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February 2011USA $5.00

POKER BETTING LIFESTYLE

TREASUREISLANDThere’s more than just pirates in the Caribbean

POKER 2011: The year of Phil Hellmuth?

STRATEGY

How to spot scared money

SPORT

We give you our NBA All-Stars

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February

I n December’s issue of GX we brought you news of Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey playing some of the highest stakes cash

games the poker community has ever seen with a number of Chinese businessmen. Well for a while it appeared as though all had gone quiet,

TrIckeTT crushes Macau cash GaMe

but this month we heard more news from the hub of Asian poker confirming that the game is alive and as big as ever.

Dwan, of course, could still be found at the center of the action. But it was British pro Sam Trickett who drew the attentions of the poker world by first managing to get himself into the game and then by leaving it as a big winner.

After deciding to make the trip to Macau Trickett had to accumulate a reasonable bank roll and some local respect by playing in the 300/600 HKD side games. When he did eventually find himself in the game he found himself sitting with Dwan and online high stakes player Urindanger as well as a number of wealthy local players.

After bluffing his entire roll with no hand early in the game Trickett went on to net a cool profit of almost $1.6m that was split between himself and his backer, 2010 WSOPE Main Event champion James Bord.

Although he plans to return to Macau in the near future, Trickett has been coy as to when that will be.

“I’m going to go back some time in the next year and try to do as well as I did in the last session. It was a grind, though, with Tom in the game, he makes it tough for you.”

T o finish runner up in any

high profile event is disappointing, to do it twice in consecutive years is crushing. But to do it three times? Not only would it be

unprecedented, but it would probably be so mentally scarring that you’d never win an MTT ever again.

So you can imagine what would have been running through the mind of Will Molson when he made it to heads up at the recent $25,000 PCA High Roller. Molson found himself sitting opposite Team PokerStars Pro member Leo Fernandez at the Atlantis Resort’s premier poker table, a seat that he had no fond memories of, to

ThIrd TIMe’s a charM for WIll Molson aT The Pca hIGh roller

battle it out for a $1,072,850 first prize.He must have thought he was cursed after

falling at the last hurdle for the last two years, to Elky in 2009 and William Reynolds in 2010. However, Molson was not to be denied third time round, taking down the title after a grueling 11 hour final day.

Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier and David Baker all made it to the final table of the prestigious event but fell short of claiming the title, after making the final table for a third successive year there was a sense of destiny that 2011 would be Molson’s year.

Having secured a payday of over $1m, Molson has scooped over $2m from the PCA High Roller in the past three years. However, it’s not just the money that will have Molson sleeping easy this month, getting the monkey off his back will taste just as sweet.

In The neWs

a fter the expected departures of Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, a huge “pro-shaped” gap was

left at the head of the UB.com sponsored team. That gap was unexpectedly filled this month by Prahlad “Spirit Rock” Friedman. Friedman is an experienced, media-friendly online and live pro, but is somewhat of a strange fit with the UB.com brand. In fact, the move is more than a little surprising, especially considering Friedman was widely believed to be the biggest loser in the UB betting scandal.

Friedman reportedly lost millions in Russ Hamilton’s online poker scam. It now appears as though he will be getting his money back by becoming an employee of the brand despised by so many in the poker community.

One man not happy with Friedman’s “if you can’t beat them, join them” attitude is PokerStars supremo Daniel Negreanu. In the days when the story broke ‘Kid Poker’ tweeted “So disappointed in @prahladfriedman signing with the devil who stole millions from him. He was so “anti sellout” then he did the unthinkable.”

Negreanu’s beef is not only that Friedman has aligned himself with poker’s ‘”devil”, but also that he has sold out on all his principles of not signing for any major corporation and that money was irrelevant to him.

“I don’t begrudge people from signing a deal to support themselves ala Maria Ho. Prahlad spoke out AGAINST online poker then signed for money…He used to speak out against all corporations claiming he stood for something. Then the money was right, and his tune changed.”

Prahlad frIedMan JoIns uB.coM as sPonsored Pro

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T he two biggest online sites in the poker community are always coming up with new

innovations to enhance the quality of their services, and both Full Tilt and PokerStars have revealed their latest ideas this month.

