A stunned Andrew Chen is tonight £394,200 after winning the EPT London High Roller title. He went from the shortest stack with three players left to High Roller champion within the space of 20 minutes.
But let's rewind for a moment.
When we checked in at the High Roller last night there has been a stacked field of 25 players remaining, 23 of whom would make the cash. First, Pablo Fernandez became the unlucky bubble boy when his nines bumped into not one but two pairs of pocket kings.
In all 14 players took a visit to the cashier's cage before Day 2 action was done: Sam Trickett (20th), Ole Schemion (19th), Marvin Rettenmaier (15th) and Victoria Coren Mitchell (11th) all crashed out before play resumed today at noon with 10 players left.
That left Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden to be the unlucky first out today. His departure in tenth left this elite nine:
Farrell fell first, which allowed him to snatch a lager and head over to the principle Event to look at his friend Jake Cody.
With a stack of around 2,500,000, of the 8,650,000 in play, Leonid Markin led the best way after they went all the way down to eight. He soon had a challenger when Craig McCorkell took an enormous pot from Van Hoof, and Markin then doubled up Behbehani with A♥K♠ against pocket aces.
But the Russian soon took control again when he eliminated Van Hoof in an absolute cooler. The chips went in on a 4♥7♣3♦ board with Van Hoof holding pocket sevens for high set and Markin 6♣5♣ for the flopped straight. Neither the turn or river paired the board and the November Nine chip leader needed to be content with eighth place.
Philippe D'Auteuil fell in seventh soon after, but six handed play would continue for greater than 90 minutes before Martin Quack was eliminated by Fady Kamer. Although the Lebanese player also took care of Salman Behbehani in fifth, it was still Markin who had the chip lead, while Andre Chen was the shortest stack with around 20 big blinds.
It was during four-handed play where Markin lost first his grip at the tournament after which his place in it. He doubled up Kamar twice, Chen once after which McCorkell finished him off. In a little bit greater than two hours, he had gone from first to worst.
.
Both McCorkell and Kamar took turns at trading the chip lead before Chen's miracle 20 minutes. First Chen jammed his 12.5 big blind stack in with A♣9♠ and held against McCorkell's Q♦J♦. This left McCorkell with only 20 big blinds and a little while later they went it when he found K♠Q♠, Chen snapped him off with pocket eights to take us to heads-up play.
There wasn't so much to make a choice from the 2 in the case of chips and 3 hands into heads-up play came the pivotal moment of the tournament. The vast majority of the chips went in at the turn of a Q♦8♠2♥7♣ board with Kamar holding 8♦7♦ and Chen Q♣8♥ for a greater two-pair. The river blanked and one hand later it was all over.
"I'm in disbelief," Chen said after the win. "I ASSUMED I'D be out of the tournament at this point in third place, but I somehow won instead, that is completely unexpected."
Congratulations to Andrew Chen, who after having finished second, third and fifth in EPT Main Events has finally bagged a massive EPT title -- and has put his hands on a luxury SLYDE watch as well. He spoke to Laura Cornelius shortly after his victory, we predict a trophy taking you over your flight baggage limit may well be the most productive first world problem we've ever heard!
EPT11 London, £10,000 NL Hold'em High Roller Entries: 173Places paid: 23Prize pool: £1,244,600
1. Andrew Chen (Canada) £394,2002. Fady Kamar (Lebanon), £267,0003. Craig McCorkell (Great Britain), £178,0004. Leonid Markin (Russia), £145,8005. Salman Behbehani, (Kuwait), £117,0006. Martin Quack, (Germany), £90,7007. Philippe D'Auteuil (Canada) £67,2008. Jorryt van Hoof (Netherlands), £49,400
Follow the action from the EPT London Main Event this week at the PokerStars Blog. You can too watch live coverage at the EPT Live webcast between October 14-18 on PokerStars.tv.
