PTS AT STAKE: LOOKING FOR A TOP DOG AT WSOPC PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

We're at the Kennel Club and we're looking for our top dog at the WSOP Circuit Main Event. Over 700 players started the event and we have a prize pool north of one million dollars! This is the largest tournament in Florida poker history!

Players have been dropping like flies ... we're already down to 80 players ... here are the Top 10 chip counts:

1 Mike Minetti 560,000
2 Austin Buchanan 555,000
3 Jacob Naquin 475,000
4 Andrew Touchette 425,000
5 John Riordan 420,000
6 Sangni Zhao 400,000
7 J.R. Meile 350,000
8 Stephen Kats 330,000
9 Zhen Cai 300,000
10 Jesse Okonczak 290,000

WSOPC veteran Dwyte Pilgrim is one of the big names still in contention, he unfortunately just lost a pot that has brought him down to approximately 130,000 chips.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Palm Beach
WSOPC Main Event
February 27-March 1, 2011

Palm Beach Kennel Club
Palm Beach, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $1,025,280
Entries: 742

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 107
2nd position 67
3rd position 42
4th position 32
5th position 25
6th position 17
7th position 15
8th position 12
9th position 12

CORKINS' BUBBLE BURSTS AT WPT LAPC

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

Hoyt Corkins was our bubble boy late into the night at the WPT LAPC - we're now in the money!

We still have a ton of big names in - including Shannon Shorr (pictured), who sits 6th after last night's play.

63 players are left, should be a fun day Monday!

Here is our Top 5...

• Jason DeWitt 1,023,000
• Richard Toth 993,000
• James Carroll 843,000
• David "Bakes" Baker 702,000
• Mike Sowers 677,000

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
World Poker Tour Main Event
February 25-March 2, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $6,537,600
Entries: 681

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 131
2nd position 81
3rd position 51
4th position 41
5th position 36
6-7 position 31
8-11 position 16
12-15 position 14
16-18 position 11

STARS COLLIDE AT LAPC - DAY 3 STARTS WITH NOVEMBER NINE ALERT

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

Big stars have descended upon the Commerce Casino floor - and, many of them are still alive and kicking!

Carroll, Senti, Sowers, Grinder, El Matador, Cunningham, Reiman, Rajkumar, Tilly (pictured, left), Nam Le, Kenney, Bakes, Silent Mike, M. Binger, Dorfman, Hachem, McCormack, Welch, Stein, Mercier, Hellmuth, Seiver, Waxman, Marchese, Shorr, Rasmussen, Makhija, DeWitt, Alaei, Mouth, Braband, Soi Nguyen, Batista, Medic, Sung, Liebert, Seidel, Lawson, Koon, O'Dwyer, Madsen, Shleger, Klodnicki, Phillip Collins and Phil Ivey ... are all part of the Top 125!!! Now that's a list of who's who in the poker world - sure looks like we're going to get to see one hell of a WPT Final Table!

A story that could gain some heat on Day 3 is the fact that fellow November Niners, Jason Senti and Michael Mizrachi sit 3rd and 5th respectively in chips heading into Sunday's play. Heck, even Soi Nguyen has chips, he's currently 79th with a little less than 100,000 chips.

238 players remain, we're going down to the money today, should be a fun one!

Here are some of the notable names in the Top 50...

• Joe Deniro 366,700
• James Carroll 264,800
• Jason Senti 258,200
• Mike Sowers 252,500
• Michael Mizrachi 227,600
• Carlos Mortensen 204,900
• Allen Cunningham 196,400
• Ty Reiman 184,200
• Vivek Rajkumar 176,100
• Jennifer Tilly 174,100
• Nam Le 162,100
• Bryn Kenney 158,000
• David "Bakes" Baker 149,600
• Mike Baxter 149,400
• Michael Binger 145,400
• Randy Dorfman 137,300
• Joe Hachem 135,000
• Chris McCormack 135,000
• Ryan Welch 133,700
• Sam Stein 128,900
• Jason Mercier 128,400
• Phil Hellmuth 128,100
• Scott Seiver 127,300
• Matthew Waxman 127,100

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
World Poker Tour Main Event
February 25-March 2, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $6,537,600
Entries: 681

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 131
2nd position 81
3rd position 51
4th position 41
5th position 36
6-7 position 31
8-11 position 16
12-15 position 14
16-18 position 11

TURENIEC CONQUERS COPENHAGEN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Michael Tureniec has conquered EPT Copenhagen! The 2010 EPT Barcelona prelim winner defeated a game Per Linde heads up.

John Eames fought a good fight, but had to settle for third place. Surprisingly, Juha Helppi, who headed into final table play as the hottest player in the tournament, was first one out today.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Copenhagen
EPT Main Event
February 21-26, 2011

Casino Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Buy-in: $6,825
Prizepool: $2,895,906
Entries: 449

FINAL RESULTS
MICHAEL TURENIEC 129
PER LINDE 79
JOHN EAMES 49
KEVIN IACOFANO 39
NIKOLAS LIAKOS 34
MUDASSAR KHAN 29
ANDREA DALLE MOLLE 29
JUHA HELPPI 14
JOEL NORDKVIST 14
SIMON HANNINGER 14
JENS LAURIDSEN 14
SIMEN JOHANNESSEN 12
JOHNNY JENSEN 12
LARS KROGH 12
DANIEL JOHANSSON 12
IVAN FREITEZ 9
HELGE RAHBEK 9
JAN SORENSEN 9

TURENIEC WINS EPT COPENHAGEN

After winning a EPT Barcelona prelim event in 2010, Michael Tureniec will now add a EPT Copenhagen Main Event title to his resume.

Congrats to Tureniec on his win - full report coming later today.

PTS AT STAKE: MERCIER ONE OF LEAD HORSES AT WPT LAPC MAIN

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

The LAPC Main Event is finally here and the WPT cameras are rolling!

666 players have registered so far. Registration will close as the first card hits the felt later today.

Jason Mercier currently sits fifth with 106,625 chips. Plenty of big names are here and most are still alive. UB Pro Joe Sebok was one of the last casualties as Day 1 play ended.

Here are some of the notable names in the Top 50...

• Jason Mercier 106,625
• Michael Benvenuti 98,775
• Gavin Griffin 96,750
• Shawn Busse 93,550
• Joseph Cheong 81,000
• Ty Reiman 80,200
• Josh Arieh 75,875
• Bobby Suer 75,025
• Jason Dewitt 74,400
• Carlos Mortensen 71,075
• Mike Sowers 70,900
• Brett Richey 70,550
• Matthew Waxman 69,750
• Michael Mizrachi 68,625
• Phil Hellmuth 68,275

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
World Poker Tour Main Event
February 25-March 2, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $6,393,600
Entries: 666

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 131
2nd position 81
3rd position 51
4th position 41
5th position 36
6-7 position 31
8-11 position 16
12-15 position 14
16-18 position 11

LAPC PRELIMS: PILGRIM, MORRISON ON THE BOARD

PHOTO CREDIT: COMMERCECASINO.com

Parviz Razavian won an LAPC prelim event earlier this week. Razavian won Event 47 - NLH 6-handed.

Plenty of names scored points in the event. Dwyte Pilgrim earned 40 PTPR Points for his first score of the year, Darren Elias scored for the third time this season, finishing third, and Kirk Morrison's first score of the season earns him 5 PTPR Points.


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
Event 47 - No Limit Hold'Em 6-handed
February 21, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $2,575
Prizepool: $296,785
Entries: 101

FINAL RESULTS
PARVIZ RAZAVIAN 75
DWYTE PILGRIM 40
DARREN ELIAS 25
RAY QARTOMY 15
MIKHAIL TIMOSHIN 10
J.C. MOUSSA 8
KIRK MORRISON 5
ANDRAS NEMETH 5
ANDY SETH 5

EPT FINAL TABLE SET - HELPPI BATTLES BACK AT EPT COPENHAGEN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Per Linde (pictured) has taken control of EPT Copenhagen. He had the chip lead going into today's session and he still owns the chip lead going into Final Table play.

And it's a very impressive chip lead. The lead is over 2:1 on second place Kevin Iacofano.

Even more impressive? How about the day Juha Helppi had? The former WPT and EPT High Roller champ built an impressive chip stack during today's play. In fact, he grew his stack 10 times from where he started on Friday. Helppi was last in chips and now, he sits 4th with a 1+ million chip stack.

