Thursday, December 20, 2012

QUEEN KING OF THE EAST COAST - WINS BORGATA HOLIDAY 1K


When it comes to poker tournament on the East Coast of the United States of America, it's hard to find a more successful/consistent player than Alexander Queen. In fact, Queen's six career victories on the poker circuit have all come in either Delaware, Massachusetts or New Jersey - with the bulk of these victories coming at the Borgata ... which is exactly where he won his latest title.

Over 100K USD are coming Queen's way following his victory at the Borgata $250,000 USD Guaranteed Holiday Deep Stack event, defeating fellow East Coast pro Shawn Busse heads-up.

Jamie Kerstetter, Joseph Wertz, Alexander Rocca, Raj Patel and Allie Prescott all cashed in the event.



EVENT PAYOUTS (USD)
Alexander Queen   $100,049
Shawn Busse   $55,581
Tom Dobrilovic   $34,460
Sean Lippel   $27,791
David Kim   $21,491
Catherine Dever   $18,156
James Meo   $14,636
Rick Rossetti   $10,931
Mickey Woll   $7,411
Christine Brewer   $4,817
Mike Kalfa   $4,817
Ariel Albilia   $4,817
Jamie Kerstetter   $3,705
Jin Hing Chin   $3,705
Robert Anderson   $3,705
Nicholas Palma   $3,150
Andrew Hippler   $3,150
Joseph Wertz   $3,150
Nicholas Salimbene   $2,779
Michael Yniguez   $2,779
Alexander Rocha   $2,779
Vitaly Kovyazin   $2,779
Corrine Pranevich   $2,779
Joel Frank   $2,779
Shervin Golbari   $2,779
Francis Johnson   $2,779
Michael Merrill   $2,779
Christopher Leong   $2,223
Raj Patel   $2,223
Maxwell Mccurdy   $2,223
Anthony Villano   $2,223
Byung Yoo   $2,223
Chris Pearsall   $2,223
Allie Prescott   $2,223
Kenneth Silberstein   $2,223
Cullen Hofmann   $2,223


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
BORGATA HOLIDAY DEEP STACK
250K Guatanteed NLH Main Event
December 16-19, 2012

Borgata Hotel Casino | Atlantic City
Buy-in: $1,090 | Prizepool: $382,000
Total Entries: 382

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
ALEXANDER QUEEN 35
SHAWN BUSSE 18
TOMISLAV DOBRILOVIC 10
SEAN LIPPEL 8
DAVID KIM 5

NEXT BORGATA EVENT
WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open
Borgata Hotel Casino, Atlantic City
January 15-1, 2013


Monday, December 17, 2012

AU REVOIR CANNES - WSOP EUROPE ON THE MOVE AGAIN ...


Two years after leaving London for Cannes, Seth Palansky, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment Inc., announced that the World Series of Poker Europe is once again on the move, this time right outside of Paris, France.

The WSOPE will remain in France and will also remain partners with the Barrière Poker group - moving the Series to le Casino Barrière in Enghien-les-Bains, a Northern suburb of Paris.

The World Series of Poker Europe was hosted by the city of London, England for the first four years; from 2007 and 2010. The WSOPE then moved to the Hotel Majestic Le Croisette Casino Barrière in Cannes, France for its 2011 and 2011 tournaments.

It is expected that seven bracelet will be up for grabs including the €10,000 Main Event. A High Rollers event is once again scheduled for 2013.

One interesting note is that the 2013 edition of the WSOPE is scheduled to take place three weeks later than it did this past season. The 2012 event ended just as EPT Sanremo started ... if the EPT are to keep Sanremo in the same place on the poker calendar, the WSOPE would be presented as EPT Sanremo would be concluding, switching the WSOPE from before to after the presentation of EPT Sanremo.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

EPT PRAGUE: FINALLY! JELASSI WINS FIRST MAJOR TITLE


For Swedish poker pro Ramzi Jelassi, it's been a long time coming! On the poker circuit since 2005, Jelassi has picked up a few big poker titles in his career including a win at IPT San Remo in 2009.

But Jelassi never won something as big as this. After several cashes at EPT Main Events, Jelassi played his way to the first EPT Main Event title of his career, defeating Sotirios Koutoupas heads-up to win EPT Prague on Saturday.

Amazingly, the win nearly doubles the Swede's live tournament earnings.

David Boyaciyan was hoping to do one-better than he did here in Prague last season where he finished second at EPT Prague. Unfortunately for Boyaciyan, he had to settle for a third place finish, still, a very amazing feat by the Dutch banker.

Mark Herm, Mariusz Klosinski, Mikhail Petrov, Johnny Lodden, Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo, Sergio Aido Espina, Jeff Sarwer, Roberto Romanello, Manuel Bevand and Jonathan Driscoll all earned Top 30 finishes in Prague.

