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

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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

REVIEWING BELLAGIO CUP VIII, YAWITZ WINS MAIN

Two events at the Bellagio Cup VIII qualified for QJ/PTPR Points.

In a 5K Side Event, Canadian Eric Afriat (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-150th) won a 63-player event, collecting over 110K USD for his efforts.

Masaaki Kagawa (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-116th), Scott Baumstein (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-363rd), Brandon Meyers (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1027th), SCOOP Main Event Champion Nicholas Grippo (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1610th) and Martin Vallo (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-381st) all made the final table of the side event.


Meanwhile, in the Main Event, Jess Yawitz (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 88th) picked up the victory. Yawitz had earned a Top 10 finish earlier this season in the WPT Hard Rock Main Event.

Yawitz defeated Kristijonas Andrulis (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-134th) heads-up. Alain Roy (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-367th), Steven Silverman (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-273rd), WPT LAPC Champ Sean Jazayeri (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-46th), Kory Kilpatrick (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1246th) and Lee Markholt (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1773rd) all made the final table in the event.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Jess Yawitz $291,505 Kristijonas Andrulis $290,185 Eric Panayiotou $228,845 Alain Roy $83,769 Steven Silverman $62,827 Sean Jazayeri $50,860 Kory Kilpatrick $38,893 Aaron Been $26,926 Lee Markholt $19,147

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Bellagio Cup VIII NLH Main Event July 13-18, 2012 Bellagio | Las Vegas Buy-in: $10,300 | Prizepool: $1,260,000 Entries: 126 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JESS YAWITZ 101 KRISTIJONAS ANDRULIS 61 ERIC PANAYIOTOU 36 ALAIN ROY 26 STEVEN SILVERMAN 19 SEAN JAZAYERI 11 KORY KILPATRICK 9 AARON BEEN 6 LEE MARKHOLT 6

MAD MAN: RETTENMAIER CONTINUES TO ROLL, WINS WPT CHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTO: WORLD POKER TOUR

It has certainly been a good 18 months of so "Mad" Marvin Rettenmaier. Five tournament wins, 21 Top 10 finishes, over 2M in earnings ... Rettenmaier is the final winner of the World Poker Tour's 2011-12 season, winning the WPT World Championship - and just under 1.2M in the process.

Oh, and Mad Marvin signed on with PartyPoker last week to join their team of pro players ... let's just say that Mad Marvin in enjoying life at the moment.

It was a classic final table (a front-runner for PTPR Tournament of the Year for sure) as Rettenmaier had to dispose of Philippe Ktorza, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Nick "The Takeover" Schulman, Steve O'Dwyer and Trevor Pope in order to secure the World Championship.

Rettenmaier's win catapults him to second overall on the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard presented by PTPRpoker, surpassing former #1 Jonathan Duhamel - right on time for the WSOP.

Mad Marvin wasn't the only one taking a stab at the player of the year race ... WPT Bay 101 Champ Moon Kim moves into 5th overall, WPT Lucky Hearts winner Matt Juttelstad is now 12th, WPT Venice Grand Prix Champ Rinat Bogdanov 15th, the aforementioned O'Dwyer not sits 28th while recently named WPT Player of the Year - Joseph Serock - is 29th overall.

Congratulations also go out to Thomas Marchese, who won the 100K Super High Rollers Event.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Marvin Rettenmaier $1,196,858 Philippe Ktorza $805,310 Michael Mizrachi $424,618 Nick Schulman $256,235 Steve O'Dwyer $192,176 Trevor Pope $155,571 DEFENDING CHAMPION Scott Seiver NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Merit Cyprus August 4-9, 2012 Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino Cyprus RELATED POSTS > RETTENMAIER LEADS WPT CHAMPIONSHIP > MADNESS AT BELLAGIO > CUNIX WINS WPT JAX

