On Saturday night while I was playing on Full Tilt Poker I noticed some action going on at the high stakes PLO tables. So, I decided to check it out and noticed that Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen,  sanghoki SteveSung, LoLina and several other players were doing $20k flips on the 200/400 PLO tables.

Basically the players would raise it up to $20k preflop, then check it around for the turn and the river. At some points there were 5 players at the table and they pots were $100,000 each hand.

I am not sure who the big winners and losers were, but when Antonius left he said he was down $100k and was sitting with over $350k at the table. Gus Hansen was the only one who seemed happy and typed “GGGG ” as he left the table.

Taylor Caby tried his luck, but lost $100k in about 5 minutes. As he left the table he wrote: “I lost a bad ferrari flipping”.

Some other players that joined included OnTheRize and pr1nnyraid.

It was pretty interesting to watch these degenerate gamblers throwing around such large amounts of money as this went on for about 2 hours.

You can see the logs from all the flips here, or you can download the chat from the game here.

If you have never seen this action online, you gotta download Full Tilt Poker today.

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Craig Marquis Chats at FTP

Craig Marquis is one of the final 9 players left in the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Today he was over at Full Tilt Poker answering questions in the Ask The Pro section of the site, so I decided to throw some questions to him.

At first I was wondering who the hell is Craig Marquis, and how he became a pro, but after a quick google search I quickly figured it out. Apparently he is good buddies with Tom Dwan, and since 2007 has been tearing up the poker tables moving from 2/4 to 200/400 under the username CraigMarq.

Here are some of the best ones from the chat with Craig:

Question From brbgraham: Who are you?

Craig Marquis: craig, who are you?

Question From brbgraham: Tiffany Michelle or Kimberly Lansing?

Craig Marquis: kimberly

Question From GINGER88: If you weren’t a poker profesional, what other profession would you have chosen?

Craig Marquis: ninja

Question From fireball030303: where r u from, where did u start playing

Craig Marquis: arlington, tx, i started playing on full tilt in january 07

Question From brbgraham: How did you become a Full Tilt Pro?

Craig Marquis: it was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Question From Reeny1010: you have already won 1,2 mil, did you get a part of that or not not before november?

Craig Marquis: i got paid 9th place money already

Question From ranger110: is this chat an obligation with full tilt?

Craig Marquis: nope, im just bored

Question From brbgraham: Did you dime out chino to the cops for the outstanding warrants?

Craig Marquis: yes, i hired Dog the Bounty Hunter

Question From NocturnalK: so what steps should I take to becoming a poker pro?

Craig Marquis: play a ton

Question From Reeny1010: do you still play with your “old” poker friends and what limits do you play with them?

Craig Marquis: my “old” poker friends play nosebleeds on here, so I don’t play with them often

Question From bustdanutsnya: how do you recommend playing sit n go turbos

Craig Marquis: turbo styleeeeee

Question From brbgraham: Why did you pick Full Tilt over Stars…. was it in hopes to score a date with Jennifer Harman?

Craig Marquis: i like their software a tonnnnn more. stars software tilts me

Question From GINGER88: annybody you like to play online that isn’t a pro. you dont have to mention names and do you do

fairly well against them?

Craig Marquis: yea, i have my favorites to play against. pretty much anyone who is bad. i <3 them

Question From brbgraham: What are you doing to prepare for the big game… private tutouring?

Craig Marquis: not really.

Question From brbgraham: How many suckouts did it take to get to the final table?

Craig Marquis: 2

Question From durrrr6: why tom dwan is not a pro on full tilt

Craig Marquis: he doesn’t want to be i don’t think

Question From brbgraham: What is the best advice you would give someone new to poker?

Craig Marquis: play, a lot

Question From phear41: can you read souls?

Craig Marquis: yes, but only when im wearing my soul reader sunglasses

Question From mbs24: how do you calculate odds?

Craig Marquis: with maths

Question From brbgraham: Who do you think is the biggest threat at the final table?

Craig Marquis: whoever has the most chips right now. i think its dennis

Question From Beiss: What is your favourite moment in your poker career?

Craig Marquis: when i soulcrushed brandon cantu on day 6 of the wsop and snapcalled his river bluff for the biggest pot of the

tournament, giving me the chip lead

Question From Reeny1010: is your strategy the same like jerrys last year and to play that agressive?

Craig Marquis: my strategy is nothing like jerry yangs

Craig Marquis: except for the wanting to win part

Question From brbgraham: What will you do with the money if you win?