Photo credit: EPT.com, Neil Stoddart



TOP 32 PAYOUTS (EUR)
Ramzi Jelassi 835,000
Sotirios Koutoupas 510,000
David Boyaciyan 310,000
Ben Warrington 250,000
Diego Gomez 196,000
Sergey Kuzminskiy 150,000
Aleh Plauski 108,400
Mark Herm 75,000
Mariusz Klosinski 53,000
Jorma Nuutinen 53,000
Andreas Berggren 42,000
Mikhail Petrov 42,000
Johnny Lodden 34,000
Marco Leonzio 34,000
Dany Parlafes 29,000
Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo 29,000
Sergio Aido Espina 25,000
Jeff Sarwer 25,000
Mads Amot 25,000
Iosif Beskrovnyy 25,000
Roberto Romanello 25,000
Nicholas Galtos 25,000
Manuel Bevand 25,000
Enrico Tau 25,000
Denis Pisorev 21,000
Radu Catoiu Romania 21,000
Martin Muslow 21,000
Danilo Donnini 21,000
Martin Hanowski 21,000
Jonathan Driscoll 21,000
Cesar Garcia Dominguez 21,000
Fabrice Soulier 21,000

RELATED POSTS
> FINGER WINS EPT PRAGUE
> MAD MARVIN WINS HIGH ROLLERS
> PANAGIOTOU WINS EUREKA


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
EUROPEAN POKER TOUR
EPT PRAGUE
NLH Main Event
December 9-15, 2012

Hilton Prague Hotel | Prague
Buy-in: $6,970 | Prizepool: $5,514,145
Total Entries: 864

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
RAMZI JELASSI 133
SOTIRIOS KOUTOUPAS 83
DAVID BOYACIYAN 53
BEN WARRINGTON 43
DIEGO GOMEZ 38
SERGEY KUZMINSKIY 33
ALEH PALUSKI 33
MARK HERM 18
MARIUSZ KLOSINSKI 18
JORMA NUUTINEN 18
ANDREAS BERGGREN 18
MIKHAIL PETROV 16
JOHNNY LODDEN 16
MARCO LEONZIO 16
DANY PARLAFES 16
JOSE MANUEL NADAL SORDO 13
SERGIO AIDO ESPINA 13
JEFF SARWER 13

NEXT EPT TOUR STOP
2013 PCA Festival
Atlantis Resort Bahamas
January 5-14, 2013

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Martin Finger
€ 720,000


GSOP PRAGUE: ADAMS WINS GSOP LIVE, MCCORKELL FOURTH


A star-studded field entered the King's Casino in Prague on Wednesday with one last shot at victory at the Prague Poker Festival.

Dominik Nitsche, Liv Boeree, Faraz Jaka, David Vamplew, Melanie Weisner, Anton Wigg, Steven van Zadelhoff, Jason Wheeler and New York Red Bulls midfielder Joel Lindpere were amongst the 590-player field at the Grand Series of Poker GSOP Live Prague Main Event.

In the end, it's English player Matt Adams who would pickup the big win, defeating a game Tapio Vihakas heads-up.

2012 WSOP bracelet winners Craig McCorkell and Rocco Palumbo both final tabled the event. McCorkell finished fourth while Palumbo was out in fifth position.

Photo credit: GSOPlive.com



FT PAYOUTS (EUR)
Matthew Adams € 106,200
Tapio Vihakas € 70,800
Amit Zulkowitz € 50,740
Craig McCorkell € 39,530
Rocco Palumbo € 29,500
Thomas Taubenschuss € 23,069
Oliver Schaffmann € 17,995
Joel Lindpere € 13,570
Thomas Mercier € 10,797

RELATED POSTS
> AASMAA WINS PRAGUE
> SHATILOV WINS GSOP GRAND FINAL
> MCCORKELL UPSETS ANTONIO
> PALUMBO WINS BRACELET

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Raigo Aasmaa
€ 80,000


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
GRAND SERIES OF POKER LIVE
GSOP LIVE PRAGUE
NLH Main Event
December 12-15, 2012

King's Casino | Prague
Buy-in: $1,970 | Prizepool: $776,380
Total Entries: 590

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
MATT ADAMS 35
TAPIO VIHAKAS 18
AMIT ZULKOWITZ 10
CRAIG MCCORKELL 8
ROCCO PALUMBO 5

NEXT GSOP LIVE TOUR STOP
GSOP Live Vienna
Montesino Casino
February 13-16, 2013


Saturday, December 15, 2012

EPT PRAGUE: OH SO CLOSE! MAD MARVIN WINS HR BUT NOT POY


It was going to take something close to a miracle for Dan Smith to lose his lead atop the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard powered by PTPRpoker ... and despite just winning the High Rollers event at EPT Prague, Mad Marvin Rettenmaier falls 10 points short of a miracle and Smith maintains a small lead heading into the final moments of the 2012 poker season.


Rettenmaier cements his number 2 ranking on the season and collects his fourth win on tour this season.

Mad Marvin defeated fellow German Fabian Quoss heads-up. Quoss won the WPT Rendez-Vous a Paris HR title back in September.

Juha Helppi was third, Philippe Ktorza fourth and 2010 PTPRpoker Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi rounded-out the Top 5.

Marcin Wydrowski finished in sixth position, one week after capturing his first WPT title right here in Prague.

For the first time in his five-year poker career, it looks as if Jason Mercier will not cross the 1M USD in earnings mark in a season as his seventh place finish in this event wasn't enough to put him over.

Photo credit: European Poker Tour, Neil Stoddart



EVENT PAYOUTS (EUR)
Marvin Rettenmaier €365,300
Fabian Quoss €210,300
Juha Helppi €121,800
Philippe Ktorza €96,900
Sorel Mizzi €74,800
Marcin Wydrowski €55,500
Jason Mercier €44,200
Andrey Gulyy €33,200
Aubin Cazals €27,700
Morten Klein €27,700
Gurgen Melkonyan €25,000
Eugene Katchalov €25,000

RELATED POSTS
> PANAGIOTOU WINS EUREKA
> RETTENMAIER WINS WPT CYPRUS
> MAD MARVIN WPT CHAMPION

DEFENDING CHAMPION
John Andress
€ 176,400


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
EUROPEAN POKER TOUR
EPT PRAGUE
10K NLH High Roller
December 13-15, 2012

