Trapping with a large hand pre-flop, by Alex Kravchenko

by Alex Kravchenko

One of an important strategies in MTTs is varying your game. That suggests that during similar situations with similar hands it's important to occasionally play a unique way. For example, when you've got a large hand pre-flop and there is a raise in front of you, sometimes you re-raise and infrequently you simply call.

I think there are two major factors that affect your decision. First is your opinion a couple of raiser - you need to be more willing to name against a loose aggressive player who's bluffing so much after the flop. Also this sort of player is raising with a large number of hands pre-flop, so it's harder for him to outdraw you. And after all, in case your image is solid, he'll fold nearly always whilst you three-bet (things are different in case you are re-raising so much - as a result could also be three-bet is the easier option, since you can expect a four-bet re-steal attempt).

The second factor is: Who's sitting behind you? If there are a pair aggressive players there then you definitely can attempt to provoke them to squeeze when you call. That is one of the crucial profitable situations in tournament NL Hold'em, when somebody puts a large three-bet raise on a bluff, then you definitely move all in, forcing your opponent to fold. It means you'll win an enormous amount of chips without showdown and with out a chance of losing.

I want to illustrate this idea with the examples of 2 hands which I played within the Bellagio Cup 15k Main Event in July, 2009. This tournament had an excellent slow structure, so even within the late stages the play was deep enough. These two hands happened on day three. Within the first one the blinds were 2,000-4,000 (500 ante). Before the hand I had 155,000 chips, which was about 2/3 of the common stack. We were nine-handed. The UTG player opened with 10,500 and that i picked up K-K in second position. The explanation why I just called is that my table image can also be solid - and that applied to this actual table to boot. I BELIEVED that if I re-raised on this position it might kill the entire possible action behind. So I called - after which the cut-off player put a large re-raise of 60,000. Everybody folded, including the unique raiser, and that i went all in for 155,000 and my opponent was priced to name along with his A-Q suited. Nothing bad happened and that i doubled up.

The second hand was played on the end of the similar day. With 27 within the money, there have been 37 left within the tournament. We were playing seven-handed, with blinds at 4,000-8,000 (1,000 ante). My stack was about 420,000, which was slightly above average. Jeff Madsen (250,000 chips) was sitting to my left, so on this hand I USED TO BE at the small blind and he was the massive blind. The second one position player raised as much as 20,000, everybody else folded to me within the small blind where I had A-K suited. The best way the raiser put his chips in gave me a sense that he was not strong, and that i thought that perhaps Jeff noticed it also. So I DETERMINED to call, hoping he would attempt to steal this pot with a re-raise. My plan was that he would raise about 75,000, then I'D move all in and simply pick up about 100,000 in chips.

To my surprise he moved in with all his 250,000 chips, and the unique raiser folded. Now I knew that he had a hand, however the question was how strong? I USED TO BE thinking for approximately two minutes and made a choice. I wasn't really expecting myself to fold, but I THINK that if I'm taking my time to think in situations like this I AM NOT losing anything and am preventing myself from making bad instant decisions.

In this example the essential question was whether your opponent may have A-Q or not. If yes (and i believed that was the case here), it's absolutely a choice. If no, then it is very border line, especially if you find yourself on the subject of the cash spots. For the showdown Jeff showed A-Q, and that i won a 500,000 pot and finished the day with a cosy 700,000 stack.

So there are two good examples of playing big hands well. Unfortunately, day after today was unlucky for me - I made two wrong decisions and finished in 19th place.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Alex Kravchenko]

Big payday for Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen, 12/17/13 Super Tuesday winner

This week's Super Tuesday, PokerStars' weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament that routinely brings out online poker's best and brightest, saw another big field of 546 participate, thereby making a prize pool of $546,000 that well exceeded the event's $300K guarantee. It could ultimately take 10 hours and 45 minutes for that field to minimize to a winner, and when the last hand was dealt it was Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen playing from Costa Rica who had claimed the victory and a handsome $103,740 payday. Here's the tale of the way Hunichen did it.