Online poker giants PokerStars have launched a new ‘Home Games’ software, allowing players to set up and join their own poker clubs online through the site. Full Tilt, their biggest rival, have introduced ‘Multi-Entry tournaments’, giving players the chance to play the same tournament as many times as they want.

Each tournament entry has its own chip stack, is dealt its own hands and players can enter multiple times at the beginning of a tournament or use multi-entries as a second chance when they bust. Players with multiple entries will never be seated at the same table, if a player reaches the final two tables with more than one entry left, they will be merged into one chip stack.

PokerStars Home Games allow up to 50 members to join each club. They

can compete in leagues with leader boards and keep continuous score of their progress. To get involved, players must set up clubs by becoming a club manager via the “Home Games” tab in the PokerStars lobby, or join a club they have been invited to.

To celebrate the launch of the software, PokerStars is giving away a fantastic trip for up to eight people to one of four locations. The winner can choose from Macau, Vancouver, EPT Snowfest or Buenos Aires. When they get there they will get a hosted game and a big night out with World Series of Poker champion Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu and another Team PokerStars pro of their choice.

To be in with a shot players must simply start a PokerStars Home Games online poker club, get seven friends or more to join and play two real money or five play-money games by March 5th. Completing these three steps leads to entry to the Ultimate Home Game $100,000 Freeroll which is taking place on March 6th, where the winner will take down this amazing trip for their poker club.

full TIlT and PokersTars reveal onlIne Poker InnovaTIons

P oker’s version of the PGA tour is on its way this year, with former UB.com pro Annie Duke

landing the Commissioner role at the new Professional Poker League. The league is the brainchild of Federated Sports and Gaming (FS+G) and has been announced as a joint venture with the Palms Casino Resort.

The league is set to start in 2011 with an initial schedule of four tournaments. The first three events will be held between August and December with a championship event to be held in January 2012. The championship event will be a $1 million freeroll.

The league will bring together 200 of the world’s best poker players to battle it out for the title. The players will be determined by a rankings system that not only looks at current performance, but also takes into account historical background and achievement.

Players will earn a “tour card” of two, three, or five-year lengths, and a select number of ‘legends’ will earn a lifetime card based on their career performance.

“A unified league is something we have been talking about in the industry for years and I’m really looking forward to bringing this vision to life,” said Annie Duke.

Federated Sports and Gaming is headed by former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and he too stated that he was extremely excited about the venture.

“I’ve long believed that the top professional poker players create enormous value for the industry and are skilled in a way that is worthy of star treatment,” said Pollack.

“Our new league will celebrate poker professionals like never before and provide a tournament experience at the Palms that is first-class at every turn.”

annIe duke To launch ProfessIonal Poker leaGue

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picture of the month

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picture of the month

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic The Bellagio, Las VegasDecember 8th 2010 A star studded final table get ready for action at the WPT Five Diamond Classic Picture Courtesy of WPT Images

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Sun, sea, sand and poker. Sounds like a gambler’s dream. Well that’s exactly what took place in the Bahamas this month, and with 50 events and thousands of player’s from across the world in attendance, there was only one place to be in January. With so much gold to be pirated, pros and qualifiers flocked from every continent to Paradise Island with one objective on their minds, the Main Event title.

After the glamor of the Super High Roller had subsided out of the way, it was time to get down to the real business at the Atlantis Resort, as players assembled to do battle in the PCA Main Event. With the a huge mix of sponsored pros, EPT and NAPT winners, online qualifiers and the best unknown

live and online players on the planet all taking to the felt, the first major tournament of the year began already destined to be a 2011 poker highlight. 1,560 players dug deep into their pockets to find $10,000 apiece for the right to throw their name into the hat and a chance to take down the prestigious event, with two Day 1s needed to begin whittling down the gigantic field. The PCA Main Event has been the jewel in PokerStars tournament crown since its inception, and 2011 would prove to be no different.

Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure

TREASURE HUNTING

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PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and in Seat 8 former PCA Main Event, PCA High Roller and WPT Festa al Lago winner and Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.

