Posts Tagged ‘2013 WSOP’

Doyle Brunson’s Montana Summer Home featured on ESPN

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

For years the poker world has heard about Doyle Brunson’s Montana summer home. The 10-time WSOP gold bracelet winner visits this beautiful piece of property to get away from the craziness of Las Vegas. Now we get an in-depth look at Brunson’s summer getaway thanks to ESPN.

The world’s leading sports network featured the house on their coverage of the 2013 WSOP. During the segment, we get to hear about how Brunson got the idea to visit Montana from his best friend, poker legend Chip Reese. After visiting, Brunson fell in love with Montana and eventually decided to get his own place there.

One of his favorite things about going to the summer home is that he gets a break from poker and the world in general. As Brunson said, it’s rejuvenating to visit his Montana home.

Another thing that the Texas Dolly made sure to express during the WSOP segment is how important family is to him. “I think that people who don’t have family are really missing out on life,” said Brunson.

Those who watch the video will get to see plenty of lovely shots of the Montana countryside along with some views of Brunson’s summer home. If you’re a fan of the 80-year-old, it’s definitely worth checking out the following video. And seeing as how it is still summertime, you can bet that Doyle is probably lounging around his vacation home as we speak.

Loni Harwood has Record-Setting 2013 WSOP

Monday, July 8th, 2013

Coming into the 2013 WSOP, Loni Harwood had gained a little bit of fame for herself in the poker world after winning two WSOP Circuit bracelets. However, the acclaim she earned for her small WSOPC victories was nothing compared to the attention she’s getting now.

Last night, Harwood capped off a record-setting 2013 WSOP by winning the Event #60 $1,500 NL Hold’em tourney along with $609,017. She battled through a field of 2,541 players to grab the win and her first gold bracelet.

The $609k payout is what’s really impressive here because this is the biggest cash by a woman at the Las Vegas WSOP. It’s the second largest WSOP prize of any kind by a female, ranking behind the $2,013,734 that Annette Obrestad earned for winning the 2007 WSOPE Main Event.

The history doesn’t stop here for Harwood because she also became the third lady to make three final tables in one WSOP. She finished sixth in the Event #31 $1,500 PLO tournament ($39,803), fourth in the Event #53 $1,500 NLHE ($210,456) tourney, and first in Event #60. In all, she’s cashed six times this summer and made $874,698 – yet another single-year record for a woman at the Vegas WSOP.

As for why we haven’t heard of Harwood yet, she’s only 23 and recently graduated from college. Upon graduating, she moved from New York to Florida and began grinding in live cash games. Harwood learned how to play poker by watching her dad in online games, which naturally led her to the felt. Now she’s the female star of the 2013 WSOP and is looking towards a very bright future.

2013 WSOP Event #60 $1,500 NL Hold’em Final Table
1. Loni Harwood – $609,017
2. Yongshuo Zheng – $378,607
3. Mika Paasonen – $267,978
4. Yngve Steen – $193,265
5. Asi Moshe – $141,124
6. Daniel Cascado – $104,282
7. Cy Williams – $78,006
8. Bijon Notash – $59,036
9. Hiren Patel – $45,212

Sports Stars Roberto Luongo and Paul Pierce turn out for 2013 WSOP

Saturday, July 6th, 2013

It’s taken a while, but the sports stars have finally turned out for the 2013 World Series of Poker. Both 10-time NBA All-Star Paul Pierce and two-time NHL Second All-Star Roberto Luongo have descended upon Las Vegas in hopes of winning a gold bracelet for the athletes.

Pierce is particularly notable because he’s already playing in the Event #61 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. 172 players began this event and 143 are still alive, including Pierce. In fact, the 6’7″ small forward is more than alive since he’s currently 12th in chips with 195,000. Pierce has never cashed in a WSOP event, but judging from the early going, he’s got a solid chance to do so now.

Just last week, the 2008 NBA Finals MVP found out where he’ll be playing basketball next season. His team of 15 seasons, the Boston Celtics, sent Pierce and teammate Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for three first round draft picks and expiring contracts.