Hilton Prague Hotel | Prague
Buy-in: $13,550 | Prizepool: $1,107,400
Total Entries: 113

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
MARVIN RETTENMAIER 101
FABIAN QUOSS 61
JUHA HELPPI 36
PHILIPPE KTORZA 26
SOREL MIZZI 19
MARCIN WYDROWKSI 11
JASON MERCIER 9
ANDREY GULYY 6
AUBIN CAZALS 6

NEXT EPT TOUR STOP
2013 PCA Festival
Atlantis Resort Bahamas
January 5-14, 2013


Thursday, December 13, 2012

WPT FIVE DIAMOND: RAGHAVAN TWO-PEATS AS WE CLOSE FIVE DIAMOND


A few days prior to winning the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Ravi Raghavan was busy putting up another W, winning the final 2,500 NLH side event at Bellagio.

Raghavan's two late-season victories move him up to 19th overall on the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard.



Will "The Thrill" Failla, Stan Jablonski, Joseph Serock, Cary Katz, Steve Gross and Chris Bjorin all final tabled the event.

Full event stats are available at the bottom of this post.


The final Five Diamond event that qualified for POY points was won by Anthony Gargano. Gargano defeated Lawrence Greenberg heads-up.

Zachary Clark - who won the event last season - finished third in the event ... meanwhile, Joseph Serock made another final table appearance at Bellagio.

PLAYER | POY POINTS | PAYOUT
ANTHONY GARGANO | 100 | T-175
LAWRENCE GREENBERG | 60 | T-456
ZACHARY CLARK | 35 | T-118
ANDREAS IOAKIMIDIES | 25 | T-1215
DARIN FEINSTEIN | 18 | T-1423
ROBERT KONZ | 10 | T-1941
JOSEPH SEROCK | 8 | 72nd
MIKE BRINKENHOFF | 5 | T-2229
JOHN MORGAN | 5 | T-2229


FINAL EVENT RESULTS |
WPT DOYLE BRUNSON FIVE DIAMOND WORLD POKER CLASSIC

EVENT 1 | 1K NLH | 135K PRIZEPOOL | 138 PLAYERS
Winner: Dwyte Pilgrim, 43K USD

EVENT 2 | 1K NLH | 130K PRIZEPOOL | 135 PLAYERS
Winner: Clyde Lorance, 41K USD

EVENT 3 | 1K NLH SENIORS | 102K PRIZEPOOL | 108 PLAYERS
Winner: Derek Payne, 33K USD

EVENT 4 | 2.5K NLH | 150K PRIZEPOOL | 62 PLAYERS
Winner: Thomas Marchese, 51K USD

EVENT 5 | 1.5K NLH | 212K PRIZEPOOL | 146 PLAYERS
Winner: Ronald Paolucci, 60K USD

EVENT 6 | 1K NLH | 262K PRIZEPOOL | 270 PLAYERS
Winner: Jeremy Ausmus, 78K USD

EVENT 7 | 1K NLH POSITION | 60K PRIZEPOOL | 62 PLAYERS
Winner: Patrick Cruse, 18K USD

EVENT 8 | 5K NLH | 417K PRIZEPOOL | 86 PLAYERS
Winner: David Belaich, 158K USD

EVENT 11 | 2.5K NLH | 417K PRIZEPOOL | 172 PLAYERS
Winner: Ravi Raghavan, 150K USD

MAIN EVENT | 10K NLH | 4.87M PRIZEPOOL | 503 PLAYERS
Winner: Ravi Raghavan, 1.26M USD

EVENT 14 | 5K NLH | 383K PRIZEPOOL | 79 PLAYERS
Winner: Anthony Gargano, 147K USD

EVENT 15 | 25K HIGH ROLLERS | 412K PRIZEPOOL | 17 PLAYERS
Winner: Thomas Marchese, 207K USD

EVENT 16 | 1.5K NLH | 235K PRIZEPOOL | 162 PLAYERS
Winner: Dan Alspach, 75K USD

Photo credit: World Poker Tour, Joe Giron, WPT.com



EVENT PAYOUTS (USD)
Ravi Raghavan $150,810
Francois Safieddine $86,152
Iwan Jones $45,426
Will Failla $27,412
Stan Jablonski $20,559
Joseph Serock $16,643
Cary Katz $12,727
Steve Gross $8,811
Chris Bjorin $6,266
Stuart Krasney $5,091
Tommy Vedes $5,091
Marvin Rettenmaier $5,091
Jason Heiner $4,699
Joanne J.J. Liu $4,699
Dana Kellstrom $4,699
Ray Qartomy $4,308
Joseph Dunn $4,308
Alex Cordero $4,308

RELATED POSTS
> RAGHAVAN BEATS BIG DOGS
> OMG IT'S MAGIC, BUCH, CHEWY
> WYDROWSKI WINS PRAGUE
> DEMPSEY WINS FIVE DIAMOND
> MAGIC MAN - ANTONIO WINS FIVE DIAMOND


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT DOYLE BRUSON FIVE DIAMOND
WORLD POKER CLASSIC
NLH 2.5K Prelim Event
December 2-3, 2012

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $2,620 | Prizepool: $417,100
Total Entries: 172

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
RAVI RAGHAVAN 75
FRANCOIS SAFIEDDINE 40
IWAN JONES 25
WILL FAILLA "THE THRILL" 15
STAN JABLONSKI 10
JOSEPH SEROCK 8
CARY KATZ 5
STEVE GROSS 5
CHRIS BJORIN 5

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
BORGATA WINTER POKER OPEN
Borgata, Atlantic City
January 27-1, 2013


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

WSOPC HARRAH'S AC: TEASDALE BEATS WOELFEL TO WIN IN AC


Adam Teasdale is the latest winner on the WSOP Circuit. Teasdale made his way through the huge 616-player field in order to win WSOP Circuit Harrah's Atlantic City.

