WPT SEMINOLE HARD ROCK: BLAIR HINKLE LEADS THE FINAL 18 ...

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Blair Hinkle has taken control of WPT Seminole Hard Rock.

While Hinkle (pictured, right) entered Saturday's play as a contender, he did more than just contend, the WSOP bracelet holder took over mid-way through today's play. Hinkle will go into Sunday's play with 1.7M in chips, a 400k chip lead over Day 3 chip leader Taylor Von Kriegenbergh - who continued his solid play during Day 4 play.

Abbey Daniels sits 4th in chips and she also had a very good day, eliminating Day 2 chip leader Todd Terry alogn the way.

Sadly, Mike Sexton wasn't able to make it to another WPT final table - still, a deep run and another impressive performance by the Hall of Famer.

Here is a run-down of the final two tables:

Seat 1: Abbey Daniels – 1,038,000 (87 BBs)
Seat 2: Nick Avena – 428,000 (36 BBs)
Seat 3: Noah Schwartz – 152,000 (13 BBs)
Seat 4: Allen Bari – 866,000 (72 BBs)
Seat 5: Bruce Snell – 1,235,000 (103 BBs)
Seat 6: James Mackey – 958,000 (80 BBs)
Seat 7: Ronny Beda – 274,000 (23 BBs)
Seat 8: Justin Zaki – 678,000 (57 BBs)
Seat 9: Zuhdi Mansour – 365,000 (31 BBs)

Seat 1: Derek Buonano – 233,000 (19 BBs)
Seat 2: John Dobson -156,000 (13 BBs)
Seat 3: Kazu Oshima – 480,000 (40 BBs)
Seat 4: Blair Hinkle – 1,783,000 (149 BBs)
Seat 5: Taylor Von Kriegenbergh – 1,341,000 (112 BBs)
Seat 6: Mike Shklover – 869,000 (72 BBs)
Seat 7: Tommy Vedes – 907,000 (76 BBs)
Seat 8: Charles Wiper – 828,000 (69 BBs)
Seat 9: Curt Kohlberg – 403,000 (34 BBs)

Other than Terry and Sexton, here are other notables that were eliminated during Day 4 play: Darren Elias, Timothy Finne, Sam Stein, Jesse Martin, Mike Beasley and Jonathan Aguiar.

The final 18 players will meet up at high Noon - Florida time - on Sunday. We're playing down to the WPT Final Table.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown
WPT Hard Rock NLH Main Event
April 27-May 2, 2011

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $3,897,600
Entries: 406

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

WSOPC CAESARS: SHORT AND SWEET - JOHNSON RIPS THROUGH FT FIELD

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

You get the feeling that Chris Johnson (pictured) had somewhere to go - i'm thinking he wanted to make sure he didn't miss any of the St. Pierre v Shields card or maybe the Canucks v Preds Game 2 action was on his mind.

Johnson destroyed the competition today at the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Caesars Palace in Vegas - he took all the chips in less than three hours - very, very impressive.

The final table did have a lot of promise - especially with blackjack ace and outspoken UB pro "Hollywood" Dave Stann was in on the action. But it didn't take long for Stan to fall victim to the Chris Johnson train and become the low stack at the table.

Congratulations to Chris Johnson on his first - yet VERY impressive - PTPR Score of the season.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Caesers Las Vegas
WSOPC Ceasars Main Event
April 28-30, 2011

Caesers Palace
Las Vegas, Nevard, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $714,240
Entries: 496

Defending Champion: Andrew Lichtenberger

FINAL RESULTS
CHRIS JOHNSON 35
BRIAN ENGLAND 18
JON SEAMAN 10
JOHN KULISH 8
ADAM HUI 5

EPT SAN REMO: LYKOV LOOKING FOR A BETTER RESULT THIS TIME AROUND

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We have 60 players remaining at EPT Ssan Remo. Among them is Maxim Lykov, who sits in third place. Lykov is having a pretty good season so far in 2011 - he has three PTPR Scores (in two Prelims at the PCA - including a strong performance at the 25K High Rollers - and a score at the WPT Venice Main) but, although those three results were all Top 10 finishes, he has yet to capture a title - in fact, his last major title came at EPT Kiev in August of 2009.

Italian Roberto Spada will carry the chip lead into Day 4. French pro Ludovic Lacay hit a few big pots during Day 3 action, he sits fifth in chips.

Fabrice Soulier and 2009 WSOP Champ Joe Cada are still in the hunt, both have Top 15 chip stacks.

Notable players still alive after Day 3:
Roberto Spada 1441000 (chip leader)
Nicolas Yunis 1416000
Max Lykov 1416000
Ludovic Lacay 962000
Luigi Pignataro 885000
Fabrice Soulier 710000
Joe Cada 701000
Georgios Manousos 688000 (Day 2 chip leader)
Andrew Teng 631000
Max Heinzelmann 614000
Xuan Liu 350000
David Vamplew 343000
Richard Toth 185000
Stefan Huber 154000

Here are the big names who saw their EPT title hopes end during today's play:
Kevin Vandersmissen, Alain Roy, Carter Phillips, Casey Kastle, Andras Nemeth, Ted Forrest, Victor Ramdin, Morten Mortensen, Diego Brunelli, Ramzi Jelassi, Roberto Romanello, John Eames, Day 1 chip leader Ruben Visser, Vanessa Selbst, Govert Metaal and defending EPT Grand Final Nicolas Chouity.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
EPT San Remo NLH Main Event
April 27-May 3, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $7,650
Prizepool: $7,094,259
Entries: 987

Defending Champion: Liv Boeree

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 134
2nd position 84
3rd position 54
4th position 44
5th position 39
6-7th position 34
8-11th position 19
12-15th position 17
16-18th position 14

PTS AT STAKE: CAESERS FINAL TABLE ABOUT TO GO "HOLLYWOOD"

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

UPDATE!!! : HOLLYWOOD DAVE STANN HAS JUST BEEN ELIMINATED AT WSOPC CAESERS LAS VEGAS

Final table play has just begun at the WSOP Circuit Caesers Palace Final Table in Vegas.

Two players have already been eliminated, we are down to 8 players.

UB pro and succesful blackjack player - oh, did we mention he's outspoken too? - "Hollywood" Dave Stann was still in the mix when the final ten players were making their way to the squared circle about an hour ago. Staan is the small stack.

Chris Johnson holds a monster chip lead, over three times the amount of chips (4.5M) than his second place opponent.


Here are the seating assignments and chip stacks as final table play began:
Seat 1: James Martini (922,000)
Seat 2: Chris Johnson (1,600,000)
Seat 3: Alex Santiago (1,478,000)
Seat 4: Jon Seaman (617,000)
Seat 5: John Kulish (1,168,000)
Seat 6: Brian England (1,390,000)
Seat 7: Dave Stann (510,000)
Seat 8: Matthew Leecy (470,000) - ELIMINATED 8TH
Seat 9: Derrick Kuenzel (486,000) - ELIMINATED 9TH
Seat 10: Adam Hui (1,393,000)

Notables who weren't able to make it to final table play include: Steve Bilirakis, David Pham, J.J. Liu, Chad Brown, David Williams, Erica Schoenberg, David Levi, Jimmy Fricke and Cody Slaubaugh.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Caesers Las Vegas
WSOPC Ceasars Main Event
April 28-30, 2011

Caesers Palace
Las Vegas, Nevard, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $714,240
Entries: 496

Defending Champion: Andrew Lichtenberger

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

WPT HARD ROCK: MILLION DOLLAR BABY - DANIELS HOLDS CHIP LEAD

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

We're just shy of the money at WPT Hard Rock - and Abbey Daniels is the only millionaire left - in chips, of course.

Daniels collected chips from the start of the day and continued throughout, picking up the chip lead with a couple of hours left during Day 3 - and she never looked back.

Taylor Von Kriegenbergh sits second in chips at 820k. Then it gets interesting as the next in line holds 545k in chips. Tommy Vedes sits fifth with 446k.

Day 2 chip leader Todd Terry is still in the Top 10, although he wasn't able to get things going on Friday while Day 1 chip leader Randy Dorfman was eliminated during Day 3 play.