As for Luongo, he’s in Las Vegas for the start of the 2013 WSOP Main Event. The 6’3″ goalie will be hoping to continue his success from last year, when he finished 643rd and cashed for $19,227.

At the moment, most people aren’t concerned about Luongo’s poker play, but rather his NHL future. Once a mainstay in the Vancouver Canucks’ net, he was demoted to the number two goalie in favor of Cory Schneider. However, Schneider was injured towards the end of the regular season and had a shaky playoff performance when he did play.

Vancouver then traded Schneider to the New Jersey Devils for the 9th overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. After this shocking turn of events, it’s unclear what the Canucks will do with Luongo, who still has nine years left on his 12-year, $64 million deal.

Anthony Gregg – Biggest 2013 WSOP Winner with $4.8m Payout

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Entering this weekend, Benny Chen was the biggest winner of the 2013 WSOP after he took down the Event #6 “Millionaire Maker” along with $1.2 million. However, this total has been blown away by Anthony Gregg since he recently won the Event #47 $111,111 One Drop along with $4,830,619. Gregg captured this prize after navigating though an interesting 166-player field, which included both top poker pros and businessmen.

One of these businessmen was Skylar Capital Management CEO Bill Perkins. Entering the final day, where just four players remained, Perkins held a slight chip lead over Gregg. However, there was no safety in this lead as Perkins was quickly eliminated along with Antonio Esfandiari.

Esfandiari was a very interesting story throughout this event because he won the WSOP Big One for One Drop and $18.34 million last year. But he was unable to repeat in this year’s smaller One Drop tournament after being knocked out just before Perkins.

This left Gregg and Chris Klodnicki playing for the massive $4.83 million top prize. These two skilled veterans battled back and forth for well over an hour, but Gregg was finally able to gain the upper hand and eliminate Klodnicki. On the final hand, a short-stacked Klodnicki shoved on the flop with an inside straight draw, and Gregg called with top pair. The board helped neither player, which gave Gregg the victory.

Thanks to his latest score, the Columbia, Maryland native now doubles his winnings to an impressive $8,631,300. He’s also the biggest winner at the 2013 WSOP, though this will change when the Main Event finishes up in November.

2013 WSOP $111k One Drop Results
1st: Anthony Gregg – $4,830,619
2nd: Chris Klodnicki – $2,985,495
3rd: William Perkins – $1,965,163
4th: Antonio Esfandiari – $1,433,438
5th: Richard Fullerton – $1,066,491
6th: Martin Jacobson – $807,427
7th: Brandon Steven – $621,180
8th: Nick Schulman – $485,029
9th: Olivier Busquet – $384,122
10th: Lawrence Greenberg – $384,122
11th: Connor Drinan – $308,622
12th: Jeremy Ausmus – $308,622
13th: Matt Glantz – $251,549
14th: Martin Finger – $251,549
15th: Blake Bohn – $208,968
16th: Mike Sexton – $208,968
17th: Daniel Alaei – $173,723
18th: Andrew Lichtenberger – $173,723
19th: Phil Laak – $173,723
20th: Shaun Deeb – $173,723
21st: Jason Koon – $173,723
22nd: Farshad Fardad – $173,723
23rd: Dan Shak – $173,723
24th: Steve Gross – $173,723

Vladimir Shchemelev steps back into WSOP Limelight

Friday, June 28th, 2013

The 2010 WSOP was a breakout party for Vladimir Shchemelev. The Russian poker pro made four final tables, including a runner-up finish in the $50k Players Championship ($963,375). In all, he earned $1,144,617 along with the prestige that comes with so much WSOP success.

Since then, he’s managed to do pretty well after final tabling one tourney and finishing 10th in another $50k Players Championship in 2011. However, Shchemelev has failed to capture the magic that he had in ’10….at least until now that is.

The 40-year-old recently won a 2013 WSOP $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tourney and earned a $279,094 payout. Perhaps just as important is that Shchemelev captured his first gold bracelet after beating an extremely tough final table.