Mizzi was the first player to take his seat and immediately railed off a host of expletives which were echoed in politer, if not less emotive terms, by Boeree, who insisted that tournament director be called for before play began. A host of floor staff gathered around the table as Boeree demanded an explanation as to how a random draw of over 100 tables could have assembled the lineup. “I thought this was the Main Event, not the Super High

Roller” was Phillips’ take on the table.Whether the protest made a difference or

not is unknown but it was decided that the table would be the first to break, disappointing the media and a rail eager to see some early level action between the multiple title winners.

Once again results were mixed for the household names, with Team PokerStars Pro North America in particular having a day at the office to forget. Negreanu, Rousso, Duhamel, Williams and Mercier all fell early, as did fellow team member Barry Greenstein. Mizzi, Matt Affleck, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak all also bit the dust in a savage culling session

Fun AwAy From the sun on DAy 1

Day 1A drew in 647 runners from across the globe to Paradise Island, poker pros and amateurs alike flocked into the Giant Ballroom at the Atlantis Resort all chasing the dream of scooping the $2.2m first prize money as well as one of the most coveted titles in poker. Just some of the big names taking to the felt on day 1A were Phil Ivey, EPT Deauville winner Jake Cody, golf superstar Sergio Garcia (who qualified for the event online), Erik Seidel and Scott Seiver as well as a host of Team PokerStar Pros, who had swarmed to the PCA in force looking to take the title at their signature event. 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada, EPT London High Roller winner Nacho Barbero, NAPT Mogehan Suns title holder Vanessa Selbst, Dario Minieri and Chad Brown were just a handful of players sporting the prestigious Team PokerStars Pro badge on Day 1A, with mixed degrees of success. Cada, Minieri and Barbero joined Cody and Ivey (who sat on the same table for the majority of the day) in safely making it through to Day 2 but Selbst and Brown were discarded onto the PCA Main Event scrap heap, together with 365 other players left to nurse shattered dreams.

However it was another Team PokerStars pro, Pieter de Korver, who led after Day 1A. The Dutchman’s aggressive play worked for him all afternoon, his stack of 245,300 chips at the end of the day headed a group of just six players who had managed to break through the 200,000 chip barrier.

A predictably inflated Day 1B field saw 913 players show up ready to do battle. Team PokerStars Pro once again led the charge into the field of felt with General Daniel Negreanu leading an army which included Jason Mercier, Vanessa Rousso, David Williams, new Team PokerStars Pro member and current WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, into the breach.

Day 1B traditionally is a tougher field than day 1A, but there’s tough and then there’s tough. So, how’s this for a table seat draw: in Seat 1 2009 WPT World Champion, 2009 WCOOP Main Event champion and Russian Team PokerStars Pro Yevgeniy Timoshenko, in Seat 2 2010 CardPlayer Player of Year frontrunner and online MTT king Sorel Mizzi, in Seat 3 Season 6 EPT Barcelona winner Carter Phillips, in Seat 4 two time WSOP bracelet winner and Full Tilt pro Praz Bansi, in Seat 6 current EPT San Remo champ and Team

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that allowed only 383 survivors to leave the Grand Ballroom at the Atlantis Resort with their Main Event lives in tact.

The only US Team PokerStars Pro to make any real impact was Moneymaker, who finished the day 5th in chips with over 217,000. Team PokerStars Europe, on the other hand, fared somewhat better with UK and Ireland pros Boeree, Elky (after both managed to escape the table of death), JP Kelly, Marcel Luske, Luca Pagano and new media magnet Viktor Blom all making it safely to Day 2. Others with PCA ambitions still intact included overnight chip leader Walid Bou Habib (239,000 chips), ex sport stars Gustavo Kuerten and Orel Hershiser and EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis.

DAy 2 – Blink AnD you’ve misseD it

More than 600 players made their way to the card room full of optimism that Day 2 would be a day to enhance their bankrolls, but over 400 were disappointedly heading out of the Grand Ballroom door almost as quickly as they had come in what turned out to be a whirlwind day. Amongst the masses not to make to the money were Viktor Blom, Liv Boeree, Sandra Naujoks, Dario Minieri and Greg Raymer, as well as EPT founder John

Duthie.The action came thick and fast, with the

field hemorrhaging a vast number of runners in just 5 levels of play and a money bubble that lasted just one hand. Qualifier Marco Johnson elected to shove blind on blind against William Reynolds but looked distraught when the 2010 PCA High Roller champion called and turned over A-9 to crush Johnson’s K-9. No help arrived, meaning that all players still seated at tournament tables were in the money.

