DUTCHMAN VAN ZADELHOFF WINS IN HIS HOMELAND

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: THEHENDONMOB.com

It appears that Dutch poker pro Steven Van Zadelhoff sure likes the home cooking. Van Zadelhoff (2011 PTPR Rank: 2703rd) had some scores last season but nothing to write home about.

But things seem to have already turned around early in 2012 - Van Zadelhoff won the Dom Classics 2012 Main Event over the weekend, overcoming the 182 player field along the way.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1st Steven van Zadelhoff €75,075 2nd Melvyn Sleen €45,318 3rd Clyde Tjauw Foe €27,710 4th Siema Bhagooe €21,567 5th Abdel Kader €18,564 6th Johan Roosen €15,834 7th Nico Kuan €12,831 8th Vincent Gabel €10,101 9th Michel Dragonic €7,098 10th Hugo Borst €5,460

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Dom Classics 2012 NLH Main Event January 28-29, 2012 Holland Casino | Netherlands Buy-in: $2,080 | Prizepool: $352,736 Entries: 182 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION STEVEN van ZADELHOFF 35 MELVYN SLEEN 18 CLYDE TJAUW FOE 10 SIEMA BHAGOOE 8 ABDEL KADER 5

JOVANOVIC EQUALS DJOKOVIC AT CAPT SEEFELD

PHOTO/SOURCE: CASINOS.at

Our second of third updates from Europe has us at the Casinos Austria Seefeld for the CAPT Seefeld NLH Main Event.

Dorge Jovanovic didn't want his Serbian countryman Novak Djokovic to out-do him on Sunday.


Hours after Novak defeated Rafael Nadal in a epic tennis match, Jovanovic was picking up the victory at Seefeld.

Jovanovic (2011 PTPR Rank: 1483th) finished second at the German Championships of Poker in the Czech Republic last October.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1 Dorde Jovanovic € 94.690 2 Thomas Butzhammer € 56.850 3 Antonio Turrisi € 35.540 4 Toscan € 25.580 5 Alexander Sanek € 19.540 6 Günter Fortkord € 15.990 7 Robert Walfisch € 13.850 8 Dan Murariu € 11.370,00 9 Andrey Chesnokov € 9.770 10 Anton Taxacher € 7.465 RELATED POSTS >> CAPT/EM CHAMPIONSHIP >> 2011 CAPT SEEFELD

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Casinos Austria Seefeld Open CAPT Seefeld NLH Main Event January 28-29, 2012 Casinos Austria Seefeld | Austria Buy-in: $2,615 | Prizepool: $457,796 Entries: 187 DEFENDING CHAMPION Andreas Griesser, (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DORDE JOVANOVIC 35 THOMAS BUTZHAMMER 18 ANTONIO TURRISI 10 TOSCAN 8 ALEXANDER SANEK 5 NEXT TOUR STOP CAPT Bregenz Final Table February 25-26, 2012

TO THE HUNTER GOES THE GUKPT MANCHESTER MAIN

PHOTO: GUKPT.com
SOURCE: THEHENDONMOB.com

It was a busy weekend in Europe - this is our first of three updates from Europe ...

Leg 1 of the 2012 GUKPT (Grosvenor UK Poker Tour) was completed over the weekend. Scotland's Lewis Hunter collected the first PTPR Points of his career with the victory.

Hunter more than tripled his live career tournament earnings with the win. Over 49K GBP for the weekend grind!

Fifth place finisher Sam Grafton earned his first score of 2012. Grafton (2011 PTPR Rank: 1409th) earned a score at the WSOP last summer - in Event 26 - NLH Six-Max.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in GBP) 1st Lewis Hunter £49,600 2nd Kevin Steele £34,630 3rd Allan Doyle £21,800 4th Danny Blair £13,250 5th Sam Grafton £10,260 6th Gary Holden £8,120 7th Gonzalez Garcia £6,410 8th John Hanley £4,700 9th Chris Kadji £3,420 10th Jamie Ellwood £2,990 RELATED POSTS >> QUOSS WINS GRAND FINAL >> 2011 GUKPT MANCHESTER

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Manchester GUKPT NLH Main Event January 27-29, 2012 Grosvenor G Casino | Manchester Buy-in: $1,685 | Prizepool: $266,251 Entries: 171 DEFENDING CHAMPION Peter McAdams, (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION LEWIS HUNTER 35 KEVIN STEELE 18 ALLAN DOYLE 10 DANNY BLAIR 8 SAM GRAFTON 5 NEXT TOUR STOP GUKPT Walsall Final Table March 16-18, 2012

WSOPC CAESARS: CALENZO SURVIVES STRONG FIELD TO WIN AT CAESARS

PHOTO: WSOP.com
SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

It wasn't going to be easy to win the title at the latest tour stop for the World Series of Poker Circuit. WSOP Circuit Caesars had many of Vegas' best looking for a first win of this very young poker season.



While Sean Getzwiller, Dutch Boyd and Jeff Madsen all finished in the Top 10, it's Kevin Calenzo who stole the show, winning his first Circuit ring.

Calenzo (2011 PTPR Rank: 1367th) earned - by far - the biggest paycheque of his live tournament poker career, collecting just under 200K US with the win.

The aforementioned Getzwiller (2011 PTPR Rank: 67th) finished third in the event. Getzwiller collected a WSOP bracelet over the summer, earning the win in a 1K NLH event - earning over 600K US with the victory.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in USD) 1 Kevin Calenzo $197,451 2 Ian Mack $122,183 3 Sean Getzwiller $89,617 4 William Criego $66,644 5 Jeffrey Fielder $50,231 6 Dutch Boyd $38,365 7 Joseph Kuether $29,686 8 Jeff Madsen $23,271 9 James Mordue $18,474 10 Brandon Riha $14,853 RELATED POSTS >> ARAYA WINS WSOPC CHOCTAW >> JOHNSON WINS WSOPC CAESARS

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Palace WSOPC NLH Main Event January 27-30, 2012 Caesars Palace | Las Vegas Buy-in: $1,600 | Prizepool: $963,210 Entries: 662 DEFENDING CHAMPION Chris Johnson, (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION KEVIN CALENZO 35 IAN MACK 18 SEAN GETZWILLER 10 WILLIAM CRIEGO 8 JEFFREY FIELDER 5 NEXT TOUR STOP WSOPC Tunica (Mississippi) Final Table February 11-13, 2012

SAN JOSE NATIVE EDALAT WINS LIONS SHARE OF 1M PRIZEPOOL AT LAPC

PHOTO/SOURCE: COMMERCETOURNAMENTS.com

The annual "kickoff" event at the LAPC (Los Angeles Poker Classic) holds a million dollar guaranteed prizepool ... oh, did we mention that the buy-in is only $340??? A great chance for any poker player to win a big chunk of change.