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A payment of $220 million to lenders for the CityCenter casino gambling complex construction is due today, and default could also be imminent. While MGM Mirage swears it's prepared to pay its half, partner Dubai World has sued the casino operator and says it's going to not pay its share.MGM Mirage's lenders, including Bank of America, have said they won't allow MGM Mirage to make its payment if Dubai fails to honor its share of the debt. The dispute could send the CityCenter albatross into chapter 11 once this weekend.
The potential work stoppage on the monstrous resort project could send ripples within the Las Vegas economy. MGM Mirage has already been hunting unsuccessfully for greater than 1000000000 dollars in financing to finish construction. Now Dubai's suit, alleging breach of contract by MGM Mirage, makes Las Vegas insiders wonder whether CityCenter will drag down the MGM empire with it.
Thousands of jobs are depending on CityCenter's moving forward. In a depressed Las Vegas economy, unexpected unemployment of greater than 10000 operating personnel can be a devastating blow.
Long-time Vegas observer Henry Ebanks says MGM Mirage won't exist in its current form much longer. Restructuring of debt to transform credit covenants will save the company, but in a way smaller version, as several properties is frequently sold.
"For Las Vegas visitors, the results of the recession could be a return to more individual ownership of casinos, in place of MGM or Harrah's owning everything. The presence of increased competition can only make for a greater tourist experience."
Published on March 27, 2009 by PrestonLewis
According to The Nordic Page, the Norwegian government presented a bill to permit private home poker game so long as they “do not have an organized and professional purpose.” In other words, so long as there isn’t rake or other fees.
Also, “poker championships” weren't allowed to be held in Norway, but that have been officially reversed, a central authority official said.
The report added:
Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto are the 2 only companies allowed to supply gambling services to Norwegian citizens. Norsk Tipping offers games like lotteries, sports betting, Keno and several other others. Norsk Tipping is wholly state-owned company under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Church affairs, with rules about what times of day, and what kind of money players can bet…Except games offered by Norsk Tipping, all different kinds of online gambling are illegal.
The news is sweet for online high-stakes pro Ola “Odd Oddsen” Amundsgaard, who was fighting for poker players’ rights in Norway for quite a while. Last year, Amundsgaard played a political candidate in heads-up battle to focus on the truth that poker is a game of skill.
Devilicious isn't any angel as she takes players on a wickedly entertaining journey packed with interactive bonuses featuring the U-Spin™ Wheel, Free Games, Mystery Stacks™, and Hot Zones™.
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As Level 30 (50,000/100,000/10,000) began Jerson Backmann of Mexico had built his stack up over 7 million, having about half the chips in play and 3 times as many as his nearest competitor.
A few hands went by, with both Luis Perez and Marcos Exterkotter having all-in shoves go uncalled. Then came a hand that saw Backmann raise from the button, a short-stacked Oscar Alache reraise all in from the small blind for 645,000 total, and Backmann call.
It was A♥4♥ for Alache and 3♠3♣ for Backmann, and the 6♦2♠4♦ flop hit Alache's hand while also giving Backmann some outs to catch up. However the turn was the 7♦ and river the Q♣, and after having some trouble coping with the big-stacked neighbor on his right today, Alache managed to snatch some chips back from Backmann.
From there the pattern was either Backmann would open with a raise and win, or another person would open-shove all in and win. Exterkotter won once, Alache twice, and Perez one time, while Backmann picked up the pots in between.
Then a hand arose that saw Campodonico raise the minimum to 200,000 from the small blind, Perez push for 710,000 from the massive blind, and Campodonico call.
Perez was ahead but in a precarious spot with A♣9♥ versus Campodonico's K♠J♦, and still had the threshold after the T♦5♠6♠ flop. However the J♥ turn gave Campodonico the lead, and after the 6♦ river they were all the way down to four.
They crossed the midway point of the level, and returned to the similar pattern with Exterkotter, then Alache, then Alache again pushing all in and getting no action. Then Campodonico began to do a little standard raising, too, having climbed up out of the risk zone.