A glimpse on the counts after nearly four hours of play revealed just over 400 of these entrants had fallen while a well-recognized name -- Peter "twirlpro" Turmezy of Hungary -- had risen to the highest. Turmezy's nick is familiar because just two days ago he took down the Sunday Million (his second one) to earn greater than $213K after a five-way chop.

About an hour-and-a-half later, however, twirlpro had descended back off during the counts before ultimately being ousted in 71st in a hand versus Tricoloren. They were then approaching the tourney's six-hour mark when the money bubble burst, and with 63 left it was eventual champ Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen who had positioned himself within the top spot.

It took a pair more hours for the sphere to be whittled all the way down to 18 players, through which time Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald took excessive spot. pintoelbajon (18th), Adriano "ULTRASANTOS" Mauá (17th), and Erebgil bg (16th) would next go out, each earning $4,368, then HITTHEPANDA (15th), Joep "Pappe Ruk" van den Bijgaart (14th), after which Fitzgerald (13th) hit the rail to earn $5,460 apiece.

Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald had become short-stacked after an all-in confrontation with Joe "floes" Serock during which the latter's A♣J♥ outdrew Assassinato's A♠K♦ when four hearts came a few of the community cards. That hand helped elevate Serock into first position because the next three went out, with Charlie "JIZOINT" Combes (12th), ringlding (11th), and MistheMan (10th) all eliminating $6,552 for his or her efforts.

Just nine remained, with a couple of other familiar names -- including Hunichen's -- among those chasing Serock.

Seat 1: Joe "floes" Serock (Mexico) -- 639,794
Seat 2: Andre "gigibaston" Belus (Romania) -- 282,348
Seat 3: Jonathan "OMGjonyctt" Concepción (UK) -- 216,973
Seat 4: Carter "cswidler" Widler (Canada) -- 368,437
Seat 5: Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen (Costa Rica) -- 435,160
Seat 6: Doug*Dutra (Brazil) -- 72,968
Seat 7: CaLLitARUSH (Canada) -- 244,810
Seat 8: zwuerbs (Germany) -- 274,053
Seat 9: Nur1ck (Australia) -- 195,457

Doug*Dutra became the primary final tablist to fall in ninth in a hand versus zwuerbs.

With the blinds at 5,000/10,000, Doug*Dutra open-pushed from the button for 85,686 with 4♣4♠ and got a single caller in zwuerbs who had woken up within the big blind with Q♦Q♣. The board came 7♥T♠6♥T♥9♦, and Doug*Dutra was out.

The blinds increased to 6,000/12,000, then a hand arose that saw Jonathan "OMGjonyctt" Concepción raise all in for 174,108 from the cutoff seat then Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen reraise all in from the small unaware of isolate.

Concepción had 3♥3♠ and hoped the small pair would hold versus Hunichen's K♠Q♠. The treys did hold throughout the 5♥5♣7♦ flop, however the turn and river brought two queens -- Q♥, then Q♦ -- and OMGjonyctt was done in eighth.

Then in advance of the 10-hour break it was zwuerbs open-pushing from middle position for 182,521 (about 15 big blinds) and getting called by Carter "cswidler" Widler from the massive blind. zwuerbs had 6♦6♠ but had run into Widler's A♦A♣, and five community cards later -- 5♥K♦4♥8♠2♣ -- they were right down to six.

The break came and went, then Big Huni raised the minimum to 24,000 from the button and CaLLitARUSH reraised all in for 234,085 from the small blind. It folded back to Hunichen who called, turning over A♦J♠ while CaLLitARUSH had A♥T♦.

The flop came 3♦T♠J♦ to pair both players' kickers, then after the 2♠ turn and 5♣ river CaLLitARUSH was eliminated in sixth.