Craig Marquis: buy an aston martin dbs

Question From Mirek1988: james bond huh

Craig Marquis: yea, hes a baller

Question From Beiss: What is meaning of life?

Craig Marquis: 42

Question From Nicholas Vietri: Do you play any other site besides fulltilt?

Craig Marquis: nope

Craig Marquis: i <3 me some full tilt.

Question From brbgraham: How did you go from playing 2/4 to 200/400 in under a year? How much did you start with, and did

you win just in cash games?

Craig Marquis: i started with $100 and worked my way up in cash games

Question From ShavedNuTs: i have to say coming from poker stars i love full tilt, did poker stars confront you at

the main event?

Craig Marquis: yea, a full tilt rep and a stars rep had a sword fight to the death, the winner got to sponsor me

Question From GINGER88: im at a final table with les

If you aren’t in the industry side of real money slots usa , you can’t imagine the chaos in the days leading up to WSOP. The players are all in R&R mode and mostly unreachable, everyone needs this article or that article or to set up a meeting or what have you, we’re all working out our rental situations if we’re coming from outside of Las Vegas…pretty much, every minute of the twenty hours a day you’re awake is occupied by three things at once.

With everything that’s going on, I’ve been caught unprepared on a couple of wagers. You may be asking ‘what that has to do with poker?’ but the reality is that when the object of the game is to win as many dollars as humanly possible, you do so with every means at your disposal; whether you’re holding aces, buying a percentage of a player in a tournament or making some ludicrous wager whose results are beyond your control, you do it.

The first of these came when, on an errand to buy a new audio recorder for interviews, I got a call from Andrew Feldman telling me that The Poker Edge had a last minute cancellation and would I be willing to come on (host Phil Gordon eventually announced “We mostly have you on because we couldn’t find another guest”)? I’m a publicity hog, so I happily agreed, and once on, we got to talking about the different storylines I’m watching coming into this year’s WSOP.

When I mentioned the emergence of Tom Dwan as perhaps the most anticipated rookie in WSOP history (That will likely change in 2010, when Annette Obrestad becomes eligible) host Phil Gordon put me on the spot, asking “What would you put the odds at that Dwan wins a bracelet?” I hadn’t really thought about it and my brain froze up and I blurted out a truly idiotic “um…3-1?” even Dwan, who is uber-confident with math to back it up, couldn’t give himself a better shot than 5-1.

Before I knew what was happening, Phil had a signed, sealed and delivered wager. Hell, I was so caught in the headlights that I didn’t bother to rescind…I mean, how to you refuse a host on his own show? The obvious answer is to say ‘no’, but at that point I was so beside myself for talking like a moron on a mainstream podcast that I wasn’t thinking straight any more. All I can hope for now is that Dwan makes me look like a genius.

Thing is, once I’d regrouped, I made what I think were a series of good enough bets to get what I think was an overall advantage in mine and Phil’s wagers. Phil is a bit of a cynic and I played on that. With regards to the Dwan bet, three lessons to learn from my idiotic example;

1) Don’t bet under duress.

2) Don’t let the other guy get your signature on the contract until you’re sure you want it there.

3) Try to actually think about your wagers before making them.

…all of which can be summed up by the always useful “don’t be a moron”

Here’s the rest of the wagers we made, though you’ll probably have more fun listening to the whole thing at espn;

Allen Cunningham to win a bracelet 5-1 – Allen’s won bracelets in each of the last three years and five years in total in the 2000’s. Are you really going to tell me he’d only win a bracelet once if you played out this WSOP five times? This wager seems especially brilliant now in light of the odds Phil Ivey’s been taking on himself. Ivey’s expressed a similar confidence in Allen, reportedly offering 1.1-1 on one of the tandem taking a tournament this year.

Oh, sure. You’ve pulled a long poker session. You’ve done the 13-hour binge in the cash games. Your ass is leather. Your back is a mess of knots and monkey fists. Your mind is wandering from how much the guy next to you stinks to…if that dealer would just undo just one more button on her shirt. Damn, it’s on me? I raise.

Or maybe, just maybe, you are the potentate of concentrate. Maybe you’ve sat and played the perfect session–not too long–but every move, ever riffle of chips, every glance from the corner or your eye is so calculated, the world’s biggest abacus would never be able to figure out how you reached…the…perfect…conclusion.

Yeah, we’re all perfect. We all have pleather asses and perfect concentration for as long as we want.