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT World Poker Tour World Championship WPT World Championship NLH Main Event May 19-26, 2012 Bellagio | Las Vegas Buy-in: $25,500 | Prizepool: $3,660,500 Entries: 152 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION MARVIN RETTENMAIER 151 PHILIPPE KTORZA 91 MICHAEL MIZRACHI 76 NICK SCHULMAN 66 STEVE O'DWYER 61 TREVOR POPE 56 MOON KIM 51 WIL WILKINSON 46 HAFIZ KHAN 36 JOE SEROCK 26 RON COURY 21 JOHN ESPOSITO 19 MATT JUTTELSTAD 19 TOM MCCORMICK 19 BARRY SHULMAN 16 RINAT BOGDANOV 16 FARZAD BONYADI 16 GUILLAUME DARCOURT 13

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP: MADNESS AT BELLAGIO - MAD MARVIN LEADS FINAL 9

WORLD POKER TOUR

It's a Mad rush to the final title of season as the 2011-12 WPT season is coming to a close - and "Mad" Marvin Rettenmaier is making sure that everyone knows that he's arrived in America, and he's ready for two months of work!

The Mad German leads the final nine players remaining at the WPT World Championship at Bellagio. The 25K buy-in event drew 152 players, many of them are already name players on tour including Rettenmaier, who flirted with the PTPR Player of the Year title early in 2011.

The Grinder, Michael Mizrachi, is second in chips, only Grinder and Rettenmaier hold chips stacks above 2M, in fact, they both have over 3M in chips.

Hafiz Khan, Steve O'Dwyer (making a triumphant return from Europe), "The Takeover" Nick Schulman and WPT Bay 101 winner Moon Kim highlight the other notables still alive at Bellagio.

CHIP COUNTS/SEAT ASSIGNMENTS:
Seat 1. Wil Wilkinson - 705,000 (14 BBs)
Seat 2. Michael Mizrachi - 3,124,000 (62 BBs)
Seat 3. Hafiz Khan - 1,641,000 (32 BBs)
Seat 4. Marvin Rettenmaier - 3,757,000 (75 BBs)
Seat 5. Steve O'Dwyer - 1,643,000 (32 BBs)
Seat 6. Nick Schulman - 1,350,000 (27 BBs)
Seat 7. Moon Kim - 1,139,000 (22 BBs)
Seat 8. Trevor Pope - 800,000 (16 BBs)
Seat 9. Philippe Ktorza - 977,000 (19 BBs)
Thank you to WPT.com for this information

The tournament will play down to the traditional WPT Final Table of six players later today and will reconvene on Saturday (day off tomorrow for the Super High Rollers TV taping) on the WPT Televison set and we'll play until we have a winner!

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FINAL 9 PAYOUTS (USD) 1st: $1,196,858 2nd: $805,310 3rd: $424,618 4th: $256,235 5th: $192,176 6th: $155,571 7th: $118,966 8th: $82,361 9th: $58,568 DEFENDING CHAMPION Scott Seiver (Eliminated) LIVE UPDATES WORLD POKER TOUR RELATED POSTS CUNIX WINS WPT JAX

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT World Poker Tour World Championship WPT World Championship NLH Main Event May 19-26, 2012 Bellagio | Las Vegas Buy-in: $25,500 | Prizepool: $3,660,500 Entries: 152 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 151 2nd place 91 3rd place 76 4th place 66 5th place 61 6th place 56 7th place 51 8th place 46 9th place 36 JOE SEROCK 26 RON COURY 21 JOHN ESPOSITO 19 MATT JUTTELSTAD 19 TOM MCCORMICK 19 BARRY SHULMAN 16 RINAT BOGDANOV 16 FARZAD BONYADI 16 GUILLAUME DARCOURT 13

PTPR POKER ROUND-UP: LATE SEASON WINS FOR EAMES, PERPER AND WHITE

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: THEHENDONMOB.com, POKERPAGES.com

We're inching closer and closer towards the end of the 2011 poker season on the circuit - results from Vegas, Prague and from Connecticut in this edition of the Round-Up!

WPT FIVE DIAMOND 5K SIDE EVENT
Dan Perper picked up the win in the 5K side event at the Five Diamond Classic. Ray Qartomy was second in the event, picking up his third PTPR Score of 2011. Joe Elpayaa also scored for the third time in 2011.

It was a second PTPR Score of the season for JohnnyBax and Josh Bergman. Al Melville and Amit Makhija were other notables at the final table.