Play continued with Hunichen having pushed up over one million and into first position while Joe "floes" Serock had slipped to last of the five. And before long it was the previous disposing of the latter to cut back the sector to four.

The blinds had climbed to 7,000/14,000, and after an open to 28,000 by Big Huni from the cutoff, floes reraised all in for 137,497 from the small blind and Hunichen called. Serock had A♥7♠ and was sooner than Hunichen's K♥T♠, however the board came 3♠J♦8♠K♦6♥ to provide Big Huni a couple and end Serock's run in fifth.

Joe "floes" Serock

Hunichen's roll would continue unabated as soon after that hand he'd claim the last of Carter "cswidler" Swidler's chips, sending him railward in fourth.

Swidler's final hand began with him min-raising to 28,000 from the button and only Hunichen calling from the small blind. The flop came 5♠Q♦7♦ and Hunichen led with a raffle of 28,885. Swidler responded with a raise to 63,000, and after pausing a few beats Big Huni pushed all in and cswidler called, committing the remainder of the stack of about 400,000 with which he'd begun the hand.

Swidler had top pair-top kicker with A♠Q♥ while Hunichen had the nut flush draw with A♦8♦. The K♦ then fell on fourth street, completing the flush and making the J♥ river regardless of.

Three remained. By then Hunichen had pushed up over 2.2 million, well above Nur1ck who was hovering across the 300,000-chip mark and Andre "gigibaston" Belus who had just a bit over 150,000.

It was Belus shoving next for 162,736 from the small blind with A♥8♣ and massive Huni calling from the massive blind with K♦T♠. The flop came J♠Q♠4♦ and gigibaston still held a tenuous lead, however the T♦ at the turn paired Hunichen. The Q♥ fell on fifth street, and so they were right down to two.

RSS readers click through to view replay

Big Huni had nearly a 10-to-1 chip advantage to start out heads-up play with 2,456,748 to Nur1ck's 273,252.

Hunichen would then carve away about half Nur1ck's stack over the following several hands before Nur1ck managed a few double-ups to climb up out of the chance zone. Then Nur1ck picked up a couple of more pots to tug on the subject of even before falling go into reverse under 500,000 before the general hand took place.

The blinds were as much as 9,000/18,000. The hand began with a raise to 36,000 by Hunichen from the button, with Nur1ck responding by three-betting to 81,790. Big Huni then came back with an all-in shove and Nur1ck quickly called.

Nur1ck: A♦K♠
Big Huni: J♦T♦

Nur1ck had the most efficient hand with five cards to come, and it was the most efficient with two to return besides after a 4♠J♠K♣ flop paired both players. But again fourth street proved fortunate for Hunichen, bringing the T♣ to award him with a second pair. The 6♣ followed at the river, and large Huni had won.

RSS readers click through to view replay

Congratulations to Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen for breaking through this week to top a difficult field and talented final table to pick out up a really perfect Tuesday title and six-figure score!

Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen

12/17/13 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results

Players: 546
Prize pool: $546,000
Places paid: 63

1. Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen (Costa Rica) -- $103,740.00
2. Nur1ck (Australia) -- $76,440.00
3. Andre "gigibaston" Belus (Romania) -- $55,965.00
4. Carter "cswidler" Widler (Canada) -- $42,588.00
5. Joe "floes" Serock (Mexico) -- $30.030.00
6. CaLLitARUSH (Canada) -- $23,205.00
7. zwuerbs (Germany) -- $17,745.00
8. Jonathan "OMGjonyctt" Concepción (UK) -- $12,285.00
9. Doug*Dutra (Brazil) -- $9,063.60

The European Poker Tour Prague Main Event has played down from 1,007 entries to an eight-handed final table set to play out on Wednesday. Check the PokerStars blog for updates to peer who will turn out to be the following EPT champion.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Super Tuesday]

LAPT7 Panama: The world's most famed short cut

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. Anyone visiting Panama City should make a journey to look the engineering marvel where you may watch the ships passing throughout the locks from one side to the opposite and find out about the history behind the building and upkeep of the world's most famed short cut.