San Jose, California native Seyed (RU) Edalat captured the win in the wee hours of the morning. The final 10 players agreed to a deal that allowed Edalat to pickup 113K US along the way.


Over 3,200 players entered the event, the top 161 players received a payout.

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TOP 5 PAYOUTS (in USD) 1 SEYED EDALAT $113,560 2 RUSSELL HIGA $81,585 3 STEVE MORESCHI $65,345 4 HENRY NOYES $62,810 5 ERIC CHHOR $51,385 RELATED POSTS >> BROOKS WINS LAPC >> NISTLER WINS 250K

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Los Angeles Poker Classic LAPC NLH 1M Guarantee January 24-29, 2012 Commerce Casino | California Buy-in: $340 | Prizepool: $1,000,000 Entries: 3,234 DEFENDING CHAMPION Cory Nistler, (2011 PTPR Rank: 160th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION SEYED EDALAT 120 RUSSELL HIGA 80 STEVE MORESCHI 55 HENRY NOYES 45 ERIC CHHOR 38 ANTHONY ASAD 20 DANNY ILLINGWORTH 28 THOMAS MATTHEWS 25 JEREMIAH GILLIAM 25

TOME WINS OPENING EVENT OF 2012 ON ESTRELLAS TOUR

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARS.com

The 2012 edition of the Estrellas Poker Tour kicked off over the weekend in lovely Madrid. 482 players made their way to the Gran Casino Madrid in order to fight for a share of the over 460K Euro prizepool.

Juan Miguel Tome Perez laid low for most of the event - in fact, it looked Luis Rufas was on his way to winning the title. But the winds changed late and Tome becomes the first winner of 2012 on the Estrellas Poker Tour.

Fifth place finisher Manuel Martinez also earned a fifth place finish last season at Estrellas Ibiza.

It's important to note that the final three participants reached a deal during final day play. Rufas actually ended up with the biggest monetary payout, despite finishing second.

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TOP 5 PAYOUTS (in EURO): Juan Miguel Tomé Perez € 70,619 (Deal) Luis Rufas Acin € 88,512 (Deal) David Kolmberger € 65,469 (Deal) Ruben Velasco Merino € 31250 Manuel Martinez Solsona € 24300 RELATED POSTS GOSK WINS IBIZA (2011)

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Estrellas Poker Tour Madrid ESPT Madrid NLH Main Event January 25-29, 2012 Gran Casino Madrid | Spain Buy-in: $1,450 | Prizepool: $618,305 Entries: 482 NEXT TOUR STOP Estrellas Valencia, Main Event March 28-1 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JUAN MIGUEL TOME PEREZ 35 LUIS RUFAS 18 DAVID KOLMBERGER 10 RUBEN VELASCO 8 MANUEL MARTINEZ 5

2012 AUSSIE: FARAZ JAKA SCORES FOR SECOND TIME THIS SEASON

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

It may not be exactly what Faraz Jaka who hoping for but Faraz Jaka is on the right path to start the 2012 poker season.

Twice now Jaka has been in great position to pickup tournament wins - twice Jaka has come short but, it's still two significant scores to start the year.

After collecting a Top 5 finish in the Main Event at the PCA in the Bahamas two weeks ago, Jaka (2011 PTPR Rank: 2090th) was runner-up to Jean-Paul Helderman in the NLH Six-Max side event here at the Aussie Millions - picking up close to 80K with the second place finish.

For Helderman (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), this marks his first live tournament score of his poker career.

Tam Truong (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), former EPT Copenhagen Champ Anton Wigg (2011 PTPR Rank: 1430th), Daniel Laidlaw (2011 PTPR Rank: 2087th) and Jarred Solomon (2011 PTPR Rank: 259th) are other notables who collected PTPR Points in the event.

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TOP 5 PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st Jean-Paul Helderman A$110,600 2nd Faraz Jaka A$77,000 3rd Tam Truong A$55,600 4th Anton Wigg A$38,500 5th Sean Keeton A$25,700 RELATED POSTS >> SPEIDEL WINS AUSSIE >> AUSSIE FINAL TABLE SET >> DION LEADS FINAL 12 >> O'SHEA, IVEY IN TOP 26 >>O'SHEA LEADS DAY 2 >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 27, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $2,500 | Prizepool: $467,955 Entries: 190 DEFENDING CHAMPION Tim O'Shea (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JEAN-PAUL HELDERMAN 75 FARAZ JAKA 40 TAM TRUONG 25 ANTONG WIGG 15 SEAN KEETON 10 GEORGE VASSILOPOULOS 8 JASON PRITCHARD 5 DANIEL LAIDLAW 5 JARRED SOLOMON 5

2012 EFOP: FRENCH RAPPER KOOL SHEN WINS EFOP DIAMOND

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

French rap star Bruno Lopes (stage name Kool Shen) has won the Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Championship earlier on Sunday.

Lopes (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) had many previous live tournament cashes in his career - but, his biggest was around 50K US - he surpassed that total by winning today's event - Lopes collected almost 120K Euro with this win today.

Kool Shen defeated Aubin Cazals heads up. Cazals (2011 PTPR Rank: 1956th) held the chip lead at the of each of the last two days in Paris.

EPT Loutraki Champion Zimnan Zinyard finished sixth in the event. Zinyard (2011 PTPR Rank: 72nd) was expected to be a contender as we were nearing final table play but, he lost a huge pot to Cazals late Saturday - and would be crippled by the time final table play started on Sunday.

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TOP 9 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1– Bruno Lopes 119 440 € 2– Aubin Cazals 93 190 € 3– Jerome Naye 62 130 € 4– Alain Roy 46 600 € 5– Jean-Noel Thorel 38 830 € 6– Zimnan Zinyard 31 065 € 7– Antoine Labat 25 890 € 8– Vladimir Faubert 20 710 € 9– Sampsa Hytoeren 15 535 € RELATED POSTS >> CAZALS IN POLE POSITION >> CAZALS TAKE LEAD >> SHORR, DUHAMEL CONTEND >> BROSOLO WINS EFOP GOLD >> ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Diamond Championship January 26-28, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $6,540 | Prizepool: $653,980 Entries: 109 DEFENDING CHAMPION Natalia Nikitina (2011 PTPR Rank: 219th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION BRUNO LOPES 101 AUBIN CAZALS 61 JEROME NAYE 36 ALAIN ROY 26 JEAN-NOEL THOREL 19 ZIMNAN ZIYARD 11 ANTOINE LABAT 9 VLADIMIR FAUBERT 6 SAMPSA HYTOEREN 6

2012 AUSSIE: DOUBLE UP DOWN UNDER - SPEIDEL SCORES AGAIN AT AUSSIE

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

For Oliver Speidel, winning at the Aussie Millions has become a yearly affair. Last year, Speidel earned the victory in the 1K NLH Rebuy event but this year, Speidel had his eyes set on the big one.