Teasdale earned a huge paycheck in AC, just under 200K USD for his efforts.




Wade Woelfel - who finished second at the Borgata Poker Open 1K side event in September - was the bridesmaid for the second time this season finishing second to Teasdale.

Aaron Overton, Feming Chan, Scott Baumstein, Will Failla, Stan Jablonski, Jamie Kerstetter, David Diaz and Daniel Buzgon were amongst the other players who cashed in the event.

This was the first to two stops in Atlantic City during the 2012-13 season for the WSOPC - the Circuit retunrs to AC, this time at Caesars Atlantic City, February 28th through March 11th, 2013.

Photo credit: WSOP.com



TOP 36 PAYOUTS (USD)
Adam Teasdale $194,040
Wade Woelfel $120,018
Pete Rios $87,762
Sung Kim $65,124
Terry Grimes $49,000
Aaron Overton $37,376
Barry Leventhal $28,903
Ed Modlin $22,656
Trevor Deeter $18,000
Jeffrey Wicker $14,488
Feming Chan $14,488
Gregory Fishberg $14,488
Jack Thomas $11,809
Brandon Fish $11,809
Cathy Dever $11,809
Douglas MacKinnon $9,748
Mark Warren $9,748
Patricia Cahill $9,748
Travell Thomas $8,150
William Galler $8,150
Jeffrey Einsidler $8,150
Michael Pariso $6,902
Brian Nguyen $6,902
Paul Mullins $6,902
Gino Levrini $5,914
Scott Baumstein $5,914
Richard Austin $5,914
Michael Cologna $5,128
Ryan Moriarty $5,128
Yung Hwang $5,128
Will Failla $4,509
Stan Jablonski $4,509
Christian Soto $4,509
Jamie Kerstetter $4,010
Brian Munshower $4,010
Kam Chin $4,010


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
WORLD SERIES OF POKER CIRCUIT
WSOPC HARRAH'S ATLANTIC CITY
NLH Main Event
December 8-10, 2012

Harrah's Atlantic City | New Jersey
Buy-in: $1,675 | Prizepool: $924,000
Total Entries: 616

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
ADAM TEASDALE 35
WADE WOELFEL 18
PEDRO RIOS 10
SUNG KIM 8
TERRY GRIMES 5

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Tuan Phan
$188,830 USD

NEXT WSOP CIRCUIT STOP
WSOPC HARRAH'S RINCON
Harrah's Rincon, California
December 15-17, 2012


Monday, December 10, 2012

WPT FIVE DIAMOND: RAGHAVAN BEATS THE BIG DOGS


It's a win that will define a career. After over three years on the poker circuit, Ravi Raghavan has finally picked up the major poker title he had been after.

Raghavan survived one of the toughest fields of the 2012 season (half of the Top 18 participants are part of the QJ POY TOP 100 - including eight of the Top 51) to earn the win at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

So far in 2012, Raghavan had finished 11th at WPT Hard Rock and had finished 8th at the Borgata Fall Poker Open on US Thanksgiving. His only other win on the circuit came back in 2009, when he won a prelim event at the Wynn Classic in Las Vegas.


BIG THREE COME UP SHORT
Coming into final table play, it seemed inconceivable for one of the Top 3 chip leader not to win this event.

Out of the three, superstar Shawn Buchanan had the best result, losing the heads-up battle at the hands of Raghavan.

There was a lot on the line for Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari. After collecting two bracelets in 2012, The Magician was hoping to win his second WPT Five Diamond Main Event in three years in his third straight final table appearance.

Unfortunately, Antonio was out in fourth ... but I don't think anyone will feel bad for The Magician after the season he just had!

Andrew Lichthenberg was also unable to secure the W on Sunday. After a very solid 2012 campaign, LuckyChewy was hoping to add a big win to the list but he could do no better than fifth.

Photo credit: World Poker Tour, Joe Giron, WPT.com



TOP 22 PAYOUTS (USD)
Ravi Raghavan $1,268,571
Shawn Buchanan $746,502
Thomas Winters $483,031
Antonio Esfandiari $329,339
Andrew Lichtenberger $234,197
Jeremy Kottler $187,845
Jonathan Aguiar $143,933
Theo Tran $102,461
Arthur Morris $73,187
Jason Somerville $56,110
Yevgeniy Timoshenko $56,110
Freddy Deeb $56,110
Greg Mueller $43,912
Eric Panayiotou $43,912
Andrew Robl $40,250
Scott Clements $40,250
Noah Schwartz $36,593
Jeremy Ausmus $36,593
Brian Rast $31,714
Joshua Ladines $31,714
Edward Sabat $31,714
Joseph Elpayaa $31,714

RELATED POSTS
> OMG IT'S MAGIC, BUCH, CHEWY
> WYDROWSKI WINS PRAGUE
> DEMPSEY WINS FIVE DIAMOND
> MAGIC MAN - ANTONIO WINS FIVE DIAMOND

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
BORGATA WINTER POKER OPEN
Borgata, Atlantic City
January 27-1, 2013


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT DOYLE BRUSON FIVE DIAMOND
WORLD POKER CLASSIC
NLH Main Event
December 4-9, 2012

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $10,300 | Prizepool: $4,879,100
Total Entries: 503