From the Atlantic

With a four-floor museum including a film theater, tourists can receive a snappy history lesson of the Panama Canal's construction that dates the entire as far back as the 16th century when Spaniards first came to the isthmus.

One can find out about the failed (and for many, fatal) attempt by the French to build a canal within the late 19th century, the treaty with the U.S... and the decade-long construction culminating within the 1914 opening, the Torrijos-Carter Treaties of 1977 that set the stage for the transfer of the Canal to Panama initially of 2000, and the long run plan for expansion already underway.

Perhaps essentially the most overwhelming impression one gets from such study and from observing the Panama Canal in action is how incredibly complicated are both its history and operation. Never mind the backstory filled with conflicts, negotiations, and treaties. Even the passage of a single cargo ship in the course of the 80-kilometer passage is stuffed with complex machinations involving the 3 locks, the raising of ships from sea level to that of the unreal Gatun Lake then go into reverse to sea level at the other side, and the meticulous scheduling of such manuevers.

The middle chambers

It takes eight to ten hours for a boat to make its way during the canal -- concerning the same period of time they'll likely be playing today within the LAPT Panama Main Event -- although with the paperwork involved it's essentially a day-long procedure. Still beats going the entire way around South America to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice-versa.

People from dozens of nations were curious about the development of the Panama Canal, and vessels from greater than 70 different countries use it annually. Similar to the LAPT -- which this year attracted players from 39 different countries to take part frequently Event -- the Canal brings the sector together, providing a way for interaction, commerce, and potential profit.

Toward the Pacific

Speaking of, in the course of the middle component to the afternoon the sphere have been carved right down to just 18 players, bringing those remaining towards the largest prizes on offer.

Jordan Westmorland (25th), Marco Zevola (24th), Richard Naranjo (23rd), Fabian Restrepo (22nd), and Arturo Morales (21st) successively fell over the last hour-and-a-half. LAPT4 Brazil winner Alex Manzano of Chile then took A♣5♠ up against Nick Russo's T♠T♥ and failing to enhance went out in 20th.

Alex Manzano

And Juan Martin Pastor have been knocked out in addition in 19th after his K♠5♦ couldn't catch as much as Jon Rua's A♣K♠.

Juan Martin Pastor

Just 10 more eliminations to head before they reach the eight-handed final table, then seven more until a champion is crowned. No short cuts here.

Photography from LAPT7 Panama by Carlos Monti. Click here for live updates in Spanish, and here for live updates in Portuguese. Also take a look at the start-to-finish live streaming coverage (in both Spanish and Portuguese) at PokerStars.tv.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]

Karim El Rharbaoui beats Patrick Renkers to title at France Poker Series Sunfest Mazagan

Karim El Rharbaoui last weekend won the France Poker Series Mazagan Sunfest for MAD 505,000 ($59,443) beating French journeyman Richard Ekert and Dutch grinder Patrick Renkers into podium finishes.

Renkers would have fancied his chances on the final table given his experience and $313,216 in live tournament winnings. The Dutchman were a chip leader at EPT Prague last season and ended up losing a big flip to bubble the general table in ninth.

Patrick Renkers, bust in third

Tournament infoBuy-in: MAD 12,100Game: NLHE Players: 208Prize pool: MAD 2,219,360