Speidel has captured gold down under, winning the Aussie Millions Main Event and earning a cool, crips 1.6M AUD payout.

Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th) collects his second PTPR Score of this early season - he earned points in the same Bounty event that he won last year. Speidel's win places him third on the 2012 PTPR Tournament Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1- Oliver Speidel 1,600,000 2- Kenneth Wong 1,000,000 3- Mile Krstanoski 610,000 4- Mohamad Kowssarie 405,000 5- Patrick Healy 300,000 6- Bjorn Li 230,000 7- Yann Dion 170,000 RELATED POSTS >> AUSSIE FINAL TABLE SET >> DION LEADS FINAL 12 >> O'SHEA, IVEY IN TOP 26 >>O'SHEA LEADS DAY 2 >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,465 | Prizepool: $6,896,435 Entries: 659 DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 127th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION OLIVER SPEIDEL 131 KENNETH WONG 81 MILE KRSTANOSKI 51 MOHAMED KOWSSARIE 41 PATRICK HEALY 36 BJORN LI 31 YANN DION 31 DANIEL IDEMA 16 LEE NELSON 16 JANIS LESINSKIS 16 KARIM JOMEEN 16 PHIL IVEY 14 DANNY CHEVALIER 14 MATT TURK 14 GRANT LEVY 14 MINH NGUYEN 11 JOEY LAWRENCE 11 SLADE FISHER 11

2012 EFOP: LATE SURGE HAS CAZALS IN POLE POSITION

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

Just like he did Friday, Aubin Cazals has the end of day chip lead at the Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Championship. Cazals (2011 PTPR Rank: 1956th) enters Sunday play with 795K chips over 350K more chips more than his second place opponent.

Cazals grabbed a ton of chips late when he won a monster pot against EPT Loutraki Champ Zimnan Ziyard. Ziyard (2011 PTPR Rank: 72nd) lost most of his chip stack on that hand and will start final table play as one of the lower chip stacks.

Feature players Jonathan Duhamel and Shannon Shorr were both eliminated during the day.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENT/CHIP COUNTS
Jean-Noel Thorel – 280k
Vladimir Faubert – 130k
Antoine Labat – 328k
Alain Roy – 336k
Jérôme Naye – 123k
Bruno Lopes – 435k
Aubin Cazals – 795k
Zimnan Zinyard – 138k
Sampsa Hytoeren – 113k

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TOP 9 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1 – 119 440 € 2 – 93 190 € 3 – 62 130 € 4 – 46 600 € 5 – 38 830 € 6 – 31 065 € 7 – 25 890 € 8 – 20 710 € 9 – 15 535 € RELATED POSTS >> CAZALS TAKE LEAD >> SHORR, DUHAMEL CONTEND >> BROSOLO WINS EFOP GOLD >> ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Diamond Championship January 26-28, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $6,540 | Prizepool: $653,980 Entries: 109 DEFENDING CHAMPION Natalia Nikitina (2011 PTPR Rank: 219th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 101 2nd position 61 3rd position 36 4th position 26 5th position 19 6th position 11 7th position 9 8-9th position 6

2012 AUSSIE: FINAL TABLE SET - NELSON, IVEY, IDEMA TO MAKE OTHER PLANS FOR SUNDAY

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

We have our final table down under! Bjorn Li leads the final group of seven to the felt in order to find out who will be Aussie Millions Main Event Champion for 2012.

Li (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) had a great end to the day on Saturday. He took a big pot from Oliver Speidel and ended Daniel Idema's Aussie Millions journey in about an hour, securing the chip lead from those two big moments.

It's not all bad for Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th). The 2011 Aussie Millions NLH w/Rebuys winner still bagged the second most chips - still, he's 1.3M behind our leader.

Chip leader heading into Saturday play Yann Dion had some tough times during the day. Dion wasn't able to hold onto the pole position, he's going into Sunday's action with the fifth top stack, sadly for Dion (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), he's got less chips in hand than he did when he was declared the chip leader when we reached Final 12 play.

It wasn't all roses in Melbourne on Saturday. Three players that were favourites to make it to the final table were unable to do so.

The previously mentioned Idema (2011 PTPR Rank: 145th) was unable to keep this summer's WSOP bracelet winning momentum going, he was the last to leave today.

Former Aussie Millions Champion Lee Nelson (pictured) was looking for a repeat. Sadly for Nelson (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th) - the defending ANZPT Melbourne Champion - it was lights out early during Saturday play.

The one everyone was looking for on Saturday - and throughout the tournament - was Phil Ivey. After dominating for most of the week, Ivey (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) had a steep mountain to climb during Final 12 play. Ivey was last in chips coming in and needed to push early in order to get back into contention. Unfortunately for Ivey, he was unable to shake off Dion's Ace-King and was the first man out - not all bad news for Ivey, he was out in time to register for the monster 250K buy-in Super High Roller event - event that's still ongoing now. UPDATE: as of press time, we are down to the Final Four in the 250K event - Ivey is (surprise, surprise) first in chips, followed by Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS
Seat 1 Mile Krstanoski 2,295,000
Seat 2 Yann Dion 2,325,000
Seat 3 Patrick Healy 2,995,000
Seat 4 Bjorn Li 4,775,000
Seat 5 Kenneth Wong 2,330,000
Seat 6 Oliver Speidel 3,415,000
Seat 7 Mohamad Kowssarie 1,750,000

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $1,600,000 2nd $1,000,000 3rd $610,000 4th $405,000 5th $300,000 6th $230,000 7th $170,000 RELATED POSTS >> DION LEADS FINAL 12 >> O'SHEA, IVEY IN TOP 26 >>O'SHEA LEADS DAY 2 >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,465 | Prizepool: $6,896,435 Entries: 659 DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 127th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6-7th place 31 DANIEL IDEMA 16 LEE NELSON 16 JANIS LESINSKIS 16 KARIM JOMEEN 16 PHIL IVEY 14 DANNY CHEVALIER 14 MATT TURK 14 GRANT LEVY 14 MINH NGUYEN 11 JOEY LAWRENCE 11 SLADE FISHER 11

2012 EFOP: CAZALS TAKES LEAD, DUHAMEL/SHORR IN TROUBLE AFTER DAY 2

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

We are down to 21 players at the Aviation Club de France and by Sunday, one of these 21 will become the Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Championship title holder.

