003)
Billy Baxter (2006)
Lyle Berman (2002)
Joe Bernstein (1983)
Benny Binion (1990)
Jack Binion (2005)
Bill Boyd (1981)
Doyle Brunson (1988)
Johnny Chan (2002)
T.J. Cloutier (2006)
Nick Dandolos (1979)
Barbara Enright (2007)
Fred “Sarge” Ferris (1989)
T “Blondie” Forbes (1980)
Henry Green (1986)
Dan Harrington (2010)
Murph Harrold (1984)
Phil Hellmuth (2007)
James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1979)
Red Hodges (1985)
Edmond Hoyle (1979)
Berry Johnston (2004)
Jack Keller (1993)
Felton McCorquodale (1979)
Roger Moore (1997)
Johnny Moss (1979)
Henry Orenstein (2008)
Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson (1987)
Julius Oral Popwell (1996)
Thomas Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston (1992)
David “Chip” Reese (1991)
Erik Seidel (2010)
Mike Sexton (2009)
Jack “Treetop” Straus (1988)
Duane “Dewey” Tomko (2008)
Stu “The Kid” Ungar (2001)
Red Winn (1979)
Sid Wyman (1979)
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of Fame, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
This week’s list is not necessarily a “Top 5″ list as I will barely mention the durrrr Challenge 2 which everyone seems to be following (for good reason) but more a little Hall of Fame action followed by a few videos. The entire list could be composed solely of poker related videos but decided the 2010 Hall of Fame nominees and Jen Harman news worthy of a mention.
Dwan is down nearly $700,000 to Dan “jungleman12″ Cates, most of the top players in the world have taken up their place in Europe, and Blair Hinkle won the WSOP Circuit Event in some place called “Council Bluffs” (appropriate name). Just a few of the things that did not make the list this week.
1. The 2010 Poker Hall of Fame nominees were released and include 4 members of Team Full Tilt.
2. Jennifer Harman will be inducted to the Women in Poker Hall of Fame along with Kathy Liebert and Billie Brown.
3. Tom “durrrr” Dwan joins This Week in Poker to discuss the durrrr Challenge 2 and his WSOP bracelet prop bets.
4. ABC’s Nightline aired a story about online poker that wasn’t 6 minutes of taking pot shots.
5. Phil Ivey spends 3 solid minutes in front of the camera for a proper interview.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Chris Ferguson, durrrr, durrrr Challenge, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
By yesterday afternoon we were looking at the Erik Seidel show. He began the day sitting among other WSOP bracelet winnners in the Tournament of Champions and would finish that Day 1 sitting atop the leaderboard. Only 4 levels of the ToC will be played each day so the players have a chance to play the open events during the week and Seidel would need that time right off the bat. He was coming into the final day of the Pot Limit Omaha/8 tournament as one of the favorites.
While he was one of the shortstacks to begin the day, you can’t count out the 8-time WSOP bracelet winner when it’s time to get things in gear. Of the 21 returning players he was sporting the 20th place chip stack. After a long grind Seidel joined fellow Full Tilt pro Rob Hollink at the final table along with Perry Green and “Devilfish” Ulliot putting 13 career WSOP bracelets in action between those 4. In the end Seidel was only able to put together a 5th place showing for the effort. Long time grinder and another one of the “good guys” Chris Bell was railed by his good friend Gavin Smith all the way to the end until he defeated Dan Shak heads up to collect his first WSOP bracelet.
Day 2 of the Tournament of Champions will play out and the main stage can be viewed on ESPN3.com from 12:00pm to 4:00pm PT.
We have just one bracelet awarded today with the completion of the $2,500 Mixed Event with 20 players returning. Plenty of big names will be looking to add to their poker resume including Matt “mattyv” Vengrin, Scott Seiver, Steve Sung, John D’Agostino, Todd Brunson, Bill Chen, and Dario Minieri. The tournament is scheduled to restart at 3pm and will likely be a very long day for the players, WSOP staff, and reporters. My pick is Scott Seiver to come from the middle of the pack to capture his second WSOP bracelet.