1. Karim El Rharbaoui, MAD 505,000*2. Richard Ekert, MAD 390,000*3. Patrick Renkers, MAD 210,0004. Stephane Said, MAD 172,0005. Renaud Lejal, MAD 145,0006. Karaca Fedayi, MAD 120,0007. Cathy Serrat, MAD 97,0008. Antoine Pacaud, MAD 75,0009. Abdelmajid Es Safi, MAD 55,36010. Gilhem Delaporte, MAD 43,00011. Mahdi Et Taribou, MAD 43,00012. Mihails Morozovs, MAD 43,00013. Franck Boyer, MAD 35,00014. Yury Kerzhapkin, MAD 35,00015. Benabdellah Brahim, MAD 35,00016. Houssam Mohamed, MAD 28,00017. Gouget Fabrice, MAD 28,00018. Folshweiler Valentin, MAD 28,00019. Lahlou Khalid, MAD 23,00020. Pasqualini Jean Paul, MAD 23,00021. Mertlisch Simon, MAD 23,00022. Sahbani Chocri, MAD 21,00023. Truche Leo, MAD 21,00024. Hagenbeuk Bastian, MAD 21,000

*Denotes a two-way deal was made.8.49 MAD to at least one US$

The next stop of the FPS is Paris where a €1,100 buy-in main event will happen 13-19 November. Qualify now online at PokerStars.

Rick Dacey is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: France Poker Series]

EPT11 Barcelona: Daniel Negreanu's most vital nugget of recommendation

One of an important things for poker players to be informed is that there's information floating all of the way around the internet from which they are able to discover ways to improve their game. A number of the top players have blogs and Twitter accounts from which they flag up their new strategy articles, for example, and infrequently it doesn't even need that much reading.

A few days ago, Daniel Negreanu -- who, you could have heard, is a superior poker player -- offered a tiny tidbit of data as to what he considered to be an important skill in a poker player's toolbox. After which Sarah Grant, of PokerStars.tv, chased him down and asked him to expand upon it.

The result it these three minutes below:

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]

Brazil wins first Americas Cup of Poker

There was a time when people believed poker belonged to America. Once they said "America" they discounted everything however the "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA of..."

To be fair, america is where poker rose to popularity, but nowadays the sport belongs to the sector. Still, PokerStars saw fit to carry a contest to peer which country within the Americas--that's North, South, and everything in between--could claim poker as their own.

Tonight, that honor goes to Brazil.

PokerStars took its newest creation, the Americas Cup of Poker, about as far south because it could. Bariloche, Argentina played home to the contest during the last few days. The semi-finals saw the overall four teams head into competition to fight for the $100,000 first prize.

In the primary matchup, Team Canada faced Team Argentina in a chain of six heads-up matches. The end result? A tie. To figure out a winner, the 2 team captains faced off in a two-hour marathon that led to spectacular fashion.

Argentina's Leo Fernandez raised from the small ignorant of 1,100 and Canada's Darus Suharto re-raised to 2,700. Fernandez tanked for a moment before pushing the remainder of his chips into the center.

Fernandez: A♠4♠Suharto: Q♦Q♥

The flop ran out T♥6♦9♠. Suharto remained within the lead, and looked good for the win after the 2♦ fell at the turn. Then...the river...the A♣. The ballroom exploded and Argentina moved directly to the finals.

The fight between Costa Rica and Brazil went much the similar way. The heads-up matches led to a tie and compelled team captains Humberto Brenes and Alex Gomes to battle face to face. That match ended after an hour when Gomes made two pair to Brenes' turned top pair.

It was as though fate willed the match up. Saturday will see the 2 rival countries Brazil and Argentina face off at the pitch. The Americas Cup of Poker would see the similar battle.

It would lead to fairly unspectacular fashion, however. Within the end, Argentina's Leo Fernandez couldn't make ace-nine delay against Brazil's K-8 and Brazil walked away with the the Americas Cup title.

Congrats to our friends from Brazil on again proving their place within the poker world.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Americas Cup]

MLB sports betting bet baseball

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TheConcept79 takes down an exciting heads up match to say Sunday Warm-Up Gold!

The luck of the Irish held over a couple of days for TheConcept79 as he battled back to take down $147,310.32 without a deals within the post-St. Patrick's Day edition of the Sunday Warm-Up. The sphere of 4,695 players built up a whopping $939,000 prize pool, with the highest 675 players picking up cash. After nearly ten hours of wall-to-wall poker, the overall nine players settled in to complete off their quest for the large cash.

