Helping to position a large exclamation point at the 10th Anniversary festivities here at PokerStars, a distinct $10,300 High Roller tourney was added to the schedule on Sunday, and as expected the development drew lots of online poker's biggest names. Combine that onerous field with deep starting stacks (10,000 chips) and 30-minute levels and the tourney was sure to present a real challenge to players' skills.
At least 50 needed to enter to check the event's $500,000 guarantee, but greater than an hour before it all started twice that had already signed up. By the point the primary hands were dealt there have been 150 seated, including greater than a dozen Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online members.
When registration ended two hours in, a last total of 187 had joined the fray. That added as much as $1.87 million for a prize pool -- way, far more than that $500K guarantee -- to be divided a few of the top 27 finishers. Six-figure paydays awaited the highest five finishers, with $402,050 of that going to the winner (barring any final table deals).
It took about three hours for the sector to be trimmed to 140, with Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu (147th) and Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth (143rd) a number of the recent eliminations. At that point, bidernutnut led the way, having built a stack of nearly 45,000, with b8chatz and shaman627 the one other players with greater than 30,000.
Ninety minutes later there have been 100 left, with Humberto Brenes (127th) and Ville Vahlbeck (120th) having joined the crowd at the rail. shuriken555 led with over 74,000, with Steve "gboro780" Gross next with just below 52,000 and bearsfan775, Adam "squee451" Sherman, bindernutnut, and b8chatz not far behind.
As the sector was whittled in half to simply 50, more Team PokerStars Pros joined the fallen, including Andre Akkari (88th), Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (87th), and Pat Pezzin (85th). Also gone were Team Online members Randy "nanonoko" Lew (81st) and Javier "El Cañonero" Dominguez (58th), Pierre "Zoutechamp" Neuville (57th) of Team PokerStars Belgium, Mickey "mement mori" Petersen of Team Online (54th), and Max Lykov of Team PokerStars Russia (52nd).
The tourney have been going near to seven hours, with L0ve2playU sitting with probably the most chips of the general 50 with just a little over 100,000, with Dan "djk123" Kelly, Schildy1984, lb6121, and Rachid "SkaiWalkurrr" Ben Cherif rounding out the highest five. Meanwhile, Team PokerStars had but two representatives left, Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Duhamel, both hovering with below-average stacks just within the top 30.
Katchalov was a number of the next wave of eliminations, however, going out in 43rd just after other familiar names like Athanasios "Athanasios 9" Polychronopoulos (49th), Ronny "1-ronnyr3" Kaiser (47th), and Steve "gboro780" Gross (46th).
Meanwhile Duhamel scored a double-up when his A♥K♣ held against Ashley "DYBYDX" Mason's A♣Q♠ to push the 2010 WSOP Main Event champ back above average. Mason was looking to replicate his success within the $10K High Roller event from the 2011 SCOOP last September when he bested a field of 200 to take the bracelet and $430,000 payday.
As they crossed the nine-hour mark, 28 remained, with Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis (39th), Timothy "Tim0thee" Adams (37th), bindernutnut (36th), Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko (34th), Rachid "SkaiWalkurrr" Ben Cherif (32nd), and Dan "Danny98765" Smith (30th) some of the latest to be eliminated.
On the bubble with the blinds 600/1,200, Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver opened for 2,520 from UTG and Adam "squee451" Sherman reraised all in for 7,621 from a few seats over. It folded back to Oliver who called, turning over 7♠7♦ to Sherman's A♣A♦.
The flop came 5♠A♠3♠, giving Sherman a collection of aces but in addition giving Oliver a flush draw. The 2♠ then landed at the turn, completing ImDaNuts' flush, and after the 6♣ river Sherman were ousted in 28th.
"awesommmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee" typed a sarcastic squee451 because the hand completed.
With 27 left, Dan "djk123" Kelly held the lead with about 275,000, just over 100,000 better than Jamie "pokerjamers" Armstrong in second. ImDaNuts, Ashley "DYBYDX" Mason, and aaabbbccc rounded out the highest five, with Duhamel still there in 10th.
Over the following hour-and-a-half the sector was reduced to 18, with all the nine players eliminated earning $18,700: William "Altrum Altus" Reynolds (27th), bearsfan775 (26th), Renato "leguito" Almeida (25th), asadi (24th), Mike "Timex" McDonald (23rd), Joao "joaobarb" Barbosa (22nd), L0ve2playU (21st), Liutauras "liutas.a" Armanavicius (20th), and FisFarfar (19th).
Dan "djk123" Kelly still led with 318,583, well sooner than second-place Andrey "Chaaai" Saenko with 174,127. Keven "Stammdogg" Stammen was third with 167,598, while Duhamel was near the ground of the counts with about 35,000.