$2,500 Mix Event top ten chip counts:
1 – Nikolai Yakovenko – 310,000
2 – Matt “mattyv” Vengrin – 276,600
3 – Adam Spiegelberg – 229,500
4 – Jesse Martin – 217,600
5 – Kirk Morrison – 214,900
6 – Stephen Su – 209,700
7 – Scott Seiver – 197,700
8 – Steve Sung – 196,000
9 – Jose Barebero – 193,200
10 – Jared Jaffee – 181,000
There were few big names among the 476 to survive the brutal killing fields of the latest $1,000 NLH combined Day 2 but there are some to watch. Scott Montgomery is still alive coming off his win in last week’s $1,000 Shove-ament. WSOP legend Mikey Appleton is looking to make history as his has bracelet wins in the 80′s, 90′s, and 2000′s (?). His first bracelet came in 1980 and his last was in 2003. Also alive looking to hit the money and further along are Jeff Madsen, Antonio Esfandiari, Olivier “livb” Busquet, David Sklansky, and JJ Liu.
Our two new events today will both feature a lot of action. The noon tournament will be another $1,500 NLHE tournament with just a little more discipline than the $1,000 tournaments. The 5pm tournament will be the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament which will have the chips flying. While you might be lead to think the larger buyin will calm things, we come to learn better. 363 players entered this event last year with Richard Austin taking home the bracelet.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Seidel, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Welcome to my least favorite day of the entire WSOP where we kicked off Event #22: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship. This event draws more and more criticism as the years go by no matter your opinion on the event. Some feel it is sexist, some feel it’s separatist. Some vocally boycott the tournament while we also have some “men” who will dress up as a joke to enter the event. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion on the subject.
Which is why I will be spending the day camped out in the pressbox gathering updates and avoiding the subject. Last year a colleague at a competing site put his opinions down in print and was immediately blasted by one of their top pros. I will not be making that mistake. Today we look forward to crowning two new champions with two members of Team Full Tilt looking for a big payday and pretty jewelry. I will still be keeping an eye on the Ladies Event as it features one of your newest pro, Full Tilt announced earlier today the signing of Lacey Jones (that is her on the right, for the 1% of the reading audience who doesn’t know).
The $10,000 NL Deuce to Seven final ten players will return this afternoon to determine this year’s champion. We have to Full Tilt pros at opposite ends of the bracelet spectrum, both with a good shot at the title. Erik Seidel will be trying to tie Johnny Moss with his 9th career WSOP win while Andy Bloch once again hopes to capture his elusive first. A victory today will give John Juanda his 5th bracelet and nearly $300,000. Day 3 starting chip counts below.
1 – David “Bakes” Baker – 526,000
2 – George Danzer – 425,000
3 – Eric Cloutier – 366,000
4 – Doug Booth – 359,000
5 – Erik Seidel – 280,000
6 – Eric Kesselman – 247,000
7 – John Monnette – 238,000
8 – John Juanda – 225,000
9 – Daniel Negreanu – 223,000
10 – Andy Bloch – 146,000
We will return later in the day with updates, a Lacey Jones profile, and our pictures of the week.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Andy Bloch, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Lacey Jones, WSOP
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
During a break in Event #11 ($1,500 NLH), eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel was kind enough to share his iPod’s current playlist with Poker from the Rail.
As we’ve been asking fans to submit questions for their favorite pros, one of the most consistently asked is “What’s on your iPod?” Erik Seidel is the right pro to ask.
(The National is an all-time favorite of mine. Erik is partial to “Boxer,” while I prefer the album before it, “Alligator.”)
Anyway, Erik Seidel’s website has a section that catalogues his favorite music. It’s a huge collection of great albums, organized by genre. Definitely worth a look.
Tags: Erik Seidel, music
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Bloggers Corner
Hello Railers,
This is my first post, and I’m honored to be joining AlCantHang as a blogger here at Poker from the Rail.