Those getting to the right side of the bubble but not through to Day 3 included Reynolds, Marcel Luske and 2010 November Niner Jason Senti.

The chip leader at the end of day 2 was Adam Geyer, who managed to amass a huge stack of 909,000 chips. Geyer ran well through the tournament exodus to put a considerable distance between himself and the field, with

Ilan Rouah (795,000) and Chris Oliver (792,500) being the only players within touching distance of an impressive performance. Chris Moneymaker had another good day and finished in the top ten counts, and fellow Team PokerStars Pros Pieter de Korver, Greg De Bora, JP Kelly and Victor Ramdin also survived the day to make the money finishes.

Despite coming into the day with just 8,000 chips, Elky was another player still alive and in the money at the end of Day 2. The last of the Frenchman’s chip were in the middle after being dealt A-A in the first hand of the day, and after the aces held up there was no looking back for the Team PokerStars Pro, who finished the day with a little over 123,000 chips.

DAy 3 – oliver Begins to mAke A chArge

Day 3 began with all players already content with the fact that they were in the money, but looking to continue on their quest to take down the $2.3m first prize on offer. Once again the action came thick and fast, with players being sent packing from the tournament with such speed and metronomic regularity that play was ended before the scheduled six blind levels were completed. The field of 173 runners was cut down by almost three quarters again to leave just 48 players with a chip and a chair, and the man with the most chips to go with his chair was Chris Oliver. Oliver rode the crest of a wave of extraordinary luck to dominate the day’s proceedings; on a handful of occasions he managed to crack premium hands with rags and finished Day 3 with 3.675m chips, a full 1.3m chips clear of the field. Max Lehmanski, John Andress, Chris Moneymaker and Galen Hall rounded out the top five big stacks, with each managing to haul their stacks over the 1.6m chip mark.

Moneymaker was now the final Team PokerStars Pro left to represent the hosts at their signature live event, the five other players sporting Team PokerStars Pro badges at the beginning of Day 3 all saw their chips being shipped across the table together with their tournament aspirations. One of the pros to fall was Elky, the former PCA Main Event and High Roller winner had made an astonishing recovery to make it past the bubble after starting Day 2 with just four big blinds but finally fell in 126th meaning that he would only be adding a $20,000 cash to his incredible PCA haul.

It was a case of mixed fortunes for good friends Toby Lewis and Jake Cody as the two British players with 2010 EPT wins to

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their name looked to make history as the first double European Poker Tour winner. EPT Deauville and WPT London Poker Classic champ Cody struggled to get anything going on Day 3, eventually exiting in 127th place after running in Q-Q into K-K. Lewis, on the other hand, was far more successful on the felt. Despite yo-yoing his stack in the early part of the day the EPT Vilamoura winner managed to retain his composure and finished the day with over 950,000 chips to maintain a great chance of taking down his first title of 2011.

Fellow UK poker clique member and Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly also failed to make it through the day after being railed in 97th.

mArquez queen oF the Felt on DAy 4

If there were any thoughts that the ever-increasing money jumps would result in the remaining 48 players slowing their aggression down and instead playing a more conservative game on Day 4 then these were expelled immediately as play recommenced. With half of the field not scheduled to be in the tournament for the penultimate day’s action, it was a fiery day on the felt that only 22 players managed to navigate to the end of.

The leader of the pack heading into Day 5 was Ana Marquez, the Spanish qualifier was not only the last women remaining in tournament but also the chip leader. After winning a huge 2.5m chip pot with a set over set Marquez impressively built her stack throughout the day to finish with just over 3.8m chips to her name.

Just 50,000 chips behind Marquez was Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion’s surge for a second major title continued to snowball as he rampaged his way through the field for yet another consecutive day. Dmitriy Stelmak, Chris Oliver, Mike Sowers and Sam Stein were the only players to join Marquez and Moneymaker in the 3m chip club.