And where is the damned waiter?

This is a true story.

John was not his real name, but certain matters of legality and discretion preclude revealing his real identity.

There would be a moment that John would be sure he was fine, that every decision would be perfect. He had a monster stack of chips and found pocket queens in the small blind. A well-known pro sat in the cutoff and came in for a standard raise, at the time to 24,000. John figured bumping it to 90,000 would do the trick. It did not. The pro came over the top all-in.

Queens, despite their royalty, look decidedly and appropriately emasculated when you send them into battle for every one of your slot gacor tournament chips. And in this case, the final table was just a few eliminations away.

It was a decision so tournament-threatening that John had forgotten about another decision he’d made before the final table looked so close.

***

Fatigue is hard to battle at the poker table. You can buy the dollar-a-minute massage. That might help. Or it might put you to sleep. A beer could do the same thing and chances are your concentration will wane. Coffee could do the trick, but it wrecks your stomach and sends you to the john every twenty minutes.

Our John was in the middle of a physical slide. His concentration and stamina were waning. The tournament’s money seemed so far away and the chips seemed so hard to come by. What’s more, the tableside waiters seemed to have gone on a permanent smoke break.

John, a young man, had picked up a covey of raibirds in the last day. He didn’t know them. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know them. But there they were, watching his every move, studying his play, and then waiting to analyze it during the breaks.

The breaks. God, what John would’ve done for a break. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the railbirds, but he knew he would kill for a shot of some mainline caffeine. Finally, when the break still seemed an eon away, John broke down and asked one of his new railbirds if he would mind running to the bar for him.

“Could you get me a Red Bull?” he asked.

Some railbirds are more like gnats. They are always there, you can’t shoo them away, and all they really want is one sip of your sweat. This railbird was a gnat.

“Red Bull? Sure. I’ll go get it…for a tenth of a percent of you.”

Jesus. Fucking gnats.

Fatigue can play M.C. Escher tricks on your mind. Suddenly, the gnats can seem like ants. And ants are workers, right? And, damn, if John were to cash, a tenth of one percent didn’t seem like that bad a deal. A tenth of a percent of ten grand would only be ten bucks, about the price of the Red Bull with tip anyway.

And so John sent his little worker ant to the bar for a Red Bull. Thirty minutes later, the fatigue had disappeared and John was back into the game.

***

Two days of decisions and concentration followed and brought John to the question of whether to put his entire tournament on the line with his pair of queens.

He stood from his chair and put his back to the table for one whole second. Then he turned around and announced, “I call.”

The well-known pro’s face fell. He turned over pocket tens, knowing he was well behind. He would stay that way. The queens held up.

Less than 24 hours later, John was at the final table. Less than five hours later, he stood up from his seat for the final time. He was the last person to stand up, because he had won the whole damned thing…for a million bucks.

And somewhere on the rail, the gnat was working his mental calculator. One tenth of one percent of a million bucks was…$1,000.

John not only had the distinction of being the champion. He was also the man that had downed the most expensive Red Bull of all time.

Note: I’m in the middle of an experiment that has taken me out of my normal poker playing routine. In the interim, I’m pretending to be The Poker Nerd and Drizz. More than anything, though, this means I’m learning new stuff about life and poker and how they fit together. In short, I’m trying to get my head on straight. So, the point is, for the next little while you might see a few of these stories that have nothing to do with how I play AK under the gun. Which is probably a good thing.

Hello again dear readers. I’ve been deep in the tank, sifting through the mud, combing the gravel for nuggets of wisdom. Its easier to see when the light is dim.

…CUS

My computer is fairly new but nearly useless. I brought it straight home and crammed it full, like Dagwood at a deli. I can play sbo poker on 5 sites in 5 countries where the laws are softer than an Otis handshake. I have surround sound speakers and that cool game where you hijack cars. Computer geek indeed!

The computer is above the garage. So is the rest of the computer room. I have a TV with rabbit ears, so I can watch COPS on 3 channels. I have a ping-pong table, a Joe Morgan bobble-head and the decapitated head of Bobby Cox. His body shattered at a game last year. He was soft.

The room is just down the hall from the bedroom where my wife is snoring. Its a cute snore. My kids are in their rooms and the dog is licking his ass on the landing between the first and second floors. I can barely hear the slurping though, because COPS is too loud.

