Markholt picks up his first WPT bracelet
March 30, 2008
American Lee Markholt achieved his 15th career cash on the WPT, although his latest win was by far the most impressive as he cleared up at the 2008 World Poker Challenge.
Markholt had arrived at the final table in second position and found himself up against fellow pro and current CardPlayer Player of the Year, David Pham and four other players looking to make their name on the tour.
| Seat | Player’s Name | Starting Chips |
| 1 | Zachary Hyman | 285,000 |
| 2 | Jeff DeWitt | 249,000 |
| 3 | David “The Dragon” Pham | 406,000 |
| 4 | Jason Potter | 1,156,000 |
| 5 | Bryan Devonshire | 674,000 |
| 6 | Lee Markholt | 1,137,000 |
It was DeWitt who crashed out first when his J 10 was called by Markholt’s pair of Queens. The ladies held up to send DeWitt home in 6th place with a cheque for $84,297.
With this win, Markholt took the chip lead which he grew shortly afterwards when he was able to pick up a pot worth 407,000 from Pham with a pair of Jacks. For Pham though the loss of so many chips was a big blow and it put him in the position of short stack and it was something he never really recovered from. Having been able to pick up a pot on an all-in move without showing his hand, Pham tried the same ploy again with A 2.
However, this time he was called by Markholt who had Pham dominated with A 10. with a 10 and a 2 on the turn and river, both players finished with two pairs, but Pham was eliminated in fifth place earning himself $93,664 while Markholt lived to fight on while increasing his chip stack to over 1.9 million.
Pham was visibly frustrated as his search for a first WPT title continues.
Jason Potter was the next player to be eliminated as he crashed out in fourth place ($103,030) when Zac Hyman got some help on the river to complete his flush, but it was Hyman who would go on to lose a couple of big hands and eventually finish in third place.
The player from San Fransisco moved all in from the second blind and was called by Bryan Devonshire who had found himself a pair of nines. Hyman turned over K J but received no help from the board and was eliminated in third spot, earning $149,862.
Devonshire attempted to take this aggressive stance into the heads-up battle, but ultimately it just served to make the final stage a short-lived affair. After just two hands, risked it all on a pair of fours only to find Markholt had him drawing dead with two pair.
Devonshire left the tournament with a cheque for $271,625 while Markholt walked away with his first WPT bracelet, the winners prize of $493,815 and a $25,000 seat at the WPT championship to be held in the Bellagio later on this year.
World Poker Showdown duo selected by Titan Poker
March 25, 2008
Titan Poker has found its representatives to play at the World Poker Showdown in the Dominican Republic.
Canadian Cory Tymich and Damien de Gaye from France have each been awarded a $9,000 prize package to play in the tournament which will run from 9th May to 18th May. The package will include all travel costs, accommodation for seven nights and spending money to do with with what they wish during their stay.
The two players vary greatly when it comes to their playing experience on Titan Poker. Damien de Gaye had only been playing at the online poker room for around 6 months before he secured his place in the Dominican Republic. Tymich, on the other hand, has been playing there for two years and has already picked up three big wins prior to his appearance at the WPS.
Both players are delighted with their success with Tymich commenting that “… it is so easy to get into a game [at Titan Poker] and you can play more than one game at the same time.”
The World Poker Showdown is just one of poker room’s main events that Titan Poker has been sending players to recently. The online poker room is renowned for awarding players with seats at major tournaments such as the Aussie Millions, the WSOP and various EPT tour events.
Click here to register with Titan Poker and claim a free $25 »
Michael Shulze triumphs in Poland
March 17, 2008
German Trader Michael Shulze walked away from the Polish Open in Warsaw as the EPT’s latest champion. The 40 year old picked up a cheque for $609,782 and a seat at next month’s EPT grand final in Monte Carlo after coming out on top of a field containing 358 other players.
The final table was very much dominated by PokerStars with four of the final nine players coming from the online poker room. However, it was Shulze who finally took the winners cheque after a gruelling 11 hours of play, triumping over Ricardo Sousa in the heads up match. The Portuguese professional went home in second place with $345,779.
Win a World Series seat in CakePoker’s lottery
March 12, 2008
When it comes to rewarding loyalty, some online poker rooms are better than others. Cake’s latest promotion, however, goes a long way to proving that their loyalty scheme is one of the best out there.
CakePoker will be handing out 50 prize packages to the World Series of Poker Main Event through a daily lottery based around their existing ‘Gold Card’ loyalty scheme.