Duhamel lasted in the course of the next three eliminations -- Banderivets (18th), lb6121 (17th), and b8chatz (16th) -- each of whom earned $23,275. Then with the blinds 1,000/2,000, Duhamel open-pushed his remaining 22,774 from early position with K♥3♦ and got one caller in Chaaai who held T♥T♦. The board came Q♦3♣A♦5♠4♠, and Duhamel was out in 15th, good for $28,050.
Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan DuhamelIt would take some time for the following five eliminations to occur: Alexander "Schildy1984" Debus (14th, $28,050), Russell "rdcrsn" Carson (13th, $28,050), aaabbbccc (12th, $32,725), kriga (11th, $32,725), and Jamie "pokerjamers" Armstrong ($32,725). Because the clock tripped past 3:00 a.m. ET -- about 11-and-a-half hours after the tournament began -- the overall table began.
Seat 1: montecarlo13 -- 102,452Seat 2: DYBYDX -- 354,084Seat 3: Chaaai -- 274,124 Seat 4: jcl87 -- 329,477Seat 5: ImDaNuts -- 182,853 Seat 6: djk123 -- 108,053 Seat 7: Stammdogg -- 187,048 Seat 8: gray31 -- 278,532 Seat 9: Greenstone25 -- 53,377
With the blinds 1,500/3,000 (Level 21), almost everyone still had healthy stacks with which to compete with the leader Ashley "DYBYDX" Mason except Greenstone25, and it will only take a half-dozen hands for Greenstone25 to get those chips within the middle.
Following a gap raise to 6,600 from UTG by Joey "jcl87" Lawrence, it folded around to Greenstone25 who pushed all in for 54,502 from the cutoff. The others got out, and jcl87 quickly called, turning over A♣K♣ to Greenstone25's J♥J♦. The board came 3♥A♦T♣6♠A♠, giving Lawrence trip aces and sending Greenstone25 out in ninth.
Not long after that hand Keven "Stammdogg" Stammen would essentially switch stacks with DYBYDX to snatch the lead when Stammen's K♠K♦ held versus DYBYDX's J♦J♣.
A twinkling of an eye later the blinds were still 1,500/3,000 when Dan "djk123" Kelly raised to 6,000 from the hijack seat, then Grayson "gray31" Ramage reraised to 15,678 from the button. The blinds folded, then Kelly made it 28,662 to move. Ramage responded by reraising again, this time to 49,876, and Kelly shoved all in excessive for 170,008 total. Ramage made the call, showing A♦Q♠ to Kelly's J♠J♦.
The flop paired Ramage, coming Q♣3♠T♠. The turn was the 8♠ and river the 3♦, and djk123 was eliminated in eighth.
Seven hands later they'd just moved to Level 22 (500/2,000/4,000) when Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver raised to 8,385 from middle position and it folded around to montecarlo13 who reraised to 24,000 from the small blind. DYBYDX folded the BB, then Oliver pushed all in and montecarlo13 called with the 51,371 he had left.
ImDaNuts had T♦T♣ and hoped that pair would hold versus montecarlo13's A♠K♣. The five community cards came eight-high -- 4♦8♦5♣4♠2♥ -- meaning Oliver's tens were best and montecarlo13 was out in seventh.
A short time later there another little bit of preflop back-and-forthing ensued, this time between Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver and Joey "jcl87" Lawrence from the blinds. After it folded around to Lawrence, he raised to 10,000, then Oliver made it 18,999. jcl87 pushed it to 42,750, eliciting an all-in shove for 234,183 by ImDaNuts which jcl87 promptly called.
jcl887 had A♣K♦ and ImDaNuts 3♣3♠. The flop landed K♥5♦8♦, putting Lawrence in front with a couple of kings. The turn was the J♠ and river the 8♣, and so they were quickly right down to five.
The remaining players took the 12-and-a-half-hour break, then soon once they returned came another elimination.
It was Level 23 (625/2,500/5,000). Andrey "Chaaai" Saenko raised to 10,000 from UTG, Keven "Stammdogg" Stammen called from the button, and Grayson "gray31" Ramage called in addition from the small blind. The flop came 7♣9♥K♣. Ramage checked, Saenko bet 19,625, then Stammen raised to 49,775. gray31 folded, Chaaai reraised to 82,500, Stammdogg pushed all in, and Chaaai called with the 137,244 he had left.
Saenko showed A♦A♣, but Stammen had flopped a collection of nines along with his 9♦9♠. The turn was the 5♠ and river the 6♠, and Saenko was out in fifth.