There’s always plenty of action here and the best of it is rarely poker. Right now, while I type this, I’m playing a multi-table tournament on UB. The fucking thing’s been going on for at least an hour and I’m doing OK. I’m a little bored with the play. That’s not helping. I’m already thinking about ditching this post for a game of car-hijacking. You can pick from about a dozen types of guns and the cars blow up if you crash too much.

This is the lesson I learned in the deep water swim. The lesson of…hey the weather-dope says rain again tomorrow…where was I again?

I’ve learned to set a timer on my poker play. I take a break every hour. It may not be true of every player, but I can plot a steady decline in my online play as soon as my ass goes numb. I’ve learned to turn off the TV and tune out the snoring and slurping distractions. This is common sense stuff and you damn well know you still screw it up.

We talk about the newbie fish who play their cards by “feel”..but you know the “feel” is real. When we have real focus we can read ever card, its the shooter’s zone and the runners high. When we have distractions, and we’re just doing math, the game is less fun and baby the thrill is gone. So are some of the profits.

I’m done with the grand month of self-pity and the FOCUS is back. Screw you reader….I’m posting again!

Late last year, the world’s finest players gathered together to compete for national pride and the WSOP bracelets. The third World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair, was held at the Empire Casino in London’s famous Leicester Square. Almost all of the game’s elite were on hand to play for their shot at four official WSOP bracelets and huge cash prizes. Also up for grabs was the Caesars Cup, a brand new heads-up competition that pitted North America against Europe.

Betfair’s own Annette Obrestad came from nowhere to win the inaugural bandar slot pulsa in 2007. At the age of just 18, she set a record for the youngest ever bracelet winner that is unlikely to be broken. Since then, she has gone on to establish herself as one of poker’s top young talents. This was demonstrated recently by her success at the Aussie Millions, where she won a preliminary tournament and final tabled the main event. Given her prowess, it was no surprise to find her at the head of the Caesars Cup Team Europe. She picked a squad of top players from across the continent, opting mostly for pros who ply their trade online. Italian maestro Dario Minieri was joined by the Great Dane Gus Hansen and his fellow countryman, 2008 World Champion, Peter Eastgate. A pair of Finns, Patrik Antonius and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, were Annette’s final selections. Rounding out the team was John Harvey, a Scottish pipe inspector who won his place via a grueling set of Betfair qualifiers.

Team Americas’ lineup was in great contrast to Europe’s selection, with captain Daniel Negreanu opting for experience over youth. The most experienced of them all, Doyle Brunson, was a shoe-in for the team, as was heads up specialist Huck Seed and 2008 WSOPE Main Event Champion John Juanda. Big Game regulars Jennifer Harman and Barry Greenstein also made the cut, along the dominant Phil Ivey and the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth.

The format was more than a simple heads up contest: In a best of 7 competition, play began with 4 doubles matches in which players alternated control of the action from hand to hand and sometimes round to round. As long as one team didn’t sweep all the doubles matches, the players would then move on to a maximum of 3 standard heads up games. Among the tantalizing matches on offer to viewers around the world are Phil Ivey & Huck Seed vs. Ziigmund & Patrik Antonius and Annette & Dario Minieri vs. Jennifer Harman & Doyle Brunson.

“I have fond memories of the WSOP after winning it in 2007,” said Annette Obrestad. “It is now a definite mainstay on the European poker calendar. The fields are small but extremely tough.” 2007 Main Event runner-up John Tabatabai is similarly fond of the WSOP’s regular European excursion.“The World Series of Poker Europe is my poker event of the year – small fields, tough opponents and the opportunity to win a bracelet – what more could you ask for? It’s a great excuse to socialise with my poker buddies and earn money playing poker at the same time.”

Away from the cameras, Betfair was hosting the very fist Free Million Dollar Game. This 18-man tourney was the culmination of a series of online heats that had been running since April 2009.

The bracelet tournaments were slightly altered, with a cut-price £1000 No Limit Hold ‘em event kicking off proceedings. 2008’s H.O.R.S.E event was the main casualty of the reshuffle, replaced by a £2500 split Pot Limit Hold ‘em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament. “Every year Harrah’s tweak the schedule to make improvements and this year saw the introduction of a few new and exciting events,” noted Obrestad. Returning unchanged are the £5000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and the world renowned £10,000 WSOPE Main Event. The jewel in the crown of London poker attracted more top players than you could shake a stick at. In addition to the cadre of world class pros who competed in the Caesars Cup, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, James Akenhead, Barry Shulman, Jason Mercier and many more were all on hand to compete.