Some of the grinders whom the St. Petersburg native was competing against included two-time gold bracelet winner Mel Judah, three-time bracelet winner “Miami” John Cernuto, and bracelet winner Allyn Jaffrey Shulman.

Judah was actually hoping to become the first British player to win at the 2013 WSOP, after a number of close calls. However, he fell just short of his third career bracelet and the first for Great Britain after losing to Shchemelev.

As for Vladimir, he now has $1,748,430 in live poker tournament winnings, which ranks 13th among Russians. He also becomes the seventh Russian player to taste victory at the WSOP, and the first in 2013. Shchemelev also returns to the limelight after his bust-out year in ’10.

2013 WSOP Event #46 $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table
1. Vladimir Shchemelev – $279,094
2. Mel Judah – $172,361
3. Ashly Butler – $124,645
4. Brian Hacker – $91,085
5. “Miami” John Cernuto – $67,262
6. Tyler Nelson – $50,197
7. Andrey Zaichenko – $37,847
8. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman – $28,821
9. Alexey Makarov – $22,171

Ken Lind wins Record 2013 WSOP Senior’s NL Hold’em Championship

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Poker isn’t just a game for young internet grinders. This much was proven when 4,407 players turned out for the 2013 WSOP Event #26 $1,000 Senior’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship. This turnout set the following two records:

1) Largest field in Senior’s NL Hold’em Championship history; the previous record was last year’s field of 4,128 players.

2) The biggest non-re-entry single starting day tournament in WSOP history.

With such a large field in the 2013 Senior’s Hold’em Championship, there was a good chance that a total unknown would win. And this is exactly what happened when Ken Lind won the Senior’s Championship. Lind, who’d never even cashed in a WSOP event before, stormed through the massive 4,407-player field to win the tourney and $634,809.

What’s interesting is that Lind almost didn’t even play in this tournament. But his friend Burrell talked him into playing and this definitely turned out to be good advice, considering that Lind is now almost $635k richer.

The Layton, Utah resident is a father of seven, a grandfather of seven, and a great-grandfather of two. Over the years, he’s basically taught himself to play poker via home games. Whatever Lind taught himself definitely worked as he outlasted a number of other skilled players in this tournament.

Some of the notable grinders who fared well in Event #26 include T.J. Cloutier (428th), John Esposito (333rd), Jay Heimowitz (311th), Marsha Wolak (158th), Donnacha O’Dea (114th), Robert Varkonyi (73rd), Chris Bjorin (45th), Dan Heimiller (39th), Hoyt Corkins (23rd), and rock musician/producer Steven Albini (12th). Third place finisher John Holley, who recently won the WSOP Circuit Championship in New Orleans, was trying to capture his first WSOP gold bracelet, but fell just short.

2013 WSOP $1,000 Senior’s NL Hold’em Championship
1st: Ken Lind – $634,809
2nd: Dana Ott – $390,601
3rd: John Holley – $283,312
4th: Baryr Bashist – $209,856
5th: Randolph Spain – $156,629
6th: Michel Bouskila – $117,799
7th: James Miller – $89,281
8th: Jack Ernest Ward – $68,180
9th: Fernando Halac – $52,474

Gus Hansen loses Passport, prevented from playing 2013 WSOP

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

The 2013 World Series of Poker is one-third of the way finished and almost all of poker’s biggest names are in attendance…the keyword being “almost” every star player.

Gus Hansen has been one of the most notable absentees from the 2013 WSOP thus far, and he’s got a very good reason for missing the early portion. A couple of weeks ago, the Great Dane was in Macau to play the HK$1 million (US$130,000) buy-in GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions Main Event. After finishing up at the 2013 GDAM, Hansen was all set to travel to the United States for the WSOP. But there was just one problem – he lost his passport.

As PokerNYHederne reported, Hansen was traveling in a Hong Kong taxi and somehow lost his passport in the cab. Unable to recover this important document, the Danish poker star was prevented from flying to the US. He passed the time by playing high stakes FLO8 and 2-7 Triple Draw games at Full Tilt Poker and making $176,696 in profits.