Then came a hand that saw the Exterkotter open all-in for 1,255,000 from the button and Alache calling him from the large blind.
Exterkotter had T♦9♠ and needed improvement against Alache's A♠T♣. The 4♥2♠6♠ flop and 5♦ turn didn't help the Brazilian, but did offer a possibility for a split pot. Fifth street then brought the Q♠, and Extertotter was done in fourth.
They're now taking a brief break a couple of minutes shy of the realization of Level 30. Listed here are the stacks at present:
Jerson Backmann (Mexico) -- 7,745,000Oscar Alache (Chile) -- 3,145,000Daniel Campodonico (Uruguay) -- 2,685,000
Photography from LAPT7 Peru by Carlos Monti. Take a look at the start-to-finish live streaming coverage (in both Spanish and Portuguese) at PokerStars.tv. Click here for live updates in Spanish, and here for live updates in Portuguese.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
After a grueling 16-hours of play Norway's Henrik Tollefsen has emerged victorious within the 21st Macau Poker Cup High Roller Event. Tollefsen defeated the 59-strong field, winning the lions share of the HK$4,439,160 prize pool to take home an outstanding HK$1,465,000 for first place.
"Obviously I'M more than happy to win,' said an upbeat Tollefsen, 'It was an enormous rollercoaster ride of an afternoon. I got lucky in a couple of spots and all of it worked out well within the end."
Despite the Scandinavian player beginning the general day as some of the shortest stacks with just over seven big blinds, Tollefsen dug deep and made a sterling come again as play progressed to make the nine-handed final table as some of the top three largest stacks.
Just 20 of the 59 players made the Day 2 cut with former Day 1 chip leader, Korea's Eddy Kim, bursting the overall table bubble to take play nine-handed with the overall table shaping up like this:
Seat 1: Quan Zhou, China - 1,059,000
Seat 2: Shashank Rathi, Hong Kong - 1,027,000
Seat 3: Henrik Tollefsen, Norway - 961,000
Seat 4: Victor Chong, Malaysia - 264,000
Seat 5: Rono Lo, Macau - 225,000
Seat 6: Daniel Xiong, Malaysia - 615,000
Seat 7: Li-Ta Hsu, Chinese Taipei - 724,000
Seat 8: Makoto Yoshimichi, Japan - 415,000
Seat 9: Kunaal Chandra, India - 510,000
It could be three very cagey levels before the general table saw its first casualty with India's Kunaal Chandra exiting in ninth place to bring play to the money bubble.
The unfortunate Li-Ta Hsu burst this after taking a success by the hands of Malaysia's Victor Chong, exiting shortly afterwards with Rono Lo administering the coup de grâce.
Japan's Makoto Yoshimichi became the primary of the paying casualties departing in seventh place for HK$267,160 when his short stacked shove with [qd][5h] bumped into Daniel Xiong's [ad][6h].
China's Quan Zhou hit the rail a little bit later in sixth place for HK$311,000 after running out of steam and cards, getting it all-in with [2s][2c] pre-flop and running afoul of Rono Lo's rivered nut flush.
Former big stack Shashank Rathi followed suit, kindly giving Tollefsen a hefty chip lead on his way out of the tournament, finishing in fifth place for HK$355,000 when his [kc][6h] couldn't overcome the might of the Norwegian's [5s][4d].
Victor Chong departed at the beginning of level 18 when his [qc][10d] lost a race to Tollefsen's [3c][3h], further padding out the latter's stack and leaving Chong to go to the money desk to gather his HK$488,000 fourth place winnings.
Tollefsen then powered into the chip lead when his [kd][ks] hit top two pair at the activate a [9h][qd][jh][jc] board against the flopped two pair of Rono Lo, who was holding [qs][9c].