Final table play should be exciting with the likes of Michael Tureniec and John Eames joining Linde and Helppi and the rest of the Final 8.

Seating assignments for Final Table play

Seat 1: Andrea Dalle Molle - 417,000
Seat 2: Per Linde - 4,980,000
Seat 3: Nikolas Liakos - 1,493,000
Seat 4: Mudassar Khan - 823,000
Seat 5: Kevin Iacofano - 1,844,000
Seat 6: John Eames - 1,060,000
Seat 7: Michael Tureniec - 1,310,000
Seat 8: Juha Helppi - 1,470,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Copenhagen
EPT Main Event
February 21-26, 2011

Casino Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Buy-in: $6,825
Prizepool: $2,895,906
Entries: 449

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 129
2nd position 79
3rd position 49
4th position 39
5th position 34
6th position 29
7th position 29
8th position 14
JOEL NORDKVIST 14
SIMON HANNINGER 14
JENS LAURIDSEN 14
SIMEN JOHANNESSEN 12
JOHNNY JENSEN 12
LARS KROGH 12
DANIEL JOHANSSON 12
IVAN FREITEZ 9
HELGE RAHBEK 9
JAN SORENSEN 9

PRELIM PROFIT: DORFMAN BEATS BIG NAMES AT LAPC 5K PRELIM

PHOTO CREDIT: COMMERCECASINO.com

Randy Dorfman survived a quality field at the last LAPC prelim event prior to start of today's Main Event.

Dorfman won the 5k NLH buy-in prelim and beat notables Nicholas Levi (2nd), Shannon Shorr (3rd), Nick Binger (5th), Jon PearlJammer Turner (6th) and a host of others, including Carlos Mortensen and Matt Jarvis, on his way to his first title of the season.

The long awaited WPT LAPC Main Event starts later today with many big names of poker expected to make their way to the Commerce Casino poker room.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
Event 52 - No Limit Hold'Em
February 23-24, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $5,100
Prizepool: $487,400
Entries: 101

POINTS AT STAKE
RANDY DORFMAN 101
NICHOLAS LEVI 61
SHANNON SHORR 36
SETH FISCHER 26
NICK BINGER 19
JON TURNER 11
AMIT LEHAVOT 9
ARDAVAN YAZDI 6
MARK DICKSTEIN 6

PTS AT STAKE: SHORR LEADS DAY 2 FIELD LAPC EVENT 52

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

12 players are left at the LAPC No Limit Hold'Em Event 52 which carried a 5k buy-in.

Plenty of big names to go around for this one! Shannon Shorr carries the chip lead at the moment with PearlJammer Jon Turner hot on his heels.

24 runners started the day including notables Matt Affleck, Nick Binger, Randy Dorfman, Nicholas Levy, Carlos Mortensen and Matt Jarvis. Jarvis was the first player ousted today.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Los Angeles Poker Classic
Event 52 - No Limit Hold'Em
February 23-24, 2011

Commerce Casino
Los Angeles, California, USA

Buy-in: $5,100
Prizepool: $487,400
Entries: 101

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
9th position 6

24 REMAIN AT EPT COPENHAGEN, SWEDE LINDE LEADS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We are down to three tables at EPT Copenhagen.

Sweden's Per Linde, who's been hovering around the chip lead since the start of this tournament, now holds the official chip lead heading into Day 4 at Casino Copenhagen.

Linde had two PTPR Scores during the 2010 season - both in Premier Events ... he scored both at EPT San Remo and at WPT Rendez-Vous a Paris.

Friday's start is certainly going to be an interesteing one as the Top 5 chip leaders - the only five holding over 1 million in chips - will start the day at the same table (after the random table redraw to determine where the final 24 would sit). There will either be blood on the table early or, these five will slow down play until a few runners exit the poker room.

For the Day 4 seat draw, please visit the end of this post.

Here are the notable still remaining in the tournament:

• Per Linde 1,622,000
• Florian Langmann 1,304,000
• Michael Tureniec 1,089,000
• John Eames 570,000
• Dmitry Vitkind 244,000
• Mikhail Lakhitov 155,000
• Surinder Sunar 149,000
• Juha Helppi 142,000

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Copenhagen
EPT Main Event
February 21-26, 2011

Casino Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Buy-in: $6,825
Prizepool: $2,895,906
Entries: 449

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 129
2nd position 79
3rd position 49
4th position 39
5th position 34
6th position 29
7th position 29
8th position 14
9th position 14
10th position 14
11th position 14
12th position 12
13th position 12
14th position 12
15th position 12
16th position 9
17th position 9
18th position 9

DAY 4 SEAT DRAW

Table 30
Seat 1 - Mikhail Lakhitov, Russia, 155,000
Seat 2 - Charles Mclntyre, Ireland, 232,000
Seat 3 - Mudassar Khan, Denmark, 265,000
Seat 4 - Nikolas Liakos, Sweden, 653,000
Seat 5 - Surinder Sunar, UK, 149,000
Seat 6 - Kevin Iacofano, USA, 685,000
Seat 7 - Andrea Dalle Molle, Italy, 228,000
Seat 8 - Simen Johannessen, Norway, 211,000

Table 31
Seat 1 - Joel Nordkvist, Sweden, 1,236,000
Seat 2 - Jens Lauridsen, Denmark, 594,000
Seat 3 - Florian Langmann, Germany, 1,304,000
Seat 4 - Michael Tureniec, Sweden, 1,089,000
Seat 5 - Per Linde, Sweden, 1,622,000
Seat 6 - Simon Hanninger, Sweden, 216,000
Seat 7 - Ivan Freitez, Venezuela, 1,024,000
Seat 8 - Jan Sørensen, Denmark, 499,000

Table 32
Seat 1 - Helge Rahbek, Denmark, 512,000
Seat 2 - Dmitry Vitkind, Russia, 244,000
Seat 3 - Johnny Jensen, Denmark, 223,000
Seat 4 - John Eames, UK, 570,000
Seat 5 - Daniel Johansson, Sweden, 389,000
Seat 6- Juha Helppi, Finland, 142,000
Seat 7 - Pernille Ravn, Denmark, 352,000
Seat 8 - Lars Krogh, Denmark, 813,000

EPT BARCELONA PRELIM WINNER TURENIEC LEADS EPT COPENHAGEN MAIN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

2010 EPT Barcelona Prelim event winner Michael Tureniec carries the chip lead into Day 3 at EPT Copenhagen.

Tureniec won Event 9 - No Limit Hold'em at Hotel Arts Barcelona in November.

The UK's JP Kelly is also heating up and at the right time, he now sits 4th in chips. Meanwhile EPT Barcelona winner Kent Lundmark, Per Linde and Martin Jacobson lead a strong group of Swedes still alive in the tournament.

On the flip side, the Comeback Kid's comeback, well, fell short. Peter Eastgate, returning from retirement this week, was unable to make it past Day 2. The mighty hot Turniec made sure of that. We should see Eastgate next at the NBC Heads Up Championship in Las Vegas.

The money buble is about to burst in Copenhagen, only 9 of the 74 returning players won't see a paycheck day on Thursday.

Here are the notable names still alive after Day 2:

• Michael Tureniec 640,000
• Per Linde 514,000
• JP Kelly 416,000
• Kent Lundmark 286,200
• Florian Langmann 271,900
• Martin Jacobson 258,900
• Domantas Klimciauskas 212,200
• Johnny Lodden 193,700
• Dmitry Vitkind 188,000
• Mikhail Lakhitov 179,700
• Juha Helppi 159,000
• Surinder Sunar 151,700
• John Eames 118,600
• Pierre Neuville 80,900

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Copenhagen
EPT Main Event
February 21-26, 2011

Casino Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Buy-in: $6,825
Prizepool: $2,895,906
Entries: 449

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 129
2nd position 79
3rd position 49
4th position 39
5th position 34
6th position 29
7th position 29
8th position 14
9th position 14
10th position 14
11th position 14
12th position 12
13th position 12
14th position 12
15th position 12
16th position 9
17th position 9
18th position 9

PTS AT STAKE: ROLLING INTO DAY 2 AT EPT COPENHAGEN...

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We're onto Day 2 at EPT Copenhagen. Day 1B was completed a few short hours ago and again we had a good field of players, 235 to be more precise, bringing the total number of players in the event to 449.

Lithuanian Domantas Klimciauskas takes the overall chip lead into Day 2, he accumulated 203,800 chips during Day 1B.