The chip leader after Day 2 is Aubin Cazals. Cazals (2011 PTPR Rank: 1956th) picked up chips at a rapid pace on Friday, he will enter Day 3 play with a 351K chip stack.

A player to look for on Saturday is reigning EPT Loutraki Champ Zimnan Ziyard. Ziyard (2011 PTPR Rank: 72nd) sits fourth in chips and is a player that is expected to put a lot on pressure on his opponents once we get going on Friday.

Our two features from our Thursday post - Canada's Jonathan Duhamel (PTPR #1 Ranked Player) and the USA's Shannon Shorr took it on the chin on Friday.

Both players actually had a lot of chips during the mid-way point of Day 2 play - but, both players find themselves near the bottom of the chip count - both Duhamel (2011 PTPR Rank: 71st) and Shorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 149th) will need to makes early on Day 3 in order to join the lead pack.

CHIP COUNTS
Aubin Cazals 351 000
Vladimir Faubert 290 000
Alain Roy 256 600
Zimnan Zinyard 239 100
Bruno Lopes 196 700
Sampsa Hytoenen 183 400
Antoine Labat 156 800
Idris Ambraisse 143 700
Manuel Bevand 122 700
Jérôme Naye 108 500
Philippe Ktorza 107 700
Marius Torbergsen 98 200
Franck Kalfon 75 700
Lionel Lesur 71 000
Jean-Noël Thorel 66 800
Jacques Guenni 56 700
Benjamin Kraffe 49 100
Jonathan Duhamel 46 600
Shannon Shorr 46 500
Moetaz Elsayed 44 700
Mikhail Petrov 25 300

NOTABLE DAY 2 ELIMINATIONS
Martin Jacobson, EFOP Gold Champioship winner Yann Bosolo, David Benyamine, Alex Dovzhenko and Isabelle Mercier.

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TOP 9 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1 – 119 440 € 2 – 93 190 € 3 – 62 130 € 4 – 46 600 € 5 – 38 830 € 6 – 31 065 € 7 – 25 890 € 8 – 20 710 € 9 – 15 535 € RELATED POSTS >> SHORR, DUHAMEL CONTEND >> BROSOLO WINS EFOP GOLD >> ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Diamond Championship January 26-28, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $6,540 | Prizepool: $653,980 Entries: 109 DEFENDING CHAMPION Natalia Nikitina (2011 PTPR Rank: 219th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 101 2nd position 61 3rd position 36 4th position 26 5th position 19 6th position 11 7th position 9 8-9th position 6

2012 AUSSIE: DION LEADS THE FINAL 12

Another fairly quick day will be followed by what should be - you guessed it - another fairly quick day at the Aussie Millions Main Event.

The final 26 players came back on Friday in order to play down to the final 12. These 12 players will all gather at the Crown Casino on Saturday and play down to our final table.

Canadian Yann Dion has captured the lead at the Main Event. He is followed closely by Bjorn Li. Dion's Canadian team mate, Daniel Idema, held the chip lead for part of the day - he now finds himself fifth in chips.

Phil Ivey is still alive but will need to get things going early on Friday - Ivey has the shortest chip stack as Saturday looms.

Matt Turk and Tim O'Shea - who each held the chip leads during the two previous days of play - were both eliminated on Friday.

FINAL 12 CHIP COUNTS
1 Yann Dion 2.67M
2 Bjorn Li 2.47M
3 Mohamed Kowssarie 2.23M
4 Karim Jomeen 2.06M
5 Daniel Idema 1.84M
6 Lee Nelson 1.65M
7 Patrick Healey 1.56M
8 Janis Lesinkis 1.50M
9 Kenneth Wong 1.49M
10 Oliver Speidel 0.80M
11 Mile Krstanoski 0.75M
12 Phil Ivey 0.69M

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TOP 12 PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $1,600,000 2nd $1,000,000 3rd $610,000 4th $405,000 5th $300,000 6th $230,000 7th $170,000 8-9th $125,000 10-12th $100,000 RELATED POSTS >> O'SHEA, IVEY IN TOP 26 >>O'SHEA LEADS DAY 2 >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,465 | Prizepool: $6,896,435 Entries: 659 DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 127th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6-7th place 31 8-11th place 16 12th place 14 DANNY CHEVALIER 14 MATT TURK 14 GRANT LEVY 14 MINH NGUYEN 11 JOEY LAWRENCE 11 SLADE FISHER 11

2012 EFOP: SHORR, DUHAMEL IN CONTENTION AT DIAMOND CHAMPIONSHIP

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

109 players made their way to the Aviation Club de France for the Euro Finals of Poker Diamond Championship. The 5,000 Euro buy-in event carries a prizepool over 650K US.


There are plenty of name European players in the event but it's two North-American players that caught our eye during Day 1 play.

Shannon Shorr has had success around the world but he's far away from his Alabama home. Still, Shorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 149th) had a good Day 1 and is looking for his first significant score since finishing 4th at the WPT Southern Poker Championship last January.

Also in the hunt after Day 1 is someone you may have heard of in 2012 ... The #1 ranked player on the 2012 PTPR Tournament Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard, Jonathan Duhamel, is in contention in Paris.

Duhamel (2011 PTPR Rank: 71st) does have some work to do on Day 2 - a quick double-up should do the trick! The 2010 World Champion looks to continue an amazing start to 2012 with this Euro tour.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Philippe Ktorza – 117k
Idris Ambraisse – 114k
Shannon Shorr – 89k
Jean-Noel Thorel – 80k
Zimnan Zinyard – 77k
Manuel Bevand – 64,8k
David Benyamine – 62,5k
Jonathan Duhamel – 49,4k
Martin Jacobson – 49k
Yann Brosolo – 44,7k
Alain Roy – 42k
Isabelle Mercier – 32k
Nicolas Babel – 27,5k
Remy Biechel – 22,5k
Alex Dovhzenko – 22k
Tristan Clémençon – 16k

NOTABLE DAY 1 ELIMINATIONS
Natalia Nikitina, Ludovic Lacay, ElkY, Hugo Lemaire, Juha Helppi, Davidi Kitai, Guillaume Darcourt and Samuel Chartier.

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TOP 9 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1 – 119 440 € 2 – 93 190 € 3 – 62 130 € 4 – 46 600 € 5 – 38 830 € 6 – 31 065 € 7 – 25 890 € 8 – 20 710 € 9 – 15 535 € RELATED POSTS >> BROSOLO WINS EFOP GOLD >> ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Diamond Championship January 26-28, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $6,540 | Prizepool: $653,980 Entries: 109 DEFENDING CHAMPION Natalia Nikitina (2011 PTPR Rank: 219th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 101 2nd position 61 3rd position 36 4th position 26 5th position 19 6th position 11 7th position 9 8-9th position 6

2012 AUSSIE: DAY 4 PREVIEW - FINAL 26 INCLUDES IVEY, O'SHEA AND TURK!

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Matt Turk leads the remaining 26 players into Day 4 at the Aussie Millions Main Event. No, it's no typo, Matt Turk leads the Aussie.