A rather unfortunate Daniel Xiong was unlucky to complete in third place for HK$621,000 after a lengthy three-way battle. By this time it had become the Tollefsen show and the Norwegian poker professional had begun turning the screws mercilessly. Xiong got his chips in good twice to no avail against fellow short stack Rono Lo, who sent the young Malaysian to the rail after winning back-to-back hands.
Despite back-to-back double-ups within the first two hands of heads-up play Lo couldn't overcome Tollefsen's commanding chip lead. With blinds at a hefty 100,000/200,000 with a 30,000 running ante Tollefsen emerged triumphant after moving all-in from the button with [9d][7c] with Lo making the decision holding [kd][10h]. The overall board ran out [5h][6s][qh][9s][2c] to grant the Norwegian player victory and notice Lo finish in second place for HK$932,000.
Published on December 2, 2013 by April Gardner
The state of Maryland will soon have a brand new casino that may be expected to modify the gaming industry, and the developer of that new casino is predicted to be named by the point the brand new year begins. The state has narrowed the list of potential developers to three.
Over the past few months, three developers have made their pitches and shown their hands, hoping to secure the license to construct a casino in Prince George's County. The casino is a part of one of the vital anticipated gaming expansions within the Northeast, and person who could affect casinos inside the region for years to come.
MGM Resorts International, which owns casinos within the US, placed a bid they hope will land them the Prince George's casino. The MGM proposal would bring a casino to the Potomac River at National Harbor. The casino can be located off of I95, which makes it accessible to both Maryland residents, and travelers touring up the East Coast.
The MGM bid was essentially the most lucrative of the 3 until Penn National revamped their bid to incorporate an extra $320 million the corporate agreed to pump into the Maryland health and education systems. That brought the full bid of Penn National to over $1 billion. MGM's proposal was for a $925 million facility.
The third bid, placed by Greenwood Racing, is regarded as the long shot, with a $761 million proposal. The Greenwood group also upped their bid in recent weeks, adding a promise of $100 million to road improvements.
"While the MGM bid looks to be the most obvious choice, Maryland regulators are strongly considering all of the other proposals," said analyst Harvey Franz. "REGARDLESS OF which proposal wins, Maryland will soon become probably the most gaming giants within the region with the addition of this new casino."
Maryland is chasing both Pennsylvania and New Jersey on the subject of gaming revenue. Atlantic City have been the premiere gaming destination at the East Coast until three years ago when Pennsylvania passed New Jersey because the top grossing casino industry within the East. Pennsylvania trails only Nevada in overall gaming revenue within the US.
Maryland is thought of as to have probably the greatest preventative programs for problem gambling and treatment. The state started gaining national notoriety for the programs, and its policies are being modeled inside the country.
At one point in recent memory, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst was fighting a three-front battle against time. She was at Yale carrying out her law degree, she was playing poker for insane amounts of money, and--believe it or not--she had a life within the real world.
Forget for a moment that--for most obvious human beings--getting a law degree from considered one of America's finest institutions can be greater than an entire time job. Forget that Selbst was becoming a mid-20s millionaire playing on poker's toughest circuit, a role that may sap the mental and physical energy from the easiest. She was doing both, maintaining a relationship with the girl she would eventually marry, and finding time to hit the city along with her friends.
It's easy to think about Selbst as a superhero, and he or she rather well is also (I've never seen her and Batman within the same place on the same time...), but when you look a bit deeper into how she handles her life, you will see how she managed to do it all--successfully, no less--and not lose her mind.
At first, it was easier for her. Although she already had a large reputation in poker, it wasn't an entire time pursuit.
"I quit playing poker full time with the intention to visit law school, as I DID NOT think it was feasible to do both well simultaneously," she said.
During the primary couple years of school, she only played online occasionally. She didn't play live tournaments unless she was on a semester break or the tournaments were with reference to Yale.