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
RAVI RAGHAVAN 130
SHAWN BUCHANAN 80
THOMAS WINTERS 50
ANTONIO ESFANDIARI 40
ANDREW LICHTENBERGER 35
JEREMY KOTTLER 30
JONATHAN AGUIAR 30
THEO TRAN 15
ARTHUR MORRIS 15
JASON SOMERVILLE 15
YEVGENIY TIMOSHENKO 15
FREDDY DEEB 13
GREG MUELLER 13
ERIC PANAYIOTOU 13
SCOTT CLEMENTS 13
ANDREW ROBL 10
NOAH SCHWARTZ 10
JEREMY AUSMUS 10

DEFENDING CHAMPION
James Dempsey $821,612


Sunday, December 9, 2012

WPT PRAGUE: WYDROWSKI TOPS IN PRAGUE


Marcin Wydrowski is the king of Prague. Wydrowski outlasted 566 opponents to win WPT Prague in the Czech Republic.

With the win, Wydrowski becomes the first ever Polish poker player to win on the World Poker Tour and picks up € 325,000 for his efforts.

Alexandr Lahkov finished in second position while PartyPoker sponsored player Bodo Sbrzensy finished third. Sbrzensy held the chip lead coming into final table play.

Alin-Gabriel Grasu and Michael Gagliano, who final tabled an event at the WSOP this summer, were the first two players to be shown the door on Sunday.

Photo credit: WPT Europe, WPT.com



TOP 22 PAYOUTS (USD)
Marcin Wydrowski $423,957
Alexandr Lahkov $278,866
Bodo Sbrzesny $179,246
Tony Chang $132,736
Michael Gagliano $99,506
Alin Grasu $79,723
Elio Fox $66,472
Daniel Ospina $53,009
Konstantin Danilov $39,764
Fabian Quoss $29,243
Kevin MacPhee $29,243
Jason Mercier $29,243
Dermot Blain $23,758
Mikhail Mazunin $23,758
Sergey Vasilyev $23,758
Simon Ravnsbaek $20,396
Dmitry Gromov $20,396
Wojciech Lozowski $20,396
Frank Stumpf $17,874
Yann Dion $17,874
Daniel Rudd $17,874
Lars Bonding $15,978

RELATED POSTS
> BIG NAMES FT AT FIVE DIAMOND
> FT SET AT WPT PRAGUE
> FUNDARO WINS MAZAGAN
> PATEYCHUK WINS PRAGUE

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
BORGATA WINTER POKER OPEN
Borgata, Atlantic City
January 27-1, 2013


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT PRAGUE
NLH Main Event
December 3-9, 2012

King's Casino | Prague
Buy-in: $4,265 | Prizepool: $2,129,739
Total Entries: 567

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
MARCIN WYDROWSKI 130
ALEXANDR LAHKOV 80
BODO SBRZESNY 50
TONY CHANG 40
MICHAEL GAGLIANO 35
ALIN-GABRIEL GRASU 30
ELIO FOX 30
DANIEL OSPINA 15
KONSTANTIN DANILOV 15
FABIAN QUOSS 15
KEVIN MACPHEE 15
JASON MERCIER 13
DERMOT BLAIN 13
MIKHAIL MAZUNIN 13
SERGEY VASILYEV 13
SIMON RAVNSBAEK 10
DMITRY GROMOV 10
WOJCIECH LOZOWSKI 10

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Andrey Pateychuk $630,263


EPT PRAGUE: PANAGIOTOU WINS EUREKA TITLE


Menikos Panagiotou wins the biggest tournament in Eureka Poker Tour history, beating out 644 opponents to win Eureka Prague in the Czech Republic.

The 29-year old Cyprus man only had a min cash earlier this season on his resume.

Ana Marquez finished 17th in the event while Zoltan Szabo finished in 24th position.

We also know that Guillaume Rivet has won the Eureka High Rollers event, winning the biggest share of the €349,920 prizepool. We hope to have full event results shortly.

Photo credit: Tomas Stacha, Eureka Poker Tour, PokerStars



TOP 25 PAYOUTS (EUR)
MENIKOS PANAGIOTOU 137,100
ROBERT VUKOVIC 75,000
MATIAS KNAAPINEN 75,000
IOANNIS TRIANTAFYLLAKIS 42,800
BERND VOGELHUBER 31,700
MARIUSZ KLOSINSKI 22,100
BOGDAN IONESCU 15,800
MARCEL BUISSINK 11,900
GREGORY LIVSHITS 9,500
Andreas Vlachos 9,500
Petr Targa 7,900
Florian Kossler 7,900
Doron Lida 6,300
Richard Larsen 6,300
Daniel Havlik 4,700
Roger Engen 4,700
Ana Marquez 4,100
Khiem Nguyen 4,100
Jurij Kolesnikov 4,100
Thomas Pettersson 4,100
Tama Ollah 4,100
Andrew Hulme 4,100
Alexandros Kolonias 4,100
Zoltan Szabo 3,480
Hana Soljan 3,480


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
EPT PRAGUE
EUREKA POKER TOUR
NLH Main Event
December 5-9, 2012

Hilton Prague Hotel | Czech Republic
Buy-in: $1,420 | Prizepool: $817,490
Total Entries: 652

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
MENIKOS PANAGIOTOU 75
ROBERT VUKOVIC 40
MATIAS KNAAPINEN 25
IOANNIS TRIANTAFYLLAKIS 15
BERND VOGELHUBER 10
MARIUSZ KLOSINSKI 8
BOGDAN IONESCU 5
MARCEL BUISSINK 5
GREGORY LIVSHITS 5

RELATED POSTS
> MERIKALLIO WINS EUREKA RIGA
> JOHNSON WINS EUREKA PRAGUE

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Keith Johnson, € 58,400

NEXT EUREKA TOUR STOP
End of Season 2


BERENDE WINS HOLD'EM CHALLENGE WINTER EDITION


Dutch poker pro Paul Berende has won the PokerStars Hold'Em Challenge Winter Edition Main Event at Casino Namur in Belgium.