With 26 players not making it to Day 5 there were more than a few despondent faces making their exit from the Atlantis Resort’s Grand Ballroom, but perhaps none more so than Toby Lewis. Lewis was the last remaining previous EPT winner still in the field, making him the latest pro to attempt to make history and become the first player to win the ever-elusive second EPT title. However, despite coming into Day 4 with a healthy chip stack, Lewis struggled to get out first gear and eventually crashed out disappointed in 34th place.

“PleAse sir, cAn i hAve A lot, lot more!” – oliver crushes DAy 5 FielD

Day 5 began with 3 tables and 22 runners looking to book a seat at the eight handed PCA final table, but in truth the day was really only about one man: Chris Oliver. After experiencing an incredible amount of “run good” across the first four days of the tournament the Florida native went right about attacking his opponents again, with similar results.

He first took the chip lead by knocking out Grayson Ramage in 21st place holding 8-8 against Ramage’s K-K. Eliminations of

Martin Mathis, Walid Bou-Habib (with 8-4 off), Gregory Baksik, Ana Marquez (both with A-A) and Dmitriy Stelmak (with a set vs top pair/top kicker) followed to give Oliver an enormous lead heading into the final table of over 13.m chips.

The two biggest stories not including Oliver’s astonishing run centered on the fates of the two overnight chip leaders, Ana Marquez and Chris Moneymaker. The Team PokersStars Pro began the day well and looked on course to score his biggest payday since winner the 2003 WSOP Main Event, but stumbled at final hurdle after finding himself on the receiving end of a Galen Hall flopped set and not being able to avoid paying the Californian off. Moneymaker fought hard after the huge setback but unfortunately couldn’t turn his fortunes around quickly enough and eventually was eliminated in 11th place for $150,000, his biggest cash since finishing 2nd in the 2004 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event.

Marquez began the day poised to become the first woman ever to make a PCA Main Event final table but took the brunt of Oliver’s aggression and luck. It did appear as though she would scrape into the top eight and book herself a place at the live final but she too went the way of Moneymaker before the end of the day, making her exit in 10th place. In spite of her disappointment Marquez will be

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pleased that she both scooped $155,000, the biggest cash of her career (her previous largest live cash was just $6,000), and claimed Kathy Liebert’s record for the deepest run in a PCA Main Event by a female player (Liebert finished 12th in 2009).

A FinAl tABle For the history Books

The final table was set, and it was going to be historic. With a LAG Chris Oliver taking 42% of the tournament chips to the final table action was guaranteed, and with $2.3m up for grabs the prize would be some of the largest in poker history. But regardless of what happened it wouldn’t be the poker itself that would etch the 2011 PCA Main Event final table into poker history, it would be the manner in which it was broadcast. For the first time ever a poker tournament final table would be broadcast live on television, and in addition the 2011 PCA final table would be the first tournament broadcast live on any medium with visible hole cards.

With almost every player on the table with the exception of Oliver needing to pick up early chips spectators were expecting a fast start, and they weren’t disappointed. Phillipe Plouffe wasn’t intimidated by the glare of the television camera, but unfortunately couldn’t hang around long enough to make a lasting impression on the viewing public.

The Canadian had been on the short stack overnight, but gave himself a chance to get right back into contention just a few hands into the day by putting his tournament life on the line holding Q-Q against Sam Stein’s A-K. The flop and turn looked good for Plouffe but an Ace spiked on the river to give Stein the pot and send Plouffe home in 8th with $202,000 in prize money.

If the poker was going to live up to its live television billing then it would need memorable moments to enthrall the casual poker fan. The producers at ESPN got their wish when a five-way hand saw Max Weinberg get sucked out on to cripple his stack. Chris Oliver opened the hand (as he had done almost every hand) and Sam Stein elected to call, before Galen Hall three-bet with K-2. Mike Sowers read the situation perfectly, correctly judging Oliver and Hall to be weak, and elected to shove his

whole stack with A-J. The move would have been a textbook example of perfect timing if Weinberg hadn’t been sitting behind him holding Q-Q. The American 5-bet shoved as well, covering a stunned looking Sowers, and Oliver, Stein and Hall promptly folded to leave the pair heads up pre-flop. Both players had played the hand well but it looked as though it would be Sowers who would be exiting in 7th, the cruel victim of some harsh variance.