Here are the notable names still alive after Day 1B:

• Domantas Klimciauskas 203,800
• Ramzi Jelassi 169,200
• Joel Nordkvist 136,900
• JP Kelly 73,700
• Juha Helppi 70,600
• Jake Cody 67,600
• Xuan Liu 48,700
• Florian Langmann 47,700
• Toni Judet 45,900
• Dmitry Vitkind 33,000
• Martin Jacobson 29,500
• Tomer Berda 29,300
• John Duthie 29,000
• Vadim Markushevski 22,800

They join the following notables still alive from Day 1A:

• Per Line 150,000
• Annette Obrestad 102,300
• Kent Lundmark 87,500
• Allan Baekke 76,000
• Peter Eastgate 73,200
• Johnny Lodden 64,200
• Pierre Neuville 58,200
• Thomas Bo Markussen 51,000
• Arnaud Mattern 38,100
• Scott Montgomery 36,100
• Surinder Sunar 25,900
• Anders Hoyer Berg 25,200
• Ville Wahlbeck 12,300

Here are the payouts from this event:

1st - DKK 3,700,000 (€496,271)
2nd - DKK 2,450,000 (€328,612)
3rd - DKK 1,400,000 (€187,778)
4th - DKK 1,000,000 (€134,127)
5th - DKK 750,000 (€100,595)
6th - DKK 600,000 (€80,476)
7th - DKK 450,000 (€60,357)
8th - DKK 296,400 (€39,755)
9th to 10th - DKK 220,000 (€29,508)
11th to 12th - DKK 165,000 (€22,131)
13th to 14th - DKK 130,000 (€17,437)
15th to 16th - DKK 105,000 (€14,083)
17th to 24th - DKK 85,000 (€11,401)
25th to 32nd - DKK 75,000 (€10,060)
33rd to 48th - DKK 65,000 (€8,718)
49th to 64th - DKK 55,000 (€7,377)


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Copenhagen
EPT Main Event
February 21-26, 2011

Casino Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Buy-in: $6,825
Prizepool: $2,895,906
Entries: 449

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 129
2nd position 79
3rd position 49
4th position 39
5th position 34
6th position 29
7th position 29
8th position 14
9th position 14
10th position 14
11th position 14
12th position 12
13th position 12
14th position 12
15th position 12
16th position 9
17th position 9
18th position 9

LOCCARINI OUTDUELS WPT VENICE CHAMP TO WIN IPT MALTA, BUT ISAIA TOPS THE PTPR CHARTS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKER.it

Giacomo Loccarini has won the Pokerstars IPT Malta - defeating reigning WPT Venice Champion Alessio Isaia heads up.

Loccarini collects 35 PTPR Points with the victory.

Isaia's 18 PTPR count as his second PTPR Score of the season and propels him to top spot on the PTPR Tournament Poker Player of the Year, surpassing PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall.

Dominik Nitsche finished 11th in the event and EPT London champ David Vamplew managed a top-25 finish. Neither collected PTPR Points in the event.

1 €122,000.00 Giacomo Loccarini
2 €80,000.00 Alessio Isaia
3 €50,000.00 Nicola D'Arrigo
4 €37,000.00 Gavino Bechembauer Virdis
5 €23,000.00 Gianluca Speranza


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Main Event
February 17-21, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta

Buy-in: $3,012
Prizepool: $629,567
Entries: 237

FINAL RESULTS
GIACOMO LOCCARINI 35
ALESSIO ISAIA 18
NICOLA D'ARRIGO 10
GAVINO BECHEMBAUER VIRDIS 8
GIANLUCA SPERANZA 5

WELCOME BACK, SIR: EASTGATE SIGHTING AT EPT COPENHAGEN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

The shortest retirement in history, well, since Brett Favre, Brett Favre and Brett Favre again, is over!

Look who decided to show up at EPT Copenhagen! On the heels of the announcement that he would be playing the NBC Heads Up Championship next month, Peter Eastgate decided to work out the kinks and chose today's EPT Copenhagen as his comeback event.

Eastgate did very well on his first day back to work. He ends the day with 73,200 chips. The chip leader, Pokerstars qualifier Mark Hirleman, ended the day with 163,400 chips.

This is the first of two Day 1's at EPT Copenhagen and many star players were out including defending Champion Anton Wigg, who suffered a late elimination at the hands of Annette Obrestad on a trip-10 vs. flopped jacks hand.


Here are the notable names still alive after Day 1A:

• Per Line 150,000
• Annette Obrestad 102,300
• Kent Lundmark 87,500
• Allan Baekke 76,000
• Peter Eastgate 73,200
• Johnny Lodden 64,200
• Pierre Neuville 58,200
• Thomas Bo Markussen 51,000
• Arnaud Mattern 38,100
• Scott Montgomery 36,100
• Surinder Sunar 25,900
• Anders Hoyer Berg 25,200
• Ville Wahlbeck 12,300

The tournament continues tomorrow with Day 1B.

FINAL TABLE SET AT IPT MALTA

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSIPT.com

Final table play is set to begin at IPT Malta. Italians dominate the final table and are led by chip leader Giacomo Loccarini.

8 players remain but only five will capture PTPR Points. 35 PTPR Points to the winner of the event.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Main Event
February 17-21, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta

Buy-in: $3,012
Prizepool: $629,567
Entries: 237

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5

EPT GRAND FINAL MOVES TO MADRID

PHOTO CREDIT: EPT.com

EPT Chief Executive John Duthie has announced that the European Poker Tour Grand Final will move out of Casino Monte Carlo and into Casino Gran Madrid Torrelodones in Spain.

Duthie said the following:

“It is with the greatest pleasure that we are able to announce Casino Gran Madrid as the new venue for the EPT Grand Final," ... "We wanted somewhere new, dynamic and inspiring, and knew that Madrid would tick all the boxes for the travelling poker player, regardless of age or desires."

The EPT will run all of it's regular events at the Grand Final including the 25k High Rollers event.

MANZANO WRAPS UP LAPT BRAZIL VICTORY

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

He lost a big chip lead late in the day Saturday but, Alex Manzano was able to recover and collect ALL the chips when it mattered most, once the trophy was raised.

It was a bit of a bumpy ride for Manzano but, he picks up his first major poker title and collects 105 PTPR Points with the victory and enters the PTPR Tournament Player Top 15 Leaderboard.

Here are the payouts for the final table participants:
1. Alex Manzano, Chile, R$ 615,840
2. Joao Neto, Brazil, R$ 352,760
3. Marcelo Fonseca, Brazil, R$ 224,800
4. Marcio Motta, Brazil, R$ 165,000
5. Leandro Csome, Argentina, R$ 117,190
6. Santiago Nadal, Mexico, R$ 93,270
7. Henrique Bernardes, Brazil, R$ 69,350
8. Bruno Politano, Brazil, R$ 45,440


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Latin American Poker Tour Brazil
LAPT Main Event
February 17-20, 2011

Sheraton WTC Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Buy-in: $2,757
Prizepool: $1,477,752
Entries: 536

POINTS AT STAKE
ALEX MANZANO 105
JOAO BAUER 65
MARCELO FONSECA 40
MARCIO MOTTA 30
LEANDRO CSOME 23
SANTIAGO NADAL 15
HENRIQUE BERNANDES 13
BRUNO POLITANO 10
FABIO COLONESE 10

NITSCHE, VAMPLEW OUT AT IPT MALTA

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSIPT.com

Although we're not getting much in the way of information from IPT Malta - we can't explain why the Pokerstars blog team didn't show up to one of it's events? - we can confirm that young guns Dominik Nitsche and David Vamplew have been eliminated during Day 3 play.

It was over early for Vamplew who, despite having a healthy chip count heading into Day 3, was crushed by two hands early, and he could not recover.

Nitsche lasted longer than his fellow poker pro but, could not do better than a 11th place finish.

Good game to both gentlmen.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Main Event
February 17-21, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta

Buy-in: $3,012
Prizepool: $629,567
Entries: 237

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5

NITSCHE, VAMPLEW HEAT UP AT IPT MALTA

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSIPT.com

We're down to the final 32 players and in the money at the Pokerstars IPT Malta and Dominik Nitsche and David Vamplew (pictured) have carried their Day 1 momentum all the way through Day 2.

