Poker News

Sammy Farha  the Lebanon poker professional, is considered one of the best Omaha players of our time. The 51-year-old who now lives in Houston, Texas demonstrated his dominance this week by winning the $10,000 Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better Championship (Event #25) and taking home his third WSOP Omaha bracelet.

In the final table it came down to a heads-up match between Sammy and James “Flushy” Dempsey. But despite James attempts to outwit Sammy, in the end it was Sammy who was stronger, knocking out James, to take the number one spot and the $488,237 dollar first place prize.

Sammy Farha, the Omaha legend

After being arrested in Chile on 3rd of June 2010, the Dutch poker player didn’t take too long to confess to the murder of the 21-year-old Stephany Flores. With the confession now behind him, Van der Sloot who knows he is likely to receive extensive prison time and is apprehensive about remaining in the Peruvian jail, named Miguel Castro. 

According to a 2009 U.S Department of State Human Rights Report conducted on this prison they found the following:

• This maximum security prison as of last year had 44,800 inmates (2,794 women) locked up in Peru
• Its conditions are described as 'harsh'
• The prison is considered to be overcrowded and have very poor sanitation.
• Epidemic levels of HIV/AIDS and also tuberculosis

The Dutchman, who is terrified of what will happen to him serving his sentence in the Peruvian jail, is now trying to work out a deal with authorities. In the proposition, Van der Sloot has suggested to reveal the body location of Natalee Holloway (who he was also suspected of murdering after her disappearance in 2005) if he can serve the remainder of his sentence in an Aruban jail.

It seems that Twitter is one of the main communication interfaces of this year's WSOP, because of its ability to reach so many people for quick status updates. But when Victory Poker pro Dan Bilzerian posted a tweet quoting a line from the box office hit movie Gran Torino, he wasn’t expecting the reaction he received.

In the controversial tweet recently posted by Bilzerian, he quoted the line used by Clint Eastwood saying, “A Mexican, a Jew and a colored fellow walk into a bar… The bartender looks up and says… Get the **** out of here”. Unaware to Bilzerian his quote wasn’t taken that light-hearted by many. This was especially the case for the poker reporter Joy Miller, who expressed her outrage to Bilzerian in a hostel way.

Dan Bilzerian's later posted about the situation in a thread on the TwoPlusTwo Forum:
“She told the CEO from victory poker that neither myself or any of the 20 sponsored pros would get any ESPN coverage until I gave a formal apology. I explained to her that it was a quote from a movie. She flipped out and started swearing and screaming at me about using the word colored. She sent me a bunch of angry texts, yelled at the CEO, and you can hear the voicemail she left swearing and yelling at me in the link below. I explained to her that the NAACP stands for the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, and if had a problem with the use of the world colored, she should seek an apology from them as well.”

Joy Miller claimes to work for ESPN, but sources close to ESPN denied her claims.

YouTube was then used to publicizes the message Dan received from Joy on his phone: “I don’t give a **** if the quote was from a movie. I asked you to apologize because you said ‘colored’ and I just don’t get what you don’t get about that. I don’t even want an apology anymore. Good luck to you.”

Annette Obrestad is causing quite a commotion with her early comments made in a recent interview with ESPN. The 21 year old Norwegian poker pro raised eyebrows when she made the controversial comments that “Girls Suck at Poker” and furthermore went on to attack Doyle Brunson by saying all Doyle Brunson has is a huge ego and that she would easily outwit him.

Doyle Brunson, the 76 year old poker legend

Not been intimidated by Annette, the 76 year old poker legend has struck back at the remarks, in a witty form, owning Annette on his Twitter page just recently. In response to the remarks Brunson tweeted the following: “Must be a bad tme of the month for Annette whats her name. By the way, I’m at Bobby’s Room almost every day if she really wants to play.” Brunson being a gentleman he is, also quickly responded to his rather crude comment, apologizing “to women everywhere about ‘time of the month’ comment".

Considering Brunson has 50 years more experience behind him, I think Annette is kidding herself if she really thinks she is a better player. Furthermore I believe this is more of a publicity stunt just to get her name out there.

Tony G the Lithuanian poker professional, who is well-known for his bigmouth has just recently revealed in his blog that he is burnt-out and is running out of positive words to say about poker right now.

In a blog post that was published on the 10th of June, Tony G talks about how he just got busted from the WSOP Event #17 $5,000 No-Limit Tournament and his disappointment in the outcome. Furthermore he explains how his decision to stay or go home, will be heavily tied to the up and coming 2-7 Low Ball Draw No-Limit $10,000 Buy-in Championship Event that he will be playing in. If Tony happens to fails there he will probably be considering leaving for Europe to spend time with his family.

"I have a bit of burnout going on and I’m running bad. Three different times in the 5K I was good pre-flop and ran into bad endings that killed me. It happens, poker is a game and I am very aware of it. But when I am no longer having fun, it’s time to do something else and that will be leaving for home" Tony said.

It is interesting to see, that while almost all the high-profile players in the poker world are in Las Vegas at the WSOP, competing for money and glory, Peter Eastgate is still missing. 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate was questioned by PokerStarsBlog about his absence.

The Danish poker player revealed he intends to play only in the Main Event this year. He is about to go to the World Cup in South Africa instead. Eastgate told he has little motivation to play in the smallest events.

