Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
This week’s big tournament was found in Northern California at the Matt Savage directed World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star. An entertaining affair featuring selected bounties on big names for a cool $5,000 per knockout. We are fortunate to have our very own Heather trolling the tournament floor grabbing some fantastic photos of the action. They are playing down the final table and 20 19 18 15 players remain including Full Tilt’s Mike Matusow and Vivek Rajkumar.
Below are some of the best pictures from Day 1 and 2. Below is my favorite as Rajkumar collects his bounty from Matt Savage for busting Phil Hellmuth.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bay 101 Shooting Star, Bloggers on the Rail, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
For the last few years, the poker world knew of a mystery man online who could come up with any random nugget of poker knowledge in seconds. “Kevmath” made a name for himself as an uber-mod on the 2+2 poker forum and then took his skills to the land of Twitter. His ability to find the deepest bits of information without hesitation had many joking the man was a ‘bot or perhaps a crew of cyber-punks grouped together under one name existing on nothing but Red Bull and spreadsheets. It turns out “Kevmath” is actually just one person, a fine young man based in Syracuse, and not some cyborg with plans to take over the poker world one micro-table at a time.
Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers was finally enticed to pull aside the curtain by several interesting offers including a coveted invite from tournament director Matt Savage to the 2011 World Poker Tour Invitational at the Commerce Casino. His public debut occurred in a few online interviews before his first live tournament appearance covering the 2010 November Nine. He has since traveled to tournaments in the Bahamas and Atlantic City with an eye towards his first summer in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker.
I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with the man. When it was suggested “Kevmath” start blogging, I offered up this space for his thoughts. After a few days to wrap his mind around the experience, he is ready to bring us his first guest post. I look forward to bringing you regular posts from Kevin and hope you enjoy them
My 2011 World Poker Tour Invitational Experience
by Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers
My name is Kevin Mathers, but most people in the poker community know me as “Kevmath” on 2+2 and Twitter, where I’ve managed to make a name for myself in the poker world. A few months ago Matt Savage invited me to take part in the WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. I’m sure some are wondering: “Who are you?” I’ll get to that in a later blog (maybe).
My trip to LA begins with having to wake up Thursday 4:00am to catch a plane from Syracuse to JFK, then non-stop from JFK to LAX. After finally landing, with much thanks to Matt Savage and the Commerce Casino, I’m riding in style in their town car as they take me to my home for the next four days. I head to the front desk to check-in to my room and decide to take take a look around the Commerce. It’s my first visit to the Commerce, quite the experience to see so many table games in one place without a slot machine in sight. I keep running into rooms filled with action, but nothing that looks like the LA Poker Classic. Eventually I figure out that all the tournament action is in the ballroom upstairs so I make my way there after I check in and throw my bags into my room to check out what’s going on.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Kevmath, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Erik Cajelais at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event" width="200" align="right" />
They’re heading into Day 2 of the second event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe and a Tilter is leading the way as they head towards the money. Only 158 players put down the £2,500 for the mixed Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament but they only dropped down to 24 players, with 18 of those making the money. Eric Cajelais will bring his intimidation back to play down to a winner. Cajelias is sitting with 145,000, also alive are Team Full Tilt are Howard Lederer and Vitaly Lunkin. Men Nguyen, Allie Prescott, and Hoyt Corkins are also in contention.
Here at The Borgata I am spending my time watching a bunch of grinder fight their way through to make the $925,000 payday along with the televised WPT final table. Getting down close the bubble we had two big Full Tilt pros battling it out against each other and entertaining the rail in the process. Bill Gazes joined the table with Gavin Smith and local poker legend “Joey the B” Brooks right up against the rail and things were entertaining. Until just before the dinner break. Smith and Gazes were both sitting with decent size stack when Smith 3-bet the preflop raise of Gazes. Push, call, and all the chips were in the middle with Smith holding AA and Gazes a lowly little pair of 6′s. No sweating involved as a 6 was waiting in the door.