I'm willing to bet many of you did or are in the process of doing what I did earlier today - go to the Hendon Mob database to check out just who Matt Turk is.

According to the Mob, Matthew Turk has about 4K in winnings in his live tournament career - his last cash coming in August 2010.

So, excuse us for asking, just who is Matt Turk? Simple answer, he's the dude that leads the Aussie Millions in Friday play - and he has double the chips that second place Tim O'Shea has.

It's obvious that Turk (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) has momentum on his side, he hopes to keep it up on Day 4.

As mentioned, Tim O'Shea is second in chips after Day 3 play. O'Shea (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th) held the chip lead at the end of Day 2 - it looks like he continued to accumulate chips at a rapid rate on Thursday.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that ALL the attention remains on Phil Ivey. Some are actually wondering at what point he will break his media silence. Would a win get Phil to open up? Probably not, knowing that Ivey has never been big on exposure.

Well, Phil is letting his play do the talking. Ivey (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) will start Day 4 sixth in chips as one of seven players with above 1M chip stacks. The picture at the top of this article says it all when it comes to Ivey, what a rail!

Former Aussie Millions Champion Lee Nelson is still in this thing. Nelson (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th) has a Top 10 stack heading into Friday play.

A pair of Canadians are also holding their own down under as Yann Dion (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) and 2011 WSOP bracelet winner and former BCPC Champ Daniel Idema (2011 PTPR Rank: 145th) both hold Top 10 chip stacks and shouldn't be overlooked on Friday.

NOTABLE CHIP STACKS (over 200K in chips)
Matt Turk 2,675,000
Tim O'Shea 1,376,000 Day 2 Chip Leader
Yann Dion 1,156,000
Phil Ivey 1,107,000
Daniel Idema 1,033,000 2011 WSOP Bracelet Winner
Minh Nguyen 992,000
Lee Nelson 878,000 2006 Aussie Millions Champ
Oliver Speidel 614,000
Joey Lawrence 504,000
Grant Levy 381,000
David Steicke 183,000

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TOP 26 PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $1,600,000 2nd $1,000,000 3rd $610,000 4th $405,000 5th $300,000 6th $230,000 7th $170,000 8-9th $125,000 10-12th $100,000 13-15th $75,000 16-18th $60,000 19-24th $45,000 25-26th $35,000 RELATED POSTS >>O'SHEA LEADS DAY 2 >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,465 | Prizepool: $6,896,435 Entries: 659 DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 127th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6-7th place 31 8-11th place 16 12-15th place 14 16-18th place 11

FORMER NOVEMBER NINER JOHN DOLAN WINS THE MILLION DOLLAR HEATER!

PHOTO: POKERENEWS.com
SOURCE: GULFCOASTPOKER.net, @SpamBx392

A special thank you to Ross Leitz (@SpamBx392 on Twitter) and Gene Dudek at GULFCOASTPOKER.net for their help in gathering these results.

John Dolan is the Mississippi King! Dolan defeated a star-studded final table at the Beau Rivage Resort Casino and captured the Million Dollar Heater Main Event - collecting 336K of the +1M prizepool that was up for grabs!

At the final table, Dolan - the former November Niner (2010 - Jonathan Duhamel) - had to fend off a bracelet winner (Ryan Welch), a two-time WPT Champion (Randal Flowers) a former Gulf Coast Champion (Mark Rose) and a recent WPT Regional Series winner (Daniel Clemente) - not an easy feat, that's for sure.

Surprisingly, this event marks the first significant live win of Dolan's career. His highest winning cash was in the 30K range ... although he did collect 1.7M with his 6th place finish at the 2010 Series - not bad at all!

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in USD) 1st John Dolan 336,105 2nd Glenn Poole 185,367 3rd Kirill Kruglov 101,850 4th Mark Rose 81,480 5th Ryan Welch 61,110 6th Matt Stout 50,925 7th Dan Clemente 40,740 8th Hamib Jahangard 30,555 9th Randal Flowers 20,370 RELATED POSTS >>LOOKING FOR A HEATER IN MS >> KUZMIN WINS WPT SOUTHERN >> FLOWERS POWERS - WPT FESTA

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT The Million Dollar Heater NLH Main Event January 21-25, 2012 Beau Rivage Resort & Casino | Biloxi Buy-in: $5,175 | Prizepool: $1,018,500 Entries: 210 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JOHN DOLAN 102 GLENN POOLE 62 KIRILL KRUGLOV 37 MARK ROSE 27 RYAN WELCH 20 MATTHEW STOUT 12 DAN CLEMENTE 10 HAMIB JAHANGARD 7 RANDAL FLOWERS 7

PTPR UPDATE: DOLAN WINS HEATER, AUSSIE MILLIONS

John Dolan has won the Million Dollar Heater plus a Day 4 preview of the Aussie Millions (yes, Mr. Ivey is still in Top 6) all later today on PTPRPoker.com!


Eric

KOSMADAKIS WINS MERIT WINTERFEST MAIN

SOURCE: THEHENDONMOB.com

Greek poker player Iraklis Kosmadakis earns his first known live cash in a big way - winning the Merit Winterfest Main Event and pocketing a cool 125K paycheck along the way.

Third place finisher Vladimir Kochelaevskiy was the lone notable player to pickup PTPR Points in the event. Kochelaevskiy finished second to Tomer Berda at the 2010 WSOP (NLH Side Event) good for a 500K cash.

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FINAL FIVE PAYOUTS (in USD) 1st Iraklıs Kosmadakıs $125,810 2nd Peter Haslam $80,323 3rd Vladimir Kochelaevskiy $55,472 4th Roman Kleyman $37,721 5th Cantea Marian-Catalin $28,845 DEFENDING CHAMPION Chadli Ojelli (2011 PTPR Rank: 835th)

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT 2012 Merit Winterfest NLH Main Event January 21-22, 2012 Merit Crystal Cove Hotel | Cyprus Buy-in: $2,750 | Prizepool: $250,000 Entries: 183 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION IRAKLIS KOSMADAKIS 35 PETER HASLAM 18 VLADIMIR KOCHELAEVSKIY 10 ROMAN KLEYMAN 8 CANTEA MARIAN-CATALIN 5

ISLE CLASSIC: FRANKEL WINS PRELIM AT POMPANO

SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

The 2012 Isle Classic in Pompano Beach started a few weeks ago. The first event to qualify for PTPR Points was completed over the weekend.