Here are the notable chip stacks remaining (please note that stacks are unofficial at the moment - we know for a fact that Aguiar sits with +160k):

Abbey Daniels 1,000,000
Taylor Von Kriegenbergh 820,000
Tommy Vedes 446,500
Todd Terry 390,000
Noah Schwartz 361,500
Timothy Finne 261,500
Darren Elias 260,500
Allen Bari 230,000
Blair Hinkle 228,500
Mike Sexton 192,000
Mike Beasley 180,000
James Mackey 170,000
Sam Stein 112,000
Matt Brady 100,000
Jonathan Aguiar 75,000

Day 3 eliminations included: Matt Waxman, Lauren Kling, Joe Serock, Maria Ho, Steven Levy, Thayer Rasmussen, Vivek Rajkumar, Tom Marchese, Bryn Kenney, Chino Rheem, Dan O'Brien, Chris Klodnicki, Annette Obrestad, Adam Levy, Jacobo Fernandez, Jason Koon, James Carroll and David "Bakes" Baker.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown
WPT Hard Rock NLH Main Event
April 27-May 2, 2011

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $3,897,600
Entries: 406

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

EPT SAN REMO: FORMER WSOP CHAMP CADA IN THE HUNT...

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Big name alert at EPT San Remo! The leaderboard reads as a who's who of poker.

We start with a former WSOP Main Event Champ. It's been quite a while since we've seen the name Joe Cada (pictured) in contention at a major event, yet, there he is, tenth in chips after Day 2.

Third place Kevin Vandersmissen is looking for his third PTPR Score of the season, while Carter Phillips, Fabrice Soulie and Xuan Liu are all in the Top 10.

Vanessa Selbst had a tough go of it near the end of the night. She lost a boatload of chips on one of the last hands of the night.

Here are all the big names still alive (amongst the remaining 164) at EPT San Remo:

Georgios Manousos 573900 (chip leader)
Kevin Vandersmissen 534300
Carter Phillips 496400
Nicolas Yunis 454400
Fabrice Soulier 441100
Xuan Liu 430700
Joe Cada 421700
Max Heinzelmann 417500
Stefan Huber 313600
Victor Ramdin 302600
Ted Forrest 281100
Max Lykov 267800
Valerio Mattera 264100
John Eames 262900
Antonio Russo 261500
Nicolas Chouity 260100
Morten Mortensen 254200
Ludovic Lacay 253800
David Vamplew 219100
Andras Nemeth 192700
Andrew Teng 184000
Andrey Zaichenko 166900
Diego Brunelli 141500
Richard Toth 137900
Ramzi Jelassi 131000
Govert Metaal 125000
Alain Roy 122300
Luigi Pignataro 118900
Ruben Visser 114000 (Day 1 chip leader)
Roberto Romanello 105500
Mikael Rotman 102700
Vanessa Selbst 92000

It wasn't all roses on Friday, here are notable Day 2 eliminations: Sebastian Ruthenberg, Salvatore Bonavena, Pieter de Korver, Alex Gomes, Barry Greenstein and Antoine Saout.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
EPT San Remo NLH Main Event
April 27-May 3, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $7,650
Prizepool: $7,094,259
Entries: 987

Defending Champion: Liv Boeree

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 134
2nd position 84
3rd position 54
4th position 44
5th position 39
6-7th position 34
8-11th position 19
12-15th position 17
16-18th position 14

WPT HARD ROCK: TERRY KEEPS MOMENTUM, ANNETTE TRENDING

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Day 2 is in the books at WPT Hard Rock! We officialy had 433 players registered for the event (late registration was open until the start of Day 2) - and 147 of them will be back on Friday for Day 3 play.

Todd Terry was Top 5 in chips after Day 1 - he carried that momentum into Day 2 and now will be your official chip leader when Day 3 action starts on Friday.

Annette Obrestad had quite a day as well. She started off the day low in chips but was up to her old tricks and finished the day Top 10 in chips - look for her to try and take control of this tournament on Friday - she has yet to capture a WPT title.

Noah Schwartz (pictured) is representing his home State - he is Top 15 in chips heading into Day 3 play. Oh, and is that Mike Sexton with chips at a WPT Main Event - AGAIN? Sure is.

Here are some of the notable chip counts heading into Friday's play:
Todd Terry 296,400
Mike Beasley 234,000
Annette Obrestad 213,500
Jason Koon 207,700
James Mackey 205,100
James Carroll 170,000
Randy Dorfman 164,000
Tommy Vedes 155,000
Sam Stein 150,000
Noah Schwartz 150,000
Mike Sexton 140,000
Greg Dyer 135,000
Darren Elias 130,000
Matt Brady 130,000
Adam Levy 112,000
Allen Bari 105,000
David Baker 105,000
Matt Waxman 100,000

Notable Day 2 eliminations included: Randal Flowers, Matt Berkey, Kathy Liebert, Joe Tehan, Matt Affleck, Rene Angelil, Tony Dunst, Tony Cousineau, William Reynolds, Will Failla, Shannon Shorr, PTPR #1 Ranked Player Ali Eslami, Battles at the Beach Champ Anthony Spienlla, Andrew Lichtenberger, Allen Kessler, Adam Katz, Amnon Filippi, Amit Makhija, Chris Bell, John Dolan, Jordan Morgan, Jonathan Little, Harrison Gimbel, Dan Heimiller and Gregory Brooks.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown
WPT Hard Rock NLH Main Event
April 27-May 2, 2011

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $3,897,600
Entries: 406

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

PTS AT STAKE: MONSTER NUMBERS AS LIV BOEREE DEFENDS EPT SAN REMO TITLE

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Now that's what I call a turnout! We were 13 players short of 1,000 runners when Day 1B started at EPT San Remo earlier today - 1,000 people putting up over 7,500 US! Very, very impressive, well done San Remo!

986 players were chasing player 987, defending champion Liv Boeree. That's right, it's at this time last year that Liv jumped to poker super stardom. Unfortunately, Liv's reign was short-lived - she was eliminated from tournament play shortly after the dinner break.

Other notable eliminations from Day 1B included: Kevin MacPhee, Saundra Naujoks, PTPR #9 Ranked Player Michael Tureniec, WSOP defeding Champ Jonathan Duhamel, elkY Grospellier and EPT Berlin Champ Ben Wilinofsky.

Meanwhile, the Vanessa Selbst watch is on. Hot off her NAPT Mohegan Sun repeat, Selbst will enter Day 2 in the top 20 chip stacks.

Defending EPT Grand Final Champion Nicolas Chouity sits second in chips after Day 1 play while Victor Ramdin made quite the amazing comeback from nearly no chips to a end-of-day Top 10 chip stack.

Here are the notable chip stacks heading into Day 2 play:

Ruben Visser 251500 (chip leader)
Nicolas Chouity 233400
Victor Ramdin 190500
David Vamplew 166700
Alain Roy 165300
Vanessa Selbst 161500
Carter Phillips 145800
Ramzi Jelassi 143400
Andras Nemeth 142100
Quoc Trung Nguyen 140200
Joe Cada 135500
Martin Hruby Team PokerStars Pro 131400
Roberto Romanello 119000
Stefan Huber 116700
Sergio Castelluccio 115400
Mayu Roca Uribe 114700

An incredible 144 players will get paid this week:
1 €930,000
2 €600,000
3 €360,000
4 €290,000
5 €220,000
6 €170,000
7 €125,000
8 €81,950
9-10 €50,000
11-12 €40,000
13-14 €35,000
15-16 €30,000
17-24 €25,000
25-32 €22,500
33-40 €20,000
41-48 €17,500
49-64 €15,000
65-80 €13,000
81-96 €11,000
97-120 €9,000
121-144 €7,500


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
EPT San Remo NLH Main Event
April 27-May 3, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $7,650
Prizepool: $7,094,259
Entries: 987

Defending Champion: Liv Boeree

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 134
2nd position 84
3rd position 54
4th position 44
5th position 39
6-7th position 34
8-11th position 19
12-15th position 17
16-18th position 14

BORGATA SPRING: CRANE WINS THE BORGATA SPRING OPEN

PHOTO/SOURCE: BORGATASPRINGPOKER2011 . blogspot . com

Russell Crane has won the Borgata Spring Open. He defeated Adam Cook heads up. Poker pro Alex Bolotin finished third in the event while former WPT winner Matt Matros was 9th.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Spring Poker Open
NLH Championship
April 24-29, 2011

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

Buy-in: $2,700
Prizepool: $1,117,500
Entries: 447

FINAL RESULTS
RUSSELL CRANE 104
ADAM COOK 64
ALEX BOLOTIN 39
DAVID STEFANSKI 29
JASON DEUTSCH 22
ADAM LEVITAN 14
BART DOWLING 12
SALAH SIRAJ 9
MATT MATROS 9

PTS AT STAKE: LAPC PRELIM WINNER DORFMAN LEADS AT WPT HARD ROCK

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Do you wanna get rocked? You're at the right place!