Fate, however, had other ideas. After a fairly innocuous looking flop, Sowers rivered the runner-runner nut flush to take down the monster pot and leave the shell-shocked Weinburg crippled. A recovery was all but impossible, and the very next hand Weinburg found himself all in and out-flopped holding A-8 against Hall’s J-10. Hall completed a straight on the turn and Weinburg was eliminated in 7th place for $300,000.

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Bolivar Palacios ($450,000) was next to hit the rail after a quiet afternoon, followed by Sowers ($700,000) in 5th. Sowers must have thought he was ahead after shoving on an 8-3-2 flop holding 4-4, but Chris Oliver (who had three bet him pre-flop) snap called and turned over 8-2 to him in desperate trouble. The help didn’t come meaning Sowers would be the last man in the field not cash in a seven figure payday.

With just four runners remaining it was Sam Stein who began to take the initiative, aggressively betting the table and in particular Chris Oliver. The tactic was working for Stein, until the inevitable happened and Oliver woke up with a hand. Stein three-bet the chip leader as he had done on numerous occasions, but this time Oliver decided to make a stand and move all-in. Stein tanked for an eternity but eventually decided he had the best hand and made the call for his tournament life with A-9. Unfortunately for Stein Oliver’s representation of a stronger hand had been an accurate one, as the 2010 NAPT Deep Stack Extravaganza runner up would find out when Oliver revealed A-Q. Stein’s mis-step wasn’t unfairly rewarded, meaning he was sent to the rail in 4th, a cool $1m richer.

The least active man at the final by a distance was Anton Ionel, but the Romanian’s patience and passivity had paid off as he now found himself guaranteed at least $1.35m without seemingly having won a hand all day. The only problem was he had no chips left, but to be honest he didn’t look that bothered about it. A tame exit, holding K-6 into Hall’s K-Q, was all she wrote for the man who had qualified for the PCA Main Event via a $33 PokerStars.net qualifier. Ionel was beaming as he left the table with a payout $1.34m more than his previous biggest cash.

With Ionel out of the way it was left to just Oliver and Hall to duel over the PCA Main Event title and the $2.3m first place prize money. The heads up battle was a long affair with the shorter stacked Hall on the defensive for the majority of the action. The action could have been all over almost as quickly as it had begun when Hall rivered a straight in one of the first hands heads up, but miraculously managed to lay it down after correctly surmising that the Ace on the river

had made Oliver’s full house. Some well time aggression and convenient double ups kept the Californian in touch with the chip leader, despite being a much as a 4:1 chip deficit underdog there was sense in the card room that Hall could still pull off an incredible victory.

Those feelings were vindicated after almost three hours of confrontation when Hall doubled up on a board where both players flopped two pairs, and then astonishingly all the chips went into the middle again on the very next hand. Oliver moved all-in but Hall held K-K which held against the chip leader’s A-9 to propel him into a huge lead for the first time all tournament.

Oliver had held a vice-like grip over the tournament for the best part of two days but could now feel the title everyone had assumed would be his slipping through his fingers. The pressure had finally gotten to him, and all of a sudden the title appeared to be Hall’s to lose. Less than 30 minutes later the chips were in

again and this time it was Oliver’s Q-Q that had the best of it pre-flop, however the luck that had carried him to within touching distance of a first EPT/NAPT title deserted him when he needed it most. An Ace ion the flop improved Hall’s A-8 to the best hand, and when no miracle cards came on the turn and river, the 2011 PCA Main Event was over.

Oliver would be going home dejected but with $1.8m in winnings in his pocket. Hall, on the other hand, would stashing the winner’s trophy and $2.3m into his bags for the flight back to the US. Hall was lost for words after picking up the winner’s trophy, he was overcome by the magnitude of the victory. “I feel pretty awesome. It still hasn’t set in yet. We played heads up for a really long time, so I haven’t been thinking about the win,” was Hall’s first reaction when asked about the triumph. When it does sink in, Hall is going to realize he’ll be a part of poker history forever.

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