Both players more than tripled their chip stacks in time for Day 3 play. Nitsche, 2009 LAPT Argentina winner, now sits 7th in chips and Vamplew, the 2010 EPT London winner who recently finished third at WPT Venice, sits 9th.

Vamplew is currently tied for 64th on the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year leaderboard with 50 PTPR Points.

Here are the payouts for the remaining 32 runners:
1 €122.000
2 €80.000
3 €50.000
4 €37.000
5 €23.000
6 €18.000
7 €14.000
8 €11.500
9-10 €9.200
11-12 €6.900
13-14 €5.300
15-16 €4.200
17-24 €3.500
25-32 €3.135

For full chip counts, please see the end of this post...


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Main Event
February 17-21, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta, Italy

Buy-in: $3,012
Prizepool: $629,567
Entries: 237

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5


LOCCARINI GIACOMO 522700
ISAIA ALESSIO 480000
OEHMKE PHILIPP HANS 441200
SPERANZA GIANLUCA 281700
FURNERI ALESSANDRO 275600
SZASZ CSABA STEFAN 239200
NITSCHE DOMINIK 226200
MATTSSON JOHAN MATIAS GUNNAR 222900
VAMPLEW DAVID SAMUEL 211700
D ARRIGO NICOLA 206000
FIUME VITTORIO 202000
DALESSANDRO AUGUSTO 145300
SABATO UMBERTO 131300
BRAUTIGAM PHILIP BENNY 122100
KHOSRAVI PONTUS NIMA 106200
TRECCARICHI WALTER 91000
FEDELI LORENZO 88700
BOZZI LORENZO 85000
CIMAGLIA FERNANDO 78700
RIGANO PAOLO 66500
LITA CRISTINEL 60700
IEMINA MANLIO 59600
TIRONE LAURA 59200
MAIORCA ERNESTO 56800
PIRROTTA LITTERIO 50200
FERRARI. ANDREA 49900
SANDER FRANK 46900
LIU XUAN XUAN 39700
FEDERICI PIERO 34600
BECHEMBAUER VIRDIS GAVINO 30700
ELIA SALVATORE 21700
MOSCHITTA LUCA 18400

SUNDAY FINAL TABLE SET AT LAPT BRAZIL

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

The Final Table players is set for Sunday at LAPT Brazil.

The biggest name remaining, Humberto Brenes, was out early Saturday as the 24 remaining players were fighting for a spot in the Final 8.

Leonardo Csome (pictured, right) will be your chip leader once play resumes. Top 24 chip leader Alex Manzano (pictured, left) would have kept the chip lead had it not been for a very tough final few hours to the day.

Here is how the final table will look like ...

Seat 1: Santiago Nadal (555,000)
Seat 2: Marcio Motta (1,205,000)
Seat 3: Marcelo Fonseca (1,245,000)
Seat 4: Joao Neto (1,395,000)
Seat 5: Alex Manzano (1,730,000)
Seat 6: Leandro Csome (2,875,000)
Seat 7: Bruno Politano (1,030,000)
Seat 8: Henrique Bernardes (440,000)

And here are the payouts for the remaining 8 players:
1. R$ 615,840
2. R$ 352,760
3. R$ 224,800
4. R$ 165,000
5. R$ 117,190
6. R$ 93,270
7. R$ 69,350
8. R$ 45,440


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Latin American Poker Tour Brazil
LAPT Main Event
February 17-20, 2011

Sheraton WTC Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Buy-in: $2,757
Prizepool: $1,477,752
Entries: 536

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 105
2nd position 65
3rd position 40
4th position 30
5th position 23
6th position 15
7th position 13
8th position 10
COLONESE FABIO 10

SAD NEWS AS ROUSSO REVEALS CHAD BROWN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Some sad news from the poker world tonight as Vanessa Rousso has revealed that her husband, popular poker pro "Downtown" Chad Brown, was diagnosed with cancer just a few days ago.

Shockingly, a 10-pound tumor was removed from his abdomen.

Although the couple are still waiting for an official report, early results show the cancer to be sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.


News has shocked the poker world, many of which who have gathered at the WPT Invitational in Los Angeles. A few members of the poker community have already tweeted their well wishes to both Brown and Rousso including Annie Duke @AnnieDuke:

Please think good thoughts for @downtownchad and @vanessarousso

and Ali Nejad @Ali_Nejad:

@downtownchad @vanessarousso: lotta love from my camp for a speedy surgery recovery, & cancer-free future! Hang in there guys

Nothing but good thoughts for Downtown, Vanessa and all of the Brown clan, stay strong!

PTS AT STAKE: ONTO DAY 2 AT IPT MALTA

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSIPT.com

237 players have invaded Malta in order to chase the coveted title of Pokerstars IPT Champion.

132 runners have survived and moved onto Day 2. Dominik Nitsche and David Vamplew are amongst the survivors, both have average chip counts.

€459,780 is up for grabs with the winner's cut set at €122,000.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Main Event
February 17-21, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta, Italy

Buy-in: $3,012
Prizepool: $629,567
Entries: 237

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5

PTS AT STAKE: 24 PLAYERS REMAIN AT LAPT BRAZIL

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We're down to 24 players as a record-breaking field invaded the halls of the Sheraton at LAPT Brazil.

Alex Manzano was the chip leader as card were in the air a little less than an hour ago in Sao Paulo. Humberto Brenes is in the hunt, sitting 6th as action began.

Here are the chipcounts as Day 3 action began...

Joao Neto Brazil 1089000
Alex Manzano Chile 1080000
Leandro Csome Argentina 959000
Bruno Foster Brazil 766000
Amos Ben Haim Chile 687000
Humberto Brenes Costa Rica 601000
Gerardo Godinez Mexico 585000
Fabio Colonese Brazil 525000
Henrique Bernardes Brazil 514000
Miguel Alverez Venezuela 464000
Christian Velasquez Chile 421000
Raphael Martins Brazil 374000
Marcello Fonseca Brazil 303000
Santiago Nadal Mexico 262000
Carlos Rodriguez Colombia 256000
Daniela Zapiello Brazil 235000
Eduardo Costa Brazil 231000
Caio Brites Brazil 223000
Marcio Motta Brazil 203000
Cesar Plaza Canada 198000
Rodrigo Portaleoni Brazil 175000
Walter Oaquim Brazil 171000
Omar Mietes Paraguay 142000
Juan Parra Chile 103000

And here are the payouts for the remaining 24 players:
1. R$ 615,840
2. R$ 352,760
3. R$ 224,800
4. R$ 165,000
5. R$ 117,190
6. R$ 93,270
7. R$ 69,350
8. R$ 45,440
9-10. R$ 31,090
11-12. R$ 26,300
13-14. R$ 21,500
15-16. R$ 16,740
17-24. R$ 14,350


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Latin American Poker Tour Brazil
LAPT Main Event
February 17-20, 2011

Sheraton WTC Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Buy-in: $2,757
Prizepool: $1,477,752
Entries: 536

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 105
2nd position 65
3rd position 40
4th position 30
5th position 23
6th position 15
7th position 13
8th position 10
9th position 10

OFF TO SAO PAULO, MALTA, PALM BEACH AND COPENHAGEN

We have a little lull in the action today but things are about to heat up - big time!

Some major events are set to begin on Thursday. In Brazil, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) hits Sao Paulo, Brazil and the Sheraton WTC Sao Paulo.

Malta is the second stop of 2011 for the Pokerstars.com Italian Poker Tour (IPT) at Casino at Portomaso.

The WSOP Circuit visits Florida for the first time since it's rebrand. The Palm Beach Kennel Club is set to host the WSOPC Ring Events.

And finally, Anton Wigg will defend his title at EPT Copenhagen at Casino Copenhagen in Denmark.


Stay tuned to the PTPR for tournament coverage.

LADY'S NIGHT: RUSSIAN ON-LINE PRO NATALIA NIKITINA WINS WPT NATIONAL - PARIS

PHOTO CREDIT: WINAMAX.fr

It took over 13 hours to find a winner but, we have a winner at the Aviation Club de France! The event ended around 5:30AM Paris time - time to go to bed!

Natalia Nikitina (pictured) has captured the World Poker Tour National Series Paris (Euro Finals of Poker) Main Event.

Nikitina defeated Alexandre "Tintin" Brivot heads up. She is the first female to win a PTPR event this season. The Russian earns 101 PTPR Points and over 240,000 Euros for the win.