The first few confrontations of the general table went the way in which of the underdog, because the shorter stacks doubled during the first few all-ins. But eventually juanan's luck ran out and he became the primary casualty of the overall table. Action folded around to the deep-stacked Civell within the small blind, and he put out a healthy raise with Q♠-2♠. Juanan moved all in excessive in defense of his big blind, and Civell called. Juanan tabled J♣-8♠, already behind, and fell further within the rearview because the flop came down 6♣-4♥-Q♦. Juanan picked up a couple at the J♥ turn, but had to catch another jack or an eight at the river to stick alive. Neither materialized, and when the river peeled off the T♣, juanan was done in 9th place ($7,512).

LukeFromB13 got all his money in good in his final hand, however the outcome clearly showed why it's called a favourite preflop, but not a winner until the entire cards come down. Trontrontron raised from late position with A♥-Q♣, and Luke quickly shoved all in excessive with A♣-K♠. Tron called and was a significant underdog, however the queen-high flop turned that each one around right away. The overall board read 8♦-Q♥-5♠-5♥-9♦, and Luke was the 8th-place finisher ($11,737.50).

Rounder13 watched his stack dwindle until his only option was the open-shove, and when he awoke with A♣-9♣ in middle position, that seemed like an excellent hand to do it with. He got action from TheConcept79, who awoke at the button with J♣-J♦, and rounder was in trouble. The K♥-T♠-3♠ flop was no help, and the 4♦ at the turn left rounder drawing thin to stick alive. The 8♦ at the river meant the most efficient hand preflop would hold up, and rounder13 headed home in 7th place ($21,127.50).

The rich kept getting richer because the night wore on, and when big stack TheConcept79 moved all in from the button, shorty yomahu felt compelled to name with A♥-7♦. Yomahu was actually ahead preflop, as TheConcept79 showed K♦-Q♣, but all that modified at the K♠-4♣-9♣ flop. The 9♠ at the turn gave TheConcept two pair, and the aceless 6♦ at the river meant that another short stack was gone, as yomahu busted in 6th place for $30,517.50.

TheConcept79's timely aggression and run of excellent cards continued as he took out his third opponent in a row. This time the victim was again the shortest remaining stack, vtr82w. Vtr82w raised preflop from the cutoff, and TheConcept79 made an enormous re-raise from the small blind, moving all in in a tremendous bet. TheConcept's trap worked, as vtr82w made the decision with Q♦-T♠, only to seek out himself facing TheConcept's K♠-K♣. The cowboys ran roughshod over vtr82w as they picked up a suite at the 7♠-K♦-3♥ flop. Vtr82w needed runner-runner to stick alive, so when the 4♠ landed at the turn, he was drawing dead. The river was a meaningless 7♣, and vtr82w collected $39,907.50 for 5th place.

A few orbits later, and again it was TheConcept79 claiming another casualty. Action folded around to TheConcept, who raised from the small blind. Civell defended his big blind by moving all in excessive with J♥-T♦, and TheConcept quickly called with, once again, pocket kings. His K♣-K♦ was firmly within the lead going into the flop, and the 2♥-6♣-9♣ flop did nothing to modify that. The turn was a useless 2♥, and Civell was drawing dead. The 4♠ came at the river, and Civell headed to the rail with a $53,053.50 payday for 4th place.

Three-way action took only some hands before the steamroller that was TheConcept79 rolled over trontrontron in 3rd place ($77,467.50). Tron opened with an all-in shove from the button holding K♣-8♣, and TheConcept made the decision from the massive blind with Q♦-J♦. Tron was looking good at the 2♥-7♥-8♦ flop, however the worm turned at the Q♣ turn, as TheConcept made top pair. The 6♣ at the river was no help, and trontrontron was done done done in 3rd place.