Steven Frankel won the NLH Bounty Event and earned his biggest payday since finishing second at a WPT Borgata Poker Open prelim back in September of 2008.

Frankel (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), defeated Floridian Salman Jaddi (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) heads up.

Chad Batista (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Mike Beasley (2011 PTPR Rank: 2397th), Andrew Touchette (2011 PTPR Rank: 2703rd) and Adam Levy (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) all cashed in the event, although none earned PTPR Points with their result.

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FINAL FIVE PAYOUTS (in USD) **excludes bounties collected 1st Steven Frankel $40,000 2nd Salman Jaddi $37,280 3rd Jordan Wunder $19,680 4th Randell Cohen $14,112 5th Scott Wyler $11,136

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT 2012 Isle Classic NLH Bounty Event January 20-22, 2012 The Isle Casino Pompano Beach | Florida Buy-in: $1,600 | Prizepool: $307,200 Entries: 192 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION STEVEN FRANKEL 35 SALMAN JADDI 18 JORDAN WUNDER 10 RANDALL COHEN 8 SCOTT WYLER 5

WELCH, DOLAN, STOUT AND FLOWERS LOOKING FOR A HEATER IN MISSISSIPPI

PHOTO: POKERENEWS.com
SOURCE: GULFCOASTPOKER.net, @SpamBx392, @RandALLin

It's final table time at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Mississippi as the Million Dollar Heater reaches it's final stage today in Biloxi.

We have a very impressive final table at Beau Rivage ... we have a WSOP bracelet winner, a November Niner, a two-time WPT Champion, a WPT Regional Champ and a Gulf Coast Champion all battling for the 336K top prize.

Bracelet winner Ryan Welch (pictured) is the chip leader. Welch (2011 PTPR Rank: 502nd) has a little over 870K in chips. Welch is followed closely by former November Niner John Dolan. Dolan (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is about 20K behind the chip leader.

Two-time World Poker Tour Champion Randal Flowers is the small stack but, Flowers (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is surely hoping his previous final table experience will help him survive today.

2010 Gulf Coast Poker Championship winner Mark Rose (2011 PTPR Rank: 1262th) and current WPT Regional Tampa Champ Daniel Clemente (2011 PTPR Rank: 836th) are two other big names to look out for later today.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Ryan Welch 871,000 Twitter: @gutshtallin
John Dolan 849,500 Twitter: @JRD312
Kirill Kruglov 697,500
Matt Stout 486,500 Twitter: @MattStoutPoker
Daniel Clemente 345,000
Habib Jahangard 310,000
Glenn Poole 300,000
Mark Rose 221,500
Randal Flowers 142,500 Twitter: @RandALLin

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in USD) 1st - 336K 2nd - 185K 3rd - 101K 4th - 81K 5th - 61K 6th - 51K 7th - 40K 8th - 30K 9th - 20K EVENT COVERAGE GULF COAST POKER RELATED POSTS >> KUZMIN WINS WPT SOUTHERN >> FLOWERS POWERS - WPT FESTA

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT The Million Dollar Heater NLH Main Event January 21-25, 2012 Beau Rivage Resort & Casino | Biloxi Buy-in: $5,175 | Prizepool: $1,018,500 Entries: 210 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 102 2nd place 62 3rd place 37 4th place 27 5th place 20 6th place 12 7th place 10 8th place 7 9th place 7

2012 AUSSIE: '11 PRELIM WINNER O'SHEA LEADS, IVEY STANDS RIGHT BEHIND HIM

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Day 2 play is complete and it looks like Phil Ivey is in it to win it.

With 74 players remaining - only two away from the money bubble - Ivey (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is second in chips 778K. Ivey must be scaring the living hell out of the remaining field.

Ivey trails only Tim O'Shea in the Main Event. O'Shea (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th)
won the NLH 6-Max event here at the Aussie Millions last season.

Another Aussie Millions prelim winner from 2011, Oliver Speidel, is fifth in chips. Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th, tied with O'Shea) currently has 540K in chips for the tournament.

2006 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion Lee Nelson also has a healthy chip stack. Nelson (2011 PTPR Rank: 836th) - who won the ANZPT Melbourne Main Event in 2011 - will look to collect more chips on Day 3 as the money bubble draws near.

Aage Ravn (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Jason Koon (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) and Yann Dion (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) are other top stacks to keep an eye on Day 3.

NOTABLE CHIP STACKS (over 200K in chips)
Tim O'Shea 921,000
Phil Ivey 778,500
Aage Ravn 708,500
Jason Koon 667,500
Oliver Speidel 540,000
Yann Dion 495,000
David Steicke 453,000
Lee Nelson 432,500 (2006 Champion)
Daniel Idema 350,000
Michael Pedley 331,500 (Prelim Event Winner)
Brett Watson 291,000 (Day 1 Chip Leader)
Michael Tureniec 289,000
Minh Nguyen 238,000

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TOP 24 PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $1,600,000 2nd $1,000,000 3rd $610,000 4th $405,000 5th $300,000 6th $230,000 7th $170,000 8-9th $125,000 10-12th $100,000 13-15th $75,000 16-18th $60,000 19-24th $45,000 RELATED POSTS >> IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,465 | Prizepool: $6,896,435 Entries: 659 DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr (2011 PTPR Rank: 127th) PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6-7th place 31 8-11th place 16 12-15th place 14 16-18th place 11

2012 AUSSIE: IVEY'S ROOM OPENS AT CROWN; KEVMATH KASHES IN TERMINATOR

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Let's take you back down under to see what's happening at the Aussie Millions.

Before taking you to Main Event coverage - where a certain MEGA star continues his comeback to the poker circuit - we take you to Event #14 - the $500 Terminator event. Although we're still not sure what exactly happens when you don't cash in the "Terminator" event, we do know that a friend to PTPR - Mr. Kevmath himself - Kevin Mathers (the KING of poker knowledge) was able to secure a sixth place finish, winning over 6K for his efforts! Very well played sir, so happy for you! Score one for the good guys!

Did Kevmath steal Ivey's thunder? Well, if you go according to all the accolades Kev received on Twitter today, it may very well be the case ... but I don't think that Ivey minds not getting the attention!


IVEY'S ROOM

Well, well, well - look who decided to leave the big game in Macau and join most of the poker world in Melbourne? That's right kid, one of the greatest ever is back on the tournament grind. After participating in the 100K Challenge, Ivey registered for Day 1C of the Aussie Millions Main Event.

Ivey's chip stack went up and down and up and down on Day 1C ... but, when we were bagging and tagging, all eyes were on Ivey's chip stack, it sits at over 180K, good for 8th place.

Although it's not the #1 spot, Phil Ivey (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) with a Top 10 chip stack after Day 1? Could be deadly.