The series is currently being broadcast of TV stations around the world, with the new Caesars Cup a particularly attractive prospect for the legions of poker fans. Betfair’s Annette Obrestad reported that the event was “amazing,” adding, “I don’t want to spoil the program too much but it makes great viewing.” The Main Event also received widespread coverage and ended up with one of the most highly skilled and tense final tables in tournament history.

The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker is down to its final day after the completion of Event 20.  This event was a fixed limit, 6-max Hold’em tournament, with starting stack sizes of 5,000 chips and 15 minute blinds.  Once again there were three separate tournaments with a low, medium, and high buy-in.

The SCOOP Event 20, low buy-in tournament saw 2,472 players pay the $50 + $5 entry fee for their shot at $25,000 guaranteed.  The guarantee was again easily covered for the low buy-in event as the final prize pool was almost five times the original guarantee, ending up at $123,600.  420 players would make the cash in this one, but of course, everyone was trying to make the final table and get a very nice return on a relatively small investment.  Here’s how it ended up:

6th – drood – $2,193.91

5th – boohoocry – $4,303.76

4th – P0KERDUUDE – $6,736.21

3rd – PokerTom681 – $10,382.41

2nd – msp20 – $14,214.01

1st – Perumov – $19,467.01

In the SCOOP Event 20 medium buy-in game there was a guaranteed $200,000 up for grabs.  This too was covered, as 540 entrants paid $500 + $30, bringing the total purse to $270,000.  The top 78 players would be paid, with the minimum payout being set at $783.  Notable players in the mid buy-in event included Barry Greenstein, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, and Vanessa Rousso.

The medium buy-in would be just the beginning of a very eventful night for one player in particular, as he would be the first person to pull off a very difficult accomplishment during this SCOOP multi-buy-in tournament structure.  The players battled for over 8 hours to get to the final table.  When they arrived, the chip stacks looked like this:

Seat 1: savagegamble (462,364 in chips)

Seat 2: MCJS (252,442 in chips)

Seat 3: Unassigned (449,672 in chips)

Seat 4: Victor510 (133,704 in chips)

Seat 5: Lest@t Lion (425,988 in chips)

Seat 6: jasjas11 (975,830 in chips)

The battle ensued from there as the second leading chip stack of the final table at the beginning of play, savagegamble, would be the first eliminated when he got top pair, with Jd4d, all-in, on a flop of TcJh3h vs. QhTs of jasjas11.  The turn showed a Kh and the river, the final nail in the coffin for savagegamble, was the As, giving jasjas11 the runner, runner straight.

Meanwhile, Unassigned would begin making his move, catching some friendly cards, and eventually find himself in the final 2 facing off against jasjas11.  The chip count at the beginning of heads-up play was Unassigned 먹튀검증 – 1,612,980 and jasjas11 – 1,087,020.  The two battled for a little over an hour, but it came down to jasjas11 calling until he was all-in on a board of 4c4s8dAc while holding Qc6c for a flush draw.  Unassigned, who had been the aggressor in this hand, and during much of the heads-up action, held Kh3c for King high.  However, the river was a blank 9d, eliminating jajas11 and crowning Unassigned the champion of the SCOOP Event 20 medium buy-in event.  It would only get better for him from here.

Final results

6th – savagegamble – $8,397.00

5th – MCJS – $13,500.00

4th – Victor510 – $18,900

3rd – Lest@t Lion – $27,675.00

2nd – jasjas11 – $37,800.00

1st – Unassigned – $51,300.00

The high buy-in SCOOP event 20 had only 99 players, but still eclipsed the $400,000 guarantee by $95,000.  Some high profile players who took part in the high roller event included Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Shaun Deeb, and Vanessa Rousso.  However, this would be Terrence “Unassigned” Chan’s night.  After just completing the medium buy-in event and taking down top prize, Unassigned found himself also battling the final table at the high roller event.

He held the chip lead going into the final table, with only one other player within quick striking distance.

Seat 1: zangbezan24 (117,171 in chips)

Seat 2: nimzon (75,502 in chips)

Seat 3: madscout (49,218 in chips)

Seat 4: shaundeeb (68,600 in chips)

Seat 5: Unassigned (127,949 in chips)

Seat 6: Tulkaz (56,560 in chips)

Saundeeb, who started the final table 4th in chips, would be the player to turn up the aggression and make the most significant move.  He eventually found himself in the final two with Unassigned and well within range of having a great shot at the championship.  Final two chip count:  shaundeeb – 222,678, Unassigned – 272,322.  And shaundeeb took a great shot at the title, too – at one point having Terrence “Unassigned” Chan down to just 84,000 in chips.  It didn’t take long for Chan to turn up the heat, though, as he would battle back and eventually get the chip count back to nearly even, and not long after that, take a commanding lead.