After taking an enormous chip lead into heads up play, one might think that TheConcept79 would make short work of his last remaining opponent weriol. One can be wrong. After doubling through TheConcept at the first actual hand of heads up play, weriol pulled almost even in chips before slipping go into reverse the ladder. After several more back-and-forth hands, weriol moved ahead for the primary time. Once he grabbed onto the chip lead, weriol kept the pressure on, taking a 2.5:1 chip lead into the overall break of the night.

That final break gave TheConcept time to collect his thoughts and get his game back on track, and only some minutes after returning to the table, he had pulled almost even. Then in a single massive pot, he took back his chip lead in dominating fashion. After trading raises from side to side preflop, the entire chips ended up within the middle with weriol holding the chip lead and K♦-7♦ to TheConcept's J♥-J♠. TheConcept's jacks hung on a board of 2♦-9♣-4♥-7♥-3♠ in a 42-million chip pot that left weriol on life support. However the wily weriol wasn't finished yet, as he doubled back through TheConcept only a few hands later.

TheConcept kept the pressure on, and at last all of it came all the way down to one big hand. Weriol have been chipped down by the constant raises from TheConcept, and managed one last double up before all of the chips went into the center for the last time. With an almost 5:1 chip lead, TheConcept open-shoved from the button with J♠-T♠. Weriol called with A♠-4♠, and was ahead preflop. The flop came down K♥-T♥-9♥, and weriol needed an Ace at the turn. The deck didn't oblige, bringing the T♣ instead. Once again, TheConcept had his opponent drawing dead at the turn, and this time it was for all of the potatoes. The river was the K♣, and weriol was the runner up with a $109,393.50 payday.

TheConcept tore apart the general table in a single of essentially the most dominating Sunday Warm-Ups in recent memory, but he had his hands full with weriol within the heads up match. When all was said and done, he earned each piece of the $147,310.32 he took down on the Sunday Warm-Up champion! Congratulation to TheConcept79, weriol for a whimsical runner up performance, and to all our PokerStars players who cashed within the Sunday Warm-Up this week!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Sunday Tournaments]

World Cup Fever Hits the sector Series of Poker

Poker News – As every poker player knows, there’s nothing quite like a tournament. Every participant within the field — from the underdogs to the overpowering favorite — begins play with the similar sense of hope and optimism, knowing that few fortuitous plays and a little bit luck can fuel them to a run on the title.

For forty-five years this maxim have been proven true under the searing heat and summer sunshine of Sin City, because the World Series of Poker brings the game’s greatest players together to check their mettle in tournament play. And while the WSOP is undoubtedly poker’s pinnacle in relation to tournament competition, for the following thirty days a tournament of another sort is about to capture the world’s attention.

Thursday marks the outlet match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with 32 nations sending their beloved soccer squads to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the 20 th iteration of The gorgeous Game’s most prestigious event. To mark the occasion, PokerNews chatted with a pack of poker pros who each hail from nations represented on this planet Cup, with the goal being to determine in the event that they might be focused more at the felt or the field.

FULL STORY

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Read More... [Source: This Week in Gambling » Poker News and Features]

PokerNews Podcast Episode #239: Within the Amazon Room feat. Griffin Benger

The crew is within the Amazon Room for Day 5 of the sector Series of Poker Main Event, where they break down the entire action from Day 4, dissect Phil Ivey's bust, and more. They're then joined by Griffin Benger, who's third in chips, to speak about his run, coping with the ESPN cameras, and more. 

Read More... [Source: iBus Media Network]

Eureka4 Rozvadov: Hungry just like the wolf

If you are a regular follower of the Eureka Poker Tour then you'll already know the drill by now. The beginning of Day 2 sees the primary deluge of departures as players drop faster than 26 year-old rockstars. Traditionally, play then slows down for the bubble before speeding up once everyone has made the cash. On the moment, the tournament continues to be within the first a part of that three-stage transition with 47 out of the 151 players having already fallen within the first two levels (nearly a 3rd of the remainder field).