It was a very tough last two days for Sam Trickett. The red-hot pro seemed to have everything under control with 10 players left but, unfortunately, after taking two big hits on Sunday, Trickett couldn't recover but still managed a 6th place finish.

Final 8 payouts:

1. Natalia Nikitina €243,830
2. Alexandre Brivot €174,170
3. Jean-Louis Tepper €113,210
4. Benjamin Pollak €69,670
5. Tobias Wagner €52,250
6. Sam Trickett €43,545
7. Ingo Paulus €34,835
8. Nicolo Calia €26,120


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 10-15, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
NATALIA NIKITINA 101
ALEXANDRE BRIVOT 61
JEAN-LOUIS TEPPER 36
BENJAMIN POLLAK 26
TOBIAS WAGNER 19
SAM TRICKETT 11
INGO PAULUS 9
NICOLO CALIA 6
NICHLAS MATTSON 6

WSOPC: SAM BARNHART TOPS IN TUNICA

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

The World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Harrah's Tunica has wrapped up.

Congrats to Sam Barnhart who just won the WSOPC ring with the main event victory. Barnhart won the event in style, he was holding pocket kings on the final hand of the tournament.

This is Barnhart's first major tournament score and obviously, his first PTPR Score.

Barnhart collects a little less than 150k and 35 PTPR Points with the win.

WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond Main Event winner Kurt Jewell was the early chip leader in the event - but could only manage a 8th place finish - still, an impressive result.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Tunica
Main Event
February 13-15, 2011

Harrah's Tunica
Tunica, Mississippi, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $698,400
Entries: 480

FINAL RESULTS
SAM BARNHART 35
JESSE WHITE 18
MARY HARDEN 10
BRIAN BURNEY 8
MARCO PALACIOS 5

FOXWOODS MEGA STACKS: RAMY IBRAHIM HAS THE BIGGEST STACK OF ALL

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

The Foxwoods Mega Challenge has a winner!

390 players entered the Foxwoods on Saturday and, by late Sunday night, only Ramy Ibrahim remained standing.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge
Main Event
February 12-13, 2011

Foxwoods Resort Casino
Ledyard, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $1,200
Prizepool: $425,100
Entries: 390

POINTS AT STAKE
RAMY IBRAHIM 35
GEORGE KALAITZIS 18
MUSTAPHA MOUTAOUAKIL 10
HENRY ROBINSON 8
ERIC SIEGEL 5

PTS AT STAKE: TUNICA LATEST TOUR STOP FOR WSOP CIRCUIT

PHOTO CREDIT: WSOP.com

The World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event has arrived at Harrah's Tunica, in Mississippi.

There are 35 PTPR Points on the line for the winner of the event. 5 players will receive PTPR Points this event.

480 players have registered for the event. At the time of this post, 315 players remain.

Defending WSOCP Horseshoe Hammond Main Event champ Kurt Jewell currently holds the cihp lead.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip leaders (at the time of this post):

1 Kurt Jewell 90,000
2 Tommy Vedes 62,000
3 Stephen Kats 50,000
4 John Land 38,000
5 Jeff Gibralter 35,000
6 Shaun Johnston 35,000
7 Traci Brown 32,000
8 Bob Talbot 32,000
9 Kyle Cartwright 30,000
10 Kevin Calenzo 30,000

And here are the payouts for this event:
1st 148,612
2nd 91,881
3rd 67,122
4th 49,759
5th 37,422
6th 28,547
7th 22,084
8th 17,328
9th 13,789
10-12 11,121
13-15 9,096
16-18 7,534
19-21 6,324
22-24 5,378
25-27 4,631
28-30 4,044
31-33 3,574
34-36 3,200
37-39 2,896
40-45 2,896
46-54 2,654


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Tunica
Main Event
February 13-15, 2011

Harrah's Tunica
Tunica, Mississippi, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $698,400
Entries: 480

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5

FINAL TABLE SET AT WPT NTL' SERIES PARIS - TRICKETT BLEEDING CHIPS

PHOTO CREDIT: PARTYPOKER.fr/blog

The final table is set at the WPT National Series Paris at the Aviation Club de France. It didn't take long to go from 10 to 8 players to form the final table.

Sam Trickett, who's one of the hottest players on the circuit, got completely destroyed during this small session. Trickett, who was second heading into today's play, managed to double-up two opponentns and now sits 7th as one of the small chip stacks at the table, he'll have some work to do.

Final table play is set for Tuesday (off Monday) at the Aviation Club de France.


Here are the chip stacks heading into final table play:

Benjamin Pollak (pictured) 1,251,000
Ingo Paulus 983,000
Tobias Wagner 748,000
Natalia Nikitina 688,000
Jean-Louis Tepper 470,000
Alexandre Brivot 203,000
Sam Trickett 191,000
Nicolo Calia 176,000


And here are the payouts for the remaining eight runners:

1. €243,830
2. €174,170
3. €113,210
4. €69,670
5. €52,250
6. €43,545
7. €34,835
8. €26,120


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 9-15, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
NICHLAS MATTSON 6

PTS AT STAKE: FOXWOODS MEGA STACK CHALLENGE IN FULL SWING

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

The Foxwoods Mega Challenge is back and 35 PTPR Points are reserved for the winner of the event.

Day 1 is currently ongoing. 390 players started the event earlier today, we now have less than 200 runners left.

Recent eliminations include David Servedio and Will "The Thrill" Failla. HPT Red Rock Main Event winner Rob "veeRob" Perelman is amongst the chip leaders.

The final 40 spots will finish in the money

Final payouts are as follows:

1st - $98,139
2nd - $56,698
3rd - $36,080
4th - $28,864
5th - $22,473
6th - $18,144
7th - $15,050
8th - $12,164
9th - $9,919
10-12 - $6,803
13-15 - $5,154
16-20 - $3,917
21-30 - $3,133
31-40 - $2,803


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge
Main Event
February 12-13, 2011

Foxwoods Resort Casino
Ledyard, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $1,200
Prizepool: $425,100
Entries: 390

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 35
2nd position 18
3rd position 10
4th position 8
5th position 5

DOWN TO 10 AT WPT NATIONAL PARIS: POLLAK, TRICKETT LEAD THE WAY

PHOTO CREDIT: PARTYPOKER.fr/blog

We're down the final ten players at the WPT National Series Paris - Euro Finals of Poker Event.

Benjamin Pollak and star pro Sam Trickett (pictured, left) lead the way. Trickett has been amongst the chip leaders since Day 1 of this event. He continues his current hot streak.

Isabelle Mercier couldn't survive with her small chip stack. She finished 18th.

Day 4 is going to be a very short day as we're playing down to Monday's final table. We are one player away from PTPR Points being awarded. Action resumes in a few hours at the Aviation Club de France in Paris.


1. Benjamin Pollak 1 156 000
2. Sam Trickett 849 000
3. Natalia Nikitina 536 000
4. Jean-François Tyczynski 495 000
5. Jean-Louis Tepper 402 000
6. Ingo Paulus 392 000
7. Tobias Wagner 342 000
8. Alexandre Brivot 258 000
9. Nichlas Mattson 168 000
10. Nicolo Calia 122 000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 9-14, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
9th position 6

WPT EFOP DIAMOND EVENT: DONE WITH DAY 2

PHOTO CREDIT: PARTYPOKER.fr/blog

88 showed up for Day 2 at the WPT National Series Paris - Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Event. 31 players will return to the Aviation Club de France tomorrow for Day 3 - we will be playing down to 14 players - could be a very short day, but hey, the final 14 won't complain, spending a Saturday evening in Paris? I can think of worse things.

Sam Trickett is sitting in sixth place, about 30,000 chips off the chip lead. Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier is trying to climb back into the live tournament ranks - although she has her work cut out for her - she is one of the smallest stacks and sits in 29th position.