The final hand showed just how hot Chan was running as he held KQo and saw a flop of QJT after the betting was capped pre-flop.  Chan check-raised the flop and again the betting was capped.  The turn brought an 8 and Deeb got his last 4,178 chips into the pot, flipping over a set of Tens versus Chan’s top pair and open-ender.  Much to Deeb’s dismay, the river brought the straight with an Ace, and Unassigned took down his second 1st place finish of the night!  His one night winnings totaled $186,187.50…not too shabby!

6th -Tulkaz – $25,987.50

5th – zangbezan24 – $34,650.00

4th – madscout – $47,025.00

3rd – nimzon – $69,300.00

2nd – shaundeeb – $90,337.50

1st – Unassigned – $134,887.50

Titan Poker marks its 6th anniversary throughout the month of September and poker players of all types will be attracted by the wide range of promotions on hand.

Titan w.w88 first-ever Heads-Up Championship, a special anniversary freeroll, mystery surprises, 24-hour races with exciting prizes, and a chance to play poker with Team Titan’s Sam Trickett and Marvin Rettenmaier are all part of the September activities.

Players who enjoy freerolls, and who doesn’t enjoy freerolls, will be eager to guarantee their seat at Titan Poker’s $6,000 Anniversary Freeroll. The threshold for qualification is quite low and practically any player can join. To qualify, a player must earn more than 60 Titan Poker Points during the month, and most players can achieve this in just one session at the tables. The freeroll will take place on Thursday, October 6th, and places are limited, so the earlier a player guarantees his seat, the better.

Only one player will walk away with the title of Titan Poker’s first Heads-Up Champion, but many players will be rewarded along the way. More than $25,000 in prizes is up for grabs. 32 players will participate in the finals, and to secure their seats, players need to win one of the 32 races scheduled during the month. The championship will take place in an elimination bracket format, with $3,000 reserved for the overall winner.

Players will not know in advance what additional promotions, bonuses and benefits await them as part of Mystery Week. A new mystery giveaway will be revealed to players each week but rumor has it that the mysteries will be revealed on Titan Poker’s Facebook page one day earlier than anywhere else.

Team Titan’s two professional poker players will join cash tables and tournaments as part of Sam & Marvin’s Playground. A $200 bounty has been offered to any player skillful enough to eliminate one of them from the $200,000 Guaranteed. The full schedule of their September appearances in the software has been posted online.

If all of these anniversary promotions sound exciting, players would be wise to opt-in on the Titan Poker website as soon as possible and join the celebrations.

Christophe Benzimra Finishes 34th at WPT Paris

Team Titan’s French poker pro Christophe Benzimra finished in 34th place at the prestigious WPT Grand Prix de Paris, staged at the famous Aviation Club de France on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

His prize was €11,110. Team Titan’s Marvin Rettenmaier was chipleader during an early stage of the tournament but did not finish in the money.

312 players paid the €7,500 buy-in to participate in the prestigious WPT Grand Prix de Paris Main Event. Marvin Rettenmaier and Yann Brosolo from Team Titan didn’t finish in the money even though Rettenmaier started  the tournament very well finishing Day 1B among the chipleaders. He was also leading the field for a good part of Day 2.

Marvin declared after his elimination: “I reached the point of the tournament where you need to win some flips to be able to play for the win. Unfortunately, I lost these crucial  flips so I am logically (but unfortunately) out. But next time will be mine 😉 ”

Other poker stars were in Paris to try to take down the title of WPT champion, among them Jason Mercier, Juha Helppi, Martin Jacobson, Freddy Deeb, Davidi Kitaï, Sorel Mizzi, Arnaud Mattern, Antoine Saout and Anton Makiievski (November Nine).