I plan to post regularly about general poker news, as well as happenings within the Full Tilt community. The rest – news commentary, poker humor, strategy essays – I’d like to leave to all you readers. I’ve created an email address, DaveFromTheRail@gmail.com, for you to submit anything you would like to see up here. Ideally, this blog will contain a great deal of reader generated content.
If you have any comments, criticisms, or just need to get a bad beat story off your chest, please feel free to email me.
Here’s a quick roundup of general and Full Tilt news, which should serve as an example of the kinds of posts I’ll be producing:
General Poker News:
On Monday, a New Jersey State Senate committee, citing potential revenue gains, approved a bill to amend the state constitution to allow sports betting in Atlantic City casinos and New Jersey racetracks. The measure would pave the way for possible legalization of intrastate online gambling. The point is moot, however, unless the federal government eliminates its ban on sports betting. (Federal law bans sports betting in all but Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon; only limited parlay wagering is allowed in the last three. Barney Frank (D-MA) is leading the charge in Washington to legalize and regulate online gambling.)
If the bill is approved by the state legislature, it would be sent via referendum to the people of New Jersey.
The Pros This Week:
Tom “durrrr” Dwan published his first blog post of 2010 at durrrr.com. The post is titled “a long year in recap, and isildur part 1″ and in it the Full Tilt Red Pro discusses swings, Isildur1, and some of the impetus behind his offering the fan favorite durrrr Challenge. Dwan also promises to post more often this year, announcing that he will donate $10,000 to charity any month he doesn’t write at least three posts.
February 8 must have been a busy day for Dwan. After blogging, he played 883 hands with Patrik Antonius and extended his lead in the Challenge by $314,828 to just under $1.4 million. You can watch the biggest hands replayed and check official Challenge stats at FullTiltPoker.com/durrrr-vs-antonius.
New At the Academy:
The Full Tilt Poker Academy, which offers teaching videos, interactive lessons, and more, recently added some new content, including an interview of Tom Dwan by Phil Gordon. In a smart and candid discussion, the Dean of the Poker Academy asks the young star about the durrrr Challenge, improving one’s game, and what it takes to be a world class player.
Full Tilt News:
The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XV kicks off Wednesday at 9pm ET with a $200 NLHE tournament hosted by Erik Seidel. Check FullTiltPoker.com for the full schedule of events, list of challenges, and all other things FTOPS.
Tags: Barney Frank, durrrr Challenge, Erik Seidel, FTOPS, Full Tilt Poker Academy, Phil Gordon
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
There were plenty of opportunities for more pictures yesterday during the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1b and some great stories. 655 players of the starting 873 survived the day with even more Tilters moving onto Day 2.
Full Tilt sponsored two players in the Main Event with stories worthy of your interest. Marlon Shirley (pictured right) is a two time Paralympic gold medalist, the first amputee to run the 100 meters in under 11 seconds, and an avid poker player. He came to Las Vegas to play in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event and the Ante Up for Africa Charity event. I could tell you the rest of the story but it be better to let a proper writer do that duty. Fellow blogger Michael Craig has a great writeup with Shirley’s story here. Unfortunately he was not able to “outrun” his poker opponents to reach Day 2a and will not win WSOP gold.
Also wearing Full Tilt red and white was Jack Ury, at 96 he’s simply the oldest to ever play in the WSOP Main Event. Ury has been adding to his record each year since his first Main Event in 2007 at the chipper age of 94. He was enjoying himself and the ESPN cameras were a constant audience. Ury will have to get his rest over the next few days before he comes in Day 2a with just over 23,000 in chips.
You can see the rest of the Day 1b pictures after the jump:
Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Barny Boatman, Bill Edler, Bloggers on the Rail, David Pham, Erik Seidel, Fabrice Soulier, Jack Ury, Marlon Shirley, Mike Matusow, WSOP
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The opinions expressed by this blog and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the author of this blog nor any content contained herein.