WSOP Academy organized an exclusive invitational SNG freeroll to decide who they will sponsor to the WSOP Tournament of Champions (TOC). This SNG freeroll was won this Thursday by the well known French SNG specialist Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Other players at the table included: Gavin Smith, Andy Bloch, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Gus Hansen, Don Cheadle, Sorel Mizzi, Michael Mizrachi, Liv Boeree and Paul Wasicka. But in the end it was the Frenchman who took the first place and the free ticket to the one million dollar freeroll tournament.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier celebrating his win

WSOP Tournament of Champions (TOC) is an exclusive one million dollar tournament with one winner. In total, 27 people are allowed to participate in this event, out of which three places are already taken by previous TOC winners (Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton) one by the winner of last year’s WSOP Main Event (Joe Cada) and one by the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event winner (Barry Schulman). Twenty of the remaining places will be left to voters and two so-called sponsored players will also take part. WSOP Academy has the right to choose one of these two sponsored players, and they have decided to choose this player by this exclusive invitational SNG tournament.

ESPN has just this week announced its schedule plans for live on-line streaming of the 2010 WSOP coverage.  The schedule which has been presented has been broken down into five selected events that will be covered and can all be viewed live on ESPN3.com.

WSOP Academy is giving the opportunity for one lucky and talented player to take part in the WSOP Tournament of Champions (TOC): one SNG will determine who gets to participate in the one million dollar event. This event is an exclusive invitational freeroll poker tournament, usually only for WSOP champions. For several years, the TOC has been missing from the WSOP schedule. It has made its return only in recent times. It is a non-bracelet event, and the winner will receive a WSOP Trophy on top of the cash prize.

In total, 27 people are allowed to participate in this event, out of which three places are already taken by previous TOC winners (Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton) one by the winner of last year’s WSOP Main Event (Joe Cada) and one by the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event winner (Barry Schulman). Twenty of the remaining places will be left to voters and two so-called sponsored players will also take part.

Joe Cada - 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion

One player will be chosen by the WSOP Academy. They are on the hunt for someone who is not yet a WSOP champion, but have the ability to be the next one. In the end, they have chosen nine players to battle it out with a SNG on the 10th June to get that one entry into the TOC.

Though we haven’t really heard of Ziigmund and his parties for quite a long time, in his latest blog post Ziigmund tells the public about his trip to Cannes, illustrated with photos of all the rich and famous people who were there at a VIP party organised by Power Poker and Victory Poker. We can see Paris Hilton, Esfandiari, nice ladies with blown-up lips and military swimsuits and cocktails everywhere.

The 37 year old Phil ‘Unabomber’ Laak has managed to outdo Paul Zimbler’s record of non-stop poker by almost two days: Phil played for an incredible 115 hours straight in the Bellagio Las Vegas.

As I have mentioned earlier, Phil Laak started his record attempt on the 2nd June, aiming for 80 hours of non-stop poker. The previous record was set by the British Paul ‘The Marbella Kid’ Zimbler, who had played heads-up matches for 74 hours at the time and venue of the WSOP Europe last year.

Phil kept himself awake with various tricks and methods: he did yoga and planned his nutrition very carefully. He was allowed to have a five-minute break every hour, but with some limitations, he was able to modify the schedule of his breaks (after six hours of continuous play, for example, he could have a 30-minute break, no sleep, of course).

Patricia Clark was a 51 year old preacher living in Chicago. Last Thursday, she visited a friend’s house in order to collect a $300 debt. Unfortunately she was persuaded to sit in on the game to give her friends a chance to win some money back.

Being a skilled poker player, Patricia managed to increase her winnings, and after she took an $800 pot, she was accused of cheating by the 46 year old host Rosie Morris. Patricia denied these accusations, and headed for the fridge to add some ice to her drink. This is when the alleged killer Rosie Morris fetched her gun from her bedroom and completely unexpectedly shot Patricia in the back, chest and head - the police say.

Patricia Clark                                                       Rosie Morris

Patricia was taken to the Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she died of her wounds on Saturday. Rosie Morris fled the house after the shooting, but later turned herself in.

Men Nguyen the Vietnamese poker professional also known as "The Master", has something to smile about this week after winning  the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud World Championship and securing his 7th WSOP gold bracelet. His win came in his favourite form of poker so there was no surprise when he was quoted saying: “This is my game….I love to play Stud. Believe me, in any Stud tournament I will be there to play against the best in the world.”

The final table of the poker tournament saw a heads-up match between Men Nguyen and Brandon Adams who battle it out for the number one spot. But in the end it came down to Nguyen’s king of pair that crushed Adam’s pair of queens, giving "The Master" the number one spot and the $395,000 first place prize.

A recent article published by the Los Angeles Times covered the subject of poker players using performance-enhancing substances to improve their gameplay. These allegations were backed up by a recent study performed by Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The world-wide study conducted by the university interviewed over 190 poker players from all different player groups, ranging from recreational to professional.

From the study the university found that players were not just using conventional energy boosters, such as caffeine and energy drinks: 28% of players admitted taking at least one prescription medicine to increase their performance; 34% confessed to using marijuana to increase concentration and calm their nerves, and 8% hook themselves up on cocaine.

Move over, Terminator; it’s time for the robots to terminate the online poker world! Or at least, this is what people think in Indiana, where they have announced the First Annual Poker Bots Only Tournament. The tournament is set to kick off in August, and the only thing that will set the competition apart  will be the sophistication of software programming.

Organized for the undergraduates of the Indiana University, the game played will be Limit Hold’em and first prize is set at $200. This is a great way for the students to test their creative programming abilities to outwit each other. All poker bots are required to be programmed beforehand and once the tournaments starts, the decision-making is left solely to the bot.