Christophe Benzimra, who won the EPT Warsow in 2009 showed a good result after 3 days of a high level fight. Unfortunately the French pro from Team Titan had to leave the tournament when his pocket Queens was beaten by Russian Dimitry Stelmak’s pocket Kings. Stelmak eventually finished 8th in the tournament and won  €66,665,

Online poker tournaments were a bit down this past weekend as most of the world celebrated the holidays.  Sites like Bwin and togel hongkong both dropped the guarantees on their biggest majors, down to $100k from $200k.  While this allowed them to reach their guarantees, it did create smaller prize pools and lower payouts. PokerStars, meanwhile, continued their dominance of online poker tournament by being the only site with $300,000+ prize pools on Sunday.  A handful of their majors, including the Million, Warm-Up, and Sunday500 all breezed past their guarantees on their way to solid numbers.

With New Year’s falling on next Sunday, it might just be another small day for online poker. However, players will be out in full force on Stars trying to qualify for the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure which begins in just 9 days.  To check out their satellites just head over to the tournament section in the PS lobby.

Party Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed

838 Entrants; $200,000 prize pool

1. Andrei6868 $34,242
2. kentavrrrr $28,045
3. Cocomangos $25,711
4. philipo111 $12,000
5. IndiaILoveU $10,000
6. Boing_Alert $8,000
7. nandovarela $6,000
8. AriGold $4,000
9. druen666 $3,000
10. DrGoodhouse $2,200

iPoker Sunday $100k Guaranteed

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1. OMGDannyRudd $30,450
2. mikthepro $15,950
3. saab3000 $11,600
4. Baekke1 $8,700
5. ShipFish $7,250
6. daddymufff $5,800
7. m0l0t $4,350
8. SIav $2,900
9. keryippp $2,030
10. PLSdontCRY $1,450

Bwin Sunday $100k Championship

872 Entrants; $165,680 prize pool

1. BBSpecial27 $29,437
2. Rand0mD0nk $20,451
3. daniel_ped $14,641
4. larasarao $10,845
5. indrich $8,017
6. b_zuzolo $5,949
7. byebyepay $4,802
8. Karsta88 $3,749
9. jaakkima $2,920
10. thai-boxing $2,293

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $500k Guaranteed

2,700 Entrants; $540,000 prize pool

1. crossthervr $85,050
2. elik567 $63,450
3. tomitomsen22 $45,360
4. s-botnang $31,050
5. Jeanbob123 $23,490
6. mrAndreeew $18,090
7. modulindo $12,690
8. liiteri $7,300
9. Who’s da Pro $4,590

PokerStars Sunday Million Guaranteed

6,982 Entrants; $1,396,400 prize pool

*2-way chop

1. ||Burkeeee! $196,513
2. JackobFish $167,071
3. LFmagic $111,712
4. Vadym1 $74,009
5. VitStarS MaN $57,252
6. thelegend67 $43,288
7. BouleEtBill $30,022
8. chur157 $16,756
9. AVAN77 $10,822

PokerStars Sunday500 $250k Guaranteed

637 Entrants; $318,500 prize pool

1. Bananazoo $52,034
2. arxigos $48,133
3. ThanosGR23 $31,531
4. joserivas397 $23,728
5. icebeerkim $16,562
6. Chaz D 87 $13,377
7. KKremate $10,192
8. GoToCa$hier $7,007
9. Jysky11 $4,140

The Full Tilt Online 꽁머니 환전 Series continued yesterday with another met guarantee in a game with dwindling popularity, especially online, Stud Hi. 581 people bought in to Event #5, a $200+16 tournament to make a prize pool of $116,200 with almost 27k going to first place. The final table was mostly void of recognizable names except for FellKnight who has been a winning online tourney player for quite a long time now. FellKnight made a good run at the top prize but eventually ended up giving way with a very respectable 2nd place finish. Congrats to all 64 players who cashed especially the final 8.

The 9th Full Tilt Online Pokers Series continued yesterday with Event #2, PL Omaha H/L Bounty. Full Tilt always seems to come up with new tournaments for their series’ to keep people interested and this event is no exception. The $240+16 buy-in PL Omaha H/L event with 40 dollar bounties brought in 1,138 players for a total prize pool of 227k.

As usual, many big names were left at or around the final 9 and the biggest name fell victim to his own aggression, MattG1983, when he exited in 11th. The final 9 was still a tough bunch of players, however, and included such tourney poker mainstays StuMan123 and Teledonk (aka Telefonkiosk) and canibetnow. A great story ended up emerging as Teledonk came into the final table as the short stack with only 120k as opposed to the chip leader DNcrew who had 675k, but Teledonk did not give up, picked his spots well and ended up taking down the whole tourney for $51,210.