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (USD):
1st Dan Perper $133,238
2nd Ray Qartomy $133,230
3rd Hassan Tahsildar $57,240
4th Robert Stain $34,542
5th Cliff Josephy $25,906
6th Joe Elpayaa $20,972
7th Al Melville $16,037
8th Joshua Bergman $11,103
9th Amit Makhija $7,895

EPT PRAGUE 2K SIDE EVENT
John Eames continued his fine 2011 campaign by collecting his fifth PTPR Score of 2011 - winning the 2K NLH Side Event at EPT Prague.

Eames (pictured) outlasted Roberto Romanello heads up but Romanello does pickup enough point to jump to 9th overall on the 2011 PTPR Player of the Year Leaderboard, surpassing Chris Moorman and seven other players along the way - Romanello is still in contention for Player of the Year as the end of 2011 nears.

Ninth place finisher Marvin Rettenmaier crossed the 200 PTPR Point mark on the season.

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (EURO):
1st John Eames €101,750
2nd Roberto Romanello €100,000
3rd Tolik Shkoyan €42,250
4th Mikhail Petrov €32,850
5th Alexios Zervos €25,800
6th Guy Gorelick €21,150
7th Thomas Frandsen €16,450
8th Pavel Gonchakov €11,750
9th Marvin Rettenmaier €9,390

FOXWOODS MEGA STACK CHALLENGE
Greg White took down the Mega Stack Challenge at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. Notables David Stefanski and Salvatore Morello - who finished second and third - both have collected multiple PTPR Scores in 2011.

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (USD):
1st Gregory White $59,087 (deal was made)
2nd David Stefanski $69,000 (deal was made)
3rd Salvatore Morello $30,376
4th Matthew Pierce $23,079
5th Monty Dennis $18,666
6th Stephen Rimer $15,273
7th Arthur Fera $12,727
8th Jeremy Barron $9,843
9th Scott Dorey $7,481


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
World Poker Tour Five Diamond Poker Classic
2K NLH Side Event
December 8, 2011

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $5,180 | Prizepool: $493,450 | Entries: 107

FINAL RESULTS:
DAN PERPER 101
RAY QARTOMY 61
HASSAN TAHSILDAR 36
ROBERT STAIN 26
CLIFF JOSEPHY 19
JOE ELPAYAA 11
AL MELVILLE 9
JOSHUA BERGMAN 6
AMIT MAKHIJA 6

PTPR SIDE EVENT
European Poker Tour Prague
2K NLH Side Event
December 7, 2011

Hilton Prague Hotel | Czech Republic
Buy-in: $2,605 | Prizepool: $628,597 | Entries: 242

FINAL RESULTS:
JOHN EAMES 75
ROBERTO ROMANELLO 40
TOLIK SHKOYAN 25
MIKHAIL PETROV 15
ALEXIOS ZERVOS 10
GUY GORELICK 8
THOMAS FRANDSEN 5
PAVEL GONCHAKOV 5
MARVIN RETTENMAIER 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge
NLH Mega Stack
December 10-11, 2011

Foxwoods Casino Resort | Connecticut
Buy-in: $1,200 | Prizepool: $339,393 | Entries: 321

FINAL RESULTS:
GREG WHITE 35
DAVID STEFANSKI 18
SALVATORE MORELLO 10
MATTHEW PIERCE 8
MONTY DENNIS 5

WPT FIVE DIAMOND: TOTAL GRIND - DEMPSEY CLAWS HIS WAY TO WPT TITLE

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

The World Poker Tour crowned it's last champion on American soil for 2011 (WPT Venice will close out 2011 for the WPT) as James Dempsey picked up the win.

It wasn't easy for Dempsey. While he entered final play as one of the chip leader and started heads up play basically even in chip, former November Niner Soi Nguyen took control of heads up play early - in what had the makings of a fast final six.

Nguyen had a 7:1 chip lead at one point heads up. But, Dempsey clawed his way back and picked up his third PTPR Score of 2011 with the victory.

The stage was set for a classic Final Table - with big names Esfandiari, Selbst and Lucky Chewy joining Dempsey and Nguyen.