The World Poker Tour has invaded the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in what is the WPT's first ever non-regional tour stop ever in the State of Florida.

Florida legislation changed last year and this has allowed for tours like the WPT to set-up shop in FLA.

We already have over 400 players signed up for the event (registration closes at the start of Thursday's Day 2). We've already lost over 100 players following the end of Day 1 play.

The unofficial chip leader is LAPC Prelim Event winner Randy Dorfman. Dorfman also scored points at the Aussie Millions this season. He is 7th overall on the PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard. A good showing here would certainly help him skyrocket up the charts.

Todd Terry, Joseph Serock and Noah Schwratz round-up the Top 5.

Here are the notable chip counts - players over the average chip stack.
Randy Dorfman 160,000
Todd Terry 124,975
Joe Serock 101,000
Noah Schwartz 90,000
Matt Waxman 72,000
James Carroll 72,000
Ali Eslami 68,000
Matt Brady 65,000
Steven Levy 65,000
Jason Koon 65,000
Blair Hinkle 64,000
Greg Dyer 61,000
Vivek Rajkumar 61,000
Jordan Morgan 56,000
Shannon Shorr 53,000
Thayer Rasmussen 52,000
Darren Elias 49,000
Annette Obrestad 48,000
Mike Sexton 48,000
David "Bakes" Baker 47,000
Chino Rheem 45,000
Harrison Gimbel 45,000
James Mackey 44,000

Official payouts will be released shortly after registration closes on Thursday.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown
WPT Hard Rock NLH Main Event
April 27-May 2, 2011

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $3,897,600
Entries: 406

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

ISLE BATTLE: BEACH BLANKET POKER - SPINELLA BEATS BIG NAME FIELD

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

Big names were battling it out on the beaches of Pompano this week.

Matt Brady, Adam Katz, Allen Bari, Harrison Gimbel, Dan Smith and Robert McLaughlin were all big names in contention as we were getting close to crowning a champion at the Battles at the Beach Main Event at the Isle Casino in Pompano Park.

But, in the end, it's Anthony Spinella (pictured) who came away with the win, and the 174k prize! Spinella made a couple of deep runs - in No Limit events - at the 2010 World Series of Poker.

Many participants played in the event as a warm-up to the World Poker Tour Hard Rock tour stop that started today - for many of these big names, this is hopefully the result they were looking for in order to make a long WPT Hard Rock run.

Here are the Top 10 payouts:
1 Anthony Spinella $174,870
2 Evan Dollinger $102,510
3 Matt Brady $66,330
4 Adam Katz $42,210
5 Allen Bari $30,150
6 Michael Tait $25,929
7 Gunnar Rabe $19,899
8 Micah Smith $14,472
9 Brian Hawkins $13,869
10 Harrison Gimbel $13,266


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
2011 Battles at the Beach
NLH Main Event
April 22-26, 2011

The Isle Pompano Park
Pompano Park, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $3,200
Prizepool: $609,000
Entries: 203

Defending Champion: Stephen Karp

FINAL RESULTS
ANTHONY SPINELLA 35
EVAN DOLLINGER 18
MATT BRADY 10
ADAM KATZ 8
ALLEN BARI 5

IRISH OPEN: CLOSING OUT IRISH OPEN WITH SIDE EVENT RESULT

PHOTO/SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERblog.wordpress.com

Well it's time to shut lights at the Burlington Hotel for another year, the Irish Poker Open is done for 2011. We did have one last event qualify for PTPR Challenger Event points, the EUR 1K No Limit Holdem side event.

James McGee was the eventual winner of the two-day event, he collects 35 PTPR with the win. This was the first PTPR Score for all five players scoring poits in this event.

Manig Loeser finished 9th in the event - but failed to pickup PTPR Points for the third time this season as only the Top 5 finishers were awarded PTPR Points.

Here are the payouts for the Top 10 participants:
1st. James McGee (€32,120)
2nd. Janne Patko (€30,120)
3rd. Richard Fohrenbach (€23,120)
4th. Marc Foggin (€21,120)
5th. Andrejs Perederejevs (€20,120)
6th. Jamyed (€8,500)
7th. Arvi Vainvokklvma (€6,200)
8th. Davey Hutch (€4,500)
9th. Manig Loeser (€3,500)
10th. Marcel Koch (€3,500)


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
EUR 1K NLH Side Event
April 24-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $251,515
Entries: 172

FINAL RESULTS
JAMES MCGEE 35
JANNE PATKO 18
RICHARD FOHRENBACH 10
MARC FOGGIN 8
ANDREJS PEREDEREJEVS 5

ISLE BATTLE: FINAL 15 BEGIN PLAY WITH BIG NAMES STILL ALIVE

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: @jeremyEARS

Quick update here as play has started!

We are underway at the Isle Casino's Battles at the Beach Main Event - the final 15 are battling it out for the 150k top prize.

Anthony Spinelli is the chip leader, the only player with 1 million chips.

2010 PCA Champion and defending WPT Florida Regional Champion Harrison Gimbel is 5th in chips and looks to be a big threat today.

Robert McLaughlin, Matt Brady and Adam Katz all appear on the Top 10, all with over 300k in chips. Dan Smith has one heck of a small stack but is hanging in there.

Here are the payouts for the Top 10 participants (in USD):
1ST - 174.000
2ND - 102.000
3RD - 66.000
4TH - 42.000
5TH - 30.000
6TH - 25.800
7TH - 19.800
8TH - 14.400
9TH - 13.800
10TH - 13.200


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
2011 Battles at the Beach
NLH Main Event
April 22-26, 2011

The Isle Pompano Park
Pompano Park, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $3,200
Prizepool: $609,000
Entries: 203

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

PTS AT STAKE: ERIC "SHEETS" HABER CONTENDING AT BORGATA

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: BORGATA SPRING POKER 2011.blogspot.com

The Borgata Spring Open is well underway as Day 1A and Day 1B participants meet up for Day 2 this morning in Atlantic City.

We started with 447 participants (creating a third worldwide million dollar prizepool in the past 5 days) but we're already down to 160.

Online guru Eric "Sheets" Haber is contending, second in chips heading into Day 2 play. Haber's last live championship was also in Atlantic City - the WSOPC 5k Circuit event - cashing over 400k with the victory.

NAPT Mohegan Sun final table participant Aaron Overton and live pro Matthew Glantz are also in the Top 15 in chips.

45 players will be paid, here are the payouts (in USD):
1 $276,949
2 $159,886
3 $97,558
4 $78,588
5 $61,787
6 $51,489
7 $41,191
8 $31,435
9 $21,680
10-12 $14,092
13-15 $10,840
16-18 $8,563
19-27 $6,721
28-36 $5,962
37-45 $5,420


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Spring Poker Open
NLH Championship
April 24-29, 2011

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

Buy-in: $2,700
Prizepool: $1,117,500
Entries: 447

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 104
2nd position 64
3rd position 39
4th position 29
5th position 22
6th position 14
7th position 12
8th position 9
9th position 9

IRISH OPEN: IRISH EYES WERE SMILING ON NIALL SMYTH

PHOTO/SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERblog.wordpress.com

The marathon is over, after a long heads up battle, Niall Smyth has defeated veteran Surinder Sunar to win the Irish Poker Championship.

Smyth enjoyed a large chip lead three and four handed ... but while in heads up play, Sunar doubled-up and even enjoyed the lead at one point - Smyth then had a double-up of his own - and never looked back.

Pre-final table favorite John Eames struggled early and wasn't able to finish higher than 8th. Eames earned his second PTPR Score of the season, he now has 60 PTPR Points on the year.

Great turn-out and a fantastic event - great job by the folks in Dublin!

Here are the final table payouts for the event (in EUR):
Niall Smyth: 550,000
Surinder Sunar: 290,000
Martin Petri: 180,000
Seamus Cahill: 145,000
Aleksi Savela: 115,000
Karl Rudwall: 85,000
Rob Taylor: 63,000
John Eames: 45,000
Niall McCann: 30,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
NIALL SMYTH 106
SURINDER SUNAR 66
MARTIN PETRI 41
SEAMUS CAHILL 31
ALEKSI SAVELA 24
KARL RUDWALL 16
ROB TAYLOR 14
JOHN EAMES 11
NIALL MCCANN 11

IRISH OPEN: FINAL TABLE SET, WE HAVE A LOG-JAM UP TOP

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERBLOG.com

We have our final nine players and there is one heck of a log-jam at the top. Six players all within a couple hundred thousand chips ... it's going to be one heck of a final day on Monday.