Gold Cards are released every time that a real money table hits a certain level of rake. If the Gold Card that appears happens to match one of the player’s holecards at the time then that player will add that particular card to his collection.
Regular players will usually collect these cards to gain entry into exclusive tournaments, win CakePoker merchandise or even grab the GoldCard Series Jackpot of $52,000 (won by being the first to collect all the gold cards available).
However, from now until June, CakePoker will be publishing one Gold Card in their lobby every 24 hours. If you hold a matching gold card in your collection, you will be eligible either for instant cash or entry into the Gold Card Daily Lottery tournament where guaranteed prize pools of up to $10,000 and seats at the WSOP Main Event are waiting.
It’s a great way of winning your seat in Vegas cheaply without needing to work your way through several satellites to get there.
Click here to register with CakePoker »
Free $25 bonus for all Short Stack readers at Titan Poker
March 7, 2008
The Short Stack has negotiated a deal with Titan Poker to allow all it’s readers to receive a totally free $25 bonus when they sign up for the online poker room.
New players who make an initial deposit of at least $20 will find an extra $25 placed directly into their account almost immediately. What’s even better news is that this won’t affect you taking advantage of Titan Poker’s already generous offer of a 100% first deposit bonus (up to $500). You’ll get that too.
To take advantage of this offer, simply click on the link below to register a new account with Titan or alternatively download the software directly by clicking here.
Over the last couple of years, Titan have been making a name for putting their players first. They have some of the best support available (having picked up awards for Best Online Customer Service in both 2006 and 2007) and also offer some of the biggest tournaments online.
Last year the inaugural European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) gave away $1million in just ten days and satellites have already started for this years tournament which promises to be even bigger with a guaranteed prize pool of $2,000,000.
Titan has always been a quality place to play poker, but with the ECOOP on its way and the opportunity to get your hands on an extra $25 to play with, there hasn’t been a better time to sign up, which is why we’ve made them our “Poker Room of the Month.”
Click here to claim your free $25 from Titan Poker »
WSOP Qualifiers: An overview
March 6, 2008
The countdown to June’s World Series of Poker is well underway with this year’s event reported to be the biggest yet. Thousands of people are set to make their way to the Rio in Las Vegas to fight for the most coveted prize in the poker world … and a huge amount of cash.
Those of you who can’t quite afford the $10,000 buy-in price for the main event will be pleased to hear that various online poker rooms are gearing up to start their WSOP qualifiers, ensuring that as many people as possible have a shot of pulling down the big prize. These qualifiers will allow online players to win a place at the main even for a fraction of the usual cost. Perhaps the most famous qualifier is Chris Moneymaker who went on to win the main event in 2003 having earned his place in the tournament through an online satellite costing only $39 to enter.
For those of you interesting in following in his tracks, The Short Stack has put together a brief overview of the WSOP qualifiers offered by some of the best online poker rooms available.
Pokerstars:
Pokerstars has a rich history of success at the World Series of Poker providing Main Event champions such as Chris Moneymake and Greg Raymer, and as such they are offering very generous incentives to all of their players who play a part in the WSOP.
As long as their representatives agree to wear the Pokerstars gear, players will earn $50,000 just by playing at a TV table. Should one of their qualifiers make the final table, they will receive a lump sum payment of $1 million.
Pokerstars prides itself on its association with the World Series and as such they are offering the largest number of opportunities for online poker players to qualify for the event. They include $55 Sit and Go’s, $33 rebuy multi-table tournaments and freeze-out tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $215 to $1,050. As expected all of these tournaments have satellite events that cost as little as $2 (plus rebuys).
A series of tiered Sit and Go tournaments have also been made available for users who prefer to play in slightly smaller numbers. Players will need to work their way through 6 tiers by placing in the top two in order to qualify for the next stage:
First Tier (buy in: $7.50)
Players need to finish in the top two in order to qualify for the second stage. The player who finishes in third spot will be allowed to try again for free.
Second Tier (direct buy in: $27)
Players finshing in third and forth position get to try the second round again. Fifth place finisher will drop back down to first tier.
Third Tier (direct buy in: $82)
Third, fourth and fith place finishers will repeat the third tier
Fourth Tier (direct buy in: $215)
Third place will repeat fourth tier. Fourth and fifth place will drop back down to the third tier. Sixth place will go back down to Tier two.
Fifth Tier (direct buy in: $700)
Top two places move on to the final step where as those finishing in third and fourth place will be allowed to try this tier again. Players in fifth and sixth will drop back to level four.
