Posts Tagged ‘WSOP gold bracelet’

Johnny Lodden discusses Bleak Norwegian Poker Situation

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Johnny Lodden has earned countless millions in live and online poker cash games. Plus he’s added another $1,250,499 in live tournaments. But with the current poker situation in Norway, even Lodden is having a hard time.

According to him, the biggest problems facing Norwegian poker are the mafia, ridiculously-high taxes, and live games being illegal. He recently addressed these problems in an interview with PokerListings.

Lodden addressed both the mafia and illegal live poker by saying, “We play online and we do also get to play live poker in illegal clubs. Nowadays it is really hard with the legislation and the mafia coming in and taking over some of the clubs in Norway.”

“Now we have started up a new club which is really nice, but of course we don’t have as many players as before. When they know the mafia might be involved and they have families they don’t want to play anymore and risk anything.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if the current situation will change any time soon. Norway’s favored political party (Hoyre) isn’t in favor of poker, which means they’re unlikely to change the illegal status of live games. Based on this, Lodden doesn’t think Norwegian poker players have much to look forward to at this point.

“We have everything against us. It is annoying to pay so much tax (half of winnings), but I do not mind paying my taxes since I live in a country where everyone pay taxes, that is how it is. However, I would like a tax system where you pay less tax on your winnings and where you can tell the authorities that you did not win anything this year so you cannot pay taxes.”

While things are tough for Norway’s poker players in general, at least Lodden has a deal with PokerStars to fall back on. And he’ll be representing the world’s largest online poker site this year at the 2013 WSOP. Lodden is hoping to win his first career WSOP gold bracelet.

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Phil Hellmuth was scared before 12th WSOP Bracelet

Monday, June 11th, 2012

When correlating the game of poker and confidence, Phil Hellmuth is one of the first names that comes to mind. After all, the Poker Brat has spent his career berating other players for their mistakes and giving them lessons on how to play better. So it’s quite surprising when he admitted to being fearful as he crept closer towards a record-extending 12th WSOP gold bracelet.

Although Hellmuth did accomplish his goal of winning the 2012 WSOP Event #18 Seven Card Razz tournament, he expressed his fears by saying, “Fear set in a couple of times. When he (Don Zewin) made a nice run, I was like, ‘oh my god, not again,’ and I said, ‘no, eliminate all negative thoughts and just focus on playing great.” He added, “I was just thinking one thing, ‘play perfect poker,’ and pushing all the negative thoughts out of my head. I just wanted to win.”

It’s understandable that Hellmuth had plenty of negative thoughts since he finished second place in three different 2011 WSOP tournaments. However, this time was different since he was able to defeat Zewin heads-up and pull off the victory.

The Poker Brat explained this by saying, “Zewin’s a great player – he’s been a professional cash game player since the 80’s. When it was me and Chan heads-up at the final table, he finished third in ‘89 in the Main Event. I’ve been playing with him for decades – he’s just tough as nails, and he’s not going to give anything away.”

As cocky as Hellmuth can be, it’s also nice to see him prove all of the critics wrong who’d said the game passed him by years ago. It’s still clear that the Wisconsin native has plenty of poker skills, and he’s going to remain a force in the game for years to come.

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Stories to watch in 2012 WSOP

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Right now is the best time of the year to be a poker fan since the 2012 WSOP has officially begun. And as always, it promises to be yet another amazing event filled with big winners and memorable stories. But a few stories will no doubt stand out above the rest, and here are some tales that we think will be the most prominent.

Phil Hellmuth hunting for his 12th Bracelet

Once again, Hellmuth going after his elusive and record-extending twelfth WSOP gold bracelet will no doubt be a hot topic of discussion. Just the fact that the Poker Brat finished 61st in Event #2 was already a big story, so imagine how much he’ll dominate the poker headlines by making a deeper run.