Nichlas Mattson (SWE) 319 500
Benjamin Pollak (FRA) 307 300
Tobias Wagner (GER) 295 000
Alexandre Brivot (FRA) 288 600
Jérôme Zerbib (FRA) 288 400
Sam Trickett (ENG) 287 000
Yacoub Dori (LEBANON) 277 000
Philip Jacobson (DEN) 231 700
Manuel Bevande (FRA) 174 400
Pierre Le Dour (FRA) 174 000
Natalia Nikitina (RUS) 167 700
Jean-François Tyczynski (FRA) 150 000
Bruno Benveniste (FRA) 147 900
Hycinthe Bonnin (FRA) 131 700
Nicolo Calia (ITA) 128 800
Ilan Boujenah (FRA) 120 700
Jean-Louis Tepper (FRA) 118 000
Moulay Loumi (FRA) 112 800
Fabien Barrau (FRA) 109 100
Jakob Carlsson (SWE) 104 200
Jeremy Nock (WALES) 92 200
Stefan Gérin (FRA) 90 000
Emmanuel Rapinier (FRA) 89 000
Viktorz Vorobjovs (LITHUANIA) 83 300
Ingo Paulus (GER) 80 500
Hervé Queiros (FRA) 67 400
Emile Petit (FRA) 53 600
Isabelle Mercier (CAN) 53 400
Yorane Kérignard (FRA) 50 200
Steven Van Zadelhof (NED) 43 000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 10-15, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
9th position 6

WPT EFOP DAY 1B COMPLETED: TRICKETT AMONG CHIP LEADERS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Day 2 is on the horizon at the WPT National Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Event at the ACF in Paris.

51 of the 97 players registered for Day 1B will join the 37 Day 1A survivors tomorrow for Day 2 play.

Among the chip leaders, Sam Trickett, who recently won the 100k buy-in High Rollers event at the Aussie Millions. Trickett will enter Day 2 with 135,400 chips.

Trickett will join the following notable survivors of Day 1B (with chip counts)...

Yacoub Dori 157 900
Pierre Neuville 98 100
Donovan Baer 65 500
Sébastien Grenotton 59 400
Isabelle Mercier 46 600
Jean-Paul Pasqualini 44 200
Dominik Nitsche 40 600
Marvin Rettenmaier 15 800
Maxim Lykov 7,300

They will join the following notable Day 1A runners: Michel Abécassis, Antoine Saout, Samuel Chartier, Hugo Lemaire and Fabrice Soulier.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 10-15, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
9th position 6

PTS AT STAKE: 188 PLAYERS LOOK TO TAKE OVER PARIS AT WPT EFOP DIAMOND MAIN...

PHOTO CREDIT: CLUBPOKER.net

188 total runners registered and paid 5000 Euros for the chance to become the World Poker Tour's European Finals of Poker Diamond Event Champion.

Although the total turnout is a little lower than anyone would have predicted, the quality of this field of players is simply second to none - most of the top European pros and many from the rest of the world have made an appearance.

While Day 1A participants included the likes of Michel Abécassis, Antoine Saout, Samuel Chartier, Hugo Lemaire and Fabrice Soulier, Day 1B also has one heck of a star-studded field...

Day 2 runners include: Tony G, Sam Trickett, Max Lykov, Pierre Neuville, Surinder Sunar, Freddy Deeb, Isabelle Mercier, Dominik Nitsche, Marvin Reittenmaier, Sam El Sayed, Yohann Aube, Sebastien Grenetton and Jean-Paul Pasqualini.


Here are the payouts for WPT EFOP Diamond Event - a 5,000€ buy-in event ...

Winner: 243,830€
Runner-Up: 174,170€
3rd: 113,210€
4th: 69,670€
5th: 52,250€
6th: 43,545€
7th: 34,835€
8th: 26,120€
9th: 17,412€
10-13: 13,065€
14-18: 8,710€


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Euro Finals of Poker
WPT Diamond Event
February 10-15, 2011

Aviation Club de France (ACF)
Paris, France

Buy-in: $6,818
Prizepool: $1,187.493
Entries: 188

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 101
2nd position 61
3rd position 36
4th position 26
5th position 19
6th position 11
7th position 9
8th position 6
9th position 6

WPT EFOP DIAMOND AT ACF IS UNDER WAY - BIG NAMES ON THE BOARD!

PHOTO CREDIT: PARTYPOKER.com/blog

91 players entered Day 1A of the WPT Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Event at the beautiful Aviation Club of France in Paris.

We're expecting another hundred-some players for Day 1B tomorrow but one thing is for sure, we probably won't have the same number of big-name players in the field.

Only 37 players have survived with some big boys still in the field: Guillaume Darcourt, Michel Abécassis, Ilan Boujenah, Antoine Saout, Emile Petit, Samuel Chartier, Hugo Lemaire and Fabrice Soulier are still alive.


Here are the 37 players still alive, and their chip counts ...

Guillaume Darcourt 220 100
Michel Abécassis 121 900
Tobias Wagner 120 000
Jean-Louis Tepper 118 200
Bruno Benveniste 110 700
Ilan Boujenah 109 900
Marc Inizan 107 800
Jérôme Zerbib 101 900
Lawrence Jacobs 96 600
Jonathan Fhal 84 300
Queiros Da Silva 82 200
Kirill Kruglov 76 400
Antoine Saout 73 900
Franck Crudo 70 200
Emile Petit 60 800
Jimmy Ostensson 60 500
Jani Vilmunen 51 000
Jens Kyllonen 49 300
Alexandre Brivot 49 000
Hycinthe Bonnin 48 600
Samuel Chartier 47 700
Yorane Kérignard 46 000
Sébastien Belée 42 800
Hugo Lemaire 34 100
Manuel Bevand 33 500
Christophe Marot 33 500
Viktor Vorobiev 31 100
Franck Kalfon 29 500
Philip Jacobsen 28 000
Steven Van Zadelhoff 27 400
Daniel Bergmann 23 000
Samy Tnina 18 900
Stephan Gérin 18 000
Fabrice Soulier 17 400
Pedro Mendes 15 700
Khazret Nebezhev 13 600
Craig MacCorkell 11 600

PTPR RECAP: DUHAMEL EPT HIGH ROLLERS WIN FINALLY UP PLUS EURO FINALS GOLD CHAMP. RESULT

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Results have finally been made available for last month's EPT Deauville 10,000 EURO High Rollers event - which was won by WSOP Champ Jonathan Duhamel.

Duhamel outlasted 57 high rollers in order to secure his first tournament win since winning the World Series of Poker Main Event back in November.

Other notables scoring PTPR Points in the tournament included: Jean Thorel (2nd PTPR Score of the season), Michele Dattani, Andrey Zaichenko and Alexander Ivarsson.


Staying in France, the Euro Finals of Poker are in full swing at the Aviation Club de France in Paris. The WPT Main Event started today but the Gold Championship was on over the weekend - Julien Muel picked up the win.

Ilan Boujenah and Petre Bogdman Ionescu were other notables at the final table.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour Deauville
10K Euro High Rollers Event
January 30-31, 2011

Casino Barriere de Deauville
Deauville, France

Buy-in: $13,705
Prizepool: $757,829
Entries: 58

FINAL RESULTS
JONATHAN DUHAMEL 100
ALAIN CONFINO 60
KRISITANOS ANDRULIS 35
JEAN THOREL 25
MICHELE DATTANI 18
ANDREY ZAICHENKO 10
ALEXANDER IVARSSON 8
RALF BUSSMAN 5


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
Euro Finals of Poker
Gold Championship
February 5-7, 2011

Aviation Club de France
Paris, France

Buy-in: $2,740
Prizepool: $372,649
Entries: 146

FINAL RESULTS
JULIEN MUEL 75
ILAN BOUJENAH 40
DINO MARSANI 25
PIERRE MILAN 15
CHRIST FALCK 10
JEAN NOEL THOREL 8
PETRE BOGDMAN IONESCU 5
FABIEN PERROT 5
TAL SARDAL 5

BREAKING: WSOP EUROPE MOVES TO CANNES

PHOTO CREDIT: LIVEACTIONPOKER.com

BarrierePoker.net has just issued a press release announcing that two of it's member casinos, le Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette et l’hôtel Majestic Barrière, will play host to the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe.

BarrièrePoker.net will serve as official sponsor for the event.


Pokernews.com reports that the Barrière group and the WSOP have signed a three-year agreement assuring that France will host the WSOPE until 2013.

WORKING OVERTIME: ISAIA OUTLASTS SZABOLCS TO WIN WPT VENICE

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

It had the makings of one of fastest WPT Final Tables of all-time - that is until we got to heads up play.

Things were going quickly but, once EPT London Main Event winner David Vamplew was eliminated in third place, play between Full Tilt pro Alessio Isaia and Szabolcs Mayer grinded to halt (or at least, what felt like a halt).

They battled for hours on end but, in the end, it's the FTP pro Isaia that collects his first WPT win.

