Titan Poker players hit the big time in Monte Carlo
April 30, 2008
The three players representing Titan Poker in the EPT Grand Final yesterday spoke of their experiences at the culmination of the European Poker Tour’s fourth season.
Italian Felice Piccaluga was still buzzing even after the tournament had been concluded.
“I am thrilled that I was given this amazing experience. Unfortunately, I was eliminated on the second day but I had a fantastic time and I had the opportunity to play with some of the biggest stars of the poker world!”
Titan have a history of sending their players to compete in Monte Carlo, having done something similar last year. However this year, the size of the prize package had increased massively. Three prize packages each worth $20,000 were handed out. Each package included flights and accomodation at the Columbus Hotel in Monte Carlo as well as buy-ins worth over 10,000 euros for the tournament itself.
The players flying in from France, Germany and Italy all won their places in the tournament through the Super Satellites held online at Titan Poker and for 29 year old Vincent Marland who had deposited just $21 to earn his seat, it was a dream come true.
“I originally paid just $21 for an online EPT Monte Carlo satellite” he said. From there I kept on winning seats to bigger satellites until I eventually won my place in Monte Carlo. It felt like a dream.’
To sign up for Titan Poker, simply visit www.titanpoker.com. All readers of The Short Stack will receive an extra $25 totally free on top of the already generous 100% first time deposit bonus.
Chiu overthrows Hansen to lift WPT title
April 25, 2008
Gus Hansen was left wondering what might have been as former restaurant owner David Chiu overturned a massive chip deficit to deny the Great Dane his fourth major WPT title and win the Season III WPT World Championship.
Hansen, one of the most successful players in WPT history, came to the final table as the chipleader and started off in explosive fashion. He eliminating nearly all who stood before him in just 22 hands. First Jeff King went to the rail and was quickly followed by Tommy Le, Cory Carroll and John Reveto. In record time, Hansen found himself in a heads-up situation with more than a 5-1 chip lead over his opponent.
In contrast, Chiu played those 22 hands very conservatively. He only found himself in two pots, and succeeded in winning just one of them, meaning that he faced Hansen with just 16% of the chips on the table.
Being such an underdog forced the former poker dealer to come out fighting, and he was able to double up early. This appeared to give Chiu the confidence he needed to start playing some solid heads-up poker and despite a little bit of luck in places, he began to steadily grow his stack.
After 33 hands Hansen came over the top of Chiu’s initial 505,000 raise to send the Chinese native all in. It didn’t take long for Chiu to push his remaining 3.79 million chips into the middle of the table with a pair of fives. He would have been delighted to find that he had Hansen dominated when the Dane showed a pair of deuces. The board offered no help to either player, and Chiu doubled up to just over 7.5million.
Hand #76 of the heads-up play saw the momentum shift away from Hansen yet further. Having seen his initial raise on the button re-raised to 1.85 million, Gus elected to call ensuring that 3.75million was in the middle of the table before the flop had even been dealt.
It duly came J63 which convinced Chiu to throw a further 1.6 million into the pot. This certainly got Hansen thinking as he retired for almost two minutes before making the call.
The turn card saw the board pairing sixes and Chiu moving all in for over 5 million chips. This was too much for Hansen who quickly folded, giving his opponent a huge pot and practically levelling the stacks of the two players.
From there things went downhill pretty quickly for the Great Dane. Two hands later, he had lost the chip lead and two hands after that the tournament was over.
With the flop of A-10-8, both players had contributed to a pot that was worth almost 3.5 million. With a 5 coming on the turn, Chiu bet 1.5 million and then was forced to think through his options when Hansen pushed all his chips into the middle of the table. He eventually made the call though, turning over A-9 spades. Gus showed 10-8 for two pair, but could do nothing as a second A came up on the river, giving the title to Chiu.
Hansen walked away from the tournament with a cheque for $1.7m having experienced the true roller-coaster nature of poker. However, it was Chiu’s steadier, calculated play that eventually saw him win the $3.39m first prize and the coveted WPT bracelet, in what has to go down as one of the most thrilling fight backs in WPT history.
Titan Poker prize pool doubles in 5 months
April 23, 2008
Titan Poker have announced that the guaranteed prize pool of their monthly tournament has risen to $16,000,000 and will continue to grow on a weekly basis.
The increase means that guaranteed cash prizes at the online poker room have doubled in just five months. It’s a move that is being put down to the growing status and success that Titan has enjoyed since it launched.
Subscriptions at Titan have continued to rise steadily thanks to the poker room recently winning “Best Online Poker Customer Service” for the second year in a row and then launching a large range of tournaments starting at times more suited to European players.
Titan poker offer a generous 100% first deposit bonus up to $500 for all first time users. However, players registering with Titan Poker through this website will also receive a free $25 (when depositing at least $20) and entry into a $1200 new player’s Freeroll tournament by clicking on the link below.
