Poker From The Rail» John Cernuto

2009 World Series of Poker Day 40 – The New Batch

AlCantHang — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:45:48 +0000

The July 4th holiday is over and today we expect a much bigger crowd for Day 1c then the previous two. Before the start of the day, players were being stacked up by security behind the ropes and just about every table was staffed. This will definitely be the biggest field of the Main Event start ups and there will be plenty of action. Congressional champion of online poker, U.S. Representative Barney Frank addressed the crowd and issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal”.

In the good news of the day, “Miami” John Cernuto is back in the Amazon Room after spending several days in the hospital with some serious health issues. He seems to be back to his old self, holding court over the table and joking with Tom McEvoy. Many other members of Team Full Tilt are making the Main Event appearance including Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Lee Watkinson, David Singer, and 2008 Final Table player Kelly Kim.

There was speculation around the room about the size of today’s field considering a lot of online pros generally spend their Sunday taking on the big online tournaments but some of those big names are in the field today including Eric “Rizen” Lynch. We won’t have the exact number of entrants until well into the evening but there is a chance we’ll hit the magic 2,000 player number.

More to come later in the day including pictures from Day 1b. A handful of Full Tilt pros including Fabrice Soulier (87,725), Mike Matusow (37,875), Chris Ferguson, (24,050), and Erik Seidel (18,550). Those players will return on Tuesday for Day 2a.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Day 40 – The New Batch

2009 World Series of Poker – “Miami” John Cernuto update

AlCantHang — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:13:38 +0000

As many in the poker world are already aware, “Miami” John Cernuto collapsed yesterday while playing in the $2,500 Razz event. According to several sources, Cernuto was in the middle of a hand (all babies per the rumor) when he fell to the floor. Eli Elezra jumped to his aid and the tournament room was quickly emptied. There are varying version of what was wrong but “Miami” John contacted World Series of Poker Media Director Nolan Dalla to inform everyone that he was still alive and kicking.

Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig wrote about the experience from his perspective, he was in the middle of the tournament himself and on his way to Day 3.

His medical concerns will keep him away from the Amazon Room for awhile but we wish him the best and a speedy recovery.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – “Miami” John Cernuto update

2009 World Series of Poker – Week 2 in Pictures

AlCantHang — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:32:09 +0000

We’ve put another week of the 2009 World Series of Poker in the books with more craziness. The crowds continue to storm the hallways of the Amazon Room looking for a table and a chance. The crazies are starting to make their way onto the scene, pros and amateurs are mingling together with a common goal, chip runners stay busy 24 hours a day.

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

Heads Up: John Cernuto Versus Niki Jedlicka

One Angry Monkey — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:33:11 +0000

Welcome back to another round of the Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up Challenge, where we take 64 of our top pros and pit them against one another in a Mortal Kombat style showdown. OK, so nobody gets killed, but you get the idea. This week’s match is the second of our six seed versus 11 seed showdowns, as John “May or may not be from Miami” Cernuto takes on Niki “I shouldn’t have switched screen names” Jedlicka. This should be a good match folks, as we have an established vet taking on one of poker’s young guns. One quick note before we get started, today’s match will be a slightly abridged version of what we normally do, as I’m feeling lazy today and could only be bothered with seven categories, not the usual nine. Without further ado:

Category	John Cernuto	Niki Jedlicka	Survey Says
Career Earnings	Almost $4.5 million	More than $350K	OK, so this category definitely isn’t fair in the slightest. Not only is Jedlicka very young and just getting started on the tourney circuit, he’s made most of his money playing online cash games, so who knows how much money he’s won (or lost). I must say though, I was surprised at the high total “Miami” John has, not too shabby. He takes down the first category and jumps out to an early lead.
Major Titles	3 WSOP bracelets	None	I’m not sure how much Jedlicka cares about tournaments and bracelets and all that crap when he’s having daily million dollar swings on the high-stakes PLO tables online, but he certainly has the potential to match Cernuto’s numbers in this category someday. Until then, this category belongs to John – he leads 2-0.
Tournament Play	A skilled tourney veteran with the hardware to prove that he’s got the skills to pay the bills (I hate myself sometimes…).	A relative newbie in this category, Niki has the skill set to succeed in any tournament, but does he have the desire?	Although Jedlicka’s talent level is probably greater than Cernuto’s, John’s experience and temperament probably give him the edge in this category. Niki may well put it all together someday and become one of the most dominant forces on the circuit, but he’s still got a lot of learning to do. “Miami” John continues to dominate this contest – he now leads 3-0.
Cash Game Play	Old school grinder who once made his living tearing up home games.	New school online cash game specialist who regularly takes on the likes of Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen.	While Cernuto is certainly a solid cash game player, he just can’t come close to matching the action Jedlicka has been involved in so far in his short career. Niki is simply a fearless cash game player who takes on the highest limits (and best players) available to be conquered. Don’t call it a comeback (because it probably won’t happen), but Jedlicka takes down his first category of the match.
Playing Style	Slow and steady	Fast and furious	I had this same problem last week with Berry Johnston and Jared Hamby – there’s just a fundamental difference between the old and new school philosophy of playing style. The old guard appears to favor a more conservative approach, whereas the young guns obviously love to go full blast at all times. Both styles can be equally effective, so who’s to say one is better than the other? Well, me I guess. Being a child of online poker, I simply have to go with the more aggressive style now. It’s an eat or be eaten world out there – go big or go home. This category belongs to Niki, he narrows the gap and the score now stands at 3-2 in favor of Cernuto.
Nickname	“Miami” John	KaiBuxxe	I just read that Cernuto is actually from Jersey, but he did go to school at FSU, so at least his nickname makes some sense. KaiBuxxe is Jedlicka’s online handle and I have no idea where it comes from or what it means. The kid is from Vienna, who the hell knows what goes through his mind? At any rate, both of these nicknames kind of suck, so give me a second to go flip a coin. Heads for “Miami” John, tails for KaiBuxxe. And the winner is… tails! Way to go Niki, you’ve now evened the score heading into the final frame of action.
Outside Poker	Former air traffic controller.	Former Magic: The Gathering player.	Wow, way too many poker players are former Magic freaks and geeks. What’s going on here? Poker is supposed to be a cool person’s game, right? I’m just blown away by this – blown away! Meanwhile, “Miami” John’s former career in “pushing tin” (thank you John Cusack!) could be considered very important work because if he messed up, people died. Ah, it’s good to have god-like control over people, isn’t it? Anyway, this category has to go to Cernuto; otherwise I won’t be able to sleep tonight.

So there you have it folks, Cernuto takes down Jedlicka by a score of 4-3. Too bad Jedlicka is a former Magic player; otherwise he might’ve taken this one down. Check back next week for more fun and games…

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Heads Up: John Cernuto Versus Niki Jedlicka