The overall chip leader is Brett Watson. Watson (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is the only man with a +200K chip stack, 257K to be more precise.

James Dempsey (2011 PTPR Rank: 61st), Jason Koon (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Kenna James (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Melanie Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) and PCA 5K NLH 8-Max Turbo winner Kunimaro Kojo (2011 PTPR Rank: 2357th) all have healthy chip stacks as all three remaining Day 1 players will converge to the Crown Casino for Day 2 play.

There are currently a total of 654 entries for the Main Event - registration is still open until the end of the first level played on Day 2.

Looks like the total prizepool will top the 6 million dollar mark - well done, Australia!

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): PAYOUTS TBA RELATED POSTS >> SMITH COLLECTS 1M >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Aussie Millions NLH Main Event January 22-28, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $TBA Entries: TBA DEFENDING CHAMPION David Gorr PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION TBA

WSOPC CHOCTAW: ARAYA BEST IN BIG FIELD, WINS AGAIN AT CHOCTAW

SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Abraham Araya may request that all poker tournaments be played out of the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma.

For the second time in a little over three months, Araya has picked up a title in Choctaw. After winning the TJ Cloutier Challenge back in October, Araya (2011 PTPR Rank: 836th) won the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant Main Event last night.

Almost 1,000 players entered the three day event in what's becoming a hot event on the poker circuit. Araya defeated Daniel Lowery (2011 PTPR Rank: 1484th) in what was a relatively quick heads up encounter.

Ninth place finisher Dejuante Alexander (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) earned 14 PTPR Points for his effort.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in USD) 1- Abraham Araya 270,380 2- Daniel Lowery 167,230 3- Michael Sanders 123,430 4- Jack Miller 92,352 5- Mark Burford 69,968 6- Derek Browning 53,675 7- Will Nguyen 41,679 8- Justin Gardenhire 32,771 9- Dejuante Alexander 26,069 10- Drew Dumanski 20,989 DEFENDING CHAMPION Huy Nguyen (2011 PTPR Rank: 103rd) EVENT COVERAGE POKERNEWS.com RELATED POSTS >> NGUYEN WILL NOT REPEAT AT CHOCTAW >> NGUYEN DOMINATES ON WAY TO WSOPC WIN (2011) >> NGUYEN WINS CAESARS CLASSIC (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant WSOPC NLH Main Event January 21-23, 2012 Choctaw Casino Resort | Oklahoma Buy-in: $1,600 | Prizepool: $1,422,990 Entries: 978 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION ABRAHAM ARAYA 109 DANIEL LOWERY 69 MICHAEL SANDERS 39 JACK MILLER 34 MARK BUFORD 27 DEREK BROWNING 19 WILL NGUYEN 17 JUSTIN GARDENHIRE 14 DEJUANTE ALEXANDER 14 NEXT WSOPC TOUR STOP WSOP Circuit Caesars Palace Las Vegas, NV On now (Main Event starts Jan 27)

2012 AUSSIE: DAN SMITH COLLECTS 1M+ IN 100K CHALLENGE

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Dan Smith and 21 other competitors all put up 100,000 AUD in order to participate in the second Aussie Millions 100K Challenge. Smith (2011 PTPR Rank: 237th) got the best of his opponents and picked up a cool crisp 1M+ AUD with the victory - not a bad two-day payday!

Smith defeated Mikhail Smirnov heads up. Smirnov (2011 PTPR Rank: 1150th) lost a huge race late and was unable to recover.

Australia's native son Joe Hachem (2011 PTPR Rank: 322nd) and the one and only Tony G (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) were the only two other players to finish in the money in the event.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1- Dan Smith A$ 1,012,000 2- Mikhail Smirnov A$ 616,000 3- Joe Hachem A$ 330,000 4- Tony G A$ 242,000 RELATED POSTS >> IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS BOUNTY >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

Aussie Millions 100K Challenge January 22-23, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $2,200,000 Entries: 22 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION Event did not qualify for PTPR Points

LATEST POKER EH! EPISODE ON QUAD JACKS - HEY, THEY KEPT ME FOR AN HOUR!

PHOTO: QUADJACKS.com

I was back on Quad Jacks Radio this past Thursday on the Poker Eh! Show with @Evhero and the lovely and talented @Zekday0 - this time, they decided to keep me on for the full hour - hell, they even put my face in the Toronto skyline (see picture at the top of this post) - they like me, they really like me ;)


We were joined by Jon Harnish from CANADAPOKER.com - Jon has tremendous knowledge of the Canadian poker scene, it was great to finally hear his voice after communicating via e-mail and Twitter for the longest time.

Hope you enjoy!

LISTEN HERE >> POKER EH! ON QUAD JACKS RADIO - JAN 19/2012


Eric

WSOPC CHOCTAW: NGUYEN WILL NOT REPEAT/MONSTER FIELD

SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

A monster field has gathered at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma for the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw tour stop. For the second straight year, Choctaw has attracted quite the field - and the for the second straight year, Huy Nguyen is in contention.

Nguyen (2011 PTPR Rank: 103rd) won the event last season. He's hoping that his current +100K chip stack will be able to help him make it two for two. Nguyen - better known to many as SavePluto9 - sits Top 25 at the moment - there are 111 players remaining as our runners come back from dinner break as we speak.

UPDATE: Please note that Nguyen was eliminated prior to the dinner break - we apologize for the erroneous information that we had originally reported. There will be a new Champ at Choctaw this season.

Thank you to @lukasmwillems for this information.

Teddy Gill is the chip leader with 590K in chips.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in USD) 1st $270,380 2nd $167,230 3rd $123,430 4th $92,352 5th $69,968 6th $53,675 7th $41,679 8th $32,771 9th $26,069 10th $20,989 DEFENDING CHAMPION Huy Nguyen (2011 PTPR Rank: 103rd) EVENT COVERAGE POKERNEWS.com RELATED POSTS >> NGUYEN DOMINATES ON WAY TO WSOPC WIN (2011) >> NGUYEN WINS CAESARS CLASSIC (2011)

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant WSOPC NLH Main Event January 21-23, 2012 Choctaw Casino Resort | Oklahoma Buy-in: $1,600 | Prizepool: $1,422,990 Entries: 978 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 109 2nd place 69 3rd place 39 4th place 34 5th place 27 6th place 19 7th place 17 8-9th place 14

2012 EFOP: BROSOLO OUTLASTS STRONG FIELD TO WIN EFOP GOLD

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

Yann Brosolo has won the Euro Finals of Poker Gold Championship, taking over from 2011 Champion Julien Muel.

Brosolo (2011 PTPR Rank: 1693rd), earned a score at EPT Prague last season on the circuit. This doubles his previous single event payout.