PKR Masters guarantees $100,000 prize pool
April 23, 2008
This Saturday evening sees the PKR Masters make a return to PKR Poker
The prize pool is guaranteed to contain $100,000 meaning that the eventual winner will walk away with at $25,000 in their back pocket.
Events will get underway on Saturday evening at 19.00 GMT with players being allowed to buy-in to the final table directly for $250. Alternatively satellites for the Masters are already underway costing just 52 cents.
Check out the tournament schedule at http://www.pkr.com.
WPT Championship - Summary of Day 2
April 22, 2008
As the second day of the World Poker Tour’s premier event opened, there could hardly have been a more impressive line up. Anyone who was anyone in the world of poker had turned up to play at the Belagio in Las Vegas - one of poker’s most recognised venues.
Having paid the $25,000 entry fee or (more likely) won their way into the star-studded event, every player, no matter what they had achieved previously, would have been relieved to have got through the first session.
Indeed, just glancing at the names of some of the players who have already gone to the rail reads like a Who’s Who of World Poker: Layne Flack, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Farha and Howard Lederer joined former WSOP champions Joe Hachem, Jerry Yang, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth on the bus home as they crashed out of the tournament alot earlier than they would have liked to.
It was Robert Mizrachi, brother of WPT champ Michael, who rose to the top of the field though. He finished the day with an impressive 523,200 chips - around 130,000 chips more than Bryan Devonshire in second place.
Also near the top is last year’s WPT Champion, Carlos Mortensen (320,000) who finds himself in 5th place. Having taken home the $3.9 million first prize last year, a repeat victory this time around would surely rank up there with the some of the game’s greatest achievements.
Play will resume at noon PDT.
Titan Poker giving away free ipods
April 20, 2008
Titan Poker are offering all new players the opportunity to win iPod’s, digital cameras and even home cinema systems - and that’s on top of the 100% first deposit bonus that players already get from them.
All players making their first deposit with the online poker room will get free entry into one of the “New Depositor Freeroll” tournaments which are currently being held 5 times a week.
The winner of each of these tournaments will be able to chose their prize from the following digital products:
iPod Classic:
With 160GB of storage space and 40 hours of battery life, the iPod Classic is the easy way to carry up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video where ever you go.
iPod Touch:
Apple’s latest addition to the iPod range adds Wi-Fi functionality to the already popular portable multi-media centre. The iPod Touch has 16GB of storage space and also comes with the Safari browser, Mail, iTunes and YouTube
8.0 Megapixel IXUS 860 Camera:
The IXUS 860 combines stunning design with some of the most up to date photographic technology. Its 3.8x wide-angle Image Stabilizer lens makes it easy to take some fantastic pictures with the maximum amount of ease.
Mini Home Cinema system:
The iMV712 features a built-in 8.5″ LCD screen to allow users to connect it to their preferred video player. It also has an auxiliary A/V input for connecting it to other devices such as a digital camera, CD player, camcorder or portable DVD players.
To take advantage of this offer, register your details with titanpoker.com and take advantage of an Exclusive Short Stack offer, which will also give all readers a completely free $25 (when you deposit a minimum of $20) and entry into a second Freeroll Tournament where $1,2000 will be put up for grabs.
Click here to take part in Titan Poker’s electronic give away »
Glen Chorny claims largest European payout
April 17, 2008
Monaco will live long in the memory of 22 year old business student Glen Chorny. His victory in the European Poker Tour Grand Final not only gave him his first bracelet, but also netted him the first-place prize of almost $3.2 million - the largest cheque ever paid out in European poker history.
Having qualified for the tournament through a Pokerstars satellite, Chorey found himself at the final table sitting alongside household names such as Antonio Esfandiari, Valeriy Ilikyan and Team Pokerstars Pro Luca Pagano, and the young Candadian didn’t waste any time taking advantage of his chip advantage.
His ultra-aggresive style appeared to both suprise and outclass his opponents and it wasn’t long before the table started to empty.
Despite being the big chip leader after the third day, Esfandiari was the first to fall putting pay to any hopes he had of completing a WPT, WSOP and EPT Triple Crown. He shoved all his chips into the middle of the table with a weak Ace and then had to watch helplessly as Pagano turned over As-Jc and continued to flop the nut straight.
Ilikyan was the next go when his A-Q didn’t hold up against Michael Martin’s A-K and he was followed after dinner by Luca Pagano when the PokerStars pro turned over A-J and couldn’t find the cards he needed to overturn Denes Kalo’s pair of queens.
There had been rumours of an altercation between Martin and Chorey during a toilet break, and there was clearly no love lost between the two players as they clashed throughout the evening. Things came to a head though when Martin’s top pair failed to break the Canadian’s overpair and the American had to go home with clenched teeth in fifth place.