$1 Million Buy-in Tournament

We’ve already heard a ton of talk about the Big One for One Drop since its $1 million buy-in is a record. Another record will also fall when the winner is crowned because the top prize is expected to be worth between $15-$18 million (depending on the number of entrants). Jamie Gold currently holds the record for the largest poker tournament payout ($12 million), but don’t expect this mark to be standing in early July.

Viktor Blom playing in First WSOP

We’ve seen a lot of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom over the last few years since he’s such a successful online cash game player. However, this is the first look that we’ll have of the 21-year-old in the WSOP. Blom has had some tourney success already (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller title), and it will be interesting to see if he can expand on this.

Phil Ivey is Back

Ivey was sorely missed at the 2011 WSOP – as he supposedly sat out to protest Full Tilt Poker’s poor management before and after Black Friday. But he won’t be skipping the world’s largest poker event this year since he’s already competed in a couple of tournaments. You can bet that people will be watching with great interest to see how the world’s best all-around poker player performs this year.

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Does Phil Hellmuth know about Online Poker Legalization?

Friday, December 16th, 2011

2011 has been a very good year for Phil Hellmuth since he managed to finish second in three WSOP tournaments, and earn over $1.5 million with these three cashes alone. The only thing that seems to be missing from Hellmuth’s life right now is a good sponsorship deal. However, according to a recent Hellmuth interview, that may change along with the landscape of online poker in the United States.

Beginning with the latter, Hellmuth revealed his thoughts on online poker legalization to Short Stacked Radio by saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it passed before Feb. 1. I think there’s going to be the biggest explosion in poker history the minute (online poker) is legalized.”

These are certainly interesting thoughts on the matter since many people are still in the dark on how online poker legalization is faring in the US. Assuming the American government does legalize and regulate internet poker in the near future, plenty of people stand to benefit, including Hellmuth as he stated, “I happen to be in a pretty lucky position where we have had more than one discussion recently, you know, there’s some very big companies and some very big people that are starting to get ready for the legalization of online poker.”

The Poker Brat also hinted that it won’t be long before he picks up a new sponsorship deal by saying, “You may find me signing something in the next two weeks. You may find me signing with a company that no one’s ever heard of. Don’t be surprised if that happens.”

The last comment definitely raises some eyebrows because there are a number of companies that could offer Hellmuth a lucrative deal provided internet poker does happen in America. Assuming it does, you can guarantee that a number of online poker sites will be clamoring for the services of an 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner.

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Jake Cody named Poker Player of the Year

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

Jake Cody started the 2011 WSOP off with a bang after winning the $25k No-Limit Hold’em Heads-up Championship. And his reward for winning was a massive $851,192 prize and a WSOP gold bracelet. Perhaps even bigger than the bracelet though was the fact that Cody became only the fourth person ever to win poker’s triple crown, which includes winning a WSOP, EPT and WPT title.

With Cody joining the ranks of poker’s elite, it’s no surprise that he cleaned up at the 2011 British Poker Awards by taking “Player of the Year” and “Best Tournament Player” honors. As for the voting process, the 2011 British Poker Awards are a unique deal because those attending the Poker in the Park festival get to vote on winners.

Seeing as how Poker in the Park is held in London, it’s not surprising that the UK’s Cody was able to take the Player of the Year title – although this isn’t to say that he didn’t earn it. In addition to Cody winning a couple of awards, quite a few other UK pros earned some hardware, including Chris Moorman (Best Online Player), Sam Trickett (Best Cash Player) and Matt Perkins (Best Breakout Player).

The British poker fans did show some love to people outside of the UK since they voted Jason Mercier as the “Best International Player” and Kara Scott as the “Best Poker Personality.” It’s no surprise that Mercier would win an honor since most poker tournament rankings – including ESPN’s – continually put the Florida-based pro at the top of the list. As for Scott, the Canadian hostess of Poker After Dark seems to be loved by all in the poker community since she’s got looks and a great personality (as the award alludes to).

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