Shockingly, JP Kelly - who was one of the chip leaders coming into Sunday play - was ousted a little after the mid-way point today - he took one really bad hit from John Eames and that seemed to lead to his demise.

Eames (pictured) is amongst the pack at the top, so is veteran Surinder Sunar. Andy Black was our bubble boy, finishing tenth in the event.

The final table participants are: Niall Smyth, Sunar, Aleksi Savela, Martin Petri, Eames, John Rudwall, Seamus Cahill, Robert Taylor and Niall Mccann

Here are the final table payouts for the event (in EUR):
1st: 550,000
2nd: 290,000
3rd: 180,000
4th: 145,000
5th: 115,000
6th: 85,000
7th: 63,000
8th: 45,000
9th: 30,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11

EVEREST ONE: EVEREST POKER CROWNS JULIAN KABITZKE "THE ONE"

PHOTO/RESULTS: EVERESTPOKER.com

It took three long days for Everest Poker to find "The One" - but, he has been found.

Julian Kabitzke defeated a strong final 9 - including heads-up opponent Alexander Debus and PTPR #2 ranked player Alessio Isaia - to win the Everest Poker "The One" Main Event in Monte Carlo.

Kabitzke earns his first PTPR Points of the season and collects the EUR 300,000 first prize, meanwhile Debus scores for the second time in 2011 and cashes in for EUR 170,000.

As for Isaia, his fourth place finish earns him 27 PTPR Points, just six shy of the points he needed to surpass Ali Eslami on the PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard. This is Isaia's fourth PTPR Score of the year.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Everest Poker The One
NLH Main Event
April 22-24, 2011

Salle des Palmiers au Sporting Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, Monaco

Buy-in: $7,500
Prizepool: $1,559,327
Entries: 221

FINAL RESULTS
JULIAN KABITZKE 102
ALEXANDER DEBUS 62
JOEL DODDS 37
ALESSIO ISAIA 27
XAVIER CARRUGGI 20
JULIEN POUCHAIN 12
ADRIAN ASTON 10
MARC SANDER 7
MANUEL BEVAND 7

PTS AT STAKE: BEACH BATTLE TAKING PLACE IN POMPANO

PHOTO: ISLE CASINO POMPANO PARK

Not much info coming out of the Isle Battles at the Beach Main Event - but thanks to participant Jeremy McLaughlin ( @jeremyEARS ) - who was nice enough to post info and a picture on his twitter feed, we have the info we need to plug in a PTS AT STAKE for the Isle Main Event!

203 players put in $3,200 USD and are fighting it out for a piece of the +600k prize pool.

We're through both Day 1's and today being Easter Sunday, players are taking the day off, returning for Day 2 tomorrow.

35 PTPR Points awaits the winner of the event. The WPT Hard Rock is just around the corner, this Main serves as a build-up for WPT Hard Rock.


21 players will be paid, here are the payouts for the Top 10 participants (in USD):
1ST - 174.000
2ND - 102.000
3RD - 66.000
4TH - 42.000
5TH - 30.000
6TH - 25.800
7TH - 19.800
8TH - 14.400
9TH - 13.800
10TH - 13.200


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
2011 Battles at the Beach
NLH Main Event
April 22-26, 2011

The Isle Pompano Park
Pompano Park, Florida, USA

Buy-in: $3,200
Prizepool: $609,000
Entries: 203

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

IRISH OPEN: KELLY, EAMES, OTHER BIG NAMES STILL ALIVE AFTER DAY 2

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKER.com

Down to 55 players at the Irish Poker Open in Dublin.

Julian Herold is the chip leader, he has a very small chip lead over popular pros JP Kelly (pictured) and John Eames.

Eames has 49 PTPR Points this season, he is looking to add to that. Noel Furlong and PTPR Top 10 Player Michael Tureniec are also right there in contention.

Here are the notable chip stacks heading into Day 3:
669,500 – Julian Herold
620,500 – JP Kelly
564,000 – John Eames
475,000 – Noel Furlong
293,500 – Michael Tureniec
286,000 – Jude Ainsworth
267,000 – Surinder Sunar
217,000 – Marty Smyth
177,000 – Andy Black


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11

EVEREST THE ONE: FT SET, ISAIA EYES PTPR #1 RANK

PHOTO: EVERESTPOKER.com
SOURCE: EVERESTPOKER.com/BLOG/EN

We're down to the final 9 players at the Everest Poker "The One" Main Event in beautiful Monte Carlo.

2011 PTPR POY's #2 ranked player, Alessio Isaia, is looking to take over the top spot on the PTPR Leaderboard. Isais is last in chips though and he has one hell of a mountain to climb in order to move up to top spot on the PTPR list. Isaia would need to finish third or better to replace Ali Eslami as the PTPR's best.

German online stud Alexander Debus is the chip leader and will be very dangerous when cards are in the air on Sunday. Debus has one PTPR Score this season - at a Aussie Millions side event.

Aussie Joel Dodds and France's Manuel Bevand are two other players to watch at the final table - both looking for their first PTPR Scores of 2011.

Dodds scored three times last season, at the Aussie Millions, at a Venetian Deep Stack side event and he had a small score at the ANZPT Gold Coast event back in August.

While Bevand scored twice last year - once at the EPT Grand Final and another at EPT Prague.

Here's a look at the chip stacks heading into Final Table play:
Alexander Debus (DE) : 1.607.000
Marc Sanders (DE) : 1.414.000
Julien Kabitzke (DE) : 1.207.000
Xavier Carruggi (FR) : 661.000
Joel Dodds (Aus) : 580.000
Manuel Bevand (FR) : 372.000
Adrian Aston (UK) : 340.000
Julien Pouchain (FR) : 280.000
Alessio Isaia (IT) : 195.000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Everest Poker The One
NLH Main Event
April 22-24, 2011

Salle des Palmiers au Sporting Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, Monaco

Buy-in: $7,500
Prizepool: $1,559,327
Entries: 221

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 102
2nd position 62
3rd position 37
4th position 27
5th position 20
6th position 12
7th position 10
8th position 7
9th position 7

PTS AT STAKE: EVEREST POKER LOOKING FOR "THE ONE"

PHOTO CREDIT: EVERESTPOKER.com
SOURCE: EVERESTPOKER.com/BLOG/EN

While some are spending their Easter weekend in Dublin at the Irish Poker Open, 221 of the world's finest are in Monte Carlo hoping to become "The One" - by winning the Everest Poker The One Main Event.

A 7K+ US buy-in carries a prizepool south of 1.5M US. We're already into Day 2 and we're down to 57 players (as Day 2 action started).

Here were the chip leaders at the start of Day 2:
1 REN Bingjian 294.300
2 PAASONEN Mika 294.200
3 KABITZKE Julian 267.700
4 BEVAND Manuel 248.500
5 ASTON Adrian 216.400
6 POLONIATO Nicolas 192.100
7 TRUCHE Leonard 171.400
8 DEBUS Alexander 168.500
9 ROY Alain 157.800
10 DODDS Joel 148.000

21 players will be paid, here are the payouts (in EUR):
1. 300,000
2. 170,000
3. 112,000
4. 90,000
5. 75,000
6. 58,000
7. 47,500
8. 37,000
9. 26,350
10-12. 16,000
13-15. 14,000
16-18. 12,000
19-21. 10,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Everest Poker The One
NLH Main Event
April 22-24, 2011

Salle des Palmiers au Sporting Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, Monaco

Buy-in: $7,500
Prizepool: $1,559,327
Entries: 221

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 102
2nd position 62
3rd position 37
4th position 27
5th position 20
6th position 12
7th position 10
8th position 7
9th position 7

PTS AT STAKE: OVER 600 PLAYERS INVADE DUBLIN FOR IRISH POKER OPEN

PHOTO CREDIT: PADDYPOWERPOKER.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERBLOG.com

We had 615 runners show up for the start of the Irish Poker Open - about 100 less players compared to the 2010 event but, still very impressive numbers nonetheless.

We lost over 300 players on Day 1 ... players eliminated included Julian Gardner, Ross Boatman, Barney Boatman, Roberto Romanello, James Aikenhead, Andrew Teng, Yann Dion and Padraig Parkinson.

Here are the payouts for the event:
1st: 550,000
2nd: 290,000
3rd: 180,000
4th: 145,000
5th: 115,000
6th: 85,000
7th: 63,000
8th: 45,000
9th: 30,000
10th – 12th: 19,400
13th – 16th: 15,100
17th – 24th: 11,700
25th – 32nd: 9,400
33rd – 40th: 7,500
41st – 48th: 5,900
49th – 56th: 4,700
57th – 64th: 4,100


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11

THE ROUND-UP: RESULTS FROM GSOP LIVE SEVILLE AND BELGIUM SERIES NAMUR

PHOTO CREDIT: GSOPLIVE.com
RESULTS: GSOPLIVE.com, CARDPLAYER.com

The Grand Series of Poker hosted it's Grand Final in Seville earlier this week. Notables in this event included EPT Snowfest FT participant Morten Mortensen (who has cashed in three straight GSOP events), Aussie Millions runner-up James Keys, former GUKPT winner Andrew Teng (who recently PTPR Scored at a EPT Berlin Prelim) and Ramzi Jelassi.

In the end, Anders Henriksson (pictured) is your champ. He entered final table play with a monster chip stack and none of his opponents were able to knock him off.

Here are the final table payouts (in EUR):
1– Anders Henriksson €93,130
2– Kevin Thurston €58,400
3– Sylvain Viollin €41,080
4– Redmond Toth €32,220
5– Carlos Batista Rodriges €24,970
6– Janos Nemeth €18,520
7– Robert Eriksson €14,900
8– Juha Mantyla €12,480
9– Joni Jouhkimainen €10,080


Meanwhile, Glenn de Backer has won the Belgian Poker Series Namur Main Event. He defeated George Harutunian heads up.

Here are the final table payouts (in USD):
1 Glenn De Backer $144,452
2 George Harutunian $93,894
3 Alexandru Cinca $53,447
4 Frederic Mersch $35,535
5 Dan Furnival $28,168
6 David Duoek $21,379
7 Brian Rausens $15,456
8 Raijmond Slabbekoorn $11,556
9 Filip Wygaerts $8,882

Popular pro Marcel Luske cashed in the event.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Grand Series of Poker Live Seville
GSOP Seville NLH Main Event
April 13-16, 2011

Gran Casino Aljarfe
Seville, Spain

Prizepool: $402,010
Entries: 190

FINAL RESULTS
ANDERS HENRIKSSON 35
KEVIN THURSTON 18
SYLVAIN VIOLLIN 10
REDMOND TOTH 8
CARLOS BATISTA RODRIGES 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Belgiuman Poker Series Namur
Namur NLH Main Event
April 14-17, 2011

Casino de Namur
Namur, Belgium

Buy-in: $1,155
Prizepool: $594,996
Entries: 576

FINAL RESULTS
GLENN DE BACKER 35
GEORGE HARUTUNIAN 18
ALEXANDRU CINCA 10
FREDERIC MERSCH 8
DAN FURNIVAL 5

PTPR FAVORITE NITSCHE NETS VICTORY IN MIDDLE EAST!

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

PTPR favorite Dominik Nitsche, who travles the poker world like no other, earned his first victory since his 2009 LAPT Argentina win with a win in the Middle East Poker Championship from what has become a hot bed of poker, Cyprus - that Merit Poker Club seems like a rockin' place!

Nitsche collects $164,100 with the win - congratulations Dominik!

Top 10 Payouts (in USD):
1 Dominik Nitsche $164,100
2 Ivan Starostin $112,151
3 Taner Aydin $76,591
4 Kadir Karabulut $46,502
5 Necip Ferengizbilge $31,457
6 Amir Touma $23,251
7 Ramez Haddad $17,780
8 Chadi Ojelli $12,309
9 Sergey Rybachenko $8,780
10 Kriyl Radzivonau $6,565

Meanwhile, Andreas Dygruber picks up his first PTPR Points of the season with his win at CAPT Salzburg. Third place finsiher Erich Kollmann earns his second PTPR Score of the year.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Middle East Poker Championship
No Limit Hold'Em Championship
April 16-18, 2011

Merit Poker Club, Cyprus

Buy-in: $4,400
Prizepool: $564,000
Entries: 141

FINAL RESULTS
DOMINIK NITSCHE 35
IVAN STAROSTIN 18
TANER AYDIN 10
KADIR KARABULUT 8
NECIP FERENGIZBILGE 5

PTPR PRELIM EVENT
Casino Austria Poker Tour Salzburg
CAPT Salzburg NLH Main Event
April 16-17, 2011

Casino Salzburg
Salzburg, AUT

Buy-in: $2,870
Prizepool: $264,305
Entries: 97

FINAL RESULTS
ANDREAS DYGRUBER 35
SEUNG SONG 18
ERICH KOLLMANN 10
MARKUS GOLSER 8
PHILIPP GSOLLPOINTER 5

CLOSING OUT EPT BERLIN: HURTADO, SCHEMION COLLECT WINS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

We were waiting for the final results from the side events at EPT Berlin before posting, unfortunately, low turn-outs to those side-events means that only two of them qualified for PTPR Points, both No Limit Hold'Em events.

Event 6 was a $3,060 event and 248 players participated. William Hurtado was the big winner, collecting over $150,000 in the process.

2010 EPT Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg (pictured) finished fourth in the event, collecting his first PTPR Points of the 2011 season. Jon Spinks and Andrew Teng also collected points.

Here are the Top 10 payouts (in USD):
1 William Hurtado $165,376
2 Luke Marsh $128,088
3 Andrew Moseley $99,624
4 Anton Wigg $78,276
5 Michael Alf $43,764
6 Jon Spinks $34,584
7 Andrew Teng $27,539
8 Orpen Kisacikoglu $19,783
9 Rustem Saparov $12,667
10 Michael Schurpf $12,667


226 players participated in Event 8 - Ole Schemion was the eventual winner.

Here are the Top 10 payouts (in USD):
1 Ole Schemion $77,138
2 Manfred Hammer $44,831
3 Alexander Spachmann $37,715
4 Zorau Maninkovic $42,696
5 Markus Lehner $32,022
6 Daniel Bergmann $15,655
7 Luigi Errico $12,524
8 Bernd Wolf $8,966
9 Martin Finger $5,792
10 Archil Tushuvashvili $5,792


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
PokerStars EPT Berlin
EPT Berlin NLH Event 6
April 7-8, 2011

Spielbank Berlin
Berlin, Germany

Buy-in: $3,060
Prizepool: $706,051
Entries: 248

FINAL RESULTS
WILLIAM HURTADO 75
LUKE MARSH 40
ANDREW MOSELEY 25
ANTON WIGG 15
MICHAEL ALF 10
JON SPINKS 8
ANDREW TENG 5
ORPEN KISACIKOGLU 5
RUSTEM SAPAROV 5

PTPR PRELIM EVENT
PokerStars EPT Berlin
EPT Berlin NLH Event 8
April 8-9, 2011

Spielbank Berlin
Berlin, Germany

Buy-in: $1,565
Prizepool: $321,644
Entries: 226

FINAL RESULTS
OLE SCHEMION 75
MANFRED HAMMER 40
ALEXANDER SPACHMANN 25
ZORAU MANINKOVIC 15
MARKUS LEHNER 10
DANIEL BERGMANN 8
LUIGI ERRICO 5
BERND WOLF 5
MARTIN FINGER 5

KEMAL FERRI WINS LAPT LIMA, MICHAEL KANAAN WINS ANZPT SYDNEY

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Two Pokerstars-sponsored tours crowned champions over the weekend.

In Lima (Peru), Kemal Ferri (pictured) captured the LAPT Lima crown, defeating a field of 350 players. This was Ferri's first PTPR Score of the season.

Here are the Top 10 payouts:
1st - Kemal Ferri ($207,400)
2nd - Raul Pino ($120,000)
3rd - Pablo Gonzales ($73,540)
4th - Michel Barham ($54,180)
5th - Samar Hodali ($38,700)
6th - Leonardo Zepeda ($30,960)
7th - Daniel Ospina ($23,220)
8th - Karlo Lopez ($15,480)
9th - Mayu Roca ($10,840)
10th - Alcides Tovar ($10,840)


Meanwhile in Australia, Michael Kanaan wins ANZPT Syndey, beating close to 400 players to win the Championship. Kanaan scores his first points of the PTPR Season.

Here are the Top 10 payouts:
1st Michael Kanaan - $195,714
2nd Luis Arrilucea - $124,581
3rd Andy Lee - $69,168
4th John Karroobee - $54,234
5th Alex Lee - $43,230
6th Stevan Chew - $35,370
7th AJ Bertenshaw - $27,510
8th Mike Stecker - $21,615
9th Jay Kinkade - $15,720
10th Josh Barrett - $10,611


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Latin American Poker Tour Lima
LAPT NLH Main Event
April 14-17, 2011

Atlantic City Casino
Lima, Peru

Buy-in: $2,500
Prizepool: $774,000
Entries: 350

FINAL RESULTS
KEMAL FERRI 35
RAUL PINO 18
PABLO GONZALEZ 10
MICHAEL BARHAM 8
SAMAR HODALI 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Sydney
ANZPT NLH Main Event
April 13-17, 2011

Star City Casino
Sydney, Australia

Buy-in: $2,200
Prizepool: $786,000
Entries: 393

FINAL RESULTS
MICHAEL KANAAN 35
LUIS ARRILUCEA 18
ANDY LEE 10
JOHN KARROBEE 8
ALEX LEE 5

INDIANA BELONGS TO NEW HPT CHAMP NATHAN GEISE

PHOTO CREDIT: HPTPOKER.com

While the poker world is still shocked over the recent happenings, the show must go on and we're here to provide entertainment and that's what we'll continue to do - keep your chins up, everybody!

Big congrats to Indiana native Nathan Geise, who just picked up his first Heartland Poker Tour title, winning the HPT Gary, Indiana Main Event at the Majestic Star Casinos.

A total of 270 players entered the event, a respectable number given the recent DOJ announcement.

Here are the winnings for the Top 15 players:
1. Nathan Geise $96,516 1,000
2. Dash Dudley $48 750
3. James Erdman $28,955 600
4. Imari Love $22,520 450
5. Ashor Ochana $19,303 400
6. Jerry Gumila $16,086 350
7. Jesse Vilchez $11,260 300
8. Daniel Downie $9,652 250
9. Larry Ormson $8,043 200
10. Michael Chesney $6,434 150
11. David Kenniston $5,469 100
12. Jeff Boehm $4,826 95
13. Deividas Monkevicius $4,182 90
14. Leon Morford $3,539 85
15. Michael Andricopulos $3,217 80


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Heartland Poker Tour Gary, Indiana
HPT NLH Main Event
April 17-18, 2011

Majestic Star Casinos
Gary, Indiana, USA

Buy-in: $1,500
Prizepool: $324,720
Entries: 270

FINAL RESULTS
NATHAN GEISE 35
DASH DUDLEY 18
JAMES ERDMAN 10
IMARI LOVE 8
ASHOR OCHANA 5

TAKING A BREATHER

In light of the sad news announced today in the poker world, we're going to take the night off and let everyone take a deep breath.

We will be back tomorrow with updated results from around the world.

Stay strong folks.

THIS JUST IN: ANYTHING SELBST CAN DO, JASON MERCIER CAN DO TOO!!!

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Words can't even begin to explain what has just transpired in a small in town Connecticut.

Last night, Vanessa Selbst did the unthinkable by winning the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event. A buddy of mine even said to me "who does she think she is, Johnny Chan?" This just goes to show how rare of an accomplishment this is.

Well, I'll be sure to text my buddy to let him know that, in the same town, at the same casino, a day later, a star player did it again! This time it's Vanessa's fellow PokerStars Pro teammate Jason Mercier (cue the conspiracy theories) who has repeated as the High Roller Bounty Shootout event.

Absolute insanity ... I think i've said it all, not much more to say except that Mercier outlasted Eugene Katchalov heads up, it's the second PTPR Score of the season for both players.

Fantastic work by both Vanessa and Jason - now let's see both carry the momentum into the summer!


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NLH High Roller Bounty Shootout
April 12-14, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $780,000
Entries: 78

Defending Champion: Jason Mercier

FINAL RESULTS
JASON MERCIER 100
EUGEUNE KATCHALOV 60
MICHAEL PESEK 35
JONATHAN JAFFE 25
TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH 18
JIMMIE GUINTHER 10
SCOTT BLACKMAN 8
MICAH RASKIN 5
JOE SWEENEY 5

LOOKING BACK AT THE "LOCAL'S" WIN OVER STARS SEIDEL, REYNOLDS

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

Mike Scarborough lives about 20 minutes away from the Hollywood Casino in Indiana - his "home-field advantage" surely helped him conquer the final three table at WPT Hollywood Casino late last evening.

Scarborough beat Erik Seidel heads up and was able to dispose of third place finisher William Reynolds as well.

Ali Eslami was the first player out at the final table but his 25 PTPR Points add to his first-place lead on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard. This was Erik Seidel's third PTPR Score of the season, he is now ranked on our Leaderboard.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open
WPT Hollywood Poker Open NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Hollywood Casino
Hollywood, Indiana, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $931,200
Entries: 97

Defending Champion: Carlos Mortensen

FINAL RESULTS
MIKE SCARBOROUGH 125
ERIK SEIDEL 75
WILLIAM REYNOLDS 45
THOMAS MARCHESE 35
ANDY WHETSTONE 30
ALI ESLAMI 25
STEVE BARSHAK 25
ALLEN KESSLER 10
TERRY JACOBS 10
STEVEN KELLY 10
AMANDA MUSUMECI 10
CHRIS BELL 8

21 HOURS LATER, SELBST STILL THE BUZZ AROUND THE POKER WORLD

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

The poker world is still abuzz over the dramatics last night at the Mohegan Sun. Vanessa Selbst battled to a NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event ... her second Main Event title is as many years - simply stunning!

Selbst is also the first NAPT two-time champion.

Incredible job by Vanessa and by runner-up Dan Shak, who refused to lay down when Vanessa has her foot on his neck.

Vanessa has this to say on her twitter feed (@VanessaSelbst) ...

Thanks to everyone for all the love... it feels pretty incredible right now. Back to back at Partouche ONE TIME? :D

Selbst will indeed be attempting to conquer the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final for the second straight year ... she'll always be on everyone's list to watch at the upcoming World Series of Poker.

Top 10 NAPT Mohegan Sun prizes and payouts:
1. Vanessa Selbst, USA, $450,000
2. Dan Shak, USA, $254,000
3. Tyler Kenney, USA, $170,000
4. Thomas Hoglund Jr., USA, $120,000
5. Vincent Rubianes, USA, $90,000
6. Joe Tehan, USA, $70,000
7. Aaron Overton, USA, $50,000
8. Steve O'Dwyer, USA, $32,330
9. Corey Hochman, USA, $26,000
10. David Stefanski, USA, $26,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NAPT Mohegan Sun NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $1,764,330
Entries: 387

Defending Champion: Vanessa Selbst

POINTS AT STAKE
VANESSA SELBST 128
DAN SHAK 78
TYLER KENNEY 48
THOMAS HOGLUND JR. 38
VINCENT RUBIANES 33
JOE TEHAN 28
AARON OVERTON 28
STEVE O'DWYER 13
COREY HOCHMAN 13
DAVID STEFANSKI 13
JACOBO FERNANDEZ 13
PHILIPPE PLOUFFE 11
JEAN-PHILIPPE MATTE 11
ARA MELIKIAN 11
NENAD MEDIC 11
JOE GIBBONS 8
OLIVIER BUSQUET 8
TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH 8

SELBST GOES BACK-TO-BACK, SCARBOROUGH OUTLASTS SEIDEL, REYNOLDS

Vanessa Selbst has done the almost impossible - winning NAPT Mohegan Sun for the second straight season - amazing work Vanessa!

Meanwhile, Mike Scarborough's poker resume is looking much better this morning - he outlasted both Erik Seidel and William Reynolds to win the WPT Hollywood Poker Open.

Full results will be posted tonight.

PTS AT STAKE: LIKE SELBST, MERCIER GOING FOR BACK-TO-BACK TITLES AT MOHEGAN

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Anything you can do, I can do better ... or as well.

As Vanessa Selbst sits heads up with Dan Shak to determine the winner of the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event, and at the same time, with the event for the second consecutive year, Jason Mercier is attempting his own back-to-back at Mohegan.

Mercier is the defending NAPT Mohegan Sun High Rollers Event title holder and with his Round 1 win on Tuesday, he will face 8 other Round 1 winners and attempt High Roller history. Mercier is no stranger to the big stage, having won a WSOP bracelet and an EPT title.

Mercier collected the most bounties in the shootout, he eliminated six of his eight opponents at his Round 1 table, his eliminations included Barry Greenstein, Alex Wice and Adam Junglen).