Berende earns € 118.474 for his work in Belgium. It was a good week for Berende who finished second in the High Rollers event, adding a little over €33K to his paycheck.

Fellow Dutch pro Pieter de Korver was third in the event. de Korver recently finished second to Ole Schemion in his native land, at the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam.

A few other big names pros earned Top 25 finishes in Belgium - they include: Christophe De Meulder, Tobias Peters, Pierre Neuville and Koen de Visscher.

Photo credit: Pokerstars.be



TOP 25 PAYOUTS (EUR)
PAUL BERENDE € 118.474
CHRISTOPHE MERTENS € 101.500
PIETER de KORVER € 100.000
BART MOENS € 39.231
JONAS LAUCK € 31.603
Driss Bouchoiri € 25.791
Christophe De Meulder € 21.795
Jean-Pierre Hologne € 18.162
Tobias Peters € 14.530
Sébastien Magerat € 10.897
Pierre Neuville € 10.897
Guillaume Peltriaux € 10.897
Micha Hoedemaker € 7.991
Dirk Baumans € 7.991
Philippe De Schepper € 7.991
David Grilli € 5.812
Jonathan Abdellatif € 5.812
Ugo Jaksula € 5.812
Davy Huyst € 4.722
Rolando Camardese € 4.722
Olaf de Zeeuw € 4.722
Koen De Visscher € 4.722
Olivier Grasso € 4.722
Alban Messe € 4.722
Dren Ukella € 4.722


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
POKERSTARS HOLD'EM CHALLENGE
WINTER EDITION
NLH Main Event
December 1-9, 2012

Casino de Namur | Belgium
Buy-in: $1,935 | Prizepool: $939,065
Total Entries: 561

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
PAUL BERENDE 35
CHRISTOPHE MERTENS 18
PIETER DE KORVER 10
BART MOENS 8
JONAS LAUCK 5

RELATED POSTS
> de BUSSCHER WINS SPRING HOLD'EM CHALLENGE


UNIBET ST. MAARTEN: MURARIU WINS SECOND UNIBET TITLE


Two and a half years after winning Unibet Open Varna, Romanian poker pro Dan Murariu won his second Unibet Open title, this time winning the 5th Anniversary celebration event on the beautiful island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

Murariu earned his 11th payout of 2012 on Sunday. He had another win during the season at the $600 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza side event back in July.

Photo credit: Unibet, unibetopen.com



EVENT PAYOUTS (EUR)
DAN MURARIU EUR 110,000
MICHEL FARDEL EUR 59,000
EMIL HEGEDUS EUR 31,000
OLIVIER ROBVEILLE EUR 26,000
MAKSYM LAVROV EUR 21,800
Paulo RODRIGUES EUR 17,600
Kamil PALUSZKIEWICZ EUR 13,800
David GABRIELSSON EUR 10,000
Ruggiero SCOMMEGNA EUR 6,690
Antti KARKKAINEN EUR 4,200
Mihai MANOLE EUR 4,200
Tristan SAMIS EUR 4,200
Sander LANGEZAAL EUR 3,500
Ted AHS EUR 3,500
Dueval FENTON EUR 3,500
Jasper WETEMANS EUR 2,800
Robert BAKKER EUR 2,800
Julien SUBREVILLE EUR 2,800
Tomasz KOZUB EUR 2,100
Erich KOLLMAN EUR 2,100
Ben BEIGHLE EUR 2,100
Seppo SALO EUR 2,100
Christophe ENRICI EUR 2,100
Sami MOILANEN EUR 2,100
Niki KOVACS EUR 2,100
Zoltan BARABAS EUR 2,100
Johan GOSLINGS EUR 2,100


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
UNIBET OPEN
UNIBET ST. MAARTEN
NLH Main Event
December 3-7, 2012

Casino Royale | St. Maarten
Buy-in: $2,130 | Prizepool: $447,615
Total Entries: 238

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
DAN MURARIU 35
MICHEL FARDEL 18
EMIL HEGEDUS 10
OLIVIER ROBVEILLE 8
MAKSYM LAVROV 5

RELATED POSTS
> GHATGE WINS UNIBET LONDON

NEXT UNIBET OPEN TOUR STOP
UNIBET COPENHAGEN
Casino Copenhagen, Denmark
March 7-10, 2013


WPT FIVE DIAMOND: OMG IT'S MAGIC, BUCH AND CHEWY AT FT!


Now that's more like it!

Hours after being left wanting more as big name pros were unable to crack the WPT Final Six at WPT Prague, we are set for an amazing thrill ride as the final table at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic is star-studded, to say the least!



Antonio Esfandiari, Shawn Buchanan and Andrew Lichtenberger all hold the Top 3 chip counts and all highlight the final table at Bellagio.

There is tons at stake of The Magician. Not only is Esfandiari looking for a third major title in 2012 - to go along with his WSOP One Drop and WSOP Europe prelim wins - a win later today and Esfandiari - currently ranked #8 on the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard - would skyrocket up to #3 overall.

At the very least, Esfandiari is assured to move up one spot to #7, surpassing German pro Ole Schemion.