Antonio was the first to leave, thus squashing any dreams of a back-to-back scenario (Esfandiari won this event last December), Lichtenberger wasn't far behind the magician and while Selbst did make a small run in order to get us to three-handed play, she was out fairly quickly.

Still, a very entertaining final group, for sure.

WPT FIVE DIAMOND FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS:
1-James Dempsey $821,612
2-Soi Nguyen $517,478
3-Vanessa Selbst $338,351
4-Andrew Lichtenberger $218,933
5-Vitor Coelho $159,224
6-Antonio Esfandiari $119,418

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WPT Five Diamond NLH Main Event
December 6-11, 2011

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $10,300 | Prizepool: $4,006,100 | Entries: 413

FINAL RESULTS:
JAMES DEMPSEY 129
SOI NGUYEN 79
VANESSA SELBST 49
ANDREW LICHTENBERGER 39
VITOR COELHO 34
ANTONIO ESFANDIARI 29
LARRY WELLS 29
BRADEN HALL 14
ANTHONY YEH 14
DAVID WILLIAMS 14
RUDY MAAREK 14
KYLE JULIUS 12
WILLIAM REYNOLDS 12
BLAKE KELSO 12
MATT MARAFIOTI 12
TOMMY CHEN 9
TY REIMAN 9
TONY DUNST 9

WPT FIVE DIAMOND: MAGIC MAN COMETH - ESFANDIARI LOOKS FOR BACK-TO-BACK

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

The Magician Antonio Esfandiari holds most of the headlines of what should be one heck of a final table at the WPT Five Diamond Sunday at Bellagio.

Efandiari has a small mountain to climb, trailing the chip leader 4:1 in chips. Antonio won this very event last season and he's looking to join Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier as back-to-back champs this season - both Selbst and Mercier accomplished the feat earlier in the year at NAPT Mohegan Sun.

Speaking of Selbst, she has also found her to the final table. Selbst held the chip lead at one point in the tournament, it's actually been a little bit of a roller coaster ride for Selbst, sitting fourth in chips.

Leading the way is 2010 November Niner Soi Nguyen. The part-time poker player from California is low on total results in his career but, he surely knows where to show up to pickup some major dough! Nguyen is the only player over 4 million in chips, in fact, he's one 5K chip away from 5M!

The man in second place, Brighton's James Dempsey might not have the results in 2011 - but, his great run at the 2010 WSOP surely makes him ready for this moment, and he may very well be the overall favourite coming into today's play.

Take away the Heads Up Championship at the EPT Grand Final and you can consider 2011 as a quiet year for Andrew Lichtenberger. Lichtenberger will certainly be looking to redeem himself with a win later on today.

Rounding out the Final Six is Vitor Coelho. Coelho has a 15th and a 10th place finish at the last two WPT Southern Poker Championships - this is the deepest he's been at any major tournament - he comes to the final table with a very small chip stack, he will need to double play early in order to get back in this thing.

WPT FIVE DIAMOND FINAL TABLE IN-FOCUS:
105. Vanessa Selbst, 138 PTPR Points
516. Vitor Coelho, 50
571. Antonio Esfandiari, 45
2471. James Dempsey, 7

This is the first PTPR Score of 2011 for Lichtenberger and Nguyen.

WPT FIVE DIAMOND FINAL TABLE SEATING ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS:
Seat 1. James Dempsey - 3,860,000 (64 BBs)
Seat 2. Vitor Coelho - 560,000 (9 BBs)
Seat 3. Antonio Esfandiari - 1,255,000 (20 BBs)
Seat 4. Andrew Lichtenberger - 3,605,000 (60 BBs)
Seat 5. Vanessa Selbst - 2,250,000 (37 BBs)
Seat 6. Soi Nguyen - 4,995,000 (83 BBs)

WPT FIVE DIAMOND FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS:
1- $821,612
2- $517,478
3- $338,351
4- $218,933
5- $159,224
6- $119,418

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WPT Five Diamond NLH Main Event
December 6-11, 2011

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $10,300 | Prizepool: $4,006,100 | Entries: 413

PTS AT STAKE:
1st position 129
2nd position 79
3rd position 49
4th position 39
5th position 34
6th position 29
LARRY WELLS 29
BRADEN HALL 14
ANTHONY YEH 14
DAVID WILLIAMS 14
RUDY MAAREK 14
KYLE JULIUS 12
WILLIAM REYNOLDS 12
BLAKE KELSO 12
MATT MARAFIOTI 12
TOMMY CHEN 9
TY REIMAN 9
TONY DUNST 9

THE ROUND-UP: WAHLROOS, YOUNG, PHILLIPS AND OTHERS WIN

PICTURE: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com, THEHENDONMOB.com

We're in London, Vegas, Vancouver, Minnesota and Indiana in this edition of the Round-Up!

EPT LONDON NLH 6-MAX HIGH ROLLER TURBO
Final results are continuing to trickle in from London ... A blast from the recent pas as Thomas Wahlroos picks up the victory in what could be the longest titled event on tour ... the EPT London No Limit Holdem Six-Max High Rollers Turbo event ... got your breath back? Good.

Wahlroos defeated French/Amercian pro Vanessa Rousso heads up. ElkY picked up his sixth PTPR Score of the year with his fifth place finish. ElkY's 18 point score earns him second spot overall on the 2011 PTPR Poker Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard, surpassing November Niner Ben Lamb.

Sixth place finisher Roberto Romanello continues his solid play this season. His fifth score puts him right back into the Player of the Year race - re-entering the Top 15, a few points ahead of PCA winner Galen Hall. Ninth place finisher Sean Getzwiller earns his fifth score of 2011.

FESTA AL LAGO CLASSIC
The 2011 Festa isn't part of the WPT tour schedule this season but, that didn't stop 228 runners to put up 5K and take a run at the title, and a grab a piece of the +1M prizepool.

Justin Young took the big prize, winning the event. Michael Katz, Thomas McCormick, Christopher DeMaci and Justin Filtz are earn, like Young, their second PTPR Scores of the season. John Krpan finished third in the event.

FALL POKER CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP
Jared Hubbard picked up his first title of the 2011 season, and earns over 77K in the process. Hubbard, the Minnesota native, collected the win at the Fall Poker Classic at Canterbury Park in Minnesota. Hubbard defeated Brandon Beery heads up.

WEST COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP
Earlier this month, Afshin Majidi won the West Coast Poker Championship at Edgewater Casino in Vancouver. 2010 November Niner Matt Jarvis finished third in the event, earning his second PTPR Score of the season.

WSOP CIRCUIT HORSESHOE INDIANA SIDE EVENT
Talk about a whirlwind week for former November Niner Dennis Phillips. Phillips was knocked out of the WSOP Europe Championship earlier in the week, then, he got on a plane and made his way to America. Hours after landing, Phillips was right back at it at a WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Indiana NLH side event. Well, Phillips won the event! From Cannes to Indiana to cash a 55K paycheck? Not bad Dennis!

2009 WSOPC New Orleans winner Jean Gaspard finished fifth in the event. Note: This event does not qualify for PTPR Points.

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
EPT London
NLH 6-Max High Rollers Turbo
October 6, 2011

Hilton London Metropole | London
Buy-in: $14,180 | Prizepool: $1,010,941 | Entries: 66

FINAL RESULTS:
THOMAS WAHLROOS 100
VANESSA ROUSSO 60
CHRIS MCCLUNG 35
DANNY SMITH 25
BERTRAND ElkY GROSPELLIER 18
ROBERTO ROMANELLO 10
YURY ESAULOV 8
SEAN GETZWILLER 5

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Festa Al Lago Classic
NLH Main Event
October 14-16, 2011

Bellagio | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $5,100 | Prizepool: $1,105,800 | Entries: 228

FINAL RESULTS:
JUSTIN YOUNG 102
SAMEER ALJANEDI 62
JOHN KRPAN 37
MICHAEL KATZ 27
THOMAS MCCORMICK 20
CHRISTOPHER DEMACI 12
JOEY WEISSMAN 10
ZOHAIR KARIM 7
JUSTIN FILTZ 7

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Fall Poker Classic
NLH Championship
October 11-14, 2011