PokerStars Qualifier Beatrix Wolfsberger

PokerStars Qualifier Beatrix Wolfsberger has become the brand new chip leader with 285,000. First she eliminated fellow qualifier Marco Heuser then a little while later she got excited about a four-bet pot against PokerStars Player Hubert Malyszka. Wolfsberger had called a big gamble of 8,500 on a 5♦9♣J♠ flop before pushing all in excessive of 16,000 bet from Malyszka at the A♣ turn. The Polish player called with A♠K♠ but found himself behind to Wolfsberger's A♥J♥. A 5♦ at the river made no difference and Wolfsberger, who unusually stacks her chips in 10's, took the chip lead. Wolfsberger leads prior to Jan Przysucha (225,000), István Briski (205,000) and Anthony Ghamrawi (195,000).

Jan Przysucha

Other players who've been knocked out thus far include Pundjabi Vishal, Murat Erturk, Philipp Lutkemeier, Oguz Cenk, Petr Hlavacek, Vladislav Shuravin, Thomas Steinbicker, Martin Rejman, Michal Ozimek, Denis Chiginev, Laszlo Matyi, Sebastian Langrock, Azmi Korkmaz, Leonie Pol and Peter Boros.

Tournament Update

- 104 players remain- 71 places are being paid at least €1,840- The bubble is predicted to burst in either level 14 or 15

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Eureka Poker Tour]

PokerNews GPI Update Episode #22: Muking it Up

On this week's episode of the PokerNews GPI Update, Rich and Eric have a look at a stagnant Player of the Year race and welcome Mukul Pahuja back into the highest 10 of the GPI 300. Additionally they have a look and notice if there may be still a Mizrachi within the top 300!

Listen Now:

Read More... [Source: iBus Media Network]

Eureka4 Rozvadov: The post-dinner break hunt for a chip leader

With players now back from the dinner break, the quest begins for a chip leader. On the moment, there's no-one above 100,000 just yet but there are several stacks loitering with intent on the 80,000 mark. On the very top at this moment looks to be Sven Haberger with 82,500 getting back from break and is solely sooner than Anthony Ghamrawi who sits in second place with 82,000. Ghamrawi finished second at EPT Vienna for over €440,000 back in March. Since then he also cashed on the EPT Grand Final coming 51st for €24,400.

Sven Haberger

Other stacks in contention include Jan Bures (81,000) who was featured earlier in our "A round with..." post while Briski István also has 80,000. Thomas Scheld (78,500) is a typical here in Rozvadov and likewise cashed at EPT Berlin for €14,000 back in Season 6 when Kevin MacPhee was the champion.

PokerStars qualifier Colin Lovelock (72,000) has travelled around the globe to play PokerStars events. Most recently he cashed on the APPT in Seoul for 4,800,000 KRW, finishing in 26th place. This year he has also cashed within the Eureka Mini in Vienna for €610 finishing 87th and the UKIPT Main Event in Dublin coming 90th for €1,340.

Anthony Ghamrawi

The better known players are struggling to this point since getting back from the dinner break. Marius Pospiech, Ognjen Sekularac and previous WSOP Main Event winner Pius Heinz have all been knocked out of the tournament. Friend of PokerStars Natalie Hof is struggling just a little at the feature table having been pushed back to 17,500. Jan Bendik and Michael Eiler are only slightly below average with 28,000 and 32,000 respectively. Perhaps doing the most productive is Martin Kabrhel, the Czech pro is sharing the feature table with Hof and is above average with 45,000 at this point.

However, all this is able to change as there's still three and a half levels to move until the tip of play.

Tournament Update:

- Blinds are currently 300/600 with a 75 ante.- 173 players remain out of the 301 entries- 493 players entered overall meaning the tournament has an overlay of €7,000

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Eureka Poker Tour]