For Shawn Buchanan, it's redemption time. Known by many of his peers as one of the best in the game, Buch's season was completely derailed at the start of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this summer after his girlfriend was gravely injured in a freak home accident.

Buchanan has shown in the past that he can run hot at a WPT Final Table. Buchanan won the WPT Mandalay Bay Championship back in 2007.

Andrew Lichtenberger a.k.a. LuckyChewy also has a lot ridding on this tournament.
After quietly putting together a strong 2012 campaign, LuckyChewy would certainly love to add a win to his 2012 resume.

Amazingly, both Esfandiari and Lichtenberger final tabled this event last season ... even more crazy? Antonio won this event back in 2010 - this marks his third straight final table at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

WPT FINAL TABLE:
Seat 1: Antonio Esfandiari 3,465,000 (LEADER)
Seat 2: Andrew Lichtenberger 2,940,000
Seat 3: Jeremy Kottler 1,215,000
Seat 4: Ravi Raghavan 1,250,000
Seat 5: Shawn Buchanan 3,465,000
Seat 6: Thomas Winters 1,615,000

An all-star field entered the Bellgaio on Saturday - some of the big name pros eliminated during Day 5 play included: Jonathan Aguiar, Jason Somerville, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Freddy Deeb, Greg Mueller, Andrew Robl, Scott Clements, Noah Schwartz, Jeremy Ausmus, Brian Rast, Eddy Sabat and Joseph Elpayaa.

Photo credit: World Poker Tour, Joe Giron, WPT.com



TOP 22 PAYOUTS (USD)
1 $1,268,571
2 $746,502
3 $483,031
4 $329,339
5 $234,197
6 $187,845
Jonathan Aguiar $143,933
Theo Tran $102,461
Arthur Morris $73,187
Jason Somerville $56,110
Yevgeniy Timoshenko $56,110
Freddy Deeb $56,110
Greg Mueller $43,912
Eric Panayiotou $43,912
Andrew Robl $40,250
Scott Clements $40,250
Noah Schwartz $36,593
Jeremy Ausmus $36,593
Brian Rast $31,714
Joshua Ladines $31,714
Edward Sabat $31,714
Joseph Elpayaa $31,714

RELATED POSTS
> FUNDARO WINS MAZAGAN
> FINAL TABLE SET IN PRAGUE
> DEMPSEY WINS FIVE DIAMOND
> MAGIC MAN - ANTONIO WINS FIVE DIAMOND

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
BORGATA WINTER POKER OPEN
Borgata, Atlantic City
January 27-1, 2013


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT DOYLE BRUSON FIVE DIAMOND
WORLD POKER CLASSIC
NLH Main Event
December 4-9, 2012

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $10,300 | Prizepool: $4,879,100
Total Entries: 503

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
1st position 130
2nd position 80
3rd position 50
4th position 40
5th position 35
6th position 30
JONATHAN AGUIAR 30
THEO TRAN 15
ARTHUR MORRIS 15
JASON SOMERVILLE 15
YEVGENIY TIMOSHENKO 15
FREDDY DEEB 13
GREG MUELLER 13
ERIC PANAYIOTOU 13
SCOTT CLEMENTS 13
ANDREW ROBL 10
NOAH SCHWARTZ 10
JEREMY AUSMUS 10

DEFENDING CHAMPION
James Dempsey $821,612


Saturday, December 8, 2012

WPT PRAGUE: FT SET AS STARS FALL LATE


My what could have been ... with twelve players left at WPT Prague on Saturday, it looked as if we were on our way to a superstar final table showdown.

But in a flash, Jason Mercier, Kevin MacPhee and Fabian Quoss had hit the rail. The big name pros were soon followed 2011 Bellagio Cup and WSOP Europe Champ Elio Fox - who was the final player eliminated prior to the formation of the WPT final table.

PartyPoker's Bodo Sbrzesny will hold the chip lead once final table begins in a few hours.

Sbrzesny is followed closely by the man who came into Saturday's play at the chip leader, Tony Chang.

American Michael Gagliano heads into final table play fifth out of sixth in chips but still has plenty of chips to play with. Gagliano final tabled a 2.5K NLH event at the WSOP this past summer.

WPT FINAL TABLE:
Seat 1: Alin Grasu 855,000
Seat 2: Marcin Wydrowski 2,745,000
Seat 3: Tony Chang 3,610,000
Seat 4: Michael Gagliano 2,375,000
Seat 5: Bodo Sbrzesny 4,605,000 (LEADER)
Seat 6: Alexander Lakhov 2,815,000

Photo credit: WPT Europe, WPT.com



TOP 22 PAYOUTS (USD)
1st $423,957
2nd $278,866
3rd $179,246
4th $132,736
5th $99,506
6th $79,723
Elio Fox $66,472
Daniel Ospina $53,009
Konstantin Danilov $39,764
Fabian Quoss $29,243
Kevin MacPhee $29,243
Jason Mercier $29,243
Dermot Blain $23,758
Mikhail Mazunin $23,758
Sergey Vasilyev $23,758
Simon Ravnsbaek $20,396
Dmitry Gromov $20,396
Wojciech Lozowski $20,396
Frank Stumpf $17,874
Yann Dion $17,874
Daniel Rudd $17,874
Lars Bonding $15,978

RELATED POSTS
> FUNDARO WINS MAZAGAN
> PATEYCHUK WINS PRAGUE
> SBRZENSY CONTENDS IN BRATISLAVA

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
BORGATA WINTER POKER OPEN
Borgata, Atlantic City
January 27-1, 2013