"Putting poker at the back burner was the fitting choice. Doing so allowed me to completely immerse myself into my studies and channel my energy into establishing a life for myself at law school--working on law clinics, making a close-knit friend group, and establishing healthy routines," Selbst said.
But then everything changed. The PokerStars North American Poker Tour traveled to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. It was just down the street from New Haven. Selbst went...and she won for $750,000. It was, at that point, her biggest score. Only a few months later, she got signed to a Team PokerStars Pro sponsorship.
"As I had given law school my undivided attention, I felt it essential to give poker the similar time," she said.
So she took a handy guide a rough break--one semester--from Yale and occupied with poker for a little bit.
For a large number of students, getting a PokerStars sponsorship and having a pile of cash would mean the top in their studies. Not so for Selbst. She was going to get her law degree it doesn't matter what it took. So, she set to work to determine how she could get all of it done and never lose her mind.
Recently, PokerStars asked some of its players to take part in an exercise. The effects help explain how the brains of those highly successful people work to regulate their time effectively.
Using author Stephen Covey's time management matrix, Selbst laid out how she handled fighting that three-front battle. She broke down everything into the quadrants below in response to matters of urgency and importance.
You might have a look at that (it's only a screen shot from a document she was nice enough to fill out for the PokerStars folks) and think, "Well, sure, that is smart. What's so cool about that?"
Well, that's exactly it. It clearly is smart because Selbst was capable of make sense of it. That's where a super many of us trip up. LOTS OF PEOPLE have a hard time seeing the adaptation between importance and urgency.
Take, for instance, how Selbst looks at social media. Where a good portion of her peer group takes to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. all day, everyday, you nearly never see Selbst's face pop up for your Twitter feed (will probably be a whole accident if she sees this newsletter on Twitter, I guarantee you). She calls herself "notoriously neglectful" of social media, but she makes no real apologies for it. It's simply one of the vital things she doesn't see as necessarily important or urgent. The similar thing goes for shopping, mundane household chores, and sitting in front of the tube. Not important, and definitely not urgent.
But that wasn't the tip of it, because, Selbst still needed to determine easy methods to prioritize the $64000 matters in her life. Whether by trial and mistake or instinct, she made it happen: she was getting her law degree, she was going to have a poker career, she she was going to be healthy--both mentally and physically--while doing it.
She used a nap app and tried to verify she got eight hours of shuteye an evening. She walked to campus, worked out within the Yale gym, and put aside time for friends.
"This was an enormous a part of law school and was super important to make time for," she said. "Being surrounded by a community is what keeps me truly happy, and happiness is integral to poker success."
Still, she needed to slot in the non-urgent matters of importance. So she found some way. She did not have time to maintain her fridge stocked, so she ate on campus or grabbed a bite when she was out with friends.
"My refrigerator was also referred to as 'the beer fridge' with 50 bottles left over from whatever party I had recently had," she said. "IT IS ALSO hard to maintain a stocked fridge in case you have a busy travel schedule."
She studied for classes while on planes, and often on the poker table. She used forums and Skype to take care of with any moves in poker strategy she had to stay alongside of. When it came time to present a poker interview, she'd time it so she could do it while walking to class.
Somehow all of it worked.
"I went back for the spring 2012 semester, and knowing I only had yet one more year to go, I took a lighter course load and un-enrolled from my clinics so I MAY skip classes regularly for poker tournaments," she said. "Much of my time was also spent writing a thesis paper, which enabled me to be at the road more often."
When it was all said and done, Selbst had earned her law degree, married the affection of her life, and won a couple of more poker titles. In that time, she has earned greater than $10 million in live poker tournaments, nearly twice the second one most successful woman, Kathy Liebert. Selbst could also be a number of the Top 25 most successful live tournament players on the planet overall.
How does she do all of it? Well, again, she may well be a superhero, but a little bit time management doesn't hurt.
On Wednesday, Team Pro Online's Adrienne Rowsome opens up about how finds time to play poker together with her first baby in the home.
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging
