PTPR PLAYER OF THE MONTH: IVAN FREITEZ CLINCHES HONORS FOR MAY

PHOTO: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Ivan Freitez' EPT Grand Final victory was enough to give him PTPR Player of the Month honors for the month of May!

Farzad Bonyadi was real close to first though, his two scores at the WPT Championship helped him post 152 PTPR Points for the month, four points behind Freitez.

Scott Seiver, who won the WPT Championship, also scored 152 PTPR Points for the month of May.


27 TOTAL TOURNAMENTS QUALIFIED FOR PTPR POINTS
Grand Slams - 2
Premier - 2
Tier 3 - 5
Prelim - 5
Challenger - 13


MAY TOP 10

May Player of the Month:
Ivan Freitez, 156 PTPR Points, 1 PTPR Score

> EPT Grand Final(1st) - 156 PTPR Points

156 - IVAN FREITEZ
152 - FARZAD "FREDDY" BONYADI
152 - SCOTT SEIVER
127 - LUKAS BERGLUND
125 - AJ JEJELOWO
109 - CHRISTOPHE LESAGE
101 - PIM de GOEDE
100 - THORSTEN SCHAFER
100 - BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY"
100 - JIM CARROLL


223 different players scored PTPR Points in May. Diego Arbuello was the only player to score in three PTPR-qualified events during the month - collecting PTPR Points in side events at both EPT San Remo and EPT Madrid as well as the WPT Spanish Championship - seven players scored twice this month, including PTPR Player of the Year points leader Galen Hall, who collected 85 PTPR Poitns this month.

3 - DIEGO ARBUELLO
2 - FARZAD "FREDDY" BONYADI
2 - JUHA HELPPI
2 - GALEN HALL
2 - ALLIE PRESCOTT
2 - MATTHEW WAXMAN
2 - DAVID "DOC" SANDS
2 - JAMES MACKEY

NOTE: The WSOP 25K Heads Up Event's points will be added to June's Player of the Month totals.

Now let the Series begin!

MARCO FIGUCCIA WRAPS UP IPT MALTA

PHOTO: ITALIANPOKERTOUR.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

The Italian Poker Tour's Malta Main Event wrapped up right on time for our Italian friends to get on a plane and be in Vegas on time for the start of the World Series of Poker.


Marco Figuccia (pictured) beat 130 other players to pickup the IPT Malta crown. 3rd place finisher Nicola D'Arrigo picked up his second 10-point PTPR Challenger Event performance of the 2011 season.

This looks to be one of the final events to be completed prior to the start of the WSOP - we will have our PTPR Player of the Month for May announced on Tuesday.

Top 10 Payouts (in EURO):
1 Marco Figuccia 82,000 EURO
2 Joeri Rick Van Der Sman 45,700 EURO
3 Nicola D'Arrigo 28,000 EURO
4 Guido Pieraccini 20,500 EURO
5 Alessandro Minasi 16,500 EURO
6 Raffaele Gaetano 12,800 EURO
7 Giuseppe Cefalu 10,240 EURO
8 Marco Bognanni 7,600 EURO
9 Desiderio Boncioli 4,550 EURO
10 Alfonso Amendola 4,550 EURO


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Pokerstars Italian Poker Tour Malta
IPT Malta NLH Main Event
May 26-30, 2011

Casino at Portomaso
Malta

Buy-in: $3,140
Prizepool: $362,910
Entries: 131

FINAL RESULTS:
MARCO FIGUCCIA 35
JOERI RICK VAN DER SMAN 18
NICOLA D'ARRIGO 10
GUIDO PIERACCINI 8
ALESSANDRO MINASI 5

ALEJANDRO PINEIRO WINS ESTRELLAS TOUR ALICANTE MAIN EVENT

PHOTO: POKERSTARSBLOG.com
SOURCE: ESTRELLASPOKERTOUR.com

The Estrellas Poker Tour's latest tour stop was at the Mediterraneo Casino for the Alicante Main Event.

Alejandro Pineiro clinched his first title win of the season with the Main Event win. Pineiro defeated 346 other opponents for the Championship.




Top 10 Payouts (in EURO):
1st Alejandro Piñeiro 75,800 €
2nd Iqbal Ahmed 48,200 €
3rd Álvaro Santamaría Velasco 26,800 €
4th Martin Clemmensen 20,900 €
5th Eduardo de las Rivas Gutiérrez 16,655 €
6th Rafael Planellas Vázquez 13,650 €
7th Markus Wetzel 10,600 €
8th Andrej Nagy 8,340 €
9th Tomasz Więdłocha 6,060 €
10th Damian Porebski 4,250 €


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Estrellas Poker Tour Alicante
Estrellas Alicante NLH Main Event
May 26-29, 2011

Mediterraneo Casino
Alicante, ESP

Buy-in: $1,425
Prizepool: $433,213
Entries: 347

FINAL RESULTS:
ALEJANDRO PINEIRO 35
IQBAL AHMED 18
ALVARO SANTAMARIA VELASCO 10
MARTIN CLEMMENSEN 8
EDUARDO DE LAS RIVAS GUTIERREZ 5

WPT SPANISH: 18-YEAR OLD DESTROYS FINAL TABLE EN ROUTE TO VICTORY

PHOTO/SOURCE: PARTYPOKERBLOG.com

It was a dominating performance from a very young man on Sunday in Barcelona. 18-year old Lukas Berglund had captured the 2011 World Poker Tour Spanish Championship - becoming the youngest WPT Main Event winner of all-time - besting Randal Flowers in the process.

Even more impressive than surpassing Flowers is the way that Berglund picked up his first live title. He single-handily eliminated all opponents at the WPT Final Table! That's correct, all seven opponents were disposed of at the hands of Berglund himself!

Congratulations on a very, very impressive performance, Mr. Berglund - too bad we won't see him at the WSOP this summer - actually, we won't see him at the World Series until the summer of 2014!!!

Here are the winnings for our final table participants (in EURO):

1.Lukas Berglund - €260,000
2.Romain Matteoli - €118,000
3.Frederic Bussot - €64,000
4.Jorge Duffour - €47,000
5.Guillem Usero - €40,000
6.Alexander Sidorin- €33,500
7.Artur Koren - €27,000
8.Markus Ristola - €20,200


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Spanish Championship
WPT Main Event
May 25-29, 2011

Casino Barcelona
Barcelona, ESP

Buy-in: $4,950
Prizepool: $977,355
Entries: 216

Defending Champion: Ali Tekintamgac

FINAL RESULTS:
LUKAS BERGLUND 127
ROMAIN MATTEOLI 77
FREDERIC BUSSOT 47
JORGE DUFFOUR 37
GUILLEM USERO 32
ALEXANDER SIDORIN 27
ARTUR KOREN 27
MARKUS RISTOLA 12
SZYMON PIESZCZOCH 12
JOEL DODDS 12
JULIEN MARIANI 12
BO SEHLSTEDT 10
DIEGO ARBUELLO 10
JOSE MANEUL SORDO 10
BOLIVAR ALBERTO PALACIOS VASQUEZ 10
MATIAS RUIZ 7
STEFAN KUHN 7
DIEGO SANCHEZ SERRANO 7

WPT SPANISH: FINAL TABLE PLAY UNDERWAY IN BARCELONA

PHOTO/SOURCE: PARTYPOKER.com/blog

Final table play is already underway at the WPT Spanish Championship in Barcelona.

We are down to four players at the first World Poker Tour event of the 2011-12 season - five realtively unknown players at the final table - only Frederic Bussot has scored PTPR Poits in the past two seasons - collecting 38 PTPR Points at last year's WSOP NLH Event 24.

Jorge Duffour holds a small chip lead.

Of the eliminated players who scored PTPR Points in this event, Joel Dodds (who scored at the Everest Poker One event) and Diego Arbuello (who has recent scores at side events at EPT San Remo and EPT Madrid) are the two notables.

The four remaining players:
1.Lukas Berglund - 3 405 000
2.Jorge Duffour - 1 245 000
3.Romain Matteoli - 1 205 000
4.Frederic Bussot - 665 000

You can follow the action live, with Jesse May on commentary duties at:
PARTY POKER LIVE STREAM


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Spanish Championship
WPT Main Event
May 25-29, 2011

Casino Barcelona
Barcelona, ESP

Buy-in: $4,950
Prizepool: $977,355
Entries: 216

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 127
2nd position 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
GUILLEM USERO 32
ALEXANDER SIDORIN 27
ARTUR KOREN 27
MARKUS RISTOLA 12
SZYMON PIESZCZOCH 12
JOEL DODDS 12
JULIEN MARIANI 12
BO SEHLSTEDT 10
DIEGO ARBUELLO 10
JOSE MANEUL SORDO 10
BOLIVAR ALBERTO PALACIOS VASQUEZ 10
MATIAS RUIZ 7
STEFAN KUHN 7
DIEGO SANCHEZ SERRANO 7

PTS AT STAKE: WPT SEASON X KICKS OFF AT CASINO BARCELONA IN SPAIN!

PHOTO/SOURCE: PARTYPOKER.com/blog

It didn't take long for the World Poker Tour to kickoff it's tenth season. A week after Scott Seiver became the final Season 9 champion of the season, we kickoff the 10th anniversary of the World Poker Tour with the WPT Spanish Championship.

216 total runners entered the event which began on Wednesday for Day 1A and Thursday for Day 1B. Friday's Day 2 is complete and we're down to 54 players.

Szymon Pieszczoch took the chip lead late on Day 2, he has 411k in chips. Joel Dodds, who recently scored at the Everest Poker The One event, is in the Top 15 in chips while EPT star Martin Jacobson (pictured) sits just outside the Top 20 with 133k.

You can follow live updates from Casino Barcelona on the Party Poker blog (partypoker.com/blog).


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Spanish Championship
WPT Main Event
May 25-29, 2011

Casino Barcelona
Barcelona, ESP

Buy-in: $4,950
Prizepool: $977,355
Entries: 216

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 127
2nd position 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6th position 27
7th position 27
8th position 12
9th position 12
10th position 12
11th position 12
12th position 10
13th position 10
14th position 10
15th position 10
16th position 7
17th position 7
18th position 7

POKER ROUND-UP: AROUND THE WORLD WE GO - BARCELONA, PARIS, AUSTRALIA AND LATVIA

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

We visit three European cities and head on down under with this four-event update!

Bacelona hosted the next leg of the FTP Poker Series. Pasquale De Simone won the event, scoring his first PTPR Points of the year - De Simone won the La Note de Poker event in Italy in January of 2008. Santiago Nadal and Adrien Garrigues both scored for the second this year.

Carlos da Silva (pictured) won ended the France Poker Tour Final events with a win in the Masters event. Although they failed to scored PTPR Points, Marvin Rettenmaier (6th) and Lucien Cohen (8th) were still able to post a Top 10 result.

Down under, Peter Matusik won the ANZPT Gold Coast Main Event at the Conrad Jupiters Casino while in Riga, Latvia, Sergei Ilin captured the Russian Poker Series Latvia Main Event.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
FTP Poker Series Barcelona
FTP Barcelona NLH Main Event
May 21-22, 2011

Casino Barcelona
Barcelona, ESP

Buy-in: $2,330
Prizepool: $381,780
Entries: 180

FINAL RESULTS
PASQUALE DE SIMONE 35
GEORGES GRIFFITH 18
SANTIAGO NADAL SORDO 10
MIGUEL ANGEL PASCUAL 8
ADRIEN GARRIGUES 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
France Poker Tour Finale a l'ACF
NLH Masters
May 23-25, 2011

Aviation Club de France
Paris, France

Buy-in: $3,535
Prizepool: $339,025
Entries: 103

FINAL RESULTS
CARLOS DA SILVA 35
ESTELLE DENIS 18
EMERIC MARCIA 10
MATHIEU LAMAGNERE 8
MIKKO SUNDELL 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Gold Coast
ANZPT NLH Main Event
May 17-22, 2011

Conrad Jupiters Casino
Australia

Buy-in: $2,660
Prizepool: $599,395
Entries: 245

FINAL RESULTS
PETER MATUSIK 35
ANTHONY GRANGE 18
BEKHALED KAMEL 10
LEO BOXELL 8
PAUL HOCKIN 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Pokerstars Russian Poker Tour Latvia
NLH Main Event
May 19-22, 2011

Royal Casino Spa Hotel & Resort
Riga, Latvia

Buy-in: $2,830
Prizepool: $308,250
Entries: 245

FINAL RESULTS
SERGEI ILIN 35
SIARHEI PILIUHIN 18
BULAT BIKEMTOV 10
IVAN DEMIDOV 8
VICTOR VOROBIEV 5

POKER ROUND-UP: CAL STATE CHAMPS, MELBOURNE CHAMPS, WPT 5K EVENT RESULTS

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

Three event results to share with you including James Mackay's third PTPR Score of the season at the final WPT Championship event at Bellagio...







PTPR PRELIM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
5K NLH Event
May 17, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $5,180
Prizepool: $324,950
Entries: 67

FINAL RESULTS
CLEMENCEAU CALIXTO 75
PETER DYKES 40
ALEX KYZMIN 25
CARY KATZ 15
JAMES MACKEY 10
DAN ALSPACH 8
DANYEL BOYACIYAN 5
DAN HEIMILLER 5
TAKASHI OGURA 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
California State Poker Championship
NLH Main Event
May 20-22, 2011

Commerce Casino
Commerce, California, USA

Buy-in: $2,575
Prizepool: $572,300
Entries: 236

FINAL RESULTS
RYAN GOINDOO 35
RYAN BUCKHOLTZ 18
MEL WEINER 10
LUKE NETTLES 8
VICKY PAPAZIAN 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Melbourne Poker Championship
NLH Main Event
May 12-16, 2011

Crown Casino
Melbourne, Austrlia

Buy-in: $1,155
Prizepool: $528,455
Entries: 502

FINAL RESULTS
SCOTT PEEL 35
DAVID ZHAO 18
SHAUN ELLIOTT 10
MINH HAU NGUYEN 8
MATTHEW WESTON 5

FPT AT THE ACF: AMATEUR LESAGE TURNS 10€ INTO 200,000€ !!

PHOTO/SOURCE: WINAMAX.fr

Young poker player Christophe Lesage pulled a Chris Moneymaker earlier today at the Aviation Club de France.

The 22-year old amateur qualified for the France Poker Tour Final by entering a 10€ event online on Winmax. Good thing he did.

Hours ago, Lesage turned the 10€ into 200,000€ by winning the FPT Final at the ACF. Although we didn't have many BIG names at the final table, Lesage did have to survive a whole gang of star players on his way to the win.

Here are the Final Table payouts:
1st : Christophe Lesage 200,000 €
2nd : Guillaume Lamour 118,000 €
3rd : Eddy Sadoun 127,000 €
4th : Brian Benhamou 50,900 €
5th : Jordan Sitbon 36,000 €
6th : Benoît de Bueger 26,500 €
7th : Pascal Leon 20,400 €
8th : Alexis Laurent 16,600 €
9th : Azzédine Zouitene 14,200 €

Here are other notables that cashed in this event:
19. Michel Cohen 5,200€
24. Hugo Lemaire 4,700€
35. Antony Lellouche 3,400€
38. Robert Cohen 2,800€
39. Marvin Rettenmaier 2,800€
46. Eric Haber 2,200€
51. Marc Inizan 2,100€
84. Paul Pires Trigo 1,600€
86. Nicolas Levi 1,600€


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
France Poker Tour Finale à l'ACF
FPT Main Event
May 19-24, 2011

Aviation Club de France
Paris, France

Buy-in: $1,405
Prizepool: $1,286,500
Entries: 915

FINAL RESULTS:
CHRISTOPHE LESAGE 109
GUILLAUME LAMOUR 69
EDDY SADOUN 44
BRIAN BENHAMOU 34
JORDAN SITBON 27
BENOIT DE BUEGER 19
PASCAL LEON 17
ALEXIS LAURENT 14
AZZEDINE ZOUITENE 14

HPT NSPC: VETERAN DEBERNARDI WINS, WEST FINISHES FOURTH

PHOTO/SOURCE: HPTPOKER.com

Veteran poker player Gary Debernardi has won the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at the Nevada State Poker Championship.

A former UB Pro, Debernardi (pictured) has results dating back to 2005 but, this looks to be his first big live tournament victory - it's about time :)

Tim West, who would have skyrocketed to #1 on the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player list with a win, finished fourth in the event, his 8 points collected in this event do allow him to surpass Taylor Von Kriegenbergh in fourth place on the PTPR Leaderboard.

Here are the Top 5 Payouts (in USD):
Gary Debenardi - $94,140
Darrel Dier - $47,070
John Norberg - $28,242
Tim West - $21,966
Keith Ryan - $18,828


PTPR CHALENGER EVENT
Nevada State Poker Championship
Heartland Poker Tour Main Event
May 22-23, 2011

Peppermill Resort Casino
Reno, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $1,650
Prizepool: $313,800
Entries: 220

FINAL RESULTS:
GARY DEBERNARDI 35
DARREL DIER 18
JOHN NORBERG 10
TIM WEST 8
KEITH RYAN 5

PTS AT STAKE: MONSTER NUMBERS AT FRANCE POKER TOUR'S "FINALE A L'ACF"

PHOTO: FRANCEPOKERTOUR.com
SOURCE: WINAMAX.fr



Almost 1,000 players invaded the Aviation Club de France a few days ago for the France Poker Tour ACF Final.

The original field included a number of well known pros and tons of amateur players, all looking to secure the 200,000 EURO top prize. We're down to the final 9 players - final table play will begin on Tuesday afternoon. Best of luck to the final nine participants!

Here are the Final Table seating assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1 : Guillaume Lamour 1,800,000
Seat 2 : Eddy Sadoun 6,900,000
Seat 3 : Jordan Sitbon 3,490,000
Seat 4 : Benoît De Brueger 1,310,000
Seat 5 : Azzédine Zouitene 1,265,000
Seat 6 : Pascal Leon 1,285,000
Seat 7 : Brian Benhamou 4,310,000
Seat 8 : Alexis Laurent 1,470,000
Seat 9 : Christophe Lesage 5,600,000

And the Final Table payouts:

1- 200 000 euros
2- 130 000 euros
3- 75 872 euros
4- 50 900 euros
5- 36 000 euros
6- 26 500 euros
7- 20 400 euros
8- 16 600 euros
9- 14 200 euros

You can follow Benjo's live updates blog at www.winimax.fr


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
France Poker Tour Finale à l'ACF
FPT Main Event
May 19-24, 2011

Aviation Club de France
Paris, France

Buy-in: $1,405
Prizepool: $1,286,500
Entries: 915

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 109
2nd position 69
3rd position 44
4th position 34
5th position 27
6th position 19
7th position 17
8th position 14
9th position 14

PTS AT STAKE: HEARTLAND POKER TOUR HITS NEVADA STATE POKER CHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR.com

The latest tour stop for the Heartland Poker Tour is the Nevada State Poker Championship Main Event.



220 players entered Sunday's first day - with 44 players returning for today's final day. Amongst the survivors are J.J. Liu and Tim West. West (pictured) currently sits 5th on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard. A win would propel West to second place on the leaderboard. A Top 4 finish and (other than first) and West would pass Taylor Von Kriegenbergh for fourth on the PTPR board.

Here are the Top 5 Payouts (in USD):
1st - $94,140
2nd - $47,070
3rd - $28,242
4th - $21,966
5th - $18,828


PTPR CHALENGER EVENT
Nevada State Poker Championship
Heartland Poker Tour Main Event
May 22-23, 2011

Peppermill Resort Casino
Reno, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $1,650
Prizepool: $313,800
Entries: 220

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

FOXWOODS FINDS ITS LATEST MEGA STACKS CHAMPION

Before starting the latest post, my heart goes to one of the best sideline reporters (and incredible photographer) BJ Nemeth for his loss. Rhapsody became a Twitter sensation - the latest picture posted by BJ is stunning.


PHOTO/SOURCE: FOXWOODSLIVE.com

Vasilios Hatziioannou is the latest Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge champ. He bested a field of 317 opponents. Mark Bramley was the runner-up in the event. It is the first PTPR Score of the 2011 season for all five PTPR Points recepients.


Here are the Top 5 Payouts (USD):
Vasilios Hatziioannou - $80,189
Mark Bramley - $46,399
Jeff Goldman - $29,587
David Vogel - $23,704
Mohammad Haghdoust - $18,492


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge
NLH Main Event
May 21-22, 2011

Foxwoods Casino Resort
Ledyard, Connecticut, USA

Buy-in: $1,200
Prizepool: $318,000
Entries: 318

FINAL RESULTS:
VASILIOS HATZIIOANNOU 35
MARK BRAMLEY 18
JEFF GOLDMAN 10
DAVID VOGEL 8
MOHAMMAD HAGHDOUST 5

WSOPC NEW ORLEANS; JEJELOWO WINS SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

The WSOP hosted the last of it's Circuit Regionals this past weekend. The WSOP Circuit New Orleans Southeast Regional was won by AJ Jejelowo. Jejelowo defeated Gary Friedlander heads up.


Three poker pros were at the final table and each were hoping for a better result ... Allie Prescott actually held the chip lead for a while on Sunday, but, could not manage anything better than a fourth place finish after a tough confrontation with the chip leader.

It's a second straight disappointing finish for Matt Waxman in New Orleans. He finished 8th earlier this week at the WSOPC New Orleans Main Event. He ended up 7th in this one, good for his fourth PTPR Score of the season - he has crossed the century mark for points in 2011.

And let's not forget about Allen Kessler. Kessler was the extremely short stacked player when final table play started. Kessler managed to make his way to sixth before finally being eliminated - great showing for the Chainsaw!

Here are the official payouts:
1 AJ Jejelowo $235,956
2 Gary Friedlander $145,422
3 Harry Cullen $95,214
4 Allie Prescott $66,202
5 Scott Lipshutz $48,673
6 Allen Kessler $37,736
7 Matt Waxman $30,794
8 Kunal Patel $26,401
9 Jeremy Gaubert $12,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit New Orleans
WSOPC Southeast Regional Championship
May 19-22, 2011

Harrah's New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $698,398
Entries: 75

POINTS AT STAKE:
AJ JEJELOWO 125
GARY FRIEDLANDER 75
HARRY CULLEN 45
ALLIE PRESCOTT 35
SCOTT LIPSHUTZ 30
ALLEN KESSLER 25
MATTHEW WAXMAN 25
KUNAL PATEL 10

PTS AT STAKE: FINAL TABLE READY TO GO DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Some of the big names of the poker world have made their way to New Orleans ... We have nine players remaining at the WSOP Circuit's final Regional Championship of the 2010-11 WSOPC season.

Although the total numbers of the final Regional are very disapointing, there are still some major things on the line here ... some cash, a entry into the National Championship Freeroll and 125 PTPR Points to the winner.

Allie Prescott (pictured) has had a solid week in New Orleans. He's currently in third place in this event, Prescott has a couple of cashes in the series already.

Matthew Waxman is looking for his fourth PTPR Score of the season (the top 8 players will receive points). If Waxman wins this event, he will be fourth on the PTPR Leaderboard. A second place finish will also earn him a spot on the PTPR Leaderboard.

Here is what they are playing for:
1st 237,456
2nd 146,922
3rd 96,714
4th 67,702
5th 50,173
6th 39,236
7th 32,294
8th 27,901

Here are the seat assignments and chip counts:
1 Allie Prescott 353,000
2 Harry Cullen 164,500
3 Allen Kessler 85,000
4 Jeremy Gaubert 121,500
5 Gary Friedlander 469,000
6 Kunal Patel 160,000
7 Matt Waxman 171,000
8 AJ Jejelowo 489,000
9 Scott Lipshutz 237,500


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit New Orleans
WSOPC Southeast Regional Championship
May 19-22, 2011

Harrah's New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Buy-in: $10,000
Prizepool: $698,398
Entries: 75

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 125
2nd position 75
3rd position 45
4th position 35
5th position 30
6th position 25
7th position 25
8th position 10

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: SCOTT SEIVER LAST OF THE CHAMPIONS

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Star player Scott Seiver survived what was by far the deepest and most dangerous field of the season and has been crowned WPT World Champion!

Seiver outlasted Farzad Bonyadi heads up - both collect a prize north of 1 million dollars! Bonyadi also scored in the 5K event, he's heating up just in time for the WSOP!



With his third place finish, Galen Hall has returned atop the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard, passing Ali Eslami and co. along the way. Bonyadi and Seiver also make their way to the PTPR Top 15 Leaderboard.

Here are the payouts for our final table participants:

1st: Scott Seiver - $1,618,344
2nd: Farzad Bonyadi - $1,061,900
3rd: Galen Hall - $589,355
4th: Roger Teska - $371,665
5th: Tony Gargano - $278,749
6th: Justin Young - $225,654

WPT SUPER HIGH ROLLERS 100K BUY-IN EVENT UPDATE: Erik Seidel's dream season continues. He has collected yet another +1 million dollar booty. Erick Lingdren and Daniel Negreanu finsished second and third respectively. No PTPR Points were awarded for the event as it did not mee the minimum 50 player rule.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: $5,309,500
Entries: 220

Defending Champion: David Williams

POINTS AT STAKE:
SCOTT SEIVER 152
FARZAD BONYADI 92
GALEN HALL 77
ROGER TESKA 67
TONY GARGANO 62
JUSTIN YOUNG 57
DAVID PETERS 52
SAM EL SAYED 47
SHANNON SHORR 37
NENAD MEDIC 27
DANIEL ALAEI 22
ASHTON GRIFFIN 20
STEVEN KELLY 20
DAVID WILLIAMS 20
WILL FAILLA 17
JOSH BERGMAN 17
CHRISTIAN HARDER 17
TOM MCCORMICK 14
ABE MOSSERI 14
KWINSEE TRAN 14
HARALABOS VOULGARIS 10
DAVE "DEVILFISH" ULLIOTT 10
ALAN STERNBERG 10
DOYLE BRUSON 7
JONATHAN LAYANI 7
KENNY TRAN 7
MATT HYMAN 7

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: GALEN HALL SET TO BECOME PTPR #1 RANKED PLAYER AGAIN

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Not many people knew the name Galen Hall before the start of the 2011 poker season. Five month later and Hall is about to become (for the 2nd time this year) #1 on the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard.


Hall, who won the 2011 PCA back in January, was the first #1 ranked player of 2011. Hall then scored points at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event and most recently at the EPT Madrid High Rollers event.

Hall has 157 PTPR Points this year and is assured of a minimum of 57 points this event, this means he will finish this event with a minimum of 214 PTPR Points, 4 points ahead of current leader Ali Eslami.

Eslami had a great start to this event, but faded as the days went by.

Scott Seiver is right behind Hall, with 5.07M chips to Hall's 5.09M.

Final table play continues Friday. You can follow live updates on WPT.com.

Final table seating assignments/chip counts:

Seat 1. Galen Hall - 5,095,000 (84 BBs)
Seat 2. Justin Young - 1,750,000 (29 BBs)
Seat 3. Tony Gargano - 3,550,000 (59 BBs)
Seat 4. Roger Teska - 3,600,000 (60 BBs)
Seat 5. Scott Seiver - 5,075,000 (84 BBs)
Seat 6. Freddy Bonyadi - 2,470,000 (41 BBs)


WPT PLAYER OF THE YEAR UPDATE: Sam El Sayed was the dominant chip leader for the longest time on Wednesday, then, a big race was lost to Justin Young and El Sayed could not recover, finishing 8th. A fourth place or better finish and El Sayed would have become the 2010-11 WPT Player of the Year. Andy Frankenberger wins the honors.

WPT SUPER HIGH ROLLERS 100K BUY-IN EVENT UPDATE: We are in the money at the SHR 100K event - another High Rollers final table for Erik Seidel. He is joined by Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren and chip leader Vivek Rajkumar. Justin Bonomo was eliminated fifth, collecting over 224K in the process.


Tune into WPT.com for live tournament updates.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: $5,309,500
Entries: 220

Defending Champion: David Williams

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 152
2nd position 92
3rd position 77
4th position 67
5th position 62
6th position 57
DAVID PETERS 52
SAM EL SAYED 47
SHANNON SHORR 37
NENAD MEDIC 27
DANIEL ALAEI 22
ASHTON GRIFFIN 20
STEVEN KELLY 20
DAVID WILLIAMS 20
WILL FAILLA 17
JOSH BERGMAN 17
CHRISTIAN HARDER 17
TOM MCCORMICK 14
ABE MOSSERI 14
KWINSEE TRAN 14
HARALABOS VOULGARIS 10
DAVE "DEVILFISH" ULLIOTT 10
ALAN STERNBERG 10
DOYLE BRUSON 7
JONATHAN LAYANI 7
KENNY TRAN 7
MATT HYMAN 7

QUEEN DECLARED WINNER AT LATEST BORGATA DEEP STACK MAIN

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: BORGATAPOKERBLOG.com

Alexander Queen has picked up The Borgata Deep Stack victory at Borgara Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

Queen, a popular tweeter (@Argentinaboy) had this to say a few hours after his victory ...

Thank you so much everyone for the good wishes and kind words I read everyone and it feels so good so thank you!

Queen picks up his first PTPR Points of the season. Outspoken poker pro Eugene Todd (Bro) finished fifth in the event.


Top 10 Player Payouts:
1. ALEXANDER QUEEN (BETHLEHEM, PA): $111,774
2. ALEK GIVOTOVSKY (NEW YORK, NY): $64,527
3. ROBERT FETZKO (JOHNSTOWN, PA): $39,372
4. JOHN WHITWORTH (MYRTLE BCH, SC): $31,717
5. EUGENE TODD (BROOKLYN, NY): $24,937
6. ANDREW HIPPLER (BALTIMORE, MD): $20,781
7. JUSTIN NASATIR (NEW YORK, NY): $16,625
8. MAXWELL MCCURDY (CHARLOTTE, NC): $12,688
9. JASON FILOPEI (BRONX, NY): $8,750
10. JOHN MYUNG (VIENNA, VA): $5,687


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Borgata Deep Stack
NLH Double Play Main Event
May 15-18, 2011

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

Buy-in: $1,100
Prizepool: $451,000
Entries: 451

FINAL RESULTS:
ALEXANDER QUEEN 35
ALEK GIVOTOVSKY 18
ROBERT FETZKO 10
JOHN WHITWORTH 8
EUGENE TODD 5

WSOPC NEW ORLEANS: POCHE PUNCHES TICKET TO WSOPC NTL' CHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Jonathan Poche has earned his way to the World Series of Poker Circuit National Championship later this month at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Poche is the latest WSOPC Main Event winner, capturing the WSOPC New Orleans title. He outlasted Bobby Toye heads up. Poche started the day 6th in chips but he accumulated chips early on Wednesday, winning big races, and eventually taking over the tournament.

Matthew Waxman finished 8th in the event in what is probably a disappointing result for the reigning WSOPC Atlantic City Main Event champion. Still, Waxman earns his third PTPR Score of the season, inching closer to the 100-point mark - he currently sits tied of 82nd on the 2011 PTPR Leaderboard.

Top 10 Player Payouts:
1 Jonathan Poche 121,017
2 Bobby Toye 74,783
3 Josh Evans 54,644
4 Todd Wood 40,573
5 Scott Zakheim 30,595
6 Jake Bazeley 23,416
7 Billie Payne 18,185
8 Matt Waxman 14,324
9 James McBride 11,441
10 Lance Craig 9,263


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit New Orleans
WSOPC New Orleans NLH Main Event
May 16-18, 2011

Harrah's New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $550,060
Entries: 382

FINAL RESULTS:
JONATHAN POCHE 75
BOBBY TOYE 40
JOSH EVANS 25
TODD WOOD 15
SCOTT ZAKHEIM 10
JAKE BAZELEY 8
BILLIE PAYNE 5
MATTHEW WAXMAN 5
JAMES MCBRIDE 5

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: CRISIS AVERTED - TEXAS DOLLY ELIMINATES CONTROVERSIAL PLAYER AS WE HIT THE MONEY

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

There was a silent standing ovation at Bellagio earlier today as Ali Tekintamgac (right), who was caught in a cheating scandal back in November at the Partouche Grand Final - event won by Vanessa Selbst - there was a ton of controversy surrounding his inclusion in the WPT World Championship.

Tekintamgac automatically qualified for the event by winning the WPT Spanish Championship last May.

As we were going deep into play today - and inching closer and closer to the money - it looked as though the situation was about to become a little more murky, with Tekintamgac surviving but, about an hour before we hit the money, good old Texas Dolly himself, Doyle Brunson, decided to take matters into his own hands, crippling Tekintamgac in a pot that left Ali with 5k in chips - he was eliminated from the tournament the next hand.

A little while later, we burst the money bubble and Doyle had cashed at the WPT World Championship. Sadly, Doyle has since been eliminated, finishing 24th in the event.

Roger Teska, one of the few relatively unknown players left in the field, leads the tournament. PCA Champ Galen Hall, Scott Seiver, Day 1 chip leader Christian Harder and Shannon Shorr round-out the Top 5.

Defending champ David Williams is still alive, he has about 700k in chips at the moment.

Roger Teska 1,925,000
Galen Hall 1,850,000
Scott Seiver 1,700,000
Christian Harder 1,700,000
Shannon Shorr 1,500,000
Tony Gargano 1,445,000
Daniel Alaei 1,000,000
Ashton Griffin 1,000,000
Nenad Medic 990,000
Abe Mosseri 980,000
Sam El Sayed 970,000
Josh Bergman 910,000
Steven Kelly 900,000
Justin Young 800,000
David Williams 700,000
Kwinsee Tran 690,000
Freddy Bonyadi 600,000
David Peters 500,000
Haralabos Voulgaris 500,000
Tom McCormick 445,000
Dave Ulliott 410,000
Alan Sternberg 370,000
Will Failla 310,000

Some of today's notable eliminations include: Brunson, Tran, Khan, Lichtenberger, Romanello, Smith, Cheong, Chiu, Turner, Trickett, Frankenberger, Timoshenko, Dorfman, Kuzmin, Baxter, O'Dwyer and Bay 101 champ Alan Sternberg.

Tune into WPT.com for live tournament updates.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: $5,309,500
Entries: 220

Defending Champion: David Williams

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 152
2nd position 92
3rd position 77
4th position 67
5th position 62
6th position 57
7th position 52
8th position 47
9th position 37
10th position 27
11th position 22
12-14th position 20
15-17th position 17
18-20th position 14
21-23rd position 10
DOYLE BRUNSON 7
JONATHAN LAYANI 7
KENNY TRAN 7
MATT HYMAN 7

POKER ROUND-UP: WPT CHAMPIONSHIP 5K AND WSOPC NEW ORLEANS 1K SIDE EVENTS

PHOTO: BELLAGIO.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

We have side event results from the WPT World Championship 5k event and the WSOPC New Orleans 1k event...

In Las Vegas, Jim Carroll (pictured) captured his first PTPR Points of the season with his win. He collected over 130k with his win. The final table of this 90-player event was a tough one! Farzad Bonyadi, Hafiz Khan, Eric Froehlich, Steve O'Dwyer and Jess Yawitz were others at that final table.

Top 9 Payouts:
1 Jim Carroll $139,740
2 Farzad Bonyadi $120,030
3 Hafiz Khan $59,595
4 Eric Froehlich $32,880
5 Steve O'Dwyer $26,715
6 Jess Yawitz $20,550
7 James MacKey $14,385
8 Stan Jablonski $12,330
9 Anthony Grappo $10,275


Meanwhile in New Orleans, Brian Walsingham won his second WSOPC Gold Ring in less than a week, winning the 1K side event on Sunday. Walsingham had previously won a $300 side event on Tuesday.

Allie Prescott finished third in the event.

Final 9 Payouts:
1 Brian Walsingham $78,604
2 Lawrence Wayne $48,594
3 Allie Prescott $35,450
4 Anthony Prusac $26,295
5 Paul Odum $19,808
6 Dan Schmiech $15,150
7 Loc Van Nguyen $11,758
8 Eli Loewenthal $7,759
9 Yong An $6,005


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship NLH Event 14
May 12, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $5,180
Prizepool: $436,500
Entries: 90

FINAL RESULTS
JIM CARROLL 100
FARZAD BONYADI 60
HAFIZ KHAN 35
ERIC FROEHLICH 25
STEVE O'DWYER 18
JESS YAWITZ 10
JAMES MACKEY 8
STAN JABLONKSI 5
TONY GRAPPO 5

PTPR PRELIM EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit New Orleans
WSOPC New Orleans NLH Event 8
May 14-15, 2011

Harrah's New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Buy-in: $1,085
Prizepool: $341,760
Entries: 356

FINAL RESULTS
BRIAN WALSINGHAM 75
LAWRENCE WAYNE 40
ALLIE PRESCOTT 25
ANTHONY PRUSAC 15
PAUL ODUM 10
DAN SCHMIECH 8
LOC VAN NGUYEN 5
ELI LOEWENTHAL 5
YONG AN 5

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: MONDAY MORNING AT THE WPT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

We're through two days at the WPT World Championship. Abe Mosseri maintains his chip lead while WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Champ Alan Sternberg moved up the charts on Day 2 and is currently second.


Here are the Top 20 Chip Counts heading into Day 3 play:

1 ABRAHAM MOSSERI 685,200
2 ALAN STERNBERG 606,400
3 STEVEN KELLY 566,500
4 ROGER TESKA 534,900
5 SCOTT SEIVER 461,300
6 JOSHUA BERGMAN 415,600
7 JUSTIN YOUNG 414,100
8 ROBERT MERCER 408,600
9 DAVID PETERS 401,400
10 DARREN ELIAS 342,900
11 ERIK SEIDEL 342,100
12 STEVEN GROSS 340,400
13 JEFFREY FORREST 333,300
14 CHRISTOPHER DEMACI 332,600
15 JOSEPH CHEONG 329,500
16 GALEN HALL 326,700
17 YEVGENIY TIMOSHENKO 315,800
18 ANDREW LICHTENBERGER 300,200
19 RANDALL FLOWERS 299,800
20 JAKE CODY 295,800

Tune into WPT.com for live tournament updates.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: $5,309,500
Entries: 220

Defending Champion: David Williams

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 152
2nd position 92
3rd position 77
4th position 67
5th position 62
6th position 57
7th position 52
8th position 47
9th position 37
10th position 27
11th position 22
12-14th position 20
15-17th position 17
18-20th position 14
21-23rd position 10
24-27th position 7

PTS AT STAKE: FORMER WPT WORLD CHAMP STACKING SOME CHIPS

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Former WPT World Champion Yevgeniy Timoshenko is trying to win this thing again! Timoshenko is currently third in chips behind Darren Elias and monster chip leader Abe Mosseri.

Timoshenko would love nothing more but to carry this momentum into Monday are really start putting pressure on his opponents - Timoshenko has been realtively quite on the felt for the last little while.

As expected, big names added their names to the field - taking advantage of the late registration process - as Tony G, Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham and others made their way to the Bellagio Tournament floor for action.

One notable absence is Jason Mercier. Mercier had indicated that he was very much under the weather - unfortunately for Mercier, things didn't get better and instead of heading to the Bellagio, he checked into a hospital to make sure all is well ... Mercier tweeted the following earlier Sunday...

Can't believe I almost regged #WPTchamp. Have 102.9 fever and tonsilitis... Def sitting this one out

Speedy recovery Jason! Maybe an appearance at the Super High Rollers event later this week?

A total of 220 players registered for the WPT World Championship, 25 more players than last year's event that was won by David Williams.

The total prize pool is over 5 million dollars and the top 2 players will become millionaires - first place getting a little over 1.6M.

Here are the payouts:
1st: $1,618,344
2nd: $1,061,900
3rd: $589,355
4th: $361,665
5th: $278,749
6th: $225,654
7th: $172,559
8th: $119,464
9th: $84,952
10th - 12: $63,714
13th - 15th: $53,095
16th - 18th: $42,476
19th - 27th: $37,167

Here are the current unofficial Top 10 chip counts (which include three 2010-11 WPT Champions - Alan Sternberg (WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star), Randal Flowers (WPT Festa al Lago) and Jeff Forrest (WPT Foxwoods):

Abe Mosseri 675,000
Darren Elias 360,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko 353,000
Steven Kelly 350,000
Justin Young 335,000
Alan Sternberg 330,000
Randal Flowers 320,000
Ryan D'Angelo 312,000
Brandon Steven 310,000
Jeff Forrest 297,000

Tune into WPT.com for live tournament updates.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: $5,309,500
Entries: 220

Defending Champion: David Williams

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st position 152
2nd position 92
3rd position 77
4th position 67
5th position 62
6th position 57
7th position 52
8th position 47
9th position 37
10th position 27
11th position 22
12-14th position 20
15-17th position 17
18-20th position 14
21-23rd position 10
24-27th position 7

HPT SOARING EAGLE: 20-YEAR OLD JAYNE WINS IN FIRST LIVE EVENT

PHOTO/SOURCE: HPTPOKER.com

Most 20-year olds spent their Sunday tweeting with friends, maybe watching a little golf on TV with their dads while eating Sunday BBQ but not Jordan Jayne.

Jayne spent his weekend besting a 380+ player field playing his first ever live poker tournament - and along the way, capturing the Heartland Poker Tour Soaring Eagle Michigan Main Event title.

Jayne isn't even old enough to play in most North-American events, including the World Series of Poker which starts later this month - he will have to wait until 2012 to make his WSOP debut.

Here are the Top 10 finishers from the event:
1. Jordan Jayne $165,462
2. Max Weinberg $82,732
3. Stan Miller $49,639
4. Brad Albrinck $38,608
5. Cody Nguyen $33,093
6. James Casement $27,577
7. A. Benidict Castle $18,642
8. Harry Hunter $15,719
9. Peter Skinsacos III $11,307
10. Michael Dunn $9,376


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Heartland Poker Tour Soaring Eagle Michigan
HPT NLH Main Event
May 14-15, 2011

Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA

Buy-in: $1,650
Prizepool: $554,554
Entries: 386

Defending Champion: Eric Stocz

FINAL RESULTS
JORDAN JAYNE 35
MAX WEINBERG 18
STAN MILLER 10
BRAD ALBRINCK 8
CODY NGUYEN 5

PTS AT STAKE: DAY 2 UNDERWAY AS HPT LOOKS TO CROWN IT'S NEXT CHAMP

PHOTO/SOURCE: HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR.com

The Heartland Poker Tour is in Mount Pleasant, Michigan for the Soaring Eagle HPT Championship.

Two of the featured players, WSOP Champ Greg Raymer and Lacey Jones will not make it to final table play later today, both have been eliminated - Raymer didn't make it out of Day 1 while Jones was eliminated earlier today during Day 2 play.

Raymer did however capture the Celebrity Bounty Qualifier on Friday night.

You can follow the HPT's twitter feed @HPTpokertour for tournament updates.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Heartland Poker Tour Soaring Eagle Michigan
HPT NLH Main Event
May 14-15, 2011

Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA

Buy-in: $1,650
Prizepool: $579,000
Entries: 386

Defending Champion: Eric Stocz

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

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: PTPR LEADER ESLAMI RIGHT IN THE MIX

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year leader Ali Eslami sits second after first day play at the WPT Championship. A solid result would only help Eslami pad his lead atop the leaderboard as we inch closer to the WSOP. Eslami leads Italian Alessio Isaia by 5 PTPR Points however Isaia won't be able to grad the lead back from Eslami, Isaia, the WPT Venice Champ, was one of the few casualties on Day 1 (the others were Somerville, Kassela, Tilly, Lawson, Mohajeri, Esfandiari, Mortensen, Froehlich and Benyamine).

Solid pro Christian Harder leads the way, he is looking for his first PTPR Score of the season.

The Godfather himself, Doyle Brunson is sixth in chips and will be looking to continue his strong play on Day 2, hoping to capture his first major championship in a few years.

The tournament is stocked with big name players, in fact, you can recognize almost every single runner in this field - it is, by far, the best field in a open event this season.

We currently have 188 registered into the event - players can still buy into the event for a few levels on Sunday - we're expecting a total field of over 200 - Tony G and Jason Mercier have already indicated that they will be making their way to the Bellagio for Day 2 play.

Here are the Top 10 chip leaders heading into Day 2:
1. Christian Harder - 249,975
2. Ali Eslami - 240,475
3. Kyle Julius - 237,675
4. Justin Young - 234,575
5. Alan Sternberg - 233,675
6. Doyle Brunson - 230,000
7. Kevin Saul - 229,975
8. Masaaki Kagawa - 229,500
9. Robert Mercer - 222,850
10. Curt Kohlberg - 216,925

Tune into WPT.com for live tournament updates.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
World Poker Tour World Championship
WPT World Championship
May 14-20, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Buy-in: $25,500
Prizepool: TBA
Entries: 188 (registration still open)

Defending Champion: David Williams

NAME PLAYERS SHINE AT EPT MADRID SIDE EVENTS

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Two EPT Madrid events wrapped up earlier this week.

The NLH 8-Max 5K Euro buy-in event brought in a hole heep of name players to the table. Pim de Goede scored his first major tournament win, defeating Juha Helppi heads up.

Helppi is on a good run lately. He scores 61 PTPR Points for his third PTPR Score of the year. Those 61 points put him past the century mark for the season, he joins WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel in 34th place on the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Race.

Ninth place finisher Maxim Lykov (pictured) continues his impressive 2011 - collecting his fifth PTPR Score of the season. Lykov now sits with 121 PTPR Points, 12 shy of the PTPR Top 15 Leaderboard. The five PTPR Scores is tops in 2011. Alessio Isaia and Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (who sit 2nd and 3rd on the PTPR Leaderboard) both have four PTPR Scores this season.

Swede Nichlas Mattsson collected his third PTPR Score of year while Diego Arbuello and J.P. Kelly both scored for the second time this year.


Meanwhile, Canadian Jeffrey Chu won No Limit Holdem Event 17. Rob Akery, Andrew Chen and Ana Marquez also scored in the event, their second PTPR Scores of the year. Yorane Kerignard, Erik Haik and Roger Hairabedian are other notables in the Top 9.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
8-Max NLH Event
May 9-10, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $7,410
Prizepool: $867,765
Entries: 123

FINAL RESULTS
PIM de GOEDE 101
JUHA HELPPI 61
JEAN PHILLIPE ROHR 36
DIEGO ARBUELLO 26
CARL DANIEL CARLSSON 19
J.P. KELLY 11
NICHLAS MATTSSON 9
JEFFREY WILLIAMS 6
MAXIM LYKOV 6


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
Event 17 - NLH
May 10-11, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $3,030
Prizepool: $603,910
Entries: 214

FINAL RESULTS
JEFFREY CHU 75
ROB AKERY 40
JACQUES TORBEY 25
YORANE KERIGNARD 15
ERIC HAIK 10
JENS THORSON 8
ROGER HAIRABEDIAN 5
ANDREW CHEN 5
ANA MARQUEZ 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: FREITEZ CONQUERS SPAIN

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We apologize for the technical difficulties that prevented us from posting the EPT Grand Final results on time. You may have heard that Blogger (our web host) was down for almost 24 hours. Now back to your regularly scheduled posts!

Here are the EPT Grand Final results; event won by Ivan Freitez.


1. Ivan Freitez €1,500,000
2. Torsten Brinkmann €900,000
3. Tamas Lendvai €550,000
4. Andrey Danilyuk €400,000
5. Juan Maceiras €315,000
6. Eugene Yanayt €250,000
7. Alex Gomes €185,000
8. Andrew Li €130,000


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
IVAN FREITEZ 156
TORSTEN BRINKMANN 96
TAMAS LENDVAI 81
ANDREY DANILYUK 71
JUAN MACEIRAS 66
EUGENE YANAYT 61
ALEX GOMES 56
ANDREW LI 51
THOMAS PETTERSSON 41
ALESSANDRO LIMBLICI 31
PEDRO PELLICER 26
SIMON HIGGINS 24
ANKUSH MANDAVIA 24
DAG PALOVIC 24
SHIRAZ SOLTANINASSAB 21
DOMANTAS KLIMCIAUSKAS 21
LITTERIO PIRROTTA 21
GERARDO GODINEZ 18
JOSE NADAL 18
HUGO LEMAIRE 18
GEORGES YAZBECK 14
RAEMON SLUITER 14
VICTOR RAMDIN 14
OLE-KRISTIAN NERGARD 11
VASILY FURSOV 11
ERIK VAN DEN BERG 11
EUGENE KATCHALOV 11

KENNY NGUYEN GOLDEN AT WSOPC CHESTER

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Kenny Nguyen has won his first major live poker tournament! Nguyen has had many cashes in his career going back to the 90's but, his WSOP Circuit win on Tuesday is his biggest.

The WSOP Circuit has one more stop in New Orleans before the National Championship later this month at Caesers Palace in Las Vegas.

Top 10 Payouts:
1 Kenny Nguyen 94,901
2 Robert Scott 58,639
3 Ramana Epparla 42,366
4 Ari Engel 31,179
5 Sean Knitter 23,358
6 Ed Cotter 17,799
7 Robert Hwang 13,790
8 Ryan Waddell 10,858
9 Huy Nguyen 8,685
10 Michael Rocco 7,054


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's Chester
WSOPC Chester NLH Main Event
May 8-10, 2011

Harrah's Chester
Chester, Pennsylvania, USA

Buy-in: $1,600
Prizepool: $400,000
Entries: 269

FINAL RESULTS
KENNY NGUYEN 35
ROBERT SCOTT 18
RAMANA EPPARLA 10
ALAN ENGEL 8
SEAN KNITTER 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: NERGARD DEALT CATASTROPHIC BLOW AS DAY 3 ENDS

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We start off today's report with a tip of the hat to a PTPR Favourite - and member of the unofficial Team PTPR - PKRGSSP for his recent co-win at an event at the Bay 101 on Saturday. Now no PTPR points were awarded but, a win is a win, great job JW! PKRGSSP is one of the best reads on the net, make sure you add him to your poker bookmarks if you haven't done so already! http://pkrgssp.tumblr.com/

We're half-way through the EPT Grand Final and although there aren't many big names still alive amongst the final 24 runners, we still have been witness to breathtaking moments.

With moments on Tuesday, former chip leader Ole-Krisitan Nergard went from the penthouse to the outhouse ... he barely has any chips left heading into Day 4.

The person that called Nergard bluff was Eugene Yanayt (pictured). Yanayt big pot win gives him the chip lead heading into Final 24 play.

Team PokerStars Pro Juan Maceiras is Top 5 in chips while fellow Team Pro Alex Gomes is Top 15. Team Pro Victor Ramdin refuses to die, he's still alive but will need to get things going early on Wednesday.

Here are some notable players still remaining:

Eugene Yanayt 2374000
Torsten Brinkmann 1959000
Simon Higgins 1705000
Juan Maceiras 1308000
Alex Gomes 655000
Victor Ramdin 489000
Hugo Lemaire 292000
Dag Palovic 244000
Ole Kristian Nergard 105000

Notables that were eliminated during Day 3 play include: Eugene Katchalov, Surinder Sunar, Daniel Weinman, Ted Forrest, Lucien Cohen, William Reynolds, EPT Berlin winner Ben Wilinofsky, Melanie Weisner, Will Molson, Leo Fernandez, Allen Bari, Timothy Finne, Tobias Reinkemeier, McLean Karr, Ivan Demidov, Xuan Liu and Samuel Chartier,


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11

EPT GRAND FINAL: WE'RE IN THE MONEY IN MADRID

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Ole-Kristian Nergard (pictured) leads the way for the second straight day at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. Nergard was the Day 1B chip leader following Sunday's play; he kept things going today and will come into Tuesday's action as the chip leader!

The group chasing Nergard includes Kristoffer Thorsson, who sits second in chips, about 15k in chips behind the leader.

French pro Hugo Lemaire is fourth in chips while US pros Melanie Weisner and the electrifying William Reynolds are right behind Lemaire.

EPT Berlin champ Ben Wilinofsky refuses to go away - he is 8th in chips and is looking to make it two EPT titles in two months.

There are a bunch of other big names also in the race as Day 3 action approaches - Weinman, Ramdin, Gomes, Karr, Sunar, Reinkemeier, Palovic to name a few.

We're down to 104 runners, here are some of the notable chip stacks:

Ole Kristian Nergard 726,000
Kristoffer Thorsson 701,500
Daniel Weinman 676,000
Hugo Lemaire 658,000
Melanie Weisner 543,500
William Reynolds 541,500
Ben Wilinofsky 533,000
Victor Ramdin 494,500
Alex Gomes 476,500
Juan Maceiras 430,000
McLean Karr 422,000
Surinder Sunar 381,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 334,000
Dag Palovic 289,500
Tim Finne 218,500
Lucien Cohen 198,500
Ivan Demidov 198,500
Xuan Liu 168,500
David Sonelin 155,000
Ted Forrest 130,000
Allen Bari 127,000
Pierre Neuville 110,900
Leo Fernandez 106,000
James Bord 96,000
Will Molson 90,500
Eugene Katchalov 66,500
Daniel Heimiller 60,000
Mikhall Shakhnovich 56,500
Raymond Wu 39,000
Fatima Moreira de Melo 26,000

We lost many big names on Monday as well - the list includes: Pastor, Thorson, van Zadelhoff, Busquet, Brooks, Lundmark, Tureniec, Strassmann, Chouity, Boeken, Cajelais, Medic, Kravchenko, Lewis, Margets, Boeree, de Wolfe, Brenes, Vamplew, Langhamm, Phillips, Black, de Korver, Jason Mercier, Luske, Vandersmissen, Naujoks, Visser and Mattern.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11

EPT GRAND FINAL: SWEDISH QUALIFIER SONELIN LEADS AFTER DAY 1'S

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Day 1A and Day 1B are in the books and we have our first official end of day chip leader at the biggest event of the EPT season - the EPT Grand Final.

David Sonelin (pictured), who qualified to enter the tournament, leads the way with over 275k in chips.

EPT Berlin champ Ben Wilinofsky is third in chips over 233k and EPT Deauville winner Lucien Cohen sits fifth with a little over 200k in chips

Only five players have over 200k in chips, curiously, all came from Day 1A.

The top in chips from Day 1B is Norway's Ole-Kristian Nergard - he has 198k in chips. Former November Niner Ivan Demidov is second best from Day 1B while Surinder Sunar was 5th best in chips on Sunday.

Here are the most notable chip stacks (with 100k+ chips) as we begin Monday's play:

David Sonelin 275900
Ben Wilinofsky 233400
Alex Gomes 225900
Lucien Cohen 201500
Ole-Kristian Nergard 198200
Ivan Demidov 197800
Surinder Sunar 179200
Allen Bari 172900
Hugo Lemaire 172300
Daniel Weinman 159000
Dean Lyall 153300
Gregory Brooks 141400
William Reynolds 136800
Juan Maceiras 126000
Steven van Zadelhoff 124800
Fernando Brito 118300
Melanie Weisner 116500
Raemon Sluiter 116000
William Thorson 115200
Anthony Maranca 113600
Denys Chufarin 110000
Leo Fernandez 107400
Carter Phillips 102100
Eugene Yanayt 102000
Florian Langmann 100000


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11

PTS AT STAKE: EPT GRAND FINAL UNDERWAY IN MADRID

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

We've reached the dinner break on Day 1B of the EPT Grand Final in Madrid, Spain.

Final player registrations are in, as are the payouts for the event.

We have a total of 686 players registered for the first Grand Slam event of the 2011 PTPR Season. The total prizepool is just a few dollars shy of 10 million US!

Sweden David Sonelin is the Day 1A chip leader. He is followed closely by Brian England, EPT Berlin Champ Ben Wilinofsky, Alex Gomes and EPT Deauville Champ Lucien Cohen.

Former November Niner Ivan Demidov, Bradley MacFarland, Victor Ramdin, WSOPE Champ James Bord and Isildur1, Viktor Blom have the most chips late in Day 1B.

Here are the payouts for the EPT Grand Final:
1. €1,500,000
2. €900,000
3. €550,000
4. €400,000
5. €315,000
6. €250,000
7. €185,000
8. €130,000
9-10. €95,000
11-12. €70,000
13-14. €60,000
15-16. €50,000
17-24. €40,000
25-32. €35,000
33-40. €30,000
41-56. €25,000
57-80. €20,000
81-104. €15,000


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11

EPT MADRID HIGH ROLLERS: FAST FIVE - ElkY WINS MADRID HIGH ROLLERS IN A SPRINT

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Looks like ElkY and the rest of the High Rollers at EPT Madrid had somewhere to be today - maybe they wanted to prepare for Day 1B of the EPT Grand Final? The reason I bring this up? It took about 5 hours to find our EPT Madrid High Rollers Champion - welcome Bertrand Grospellier a.k.a. ElkY to the 2011 scoreboard.

That's right, ElkY has captured the EPT Madrid High Rollers, oh, and €525,000, for his first points of the 2011 PTPR Season. ElkY defeated Benny Spindler heads up.

Spindler was the talk of the Final Table earlier in the day when he clashed with fellow big stack (and the chip leader heading into today's play) Galen Hall. Spindler outlasted Hall in a hand to eliminate the defending PCA Champ.

Hall was very disapointed with his quick exit, he has this to say on his Twitter feed ( @galenhall ) - minutes after elimination:

god im the f+++ing worst out 7th because i am terrible

At that point, ElkY was the short stack at the table!

Another short stack who posted a good comeback was Vanessa Rousso. With little chips, Russo was able to grind it and capture €100,000 for her fifth place finish.

High Stakes regular Juha Helppi is always a threat - and he was rolling until ElkY doubled through him - crippling Helppi along the way.

Here are the Final Table payouts:
1 ElkY, France, €525,000
2 Benny Spindler, Germany, €316,000
3 Juha Helppi, Finland, €185,000
4 David Sands, USA, €135,000
5 Vanessa Rousso, USA, €100,000
6 Alex Repik, Russia, €72,000
7 Galen Hall, USA, €57,500
8 Peter Jetten, Canada ,€45,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Madrid Grand Final High Rollers
May 5-7, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $35,835
Prizepool: $2,057,790
Entries: 58

Defending Champion: Tobias Reinkemeir

FINAL RESULTS
BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY" 100
BENJAMIN SPINDLER 60
JUHA HELPPI 35
DAVID SANDS 25
VANESSA ROUSSO 18
ALEX REPIK 10
GALEN HALL 8
PETER JETTEN 5

PTS AT STAKE: FINAL TABLE PLAY UNDERWAY AT EPT MADRID HIGH ROLLERS

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Final table play is underway at the EPT Madrid Grand Final High Rollers event and we've already gotten some crazy action!

Heading into final table play with the chip lead, PCA champ Galen Hall (pictured), has been ousted in 7th place after clashing with another big stack, Germany's Benny Spinder.

Peter Jetten was the first player out, in 8th place.

Here are the latest chip stacks as FT play is in full swing:
Benny Spindler 1,200,000
Juha Helppi 707,000
Alex Repik 280,000
Vanessa Rousso 240,000
David "Doc" Sands 207,000
ElkY Bertrand Grospellier 165,000

And here are the payouts for the High Rollers:
1 €525,000
2 €316,000
3 €185,000
4 €135,000
5 €100,000
6 €72,000
7 Galen Hall
8 Peter Jetten


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Madrid Grand Final High Rollers
May 5-7, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $35,835
Prizepool: $2,057,790
Entries: 58

Defending Champion: Tobias Reinkemeir

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

PTPR PLAYER OF THE MONTH: MAXIMILIAN HEINZELMANN BEST IN APRIL

PHOTO: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Well played, Mr. Heinzelmann!

In a rare feat, Max Heinzelmann is the PTPR Tournament Poker Player of the Month for April - and this, without winning an event during the past month's play.

That should serve as some sort of consolation for Heinzelmann, who book-ended April with a pair of EPT Main Event runner-up results.

Heinzelmann finished second to Ben Wilinosfky at EPT Berlin and saw Rupert Elder pickup a win heads up at EPT San Remo.

Still, well played, Mr. Heinzelmann!


WPT Seminole Hard Rock winner Taylor Von Kriegenbergh also had a great month - three PTPR Scores, two NAPT Mohegan scores to go with his new WPT title. The aforementioned Elder and Wilinosky were next on the list while Vanessa Selbst was fifth best in April with her NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event repeat.


32 TOTAL TOURNAMENTS QUALIFIED FOR PTPR POINTS
Grand Slams - 0
Premier - 5
Tier 3 - 5
Prelim - 4
Challenger - 18


APRIL TOP 10

April Player of the Month:
Maximilian Heinzelmann, 166 PTPR Points, 2 PTPR Scores

> EPT Berlin Main Event (2nd) - 82 PTPR Points
> EPT San Remo Main Event (2nd) - 84 PTPR Points

166 - MAXIMILIAN HEINZELMANN
155 - TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH
134 - RUPERT ELDER
132 - BEN WILINOFSKY
128 - VANESSA SELBST
125 - MIKE SCARBOROUGH
106 - NIALL SMYTH
105 - JASON MERCIER
104 - RUSSELL CRANE
104 - GILBERT TOUTATI


250 different players scored PTPR Points in April. Von Kriegenbergh was the only player to collect (3) PTPR Scores for the month. Five players earned two scores.

3 - TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH
2 - MAXIMILIAN HEINZELMANN
2 - JASON MERCIER
2 - DAVID STEFANSKI
2 - ALLEN BARI
2 - ANDREW TENG

THE ROUND-UP: PFEIFER WINS DEEPSTACKS SENECA, MANSBRIDGE TAKES GUKPT WALSALL

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: @kevmath

Two PTPR Challenger events wrapped up earlier this week ...

In Niagara Falls, Randy Pfeifer won the Deepstacks Live Main Event at Seneca Niagara Casino. Pfeifer defeated Steve Przybyl heads up.

Meanwhile in Great Britain, cab driver Alan Mansbridge won the GUKPT Walsall Championship event.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Deepstacks Live Seneca Niagara Falls
NLH Main Event
April 29-30, 2011

Seneca Niagara Falls Casino
Niagara Falls, New York, USA

Buy-in: $1,500
Prizepool: $272,700
Entries: 205

FINAL RESULTS
RANDY PFEIFER 35
STEVE PRZYBYL 18
MICHAEL MALM 10
ROB GAUDIO 8
DREW BRONGO 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
GUKPT Walsall
NLH Championship Event
April 29-30, 2011

Grosvenor Casino Walsall
Walsall, Great Britain

Buy-in: $1,750
Prizepool: $281,880
Entries: 172

FINAL RESULTS
ALAN MANSBRIDGE 35
MARTIN HOLMES 18
SIMON DEADMAN 10
DANNY TOFFEL 8
NICK HICKS 5

THE ROUND-UP: SIDE EVENTS IN SAN REMO, CHARTIER BACK ON LEADERBOARD

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: CARDPLAYER.com

Great participation throughout at EPT San Remo - the proof? 4 side events qualified for PTPR Points - a very impressive feat for sure.

The highlight is Samuel Chartier (pictured) and his 3rd place finish in Event 13 - High Stakes No Limit Hold'em - which was won by Thorsten Schafer. Chartier collected 35 PTPR Points with his third place and returns to the PTPR Leaderboard - Chartier now sits 11th on the 2011 Player of the Year Leaderboard. Chartier collected a win at the PCA earlier this year - in the PLO-8max Championship.

William Thorson finished sixth, collecting his second PTPR Score of the season.


Three players collected points for the second time this season in Event 8 - No Limit Hold'em ... Nicolas Cardyn (who placed third in the event), Ronan Collet (6th), Nichlas Mattsson (8th). Gilbert Toutati won the event.


Event 6 - No Limit Holdem Turbo was won by Leonardo Fabrizio Alfio - Giuseppe Pantaleo and Mikhail Shakhnovich both collected their second PTPR Score of the season.


Kimmo Kurko earned the win in Event 12 - No Limit Hold'em / Pot Limit Omaha w/ single rebuy - Vadzim Kursevich collected his second PTPR Score of the year.


PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
Event 6 - No Limit Hold'em Turbo
April 28, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $3,115
Prizepool: $267,689
Entries: 186

FINAL RESULTS
LEONARDO FABRIZIO ALFIO 75
MARKUS GARBERG 40
GIUSEPPE PANTALEO 25
STEPHEN LEONARD 15
MIKHAIL SHAKHNOVICH 10
EDGARAS STUSEVAS 8
KNUT RYSSTAD 5
ANDRE KLEBANOV 5
SECONDO COCCIA 5

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
Event 8 - No Limit Hold'em
April 30-May 2, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $3,250
Prizepool: $1,262,160
Entries: 439

FINAL RESULTS
GILBERT TOUTATI 104
VALERII STRELNIKOV 64
NICOLAS CARDYN 39
ADRIEN ALLAIN 29
SHAMS AHMAD 22
RONAN COLLET 14
MYKOIA CHORNYI 12
NICHLAS MATTSSON 9
ISAK ERIKSSON 9

PTPR PRELIM EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
Event 12 - No Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha w/1 Rebuy
May 1-2, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $1,630
Prizepool: $264,507
Entries: 184

FINAL RESULTS
KIMMO KURKO 75
ALESSANDRO DE MICHELE 40
DIEGO ARBUELLO 25
JOHN WEST 15
GIACOMO SCOLA 10
CARL DOYON 8
FABIO MAZZARELLO 5
MICHELE LUCA ROCCI 5
VADZIM KURSEVICH 5

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
Event 13 - No Limit Hold'em
May 2-3, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $15,330
Prizepool: $893,380
Entries: 97

FINAL RESULTS
THORSTEN SCHAFER 100
OLEH OKHOTSKYI 60
SAMUEL CHARTIER 35
SALMAN BEHBEHANI 25
FERNANDO BRITO 18
WILLIAM THORSON 10
DAVID SONELIN 8
DAVID SANDS 5

A FINAL LOOK AT: EPT SAN REMO IS RUPERT ELDER'S SHINING MOMENT

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Rupert Elder's goal was simple - spoil Max Heinzelmann's party for the second straight EPT Event - and he did.

Elder's EPT San Remo win means that Max Heinzelmann finishes runner-up for the second straight EPT event .. Martin Jacobson also has two 2nd place finishes this EPT season .. it's a trend that both will hope to end with a EPT Grand Final win - the Grand Final, which will be held in Madrid, Spain, starts Saturday.

Heinzelmann still moves up to 6th overall on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard, a small consolation prize for sure, but, an important stat nonetheless.

Max Lykov was unable to move up into the Top 25. He finished fourth but needed a third place finish in order to move up. Still, this is Lykov's fourth PTPR Score of the year and he looks to carry the momentum into the EPT Grand Final and the WSOP.

Here are the payouts for the final table participants:
1st. Rupert Elder, United Kingdom, €930,000
2nd. Max Heinzelmann, Germany, €600,000
3rd. Xuan Liu, Canada, €360,000
4th. Max Lykov, Russia, Team PokerStars Pro, €290,000
5th. Francesco de Vivo, Italy, €220,000
6th. Massimiliano Manigrasso, Italy, €170,000
7th. Costantino Russo, Italy, €125,000
8th. Roberto Spada, Italy, €81,950


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

FINAL RESULTS
RUPERT ELDER 134
MAX HEINZELMANN 84
XUAN LIU 54
MAXIM LYKOV 44
FRANCESCO de VIVO 39
MASSIMILIANO MANIGRASSO 34
CONSTANTINO RUSSO 34
ROBERTO SPADA 19
LUIGI PIGNATARO 19
ANTONIO VENNERI 19
MARCO BOGNANNI 19
ANDREW TENG 17
JOE CADA 17
DIEGO BOLZONI 17
MARCO FABBRINI 17
NICOLAS YUNIS 14
KAMAL CHORARIA 14
LUCIANO LONGHITANO 14

A FINAL LOOK AT: WPT SEMINOLE HARD ROCK MAIN EVENT - VON KRIEGENBERGH MOVES UP

PHOTO: BLUFFMAGAZINE.com / SOURCE: WPT.com

Taylor Von Kriegenbergh's time to shine is now.

Von Kriegenbergh wins the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Main Event in what was a marathon session ... it took about 5 hours of play for the first of the six final table participants to be eliminated.

Von K earns his fourth PTPR Score of the season and sky-rockets to the #3 spot on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard.

Von Kriegenbergh defeated Curk Kohlberg heads up to win the WPT bracelet - the first ever awarded in the State of Florida.

Of note, 5th place finisher Allen Bari earns his second PTPR Score of the year.

Here are the winning from our final table participants:
Taylor Von Kriegenbergh $1,122,340
Curt Kohlberg $586,109
Justin Zaki $415,680
Abbey Daniels $286,819
Allen Bari $211,997
Tommy Vedes $166,272

This was the final event on the 2010-11 WPT schedule prior to the WPT World Championship, which comes later this month - David Williams will be looking to defend his title at Bellagio!


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

FINAL RESULTS
TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH 129
CURT KOHLBERG 79
JUSTIN ZAKI 49
ABBEY DANIELS 39
ALLEN BARI 34
TOMMY VEDES 29
JAMES MACKEY 29
BLAIR HINKLE 14
MIKE SHKLOVER 14
BRUCE NELL 14
KAZU OSHIMA 14
DEREK BUONANO 12
NICK AVENA 12
ZUHDI MANSOUR 12
CHARLES WIPER 12
JOHN DOBSON 9
RONNY BEDA 9
NOAH SCHWARTZ 9