Sixth Tier
Top two are each awarded with a $12,500 prize package. Second and third place finishers win $1,500. Fourth and fifth will walk away with $1,000 and the sixth place finisher will receive $500.
Click here to register for PokerStars WSOP qualifiers»
Bodog:
Bodog are promising that they will provide at least 100 players in the Main Event and each one of them will have won a prize package worth $12,000.
These prizes are being given out on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (19.15 EST) and Sunday afternoons (15.35 EST) via a $270 main-event qualifier. The winner of each of these tournaments will be handed a seat at the Rio in Las Vegas.
As expected, there are plenty of qualifiers for those who don’t have $270 burning a hole in their pocket and they are run throughout the day costing as little as $1 (with rebuys) or $1.50 and $5.50 freezeout. Winners of this first satellite will be granted a $29 ticket to be used in a second satellite where entries into the $270 tournament are up for grabs.
Click here to register of Bodog WSOP qualifiers»
Full Tilt:
Once again, Full Tilt will be looking to make one person’s summer even more memorable. As they have done in previous years, Full Tilt are offering an extra $10m to any of their qualifiers who go on to win the main event.
Tournaments are wide ranging and plentiful: Packages worth $2,000 are being handed out on a weekly basis from now until June 22nd. Prize pools worth $12,000 will also be given to qualifiers and for those of you looking to play something other than Hold-’Em, Full Tilt is offering qualifiers to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship.
Players looking to win the $2,000 packages can buy-in for $75 or $26, but if that sounds like too much then players can go through a series of qualifiers which run throughout the week for as little as $2.20.
Qualifiers hoping to walk off with one of the $12,000 packages will need to buy-in to a qualifier for $200 (Tuesday), $300 (Wednesday), $1,000 (Thursday) or $500 (Sunday). Again, the opportunity is there for players with a smaller bank roll to go through a series of extra qualifiers which start with a $26 buy in.
Then, on Sunday 8th, a $1060 satellite will be held where a minimum of two seats will be won for the WSOP H.O.R.S.E event and a week later (on June 15th), Full Tilt will put a guaranteed 150 main event seats up for grabs by hosting a $535 WSOP qualifier.
Click here to register for the Full Tilt WSOP Qualifiers»
Chan Poker announce new loyalty scheme
March 4, 2008
Players at Chan Poker who earn just one player point will automatically become a part of the online poker rooms new loyalty scheme.
All real-money players at Chan Poker will earn the rank of “Red Orange” allowing them free entry into the weekly $200 free-roll. The first free-roll will be played this Saturday at 13.00 EST.
For those players who go on to earn 5,000 player points and achieve the rank of Gold Orange, free entry will be handed out to $30+3 tournaments as well as limited Chan Poker Shirt.
The next step up is the coveted Platinum Orange which will require a player to earn 10,000 loyalty points a month. The reward though will be a ticket worth $100+8 allowing players to access some of the biggest tournaments that Chan has to offer.
Click here to visit Chan Poker »
Third time lucky for Ferguson
March 4, 2008
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson made it third time lucky as he picked up the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship and a cheque for $500,000.
Ferguson had to overcome a final group of eight that included fellow Full Tilt professionals Huck Seed, Gus Hansen and then Phil Ivey who was fresh from his recent win at the L.A. Poker Classic. However, when Ivey threw all his chips into the middle of the table with a low pair and then missed all of his outs, he was forced to leave the tournament with a cheque for $125,000.
The Championship is only in its fourth year but this was the third time that Ferguson had made the finals, although he had never previously landed the big prize. This time however, he was up against Andy Bloch in the heads-up with the match literally being decided by a coin flip.
The flop came:
 |
 |
 |
Bloch check-raised to 105, 000 and Ferguson made the call.
The turn was
 |
and Ferguson went over the top of Bloch’s 150,000 by moving all in.
Bloch went into the tank for a full seven minutes trying to decide whether to make the call or not. In the end, he decided to rely on a coin to make the decision for him. The coin flip landed heads and Bloch made the call, showing top pair and a flush draw. Ferguson turned over J J.
The river card was another 7 giving Ferguson a full house and the victory that he was looking for.
“Third try’s the charm” Ferguson said with a smile as he showed off the trophy and a $10,000 seat to the 2008 WSOP main event.
For Andy Bloch, it was another case of “so near and yet so far” as he was forced to accept second place and $250,000 for his efforts.