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT PRAGUE
NLH Main Event
December 3-9, 2012

King's Casino | Prague
Buy-in: $4,265 | Prizepool: $2,129,739
Total Entries: 567

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
1st position 130
2nd position 80
3rd position 50
4th position 40
5th position 35
6th position 30
ELIO FOX 30
DANIEL OSPINA 15
KONSTANTIN DANILOV 15
FABIAN QUOSS 15
KEVIN MACPHEE 15
JASON MERCIER 13
DERMOT BLAIN 13
MIKHAIL MAZUNIN 13
SERGEY VASILYEV 13
SIMON RAVNSBAEK 10
DMITRY GROMOV 10
WOJCIECH LOZOWSKI 10

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Andrey Pateychuk $630,263


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

GUKPT GRAND FINAL: GRAFTON EARNS FIRST BIG WIN


After several top-end results on the GUKPT, it's the breakthrough win that many thought Sam Grafton (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-665th) would soon be earning.

Grafton won the GUKPT Grand Final on Sunday, the first win of his live tournament poker career and the £ 102,700 collected dwarfs what he had earned in his live career.

Grafton defeated Peter Charalambous heads-up. Charalambous becomes the bridesmaid for the second time on the GUKPT - he finished second to Jeff Kimber at GUKPT Walsall back in 2008.

Two-time WSOP final table participant Jon Spinks was fifth in the event ... meanwhile, Christopher Brammer, Jan Sjavik, Jamie Burland and Simon Deadman are some other notables who cashed in London.



EVENT PAYOUTS (GBP)
Sam Grafton   £102,700
Peter Charalambous   £72,800
Victor Ilyukhin   £45,400
Matthew Moss   £28,250
Jon Spinks   £22,250
George Hassabis   £17,100
David Maudlin   £13,700
Sandiep Khosa   £10,300
Christopher Brammer   £7,700
Jan Sjavik   £6,000
Jamie Burland   £6,000
Ramey Shaio   £5,150
Simon Deadman   £5,150

DEFENDING CHAMPION
Fabian Quoss, £119,996

RELATED POSTS
> QUOSS DEFEATS CODY TO WIN GUKPT FINAL


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
GROSVENOR UK POKER TOUR
GUKPT Grand Final
November 30-2, 2012

Mazagan Beach Resort | Morocco
Buy-in: $4,570 | Prizepool: $577,387
Total Entries: 146

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
SAM GRAFTON 35
PETER CHARALAMBOUS 18
VICTOR ILYUKHIN 10
MATTHEW MOSS 8
JON SPINKS 5

NEXT GUKPT TOUR STOP
GUKPT LONDON
Grosvenor Victoria Casino
February 24-3, 2013


Saturday, December 1, 2012

WPT MAZAGAN: KITAI FIZZLES, FUNDARO TAKES ADVANTAGE


The stage was set for Triple Crown winner Davidi Kitai (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 29th). The Belgian came into final table play at WPT Mazagan with a massive chip lead. A win, and Kitai would enter the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 10 Leaderboard, pushing recent WPT Champions Club inductee Noah Schwartz out of the Top 10.

But things certainly didn't go as planned for Kitai. A few hours after the start of final table play, Kitbul would be out of the tournament, finishing fourth.

Giacomo Fundaro (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-139th) would end up winning the inaugural event in Morocco, defeating Frederic Brunet (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-312nd) heads-up.

With his 11th place showing, Bruno Lopes - aka Kool Shen - continues his amazing 2012 season on the poker circuit. Lopes moves up to 35th position overall on the 2012 charts.

Bruno Fitoussi, Paul Tedeschi, Guillaume Darcourt, Charles Harvey, Sebastien Compte, Fabrice Soulier and Omar Karib all cashed in the event.

Photo credit: Lee Davy, World Poker Tour, WPT.com



EVENT PAYOUTS (USD)
Giacomo Fundaro $168,207
Frederic Brunet $99,082
Jeremy Nock $64,048
Davidi Kitai $47,279
Clement Beauvois $35,518
Bruno Fitoussi $28,531
Paul Tedeschi $23,559
Guillaume Darcourt $18,847
Charles Harvey $14,100
Sebastien Compte $10,359
Bruno Lopes $10,359
Fabrice Soulier $10,359
Sergei Vasilyev $8,497
Achile Voltolina $8,497
Bruno Louy $8,497
Omar Karib $7,216
Mbarek Saadi $7,216
David Chekroun $7,216

RELATED POSTS
> ROY IS KING OF MONTREAL

NEXT WPT TOUR STOP
DOYLE BRUNSON FIVE DIAMOND
WORLD POKER CLASSIC
Bellagio, Las Vegas
December 4-9, 2012


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
WORLD POKER TOUR
WPT MAZAGAN
NLH Main Event
November 27-1, 2012

Mazagan Beach Resort | Morocco
Buy-in: $4,570 | Prizepool: $577,387
Total Entries: 146

PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION
GIACOMO FUNDARO 126
FREDERIC BRUNET 76
JEREMY NOCK 46
DAVIDI KITAI 36
CLEMENT BEAUVOIS 31
BRUNO FITOUSSI 26
PAUL TEDESCHI 26
GUILLAUME DARCOURT 11
CHARLES HARVEY 11
SEBASTIEN COMPTE 11
BRUNO LOPES 11
FABRICE SOULIER 9
SERGEI VASILYEV 9
ACHILE VOLTOLINA 9
BRUNO LOUY 9
OMAR KARIB 6
MBAREK SAADI 6
DAVID CHEKROUN 6