Canterbury Park Card Club | Minnesota
Buy-in: $1,100 | Prizepool: $284,210 | Entries: 293

FINAL RESULTS:
JARED HUBBARD 35
BRANDON BEERY 18
PAUL SCHROEDER 10
PETER MILLER 8
ADAM SCHOP 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
West Coast Poker Championship
NLH Main Event
September 29-October 2, 2011

Edgewater Casino | Vancouver
Buy-in: $1,615 | Prizepool: $341,516 | Entries: 234

FINAL RESULTS:

AFSHIN MAJIDI 35
KC NAM 18
MATTHEW JARVIS 10
VICTOR DEOL 8
JODY HOWE 5

BELLAGIO CUP WRAPS UP WITH O'DWYER WINNING THE 5K

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: THEHENDONMOB.com

The Bellagio Cup wrapped up earlier this week - no WPT bracelet for Main Event winner Elio Fox earlier this week but, still a good turnout for that event and the 5K NLH Event that followed it.

The 5K buy-in event was won by Steve O'Dwyer - who picks up his third PTPR Score of the 2011 season. O'Dwyer has scores at the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main and at a WPT Championship side event and now a win at this Bellagio Cup side event.

O'Dwyer defeated Martin Hanowski heads up while Byron Kaverman earned his third PTPR Score of the year with his 8th place finish.

Ray Qartomy, Michael Frazin and Joe Elpayaa were other notables who scored in the event.

David Williams, 2010 Card Player of the Year Thomas Marchese, Thor Hansen, Matt Stout and Hafiz Khan all cashed.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Bellagio Cup VII
NLH 5K Event
July 18-19, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $5,000 | Prizepool: $756,000 | Entries: 156

FINAL RESULTS:
STEPHEN O'DWYER 101
MARTIN HANOWSKI 61
YARON REUVEN 36
RAY QARTOMY 26
TOAN TRINH 19
ANDREW GAW 11
MICHAEL FRAZIN 9
BYRON KAVERMAN 6
JOE ELPAYAA 6

ELIO FOX WINS BELLAGIO CUP VII

We start this post by first mentioning that we are experiencing technical difficulties with the site at the moment, please accept this condensed version of this post...

Elio Fox has won the Bellagio Cup Main Event, defeating Hafiz Khan heads up. Fox collects his second PTPR Score with the win, it's a third score for Khan.

William Thorsen finished third, collecting his fouth PTPR Score of the year.

PTS AT STAKE: CANTU LEADS BELLAGIO CUP AFTER DAY 3

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: @kevmath (Twitter, Kevin Mathers)

It's been a while since we've seen Brandon Cantu in the winners' circle ... March 2010 was the last time to be exact - where Cantu won the 2010 Wynn Classic.


Well, it may be time for Cantu to pickup his next victory - but, there is still a ton of poker to play at the Bellagio Cup VII Main Event. This year's edition of the Bellagio Cup isn't part of the WPT tour schedule, which explains why numbers are down a bit.

But still, a whole lot of star players entered the six-day event - a total prizepool of 2.17M is up for grabs with a little over 669K going to the eventual champ - we're currently down to 22 players.

Nick Schulman currently sits third in chips and David Williams is fifth. Bryn Kenney, Hafiz Khan and Ted Forrest also appear on the Top 10 list.

Here are the notable chip counts:
BRANDON CANTU 802,500
NICHOLAS SCHULMAN 746,500
DAVID WILLIAMS 669,500
BRYN KENNEY 590,000
ELIO FOX 568,500
HAFIZ KHAN 496,000
TED FORREST 469,000
JUSTIN YOUNG 399,500
VITALY LUNKIN 223,000
THOMAS MARCHESE 185,000
LEE MARKHOLT 125,500
MICHAEL MCDONALD 120,500
NENAD MEDIC 101,500

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, David Benyamine and Isaac Haxton were amongst the last players eliminated at the end of the night on Saturday.