Here are the final table participants when play begins Thursday:
Jason Mercier (6 bounties)
Joe Sweeney (5)
Eugene Katchalov (3)
Scott Blackman (3)
Jimmie Guinther (2)
Michael Pesek (1)
Taylor von Kriegenbergh (1)
Jonathan Jaffe (1)
Micah Raskin (1)


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NLH High Roller Bounty Shootout
April 12-14, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $780,000
Entries: 78

Defending Champion: Jason Mercier

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 100
2nd position 60
3rd position 35
4th position 25
5th position 18
6th position 10
7th position 8
8th position 5
9th position 5

NAPT MOHEGAN: SELBST, TEHAN CHASING SECOND NAPT TITLE

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com


Season 1 recap: Joe Tehan won NAPT Los Angeles. Vanessa Selbst won this event at Mohegan Sun and is looking to repeat. Both will be looking to become the first person to win two NAPT titles.

Selbst was well on her way to dominate this tournament the way she did the Partouche Grand Final last year. But, a kid got in the way! 21-year old Tyler Kenney - young brother of poker pro Bryn Kenney - wasn't even old enough to enter this event last season! Kenney (pictured) is the only player with over three million chips, Selbst is the only player with over two million chips.

Should be one heck of a final table!

NAPT Mohegan Sun main event final table:
Seat 1: Joe Tehan (1,238,000)
Seat 2: Thomas Hoglund, Jr. (541,000)
Seat 3: Dan Shak (1,571,000)
Seat 4: Vincent Rubianes (1,711,000)
Seat 5: Steve O'Dwyer (1,032,000)
Seat 6: Tyler Kenney (3,021,000)
Seat 7: Aaron Overton (373,000)
Seat 8: Vanessa Selbst (2,249,000)


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NAPT Mohegan Sun NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $1,764,330
Entries: 387

Defending Champion: Vanessa Selbst

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 128
2nd position 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6th position 28
7th position 28
8th position 13
COREY HOCHMAN 13
DAVID STEFANSKI 13
JACOBO FERNANDEZ 13
PHILIPPE PLOUFFE 11
JEAN-PHILIPPE MATTE 11
ARA MELIKIAN 11
NENAD MEDIC 11
JOE GIBBONS 8
OLIVIER BUSQUET 8
TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH 8

CARTWRIGHT WINS WSOP CIRCUIT ST. LOUIS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

Kyle Cartwright bested a field of 448 opponents and has won the WSOP Circuit St. Louis Main Event - capturing his third WSOPC ring of the season!!

Although there were a few "name" players in the event that were at or close to the top during the first few days of the tournament, none of them were able to make it to final table play.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's St. Louis
WSOPC St. Louis NLH Main Event
April 10-12, 2011

Harrah's St. Louis
Maryland Heights, Missouri, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $646,762
Entries: 449

Defending Champion: Joseph Scimeca

POINTS AT STAKE
KYLE CARTWRIGHT 35
ASHEESH BOYAPATI 18
RON SEGNI 10
PHIL STELZER 8
TROY WEBER 5

WPT HOLLYWOOD: REYNOLDS AND SEIDEL AND ESLAMI AND MARCHESE OH MY!

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

Big names will be present as WPT Hollywood Open Final Table play begins tomorrow afternoon.

In a era where it's rare to see one or two stars at a WPT final table, four of the six participants at this FT are known players and have a lot to play for.

The chip leader is always entertaining William Reynolds, who enters final table play as the only player with over 1M in chips. Reynolds won the PCA 25K High Rollers event in 2010 - this will be his first score of the 2011 PTPR Season.

Erik Seidel, the hottest high stakes tournament player around, will test his final table skills on a smaller stakes event, albeit with an important WPT title on the line.

Ali Eslami will increase his lead atop the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard - he starts final table play with a small stack at 213k. Eslami is assured of a minimum of 25 PTPR Points. A win would garner 125 Points and a very large lead as the WPT and EPT end-of-season events draw near.

The last big name at the final table is the man who finished third on the 2010 PTPR Player of the Year Race, Thomas Marchese. Marchese has yet to post any points this season but with the whirlwind 2010 he had, the defending Card Player Player of the Year could be on his way back to the top.

Here are the seating assignments and chip stacks heaing into final table play:
Seat 1. Andy Whetstone - 80,500
Seat 2. Erik Seidel - 645,000
Seat 3. Ali Eslami - 213,000
Seat 4. Tom Marchese - 175,000
Seat 5. Mike Scarborough - 654,500
Seat 6. William Reynolds - 1,169,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open
WPT Hollywood Poker Open NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Hollywood Casino
Hollywood, Indiana, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $931,200
Entries: 97

Defending Champion: Carlos Mortensen

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 125
2nd position 75
3rd position 45
4th position 35
5th position 30
6th position 25
STEVE BARSHAK 25
ALLEN KESSLER 10
TERRY JACOBS 10
STEVEN KELLY 10
AMANDA MUSUMECI 10
CHRIS BELL 8

NAPT MOHEGAN: SELBST BOILING HOT AS DAY 3 ENDS WITH 24 REMAINING

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Stop me if you're heard this story before?

Vanessa Selbst starts the poker season really quietly - then - she hits NAPT Mohegan Sun and becomes one of the hottest poker players on the circuit.

This was exactly the story last year after Selbst lifted the NAPT Mohegan Sun trophy - she went on to great success, including winning the Partouche Main Event.

Well, after an up-and-down Day 1, Selbst started accumulating chips on Sunday ... but today, well, today was the 2011 coming out party for Selbst. An amazing day ends with a big chip lead - she has 400,000 chips more than second place Vincent Rubianes.

Can Selbst really go back to back? She does have the skill, but, what a tremendous accomplishment it would be. Only 23 other runners stand in her way.

Notable chip stacks heading into Day 4 play:
> Vanessa Selbst 1.406M (chip leader)
> Vincent Rubinanes 1.023M
> Aaron Overton 907k (Day 2 chip leader)
> Jacobo Fernandez 813k
> Steve O'Dwyer 507k
> Joe Tehan 490k
> Dan Shak 488k
> Eric Froehlich 420k
> Chris Tryba 361k (Day 1 chip leader)
> Olivier Busquet 356k
> Kyle Loman 340k
> Nenad Medic 330k

For Day 4 seating assignments, please visit the end of this post


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NAPT Mohegan Sun NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $1,764,330
Entries: 387

Defending Champion: Vanessa Selbst

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 128
2nd position 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6th position 28
7th position 28
8-11th position 13
12-15th position 11
16-18th position 8


Day four seating assignments

Table one
1 Nenad Medic 350,000
2 Eric Froehlich 420,000
3 Vincent Rubianes 1,023,000
4 Taylor von Kriegenbergh 289,000
5 Aaron Overton 907,000
6 Olivier Busquet 356,000
7 Vanessa Selbst 1,406,000
8 Jean-Philippe Matte 331,000

Table two
1 Corey Hochman 355,000
2 Thomas Hoglund Jr 629,000
3 Joe Tehan 490,000
4 Sukh Sandhu 267,000
5 Philippe Plouffe 293,000
6 David Stefanski 162,000
7 Adam Geyer 803,000
8 Ara Melikian 233,000

Table three
1 Dan Shak 488,000
2 Chris Tryba 361,000
3 Joseph Gibbons 179,000
4 Jacobo Fernandez 813,000
5 Tyler Kenney 478,000
6 Kyle Loman 340,000
7 Steve O'Dwyer 507,000
8 Jonathan Schroer 231,000

UNISS WINS HPT GOLDEN GATES

PHOTO CREDIT: HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR.com

Very impressive numbers from the Heartland Poker Tour over in Black Hawk, Colorado this past weekend. 491 players registered to the HPT Main Event creating a prize pool south of 730k!!

Here's a look at the Top 10 finishers:
1. Spencer Uniss $221,594
2. Keith Love $110,797
3. James Rice $66,478
4. Igor Gavrilov $51,705
5. Volodymyr Kondratenko $44,319
6. Edith Mortellaro $36,932
7. Chase Bignchi $23,341
8. Michael Garcia $19,943
9. David Bruen $14,182
10. Mark Knusen $11,744


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates Casino
HPT NLH Main Event
April 10-11, 2011

Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour
Black Hawk, Colorado, USA

Buy-in: $1,500
Prizepool: $738,645
Entries: 491

Defending Champion: Mark Dunbar

FINAL RESULTS
SPENCER UNISS 35
KEITH LOVE 18
JAMES RICE 10
IGOR GAVRILOV 8
VOLODYMYR KONDRATENKO 5

NAPT MOHEGAN: DAY 2 IS OVERTON AND OUT

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

NAPT Day 2 is done at Mohegan and Aaron Overton is the current chip leader with 74 players remaining.