RSS readers click through to look replayWith four players remaining, jcl87 led with just over 751,000, Stammdogg had pushed into second with about 660,000, gray31 was third with just over 301,000, and DYBYDX was last with almost 157,000.
Mason chipped as much as move out of last and take a slight lead over Ramage, then the pair had an all-in preflop confrontation by which Mason had K♠7♦ and Ramage A♥Q♥. The flop brought a seven, however the turn was a queen, and gray31's handheld up, pushing him up over 500,000 and sending DYBYDX right down to just 17,188.
Just a couple of hands later, DYBYDX would reraise all in from the large blind over a button raise by Stammen, sticking his last 15,938 within the middle with A♥4♠ and Stammdogg called with A♣T♥. Again the flop was good for Mason -- coming 7♥4♣J♣. And the 9♠ turn was okay, too. However the T♠ river gave Stammen the simpler pair and sent DYBYDX to the rail in fourth. Still, it was another nice six-figure payday for Mason following his WCOOP High Roller win last fall.
At that time the remainder trio had a temporary conversation between hands in regards to the issue of deal-making.
gray31: u guys wanna take a look at numbers?jcl87: can look i guessjcl87: stamm?gray31: take a look at numbers stamm or play?Stammdogg: no ty lets play for all of it :)gray31: kkjcl87: okStammdogg: glgl
They continued for an additional half-hour, wherein time Stammdogg saw his stack slip down under 250,000 while jcl87 and gray31 both hovered around 800,000-820,000.
Then, with the blinds 3,000/6,000 (Level 24), Stammen opened with a raise to 14,225 from the button and jcl87 called from the large blind. The flop came 9♠8♦8♠. Joey "jcl87" Lawrence checked, Stammdogg bet 16,225, then Lawrence check-raised to 38,765. Stammen pushed all in for 220,839 total, and jcl87 called.
Stammen had Q♣Q♦ for queens and eights while Lawrence had A♠T♠ for a flush draw. The turn was the 6♣ and Stammen was still best, however the 7♠ fell at the river, giving Lawrence the flush and sending Stammen out in third.
RSS readers click through to peer replayjcl87 had 1,060,210 to gray31's 809,790 to start out heads-up play. Both immediately agreed to revisit the speculation of perhaps chopping the remainder prize pool, and so they called to have the tournament paused. They played one hand -- a raise-and-take-it by Ramage -- and had begun the second one of heads-up when the signal came that the tourney could be paused upon the completion in their hand.
The way things turned out, there wouldn't be a necessity for a deal after all.
They had just begun Level 25 (875/3,500/7,000), and Lawrence began with a min-raise to 14,000 from the button. Ramage made it 39,876 and Lawrence called the reraise.
The flop came all spades -- 4♠9♠8♠ -- and without waiting too long gray31 bet 38,765. jcl87 paused for a while, then raised to 100,500. Ramage took even longer to respond, then finally reraised back to 234,567. jcl87 hesitated, too, then pushed all in and Ramage called together with his remaining chips.
Lawrence had flopped a flush with K♠7♠, but needed to fade another spade as Ramage turned over A♠K♥. The turn was the J♣ and river the A♥, and before any deal discussion could happen the tourney have been decided. Two spade flushes in three hands equaled two knockouts and a High Roller win for Lawrence!
RSS readers click through to look replayCongratulations to Joey "jcl87" Lawrence for an enormous High Roller win over a tough, tough field and a $400K-plus score!
10th Anniversary High Roller, $10,300 No-Limit Hold'em:
1st: jcl87 ($402,050)2nd: gray31 ($289,850)3rd: Stammdogg ($219,725)4th: DYBYDX ($163,625)5th: Chaaai ($112,200)6th: ImDaNuts ($93,500)7th: montecarlo13 ($74,800)8th: djk123 ($56,100)9th: Greenstone25 ($37,400)
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: 10th Anniversary]
New regulations imposed by the French government in opening the country's online poker market include a vital tax. Some Internet poker sites are crying poverty and passing the price to players, resulting in organized protests along the lines of the Tea Party gatherings within the US.
Samoa is to open its first casino. It will likely be at Aggie Greys Resort at Mulifanua, near the international airport, and employ 100 staff. The Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, says the primary casino will create more job opportunities and attract more tourists into the country.
While the government struggles to seek out the desire to inspect any of several bills suggesting the regulation of Internet gambling, New Jersey is thinking about all possible options to go back the state to gaming prominence, including allowing online casinos. Internet casino operators say Atlantic City can be among their most preferred US destinations in the event that they could legally base there.
Haarah's Entertainment, the world's largest casino operator, is extending a personal offering that the corporate hopes generates it $720 million to repay debt that may be soon to mature. The brand new loans wouldn't be due until 2017.