Isaia collects €380,000 and 130 PTPR Points for the win, he now sits fourth on the PTPR Leaderboard.

Maxim Lykov scored for the third time this PTPR season. He joins Shaun Deeb as the only two playres with three PTPR Scores in 2011.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Venice
WPT Venice Main Event
February 3-8, 2011

Casino di Venezia
Venice, Italy

Buy-in: $4,481
Prizepool: $2,066,933
Entries: 523

POINTS AT STAKE
ALESSIO ISAIA 130
SZABOLCS MAYER 80
DAVID VAMPLEW 50
EMMANUEL RODRIGUES 40
ADRIEN GARRIGUES 35
LUCA FIORINI 30
MAXIM LYKOV 30
RENATO PAOLINI 15
PAOLO DELLA PENNA 15
ANDREA FERRARI 15
NICOLAS CARDYN 15
ALESSANDRO SPERANZA 13
RICCARDO MAZZITELLI 13
JOHN TABATABAI 13
CHRISTIAN FABRI 13
JOAKIM JAGERVING 10
GIUSEPPE CUCCHIARA 10
MICHAL POLCHLOPEK 10

MARATHON MAN: ESCOBAR SURVIVES MARATHON SESSION, WINS ESTRELLAS MADRID

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Estrallas Poker Tour hosted it's first event of the season in Madrid over the weekend ... the main event was supposed to end on Sunday but actually went way into Monday ... ending around 8am local time - that's when Ricardo Escobar finally ended the drama.

Of note, poker reporter Remko Rinkema finished fourth in this event, congratulations go out to the Dutch journalist.

Here are the payouts for the final table participants:

Ricardo Escobar €103,503
Jose Luis Rodríguez €69,600
Phillip Schimmerl €39,150
Remko Rinkema €26,100
Robert James Snell €21,750
Valeriano Ruiz €17,400
Xavier Solà €13,050
Mathew Rainford €8,700


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Pokerstars Estrellas Poker Tour Madrid
Main Event
February 5-7, 2011

Gran Casino Madrid
Madrid, Spain

Buy-in: $1,365
Prizepool: $681,562
Entries: 498

POINTS AT STAKE
RICARDO ESCOBAR 35
JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ 18
PHILIP SCHIMMERL 10
REMKO RINKEMA 8
ROBERT JAMES SNELL 5

DOWN TO FINAL 18 PLAYERS AT WPT VENICE

PHOTO CREDIT: PARTYPOKER.com/blog

523 started the journey at WPT Venice - and only 18 players remain after the completion of Day 3 at Casino di Venezia.

We lost two Day 2 chip leaders, and big threats - Dario Minieri and Jose Nacho Barbero - during Day 3 action.

Italian Alessio Isaia enters Day 4 as the chip leader. Maxim Lykov (who already has two PTPR Scores this season - both at the PCA) is a close second. EPT London Main Event winner David Vamplew sits fifth while pro John Tabatabai is seventh in chips.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip leaders...

1.ISAIA ALESSIO 1.900.000
2.LYKOV MAXIM 1.534.500
3.MAYER SZABOLCS 1.281.000
4.FERRARI ANDREA 1.235.500
5.VAMPLEW DAVID 1.178.500
6.RODRIGUES EMMANUEL 1.167.500
7.TABATABAI JOHN 1.143.000
8.SPERANZA ALESSANDRO 991.000
9.GARRIGUES ADRIEN 950.500
10.FABRI CHRISTIAN 861.000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Venice
WPT Venice Main Event
February 3-8, 2011

Casino di Venezia
Venice, Italy

Buy-in: $4,481
Prizepool: $2,066,933
Entries: 523

POINTS AT STAKE
1st place 130
2nd place 80
3rd place 50
4th place 40
5th place 35
6th place 30
7th place 30
8th place 15
9th place 15
10th place 15
11th place 15
12th place 13
13th place 13
14th place 13
15th place 13
16th place 10
17th place 10
18th place 10

VOEGELE CLINCHES ANZPT ADELAIDE

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Octavian Voegele has captured the ANZPT Adelaide crown. Pokerstars pro Jesse McKenzie placed second. Full results below...

Final Table Results:
1st Octavian Voegele (Austria) - $148,900
2nd Jesse McKenzie (Australia) - $99,260
3rd Ian Parnell (Australia) - $55,150
4th Andrew Dales (Australia) - $44,670
5th Charles Caris (Australia) - $35,850
6th John Apostolidis (Australia) - $27,570
7th Jeff Rossiter (Australia) - $19,300
8th Danny Chevalier (Australia) - $14,060
9th Oliver Grujic (Australia) - $11,040


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Pokerstars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Adelaide
ANZPT Main Event
February 2-6, 2011

Adelaide Casino
Adelaide, SA, Australia

Buy-in: $2,400
Prizepool: $607,200
Entries: 253

POINTS AT STAKE
OCTAVIAN VOEGELE 35
JESSE MCKENZIE 18
IAN PARNELL 10
ANDREW DALES 8
CHARLES CARIS 5

PTPR JANUARY PLAYER OF THE MONTH: PCA WINNER GALEN HALL TOPS IN JANUARY

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Tons of results from January but it was one of the first winners of the month, PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall (picutred), who captures Player of the Month honors.


43 TOTAL TOURNAMENTS QUALIFIED FOR PTPR POINTS
Grand Slams - 0
Premier - 4
Tier 3 - 15
Prelim - 10
Challenger - 14


JANUARY TOP 10

Player of the Month:
Galen Hall 140 PTPR Points, 1 PTPR Score

GALEN HALL 140
LUCIEN COEHN 133
DAVID GORR 132
ALEXANDER KUZMIN 127
CORY NISTLER 120
SHAUN DEEB 115
MARTIN DREWE 110
HUY NGUYEN 108
VADIM SHLEZ 107
EROS NASTASI 104

347 different players scored PTPR Points in January. Only Shaun Deeb scored three times this month.

SHAUN DEEB 3
LEONARDO FERNANDEZ 2
MARVIN RETTENMAIER 2
ERIK SEIDEL 2
KEVIN VANNICOLA 2
DARREN ELIAS 2
MAXIM LYKOV 2
SCOTT BAUMSTEIN 2
DERMOT BLAIN 2
RYAN HUGHES 2
WILLIAM PILOSSOPH 2

PTS AT STAKE: 130 PTPR POINTS TO THE WINNER OF WPT VENICE

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

523 players hope that they will become the next WPT Champion. The World Poker Tour's current destination is Italy - WPT Venice at Casino di Venezia.

We've completed both Day 1's and Day 2 is now underway. 219 players started Day 2 - 53 of those runners have already been felted.

Here are the top 10 chip leaders heading into Day 2...

1.GAGLIARDI GIUSEPPE 211.000
2.JAGERVING JOAKIM MICHEL 207.000
3.STENBERG MAX PHILIP 199.900
4.LYKOV MAXIM 185.800
5.MAYER SZABOLCS SANDOR 179.200
6.DI CASTRO ARIEL 175.500
7.MARCUCCI GIANLUCA 170.000
8.SERENELLI MARINO 164.000
9.LA GUARDIA GIUSEPPE 161.800
10.SHELLEY SCOTT MARTIN 158.000


Here are the payouts for the Top 10 Finishers...

1. €380,000
2. €228,990
3. €149,910
4. €101,960
5. €73,180
6. €57,830
7. €43,370
8. €31,960
9. €22,820
10. €15,210


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Venice
WPT Venice Main Event
February 3-8, 2011

Casino di Venezia
Venice, Italy

Buy-in: $4,481
Prizepool: $2,066,933
Entries: 523

POINTS AT STAKE
1st place 130
2nd place 80
3rd place 50
4th place 40
5th place 35
6th place 30
7th place 30
8th place 15
9th place 15
10th place 15
11th place 15
12th place 13
13th place 13
14th place 13
15th place 13
16th place 10
17th place 10
18th place 10

SHLEZ WINS BORGATA WINTER OPEN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

It took over 4 hours to get down from 4 to 3 players but, at that point, it was smooth sailing for 6th year pro Vadim Shlez of Brooklyn, New York. The win earns Shlez his first major title as a professional.

Shlez scores 107 PTPR Points with the win.