The chip leader heading into today's play was Samir Choubani. Choubani (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) could do no better than second place, still, a respectable first score to start the season.


Third place finisher Charles Harvey earns his second PTPR Score of 2012. Harvey (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) had a 16th place showing at WPT Ireland earlier this month.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1er – Yann Brosolo – 70,000 euros 2e – Samir Choubani – 62,500 euros 3e – Charles Harvey – 37,900 euros 4e – William Saad – 25,265 euros 5e – Nicolas Langlois – 18,950 euros 6e – Lucien Cohen – 15,790 euros 7e – Angelo Besnainou – 12,635 euros 8e – Amine Cherif – 11,055 euros 9e – David Lascar – 9,475 euros 10e – Fabian Switz – 7,895 euros DEFENDING CHAMPION Julien Muel (2011 PTPR Rank: 836th) RELATED POSTS >> ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Gold Championship January 19-21, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $2,585 | Prizepool: $408,125 Entries: 168 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION YANN BROSOLO 35 SAMIR CHOUBANI 18 CHARLES HARVEY 10 WILLIAM SAAD 8 NICOLAS LANGLOIS 5

2012 AUSSIE: IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS THE BOUNTY/SHOOTOUT

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Congratulations to Ross Parkhill, the latest winner at the Aussie Millions! Parkhill was able to fend off 32 opponents on Sunday to pickup the coveted gold ring.

The tournament, which started as a standard bounty tournament Saturday, transformed into a shootout on Sunday, where the last two remaining players at each of the four tables met up for a final table showdown.

Parkhill (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) defeated Michal Polchlopek heads up. Polchlopek (2011 PTPR Rank: 2091st) earned a WPT Venice score last season.

Jamie Pickering (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), 2011 Aussie Millions Rebuys winner Oliver Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th) and James Obst (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) were other notables that finished in the Top 8.

Day 1 chip leader Melanie Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) had a tough day on Sunday. Things looked good as the day started but, unfortunately, it wasn't too long for Weisner - the new Lock Poker Pro - to hit the rail.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1- Ross Parkhill 119,500 2- Michal Polchlopek 73,000 3- Sam Capra 50,000 4- Mark Betts 34,000 5- Jamie Pickering 24,000 6- Oliver Speidel 16,000 7- Adam Cusenza 13,000 8- James Obst 10,000 RELATED POSTS >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR SIDE EVENT Aussie Millions NLH 1.5K Bounty/Shootout Event January 21-22, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $1,570 | Prizepool: $495,250 Entries: 315 FINAL RESULTS ROSS PARKHILL 75 MICHAL POLCHLOPEK 40 SAM CAPRA 25 MARK BETTS 15 JAMIE PICKERING 10 OLIVER SPEIDEL 8 ADAM CUSENZA 5 JAMES OBST 5

2012 EFOP: ElkY BUBBLES AS FINAL DAY SET AT THE AVIATION CLUB

SOURCE: POKER52.fr

Day 2 is in the books at the Aviation Club de France in Paris. We will crown a Euro Finals of Poker Gold Championship winner on Sunday as the final 12 players were sent home before a final table could be set ... it was past 4AM in Paris when they were sent home.

Things looked good for Betrand Grospellier early on Saturday. ElkY held one of the top stacks early but sadly, ElkY (2011 PTPR Rank: 5th) was the bubble player and won't be returning on Sunday.

EPT Deauville Champ Lucien Cohen will be defending his title later this month but first, he's got business to take care of here. Cohen (2011 PTPR Rank: 80th) spent parts of the day with the chip lead. He will be fourth once we start play Sunday.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Samir Choubani – 614,5k
Yann Brosolo – 484,5k
Charles Harvey – 421,5k
Lucien Cohen – 412k
Nicolas Langlois – 299,5k
Angelo Besnainou – 256,5k
William Saad – 243k
David Lascar – 191k
Fabian Switz – 140k
Jean-Louis Santoni – 139k
Julien Pitcho – 102k
Amine Cherif – 57,5k

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (in EURO) 1e – 75800 euros 2e – 56850 euros 3e – 37900 euros 4e – 25265 euros 5e – 18950 euros 6e – 15790 euros 7e – 12635 euros 8e – 11055 euros 9e – 9475 euros 10e – 7895 euros LIVE UPDATES >> POKER52.fr RELATED POSTS >> BOYER WINS SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP >> NATALIA NIKITINA WINS EFOP (2011)

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Euro Finals of Poker EFOP NLH Gold Championship January 19-21, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $2,585 | Prizepool: $408,125 Entries: 168 PTS AT STAKE 1st place 35 2nd place 18 3rd place 10 4th place 8 5th place 5

2012 AUSSIE: WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 IN BOUNTY/SHOOUTOUT PRELIM

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Melanie Weisner leads the way as the final 32 1.5K NLH Bounty players come back to a Sunday Shootout!

That's right, after a day full of bounties, the final four tables of eight players will turn into shootout tables with each table's winner meeting up in the final four!


Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) had some success on the circuit in 2011 but was never able to secure a major score.

Aussie veteran Jamie Pickering (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is second in chips - about 50K behind Weisner.

Harry Demetriou (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Oliver Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th), Eric Crain (2011 PTPR Rank: 680th) and James Obst (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) are a few other notable players still alive in the event.

SHOOUTOUT TABLE LINEUPS

Table 1: Melanie Weisner, Joshua Foster, Fabian Craib, Radoslaw Kopec, Oliver Speidel, Trung Tran, Sam Capra, Peter Dykes

Table 2: Jamie Pickering, Ross Parkhill, Sandeep Pulusani, Rhys Jones, Aaron Lim, Guang Lu, Tom Rafferty, Clemens Manzano

Table 3: Hans Dorn, Michal Polchlopek, Todd Bailey, Harry Demetriou, Bill Argyros, James Obst, Eugene Juczenko, Veselin Zmukic

Table 4: Mark Betts, Aleks Brkovic, Sayed Jabbour, Tsugunari Toma, Eric Crain, George Moussa, Louis Srour, Adam Cusinza

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TOP 10 EVENT PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $119,500 2nd $73,000 3rd $50,000 4th $34,000 5th $24,000 6th $16,000 7th $13,000 8th $10,000 9th $7,500 10th $7,500 LIVE UPDATES >> POKERNEWS.com PLAYER TWEETS >> #aussiemillions RELATED POSTS >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR SIDE EVENT Aussie Millions NLH 1.5K Bounty/Shootout Event January 21-22, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $1,570 | Prizepool: $495,250 Entries: 315 PTS AT STAKE 1st place 75 2nd place 40 3rd place 25 4th place 15 5th place 10 6th place 8 7-9th place 5