Day 3 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship where they’ll make the money and play down to 27. Still kicking around in the event we have Bill Gazes, Steve Brecher, Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah, Justin “TooRoothlus” Levy (brother of “Roothlus), Kathy Liebert, Matt Brady, Michael Binger, Chris Reslock, and Lee Childs.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bill Gazes, Bloggers on the Rail, Erik Cajelais, Gavin Smith, Steve Brecher, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The last chance for a Full Tilt red letter pro to final table the WPT World Championship rested on the shoulders of Jennifer Harman. Unfortunately she busted before they halted play for the day in 11th place. Ross Boatman also ran deep for the Hendon Mod, Jeff Madsen made the final two tables but David Grey busted early in they day.
Poker legend Scotty Nguyen goes into the day with a chip lead. He is looking for his 7th WPT television table and second WPT victory.
While no big name Full Tilt pros will be sitting at the final table, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a few video interviews / snippets left for your enjoyment. After the jump you can see Mike Matusow all fired up and Andy Bloch going through nailing a straight flush.
After the jump.
Tags: AlCantHang, Andy Bloch, Bloggers on the Rail, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Jeff Madsen in the running of the 2009 WPT World Championship
Photo credit: PokerNews.com
There were plenty of chances to set a Full Tilt heavy table at the 2009 WPT World Championship but players were falling at a regular pace. It took a little while to reach the money bubble and then they blew right past it without going hand-for-hand. That happens when two people go out in the same hand.
Mike Matusow and Steve Brecher dropped before making the money. Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Barny Boatman, and David Singer cashed in the Championship but were unable to make it to Day 5. Four players are still alive with a shot at the first place prize over $2.1 Million. Jennifer Harman, David Grey, Ross Boatman and Jeff Madsen continue to carry the flag for Full Tilt Poker. Also alive are Scotty Nguyen, Shannon Shorr and Elky Grospellier.
They’ll play down to the final 6 for the TV table for later broadcast.
Jeff Madsen sat down twice with Amanda Leatherman and you can find the video interviews after the jump. You may have heard of his rapping abilities, now you can get a little taste.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Jeff Madsen, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
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.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Erica Schoenberg, Kristy Gazes, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Phil Ivey and David Singer head into Day3 of the 2009 WPT World Championship
The $25,000 buyin WPT World Championship is taking place this week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas with the kind of field you would expect for a premier event. The tournament started with some serious deepstacks that gave plenty of play in the early stages. Each player started with 1000 big blinds and a very slow structure.
This meant they played 2 full days (3 if you include Day 1a and 1b) and just over half the original 377 players were eliminated. Then they hit Day 3 and the field dropped an even 100 players, going from 162 to 62. Only 12 players remaining until the bubble bursts and players start making a profit on their buyin.
There are some big time Full Tilt pros still in contention and dreams of an all-FTP final table are floating around. Although I’m sure the pros hope not, they would prefer a softer table. Leading the way for Team Full Tilt are Phil Ivey and David Singer followed by Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow and Jennifer Harman, as well as the Brothers Boatman. Barny Boatman and Ross Boatman.
The players return to the tables today looking to move up the leaderboard to position themselves to win the first place prize over $2 Million. Full chip counts for the remaining 62 after the jump.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Singer, Phil Ivey, WPT
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
David Pham at Foxwoods World Poker Finals
Photo credit: WorldPokerTour.com
Last week was a good one for David Pham. On November 11th he finished fourth in Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $240,344 then turned around and finished third the very next day in FTOPS X Event #16 for near $112,000. By any measure, that is one fine week.
The rest of Team Full Tilt seemed to dominate the event even without collecting the win. Get the rest of the numbers after the jump.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Pham, Mike Matusow, WPT
Posted by Big Donkey | Filed under The Week at FTP
It’s that time of year again – the days are longer, the weather is warmer (or really friggin’ hot, depending on where you are), and poker is again the name of the game in Sin City.
With just over a month until the first event of the 2008 WSOP, the game’s biggest names are already gathering in Vegas. For some, it’s a chance to return home and rest up before the six-week poker orgy that is the 54-event series. For others, it’s a chance to sharpen up their games and build their bankrolls in preparation for the upcoming madness. And, for just about everyone, it’s a chance to play the World Poker Tour’s $25K World Championship at the Bellagio.
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