$533,210 Vadim Shlez
$310,273 LJ Sande
$189,611 Trevor Savage
$156,286 Bobby Suer
$126,407 Gil Sacks
$103,425 Patrick Carney
$ 82,740 Steve Ryan
$ 63,204 Osagyefo Greene
$ 43,669 Allan Vrooman



PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Winter Open
Main Event
January 30-4, 2011

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Buy-in: $3,500
Prizepool: $2,369,400
Entries: 718

FINAL RESULTS
VADIM SHLEZ 107
LJ SANDE 67
TREVOR SAVAGE 42
BOBBY SUER 32
GIL SACKS 25
PATRICK CARNEY 17
STEVE RYAN 15
OSAGYEFO GREENE 12
ALLAN VROOMAN 12

PTS AT STAKE: MAIN EVENTS AT BORGATA, ANZPT ADELAIDE

PHOTO CREDIT: THEBORGATA.com

We've got tournament action at Borgata (two million at stake!) and in Australia at ANZPT Adelaide.


The Borgata Winter Open Main Event carries a guaranteed 2 million dollar prize pool and we're down to the final table of ten players. Bobby Suer and Trevor Savage, who both scored PTPR Points in 2010, are the two most notable players remaining in the tournament...

Seat 6 - Vadim Shlez - 4.406 million
Seat 10 - LJ Sande - 3.723 million
Seat 2 - Trevor Savage - 2.913 million
Seat 9 - Bobby Suer - 2.680 million
Seat 5 - Osafyefo Greene - 2.281 million
Seat 8 - Gil Sacks - 1.595 million
Seat 1 - Steve Ryan - 1.258 million
Seat 7 - Pat Carney - 1.141 million
Seat 4 - Tom Hu - 968k
Seat 3 - Allan Vrooman - 834k

And here is what these ten are playing for...

1 $533,210
2 $310,273
3 $189,611
4 $156,286
5 $126,407
6 $103,425
7 $ 82,740
8 $ 63,204
9 $ 43,669
10 $ 28,729


Meanwhile, the ANZPT Adelaide Main Event is taking place down under. We've completed both Day 1's and Day is about to begin. Pokerstars pros Jesse McKenzie and Paul Khoury are amongst the early chip leaders.

Here is what we're playing for ...

1st $148,900
2nd $99,260
3rd $55,150
4th $44,670
5th $35,850
6th $27,570
7th $19,300
8th $14,060
9th $11,040
10-13 $7,720
14-18 $5,520
19-27 $4,140


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Winter Open
Main Event
January 30-4, 2011

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Buy-in: $3,500
Prizepool: $2,369,400
Entries: 718

POINTS AT STAKE
1st place 107
2nd place 67
3rd place 42
4th place 32
5th place 25
6th place 17
7th place 15
8th place 12
9th place 12


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Pokerstars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Adelaide
ANZPT Main Event
February 2-6, 2011

Adelaide Casino
Adelaide, SA, Australia

Buy-in: $2,400
Prizepool: $607,200
Entries: 253

POINTS AT STAKE
1st place 35
2nd place 18
3rd place 10
4th place 8
5th place 5

PTPR RECAP: CHAD BROWN RUNNER-UP AT CHAD BROWN TOURNAMENT!

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Chad Brown finished second at Chad Brown's tournament! That's right, you read correctly, Chad Brown was almost crowned champion of his own event!

In the end, Corey Burbick's hand was raised in victory at the Chad Brown Championship in Orange Park, Florida.

Shaun Deeb is the first player to earn three PTPR Scores this season, Deeb's points total is now over 100. Dermot Blair and John O'Shea also scored in the event.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Chad Brown Poker Championship
No Limit Hold'em Champinoship Event
January 28-1, 2011

Orange Park Kennel Club
Orange Park, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $324,100
Entries: 70

FINAL RESULTS
BURBICK COREY 100
BROWN CHAD 60
SLATTERY JAMES 35
BLAIN DERMOT 25
DEEB SHAUN 18
O'SHEA JOHN 10
BERGERON DENIS 8
WINTER SEAN 5
ULREY ROBBIN 5

PTPR RECAP: RECENT RESULTS INCLUDE WSOP CIRCUIT CHAMP MATT WAXMAN'S ISLE CLASSIC WIN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

WSOP Circuit Atlantic City champ Matthew Waxman is back at it! A few months after his AC win, Waxman has won the Isle Classic at the Isle Casino in Florida, a PTPR Challenger Event.

We also have PTPR Challenger event results from the Borgata Winter Open and GUKPT Manchester.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
2011 Isle Classic
No Limit Hold'em Event 6
January 21-22, 2011

Isle Casino
Pompano Beach, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $2,200
Prizepool: $338,000
Entries: 169

FINAL RESULTS
WAXMAN MATTHEW 35
GURIAN PHILLIP 18
ALLEN SAMI 10
FUENTES CESAR 8
SHIRAAZ ALI 5


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Borgata Winter Open
Event 6 No Limit Hold'em
January 22-23, 2011

Borgata Casino Resort & Spa
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Buy-in: $1,090
Prizepool: $336,000
Entries: 336

FINAL RESULTS
LESSIN JONATHAN 35
DEMARTINO MICHAEL 18
YOUNG JASON 10
FISCHER DANIEL 8
SEARS NIKOLAI 5


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Borgata Winter Open
Event 18 No Limit Hold'em
January 28-29, 2011

Borgata Casino Resort & Spa
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Buy-in: $2,000
Prizepool: $418,100
Entries: 226

FINAL RESULTS
CAI DANIEL 35
PHAM EDWARD 18
SUMMERS DENNIS 10
TYSON MARK 8
BUONANO DEREK 5


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Borgata Winter Open
Event 20 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max
January 29, 2011

Borgata Casino Resort & Spa
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Buy-in: $1,090
Prizepool: $291,000
Entries: 291

FINAL RESULTS
ERIQUEZZO RYAN 35
LAKATOSH LAWRENCE 18
PILOSSOPH WILLIAM 10
ANTONIUS NASHAAT 8
SEITZ MARCUS 5


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
GUKPT Manchester Leg 1
No Limit Hold'em Main Event
January 27-29, 2011

G Casino Bury
Manchester, UK

Buy-in: $1,733
Prizepool: $335,294
Entries: 207

FINAL RESULTS
MCADAMS PETER 35
CHARLTON DANIEL 18
MCLEAN ALLAN 10
BROWN DANNY 8
CAWLEY SIMON 5

PTPR RECAP: MORE RESULTS FROM EPT DEAUVILLE

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

While we wait for official Jonathan Duhamel High Roller results to be released, we have three more tournament results from EPT Deauville.

Dmitry Vitkind (pictured), Event 26 winner, has already surpassed his 2010 PTPR Points total - he accumulated 74 PTPR Points last season, with two scores. He earned 75 PTPR Points with his first score of the 2011 season.

After scoring in a six-max event at the PCA earlier this month, Marvin Rettenmaier scored for the second time in the same event 26. Rettenmaier now has 65 PTPR Points this season.


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour Deauville
Event 17 - No Limit Hold'em
January 27-28, 2011

Casino Barriere
Deauville, France

Buy-in: $2,280
Prizepool: $519,523
Entries: 261

FINAL RESULTS
GRAFFOULLIERE FABIENNE 75
OVERBY ANDREW 40
ANSELINE ALAIN 25
KARKKAINEN ANTTI 15
BELIN JEAN 10
THOREL JEAN 8
ROZENBERG LIONEL 5
LARSEN RASMUS 5
WILKERSON DYLAN 5


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour Deauville
Event 22 - No Limit Hold'em
January 28-29, 2011

Casino Barriere
Deauville, France

Buy-in: $3,040
Prizepool: $748,432
Entries: 282

FINAL RESULTS
COLLET RONAN 75
ROY ALAIN 40
BERREBI JOSEPH 25
TOFT CASPER 15
GRASU ALIN-GABRIEL 10
GUILLAUD NAZIM 8
BRAMI JEAN 5
AMIEL ALEXANDRE 5
LAKHITOV MIKHAIL 5


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour Deauville
Event 26 - No Limit Hold'em
January 29-30, 2011

Casino Barriere
Deauville, France

Buy-in: $1,520
Prizepool: $290,614
Entries: 219

FINAL RESULTS
VITKIND DIMITRY 75
RETTENMAIER MARVIN 40
LOESER MANIG 25
RICARD ROMAIN 15
ESQUEVIN ARNAUD 10
COHEN ROBERT 8
ZEITOUN JEAN 5
ARMANAVICIUS LIUTAURAS 5
HOURI YONI 5