Overall, Event #2 was a very entertaining tournament and FTOPS IX continues to roll along and attract big numbers in terms of entrants and prizes.Resignations, Overhauls at Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lothar Rentschler, has announced his intentions to leave the company. While his departure will not be an immediate matter, his resignation will go into effect by September 13 of this year. Rentschler has served as Full Tilt’s CMO since February of 2009, and had previously worked with such large companies as Bacardi and MEC.

Here are some snippets of what he had to say on the matter, according to an email seen by QuadJacks:

“Given the current circumstances, I do believe it is a long overdue step towards the right direction… I do apologize for the inconvenience the current circumstances at [Full Tilt Poker] have caused for you personally as well as for your respective companies. Our hands in marketing were bound and at the end even every communication was stopped.”

But, as their former online patrons could attest, Full Tilt’s problems go far beyond their marketing structure. The company is currently facing a class action lawsuit, a licensing hearing, and a possible purchase from outside investors. Th latest news in this department comes on the acquisition front.

Here’s the long and short of it, as reported by Electronic Gaming Review: In order for any company to be willing to lay down the necessary cash to buy Full Tilt, they will almost certainly demand a change in management. The former online poker giant is currently negotiating with several parties, hoping to beat their September 15 hearing date with the Alderney Gaming Council.

“Everyone has their eye on that date,” says Jeff Ifrah, a member of Full Tilt’s legal team. “Nobody wants to come to September 15th and not have a deal which is either finalized or close to finalization to the point that it can be shared with Alderney and result in the extension of that date.”

Unfortunately, the only game former Full Tilt users have been playing lately is a waiting one. There is still no word on the millions of dollars owed to players.

“I assume there’s going to be a transition period,” Ifrah continued, “and we hope that it’s not going to take that long to turn the lights back on and begin facilitating player withdrawals and obviously continue playing.”

Blackjack, when boiled down to its most basic elements, is a very simple game. Get a higher hand total than the dealer without going over 21. However, there are a lot of variations in the game that changes the odds and can have an effect on your bankroll.

The most obvious odd-changing togel hongkong variations involve whether the dealer hits a soft 17, whether you can resplit, whether there is late surrender, and other decisions. The number of decks also impacts your odds, as the house edge increases as the number of decks increases (it also makes it more difficult to count cards).

One thing that people normally don’t think of, though, is how the cards are shuffled. Believe it or not, how the cards are shuffled has an effect on your bankroll. Though the house edge does not change, different shuffling methods can cause you to lose more money simply by allowing you to play more hands.

Casinos want the game of blackjack to be played as fast as possible. Since there is a house edge to the game, the more hands that are played, the more money the casino makes. Therefore, they want to play as many hands as possible. Hand-shuffling, for that reason, is not a preferred method for casinos, but if you can find a table where the dealer shuffles by hand that offers you chance to keep the most money.

There are also different kinds of shuffling machines. For years, casinos have been using automatic shufflers. The traditional automatic shufflers randomized a deck or several decks and then the cards were discarded into a pile after being played. This is much faster than shuffling by hand and, due to the house edge, costs the players more money. Recently, however, many casinos have turned to the newer continuous shuffling machine (CSM). These work even faster and instead of creating a discard pile, the discarded cards are immediately returned to the deck.

This does two things: It makes it so that the dealer doesn’t have to stop to shuffle cards and it makes counting cards virtually impossible. Therefore, a blackjack table that uses a continuous shuffling machine will cost you more money in the long run.

Or does it?

As the renowned gambling mathematician Michael Shackleford explains, a continuous shuffling machine actually lowers the house edge. In simulated tests, Shackleford showed that a CSM reduces the house edge by 0.014-0.113%, depending on the number of decks in use. In blackjack, high cards favor the player and low cards favor the dealer. Tens especially help the player. With a CSM, since there are already more 10-value cards than any other value, the tens are more likely to be reshuffled into the deck than any other value card. Therefore, in the long run, continuous shuffling machines result in more high cards being in play.

So CSM’s are good for the players then, right? Well, no. Using a CSM may reduce the house edge by 0.014-0.113%, but it also increases the amount of hands played in an hour by 20%. That means a lot more hands that are exposed to the house edge. For that reason, despite the lowering of the house edge, CSM’s are still not beneficial to the player.

CSM’s are only used in brick and mortar casinos, but when playing online blackjack, since the dealing of the cards is controlled by a random number generator, it is in effect like having the deck shuffled after every card is dealt. That makes card counting impossible, but it does give you the possibility of receiving more tens.