After a week of being stuck in Hong Kong, Hansen obtained a new passport and has finally departed for Las Vegas. Now he’ll have a chance to build on his very impressive career, which includes $11,210,072 in live poker tournament winnings – $1,192,748 of which has come through WSOP cashes.

In proportion to his overall tourney winnings, Hansen’s single WSOP gold bracelet isn’t that great. So earning another bracelet will definitely be on the Dane’s mind when he takes the felt at the Rio.

Of course, you can’t measure Hansen’s career in terms of bracelets since he has some other very notable accomplishments. He became the first man to win three World Poker Tour titles, doing so in less than a year’s time. Plus Hansen’s $11.2 million in tournament earnings rank first on Denmark’s all-time list, which is no small feat when you consider that 2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate ($11.13 million) is also Danish.

Jason Mercier offers 3-1 Odds on WSOP Bracelet Prop Bet

Friday, May 24th, 2013

Jason Mercier is on an incredible heater in May thanks to his performance at the 2013 EPT Grand Final. He won a €2,000 Open Face Chinese Poker tournament ($62,940), placed seventh in the EPT Grand Final Main Event ($179,642), and took second in the €98,000 Super High Roller ($1,462,964).

Perhaps fueled by all of this recent success, Mercier has decided to make a risky prop bet. He announced through twitter that he’ll be taking 3-1 odds on if he can win a gold bracelet at the 2013 WSOP. Here’s the original tweet:

Looking for action at 3 to 1 on winning a bracelet this summer. Also willing to bet on myself vs almost anyone and lay small odds…

Mercier would later tweet that he won’t lay odds against Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu. But for everybody else that he’ll be taking action from, the minimum bet to get involved is $3,000, which, if successful, would earn the bettor $1,000 in profit.

It’s difficult to gauge exactly what Mercier’s chances are of winning a bracelet this year. He usually plays a pretty grueling schedule that includes 30+ tournaments over the course of the WSOP. So the volume is definitely there for him to win.

Mercier also has history on his side when it comes to this bet. In five full years of playing live poker tournaments, he’s managed to win two gold bracelets. Considering the 3-1 odds that he’s giving people to bet against him, this is definitely a good deal for the Florida native.

One more thing worth mentioning here is that Mercier is pretty well-versed in all poker disciplines. So he should be able to go deep in some of the more obscure poker variations that have smaller fields.

The 2013 WSOP kicks off on May 28th, and it’ll be interesting to see how Mercier fares in his bid to win this prop bet and a bracelet.

Phil Ivey having Tough Year in Online Poker

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Often referred to as the “Tiger Woods of Poker,” Phil Ivey is regarded by many as poker’s top all-around player. His past results definitely back up this sentiment since he’d earned $19.24 million in online poker before 2013. However, the key word in this statement is “before” since Ivey is having a miserable time on the cyber felt this year.

Perhaps emulating Tiger Woods’ struggles from a couple of years ago, Ivey has lost over $2 million in 2013. And dating back to November of 2012, when Full Tilt Poker came back online, he’s lost $2.55 million.

So what’s changed from the first decade of his poker career to now? Well he seems to have undergone quite a bit of stress over the past two years. First off, Ivey lost a great deal of money when the old Full Tilt went down in 2011. He then damaged his reputation by launching what many people saw as a self-serving lawsuit to get his investment/money back.

Last summer, he was also involved in an ordeal where he won £7.8 million from Crockfords Casino, only to have Crockfords keep the fortune on suspicion of cheating. Ivey just recently launched a lawsuit against London’s oldest casino to recover the £7.8 million.

Now based on these major events, it’s likely that the nine-time WSOP bracelet winner isn’t fully focused on poker. And if this is the case, it’s hard to keep up with talented and hungry players – even when you’re Phil Ivey.

Despite his recent online poker struggles, Ivey is probably making plenty of money in live games. Plus he had a very impressive tournament year in 2012, after earning $3,657,531 in live tourneys. With the 2013 WSOP right around the corner, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares here.