After a fairly long period of play, Isaac Baron went to the rail in fourth and was soon followed by Villemure meaning that the heads-up part of the tournament would be played out between Denes Kalo and Chorey. With the young Canadian holding a 10-1 chip lead, it was always going to be a short affair and so it proved when the Hungarian shoved the remainder of his chips with Kh-Qd and found himself second best to Ah-5h.
“It hasn’t set in yet” Chorey claimed in an interview just afterwards. “There’s no better way to feel right now than like this. It feels like you’re a rock star.”
Final placings and prize money are listed below:
| 1 | Glen Chorny | $3,193,822 |
| 2 | Denes Kalo | $1,864,116 |
| 3 | Maxime Villemure | $1,130,487 |
| 4 | Isaac Baron | $931,268 |
| 5 | Michael Martin | $665,643 |
| 6 | Luca Pagano | $532,831 |
| 7 | Valeriy Ilikyan | $400,018 |
| 8 | Antonio Esfandiari | $265,625 |
PKR offering seats in the Asian Poker Tour
April 16, 2008
3D online poker room PKR, have announced a series of satellites designed to offer three players the opportunity to fly off to Manila and compete in the Asian Poker Tour for $1million in cash prizes.
The winners of their latest promotion will each receive a prize package worth $5,000 comprising of traveling costs and a seat in the opening round of this year’s Asian Poker Tour, which is to be held in one of the world’s most exotic locations.
The satellite touraments are already up and running and are offering players the chance to fly out to Manila for as little as $2.06.
To take advantage of this offer, simply register your details at http://www.pkr.com
Seidel lifts Foxwood’s WPT crown
April 11, 2008
Erik Seidel emerged from a marathon final table lasting over 11 hours to win the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic and pick up his biggest tournament cash to date ($967,390).
Despite 8 WSOP bracelets, 18 worldwide wins and tournament winnings weighing in at nearly $8.5m, this was the Full Tilt professional’s first WPT title and he looked relived and more than a little tired as he posed for pictures with his trophy.
Seidel had come into the final table with the chip lead, and it was an advantage that he would not lose throughout the 229 hands that were to be played.
Robert Richardson was responsible for eliminating the first three players from the table, sending Ted Forrest ($103,000), Adam Katz ($151,000) and then Frank Cieri ($200,000) to the rail before the last three pros played out the longest three-handed poker session in WPT history. After a whopping six hours, Andrew Barta crashed out in third place ($281,011) to leave Richardson and Seidel to battle it out for the final honours.
Ironically, after such a long three-handed seesion, the heads-battle would be the shortest in WPT history: precisely one hand.
Richardson decided to go all in on the turn and showed a pair of 9s. Seidel called him with an Ace that he had paired on the flop and survived the river to bring the marathon tournament to an end.
His victory means that Seidel will win free entry into the WPT World Championship due to start on April 19th in Las Vegas.
However, what may be more concerning for ogranisers is that numbers at Foxwoods dropped again for the second year running. This seems to be following a trend in some areas of the US suggesting that the popularity of the WPT is not what it used to be.
Stellar new promotion from PokerStars
April 8, 2008
For those of you who love playing SnG tournaments, PokerStars‘ latest promotion could be right up your street.
The fantastically named Battle of the Planets allows players to compete against each other in a league format across multiple ‘divisions’ all of whic are based on a player’s buy-in amount.
Each division is named after a particular planet in the solar system, with each one offering a differnt buy-in amount:
- Mercury ($1-$2.99)
- Mars ($3-$4.99)
- Venus ($5-5.99)
- Earth ($10-$19.99)
- Neptune ($20-$49.99)
- Uranus ($50-$99.99)
- Saturn ($100-$299)
- Jupiter ($300+)
Within that division, there will be two leader boards: a “low orbit” for those players who play between 1-100 SnG’s a month and a “high orbit” for those players who compete more often.
To earn points for both of these leader boards you need to play. Points are allocated based on the number of tournaments you play (in blocks of 20). Therefore, if you play fewer than 20 tournaments in a week, your score would be calculated based on the number of points you won in those tournaments.
However, if you play up to 40 SnG’s within a week Pokerstars would see two sets of scores (two blocks of 20) and chose the higher of the two to count towards your league position. The “high orbit” league is calculated in exactly the same way with the exception being that the blocks are extended to contain 100 touneys each.
Each planet will be offering a weekly prize pool (ranging from $3,000 to $10,000) and a further $50,000 freeroll will be held for those players occupying the top ten positions in each planet’s leaderboard.
And to really float your boat (or launch your rocket perhaps), the top ten players from each planet’s high and low orbit leagues will fight it out for $50,000 worth of prizes.
The Battle of the Planets will be a week long promotion and will end at 11.59 pm ET next Saturday. To book a place in your own Galactic Battle, register at PokerStars and receive 100% of your first deposit back (up to $50)
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