Defending champion Vanessa Selbst is on the prowl, however, as she sits 5th in chips with a very healthy chip stack.

Olivier Busquet, Victor Ramdin are also right there on the leaderboard.

Notable chip stacks with +200k in chips heading into Day 3:
> Aaron Overton 598k
> Vanessa Selbst 339k
> Olivier Busquet 306k
> Victor Ramdin 296k
> Nick Binger 208k
> Bernard Lee 203k
> Jeffrey Papola 203k
> Matt Matros 200k


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NAPT Mohegan Sun NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $1,764,330
Entries: 387

Defending Champion: Vanessa Selbst

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 128
2nd position 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6th position 28
7th position 28
8-11th position 13
12-15th position 11
16-18th position 8

PTS AT STAKE: "PEGASUS" HOLDS EARLY LEAD AT WSOPC ST. LOUIS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com

A great turnout at WSOP Circuit St. Louis - one shy of 450 players have put up $1,600 US in hopes of qualifying for the WSOPC National Championship Freeroll - coming later this year.

We're still very, very early in this tournament - Mark "Pegasus" Smith leads the way while former WSOP November Niner Dennis Phillips is right behind him. WSOPC Master Dwyte Pilgrim has made the journey to Harrah's St. Louis in hopes to reignite his WSOPC winning ways.

We've already lost two name players in Josh Brikis and legend T.J. Cloutier.

Here is what our runners are playing for (payouts in USD):
1st: $142,290
2nd: $87,927
3rd: $64,249
4th: $47,705
5th: $35,973
6th: $27,533
7th: $21,382
8th: $16,842
9th: $13,453
10th-12th: $10,891
13th-15th: $8,938
16th-18th: $7,438
19th-21st: $6,267
22nd-24th: $5,349
25th-27th: $4,624
28th-30th: $4,049
31st-33rd: $3,590
34th-36th: $3,221
37th-45th: $2,923


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's St. Louis
WSOPC St. Louis NLH Main Event
April 10-12, 2011

Harrah's St. Louis
Maryland Heights, Missouri, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $646,762
Entries: 449

Defending Champion: Joseph Scimeca

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

EPT BERLIN: FIRST LIVE CASH EARNS WILINOFSKY EPT BERLIN TITLE

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Some would kill to be Canadian Ben Wilinofsky. The young Canuck, who was an online qualifier, has cashed for the first time in a live tournament ... and has won the EPT Berlin Main Event title - not bad, first timer!

Wilinofsky hit everyone's radar during Saturday's play, when reporters were scrambling to find info on him ... less than 24 hours later, he is a EPT Champion.

His win earns him a spot on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard ... a fourth place finish (and a third final table appearance during this 2010-11 EPT season) also earns Swede Martin Jacobson a spot on the PTPR Leaderboard.

Jacobson earns his third PTPR Score of the 2011 PTPR season and now sits with 130 PTPR Points.

6th place finisher Darren Kramer earned his 2nd PTPR Score of the year, he now sits tied for 30th with 102 PTPR Points.

The EPT now heads to San Remo for the final tour stop prior the EPT Grand Final in May. EPT San Remo defending champion Liv Boeree will be looking to defend her crown starting April 27.

Here are the payouts (in EUR) for the final table participants:
1st Ben Wilinofsky, Canada, €825,000
2nd Maximilian Heinzelmann, Germany, €500,000
3rd Vadzim Kursevich, Belarus, €300,000
4th Martin Jacobson, Sweden, €230,000
5th Armin Mette, Germany, €180,000
6th Darren Kramer, South Africa, €140,000
7th Joep van den Bijgaart, Holland, €100,000
8th Jonas Gutteck, Germany, €66,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Berlin
EPT Berlin Main Event
April 5-10, 2011

Spielbank Berlin
Berlin, DEU

Buy-in: $7,160
Prizepool: $5,536,300
Entries: 773

Defending Champion: Kevin MacPhee

FINAL RESULTS
BEN WILINOFSKY 132
MAXIMILIAN HEINZELMANN 82
VADZIM KURSEVICH 52
MARTIN JACOBSON 42
JOEP VAN DEN BIJGAART 37
DARREN KRAMER 32
JOEP VAN DEN BIJGAART 32
JONAS GUTTECK 17
DANIEL PIDUN 17
CUELLO JORGE MARIANO 17
FABRICE SOULIER 17
KRISTIJONAS ANDRULIS 15
ROBIN YLITALO 15
THOMAS TRABOULSI 15
LUIS JAIKEL 15
JEFFERY HAKIM 12
KONSTANTIN PUCHKOV 12
MIKHAIL LAKHITOV 12

PTS AT STAKE: RED-HOT ESLAMI LEADS TINY FIELD AT WPT HOLLYWOOD

PHOTO CREDIT: WPT.com

Ali Eslami is the hottest player on the tournament circuit at the moment. And he leads a tiny field as Day 2 has started at the WPT Hollywood Poker Open.

Eslami, who currently holds the #1 rank on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard, could seriously increase his lead with a big score.

Shannon Shorr and 2010 PTPR Player of the Year third place finisher Thomas Marchese are also Top 5 in chips. Shorr has had good results the past six months, but a major victory has eluded him in this time-span.

Unfortunately, the big story is not the play of the runners, but the lack of runners actually entered in this field. Less than 100 players at a WPT event? How about the defending champion, Carlos Mortensen not defending his championship, instead chosing to play at Mohegan this week?

The NAPT event at Mohegan Sun does seem to be the major reason why we have such a small field here - add to that the WSOP Circuit St. Louis Main Event starting today, the EPT Berlin event that's currently ongoing and even the current Heartland Tour event on the go and, well, that's what you get, too many tournaments in too short of a time-frame.

Eslami, Shorr, Marchese and others will certainly try to take advantage of this and pickup valuable PTPR Points and a WPT bracelet along the way.

Notable elimantions include:
Randal Flowers, Vivek Rajkumar, Steve Gross, Christian Harder, Andy Frankenberger, Dwyte Pilgrim, Joseph Cheong, Michael Benvenuti and Bobby Suer.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open
WPT Hollywood Poker Open NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Hollywood Casino
Hollywood, Indiana, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $931,200
Entries: 97

Defending Champion: Carlos Mortensen

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 125
2nd position 75
3rd position 45
4th position 35
5th position 30
6-7th position 25
8-11th position 10
12-15th position 8
16-18th position 5

NAPT MOHEGAN: TRYBA LEADS PACK INTO DAY 2

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Day 2 play is about to begin at NAPT Mohegan Sun. Chris Tryba (pictured) enters second day play as the chip leader, with over 170k in chips.

Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso and Victor Ramdin are right there on the leaderboard. Actually, there are a bunch of big name players still alive in the tournament including defending champion Vanessa Selbst. She enters Day 2 play with 87k in chips.

387 players entered the tournament and 230 of those players survived the cut on Day 1 ... notable players eliminated on Day 1 included:
Sam Stein, Nick Schulman, Eugene Todd Bro, Will Failla, Scott Seiver, Darren Elias, Jason Young, Anh Van Nguyen, Jason DeWitt, Eugene Katchalov (who had a lot of chips at one point), Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Tim West, David Williams, Chau Giang, Jon Aguiar, Daniel Negreanu, Bill Chen, Dan Heimiller, Melanie Wesiner, Carter Gill and WSOP Champ Chris Moneymaker.

Here are the notable +100k chip counts as Day 2 begins today:
> Chris Tryba 173k (chip leader)
> Vanessa Rousso 125k
> Victor Ramdin 123k
> Adam Junglen 117k
> Eric Buchman 115k
> Mike Sica 112k
> John D'Agostino 112k
> Nenad Medic 112k
> Carlos Mortensen 107k
> Dan Shak 101k

Here are the payouts for NAPT Mohegan Sun (in USD):
1. $450,000
2. $254,000
3. $170,000
4. $120,000
5. $90,000
6. $70,000
7. $50,000
8. $32,330
9. $26,000
10. $26,000
11-12 $21,000
13-14. $17,000
15-16. $14,000
17-24. $12,000
25-32. $10,500
33-40. $9,000
41-56. $7,500.00


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun
NAPT Mohegan Sun NLH Main Event
April 9-13, 2011

Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $5,000
Prizepool: $1,764,330
Entries: 387

Defending Champion: Vanessa Selbst

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 128
2nd position 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6th position 28
7th position 28
8-11th position 13
12-15th position 11
16-18th position 8