Poker Guru Blog

Only the 8-handed final table was left for Day 3 of WSOP Event #55 $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, the biggest buy-in tournament in poker history. Antonio ’The Magician’ Esfandiari started in the chiplead, slightly ahead of Sam Trickett. Whoever had been to win the event was bound to jump right on top of the all time money list.

The Big One Final Table

Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar has turned himself over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as part of a deal soon to be concluded with PokerStars.

Ray Bitar

Ray Bitar has set foot on American soil for the first time since Black Friday, 15 April, 2011. The Full Tilt Poker (FTP) CEO is one of the 11 defendants charged with fraud, money laundering and organising illegal gambling following the FBI actions on Black Friday. The aim of Bitar’s current visit was to turn himself over to the FBI and face the civil and criminal charges.

Two Phils, Ivey and Hellmuth are also included on the entrants list for the biggest buy-in event in poker history ever. The prize pool is $42,666,672, the future winner can take home $18,346,673.

WSOP has officially released the WSOP $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop tournament, launched yesterday, 1 July, entrants list with 48 names. This revealed, among others, the much debated presence of Phil Ivey. Since his name had previously been undisclosed, it had been assumed that he would not participate on the grounds of the FTP scandal; as is known, Ivey promised not to participate in the WSOP until FTP pays its players. He actually broke this promise this year and the fact that he paid $1,000,000 for an entry may target him for further criticism.

The license of 5050Poker has been suspended by The Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta (LGA) recently, and has set up a procedure, following which players might be able to cash their bankrolls out of 5050Poker.

LGA issued 5050Poker's license, but recently it has been suspended. Furthermore, the company announced they are initiating legal action against 5050Poker to facilitate the release of player funds. For players who still have money with 5050Poker need to send an email to LGA.

Shuffle Master, a casino game developer operating in Las Vegas was reportedly in "advanced talks" in acquiring the Ongame Network, according to pokerfuse, but now negotiations fell short, and Shuffle Master declined the deal.

As pokerfuse reported, Shuffle Master has already been in advanced talks in purchasing the Ongame Network, that online poker network that is currently the home of poker rooms like Betfair, Betsson, bwin. The news was confirmed by the Sunday times, they reported that Shuffle Master was indeed in talks with bwin.party. The price of the Ongame Network is surprisingly low, only €16 million according to some predictions.

According to today's news, Shuffle Master no longer has interest in the US poker market via the Ongame Network, and has already backed out of the deal. However, there is no additional information on the reasons behind the breaking of the deal.

The iPoker network has officially confirmed the „division of its liquidity into two distinct tiers,” CalvinAyre.com reports. Skins will be referred to the top or bottom tier, based on room performance.

iPoker has announced major changes in its structure, resulting in a split in liquidity, that is, the creation of two distinct tiers for the different rooms. Effective 1 July, iPoker evaluates room performance on a monthly basis against a set of criteria; the skins that do not comply will be associated with the bottom tier.

14 players remained at the start of WSOP Event #33 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em, day 3. Vitaly Meshcheriakov was in the lead with 946,000 chips. The nine-handed final table started at the 23rd blind level (3,000/10,000/20,000).

First to leave was Christopher Shaw. Surprisingly, Meshcheriakov had to go next. He went all-in against Samuel Gerber pre-flop with A K, and although an Ace fell on the river, it wasn't enough against Gerber's 6 6, which made a flush with the same card. 
 

We are halfway into the 43rd World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Phil Ivey is currently in the lead of the WSOP Player of the Year contest, followed by Andrew Frankenberger and John Monnette.

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey returned to the World Series after a year’s break and, despite not making it past even Day 1 in most of the early events he entered, now he is warmed up and performs great, sitting at the final table of 3 events so far: he finished 7th in the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, 2nd in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em and 3rd in the $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo. Moreover, he made in the money in the $1.500 No Limit Hold'em – Shootout event (118th). His total WSOP 2012 winnings are now at $451,495.

Following a prolonged Day 3, the heads-up of WSOP Event #24 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better remained to be played yesterday, with Joe Cassidy and Scotty Nguyen behind the stacks.

Scotty Nguyen

Cassidy: 3,000,000
Nguyen: 845,000

Only 18 players were left when the cards hit the air on Day 3 of WSOP Event #18 $2,500 Seven Card Razz. Brandon Cantu started as chipleader with 298,500, followed closely by Brendan Taylor (288,500) and Phil Hellmuth (287,500). Of course, the greatest attention was paid to the performance of the 11 times WSOP champion.

Cantu's Wife looking at things

The 8-handed final table was set when David Rosenau was eliminated.

Day 3 of the WSOP Event #16 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed started with Robert Muzzatti in the chiplead and Mike Matusow in 3rd place, going for a 4th golden bracelet. A total of 1,604 players entered Day 1 and amassed a prize pool of $2,165,400.

The Final Table

Already on blind Level 22 (2,000/8,000/16,000), the 6-handed final table was set, with the elimination of Jonathan Currle, Mike Matusow and Matt Glantz. Matusow was railed, following the loss of a pot of half a million in chips, when he shoved preflop:

Robert Muzzatti: K K
Mike Matusow: A T

Board: 3 9 K A Q

19 players started Day 3 of WSOP Event #15 $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better, with Adam Friedman in the lead with 323,500 in chips. Event #10 $5,000 Seven Card Stud winner John Monnette was slightly behind with 314,500. A total of 212 players started Day 1 of the event for a prize pool of a handsome $996,400.

WSOP Event 15 Final Table

The stars who made it to the final day included Eli Elezra, Phily Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, not to mention poker legend Doyle Brunson’s son Todd. The three tables melted down to the final one with the elimination of Eli Elezra, Marco Johnson, Allen Bari, Tuan Vo, Phil Hellmuth, Ben Yu, Nicholas Verkaik, Christopher George, Alexander Krapivinsky and Jesse Martin.

Day 3 of Event #12 $10,000 NLHE Heads-Up in the World Series of Poker 2012 featured the semi-finals and the finale of the tournament with Tommy Chen against Brian Hastings and Jason Mo against Brock Parker.

Tommy Chen

Players started the semi-finals of WSOP 2012 Event #12 $10,000 NLHE Heads-Up with 640,000 in chips plus two add-ons for stacks of a total of 1,920,000 each.

16 players were still in at the second day of the $5,000 Sevent Card Stud Event at this year's WSOP. Jeff Lisandro started the day as chipleader with 276,000 in chips.

Keeney: T 3/A 8 J Q/4

Vinh: K 7/7 J A 5/J 
 

MicroMillions II will kick off on the 12th July at PokerStars, offering big money to the smaller stakes players. 100 tournaments will be organized during the 10-day event.