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Bellagio Cup VII
NLH Main Event
July 12-19, 2011

Bellagio Hotel Casino | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $2,172,800 | Entries: 224

POINTS AT STAKE:
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

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

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

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

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

SOREL MIZZI WINS PTPR POY, GRINDER, SELSBT, BJERKMANN AMONGST OTHER WINNERS

PHOTO CREDIT: POKERNEWS.com


We close 2010 by handing out our awards for the past poker season.


2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT POKER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
SOREL MIZZI, 371 PTPR POINTS, 10 PTPR SCORES, 1st OVERALL

It was one crazy race for Tournament Player of the Year. Mizzi led for most of 2010 but Frank Kassela and Thomas Marchese both held the lead for a bit as well.

Everything went screwy on Haloween night when both points leaders, Mizzi and Marchese, were running deep at WPT Foxwoods - then we knew we had a race that would go right to the end ... and add to that Chris Bell's big score late in the season and it's a minor miracle that Mizzi was able to survive and win the title.


2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT COMEBACK PLAYER
MICHAEL MIZRACHI, 283 PTPR POINTS, 5 PTPR SCORES, 9th OVERALL

After a quiet (by his standards) 2009, The Grinder had one hell of a rough start to 2010. But Mizrachi took the WSOP by storm this season - making one of the most impressive comebacks to poker ever. Tip of the hat to Carlos Mortensen, who's 7th overall finish was only a great way to make sure that people haven't forgotten about El Matador!


2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
THOMAS MARCHESE, 361 PTPR POINTS, 9 PTPR SCORES, 3rd OVERALL

Wow, Thomas Marchese earned his first EVER live cash in February at Borgata. 11 months later, Marchese was Card Player Player of the year and finished third overall on our PTPR Charts - quite a year for the young rookie.



2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT BREAKTHROUGH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
VANESSA SELBST, 299 PTPR POINTS, 4 PTPR SCORES, 6th OVERALL

While the world was a buzz for the conclusion of the WSOP November Nine, Vanessa Selbst was dominating the final table at Europe's own version of the November Nine - the Partouche Tour Grande Finale in Cannes. And we're not kidding, Selbst was a beast at Cannes, destroying her competitors one by one.

Not a bad year for the "part-time" tournament player. If Selbst would have played more at the start of the 2010 season, is there any doubt that she would have contended for the PTPR's #1 overall spot? Not in our books.



2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT FUTURE WATCH/THE NEXT BIG THING
(TIE) DWYTE PILGRIM, 245 PTPR POINTS, 6 PTPR SCORES, 18th OVERALL
(TIE) MARCEL BJERKMANN, 248 PTPR POINTS, 3 PTPR SCORES, 17th OVERALL

Dwyte Pilgrim, the first ever King of the Minor Leagues, could become a Top 5 player in 2011 if he continues climbing the poker ranks the way he has in 2010. Pilgrim had been dominating the WSOP Circuit events (before the new WSOPC came into place) when he won a WPT tour event later in the 2010 season. Look out for Pilgrim in 2011.

Marcel Bjerkmann is one heck of an interesting man. Here's a fact - when Bjerkmann is mentioned anywhere on this blog, Scandanavians light up our stats! Bjerkmann is by far the most popular player on this site ... and his winning two big European events (the Belgian Open and the Masters Classic in Holland), Bjerkmann is one EPT Main Event win away from becoming a household name around the world.



2010 PTPR TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR
WPT TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP - FIVE STAR POKER CLASSIC
BELLAGIO HOTEL CASINO
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA
APRIL 18-24, 2010

David Williams enjoyed his first major cash in a while, and, the other players in the Final 18 made this one of the toughest final fields of the season.

Williams beat Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin heads up. Shawn Buchanan, Phil Hellmuth, JJ Liu, Scotty Nguyen, Olivier Busquet, David Benyamine, Faraz Jaka, JohnnyBax, Billy Baxter, Matt Stout, Tony Cousineau, Jason Lester, Josh Arieh were all players involved in the Top 18 - incredible field and amazing tournament!



MOST PTPR TOURNAMENT SCORES FOR 2010
SOREL MIZZI, 10 PTPR SCORES

Most PTPR Points and most PTPR Scores, enough said, this certainly was Mizzi's year.



Congratulaions to Sorel and the rest of the award winners from the 2010 season - here's hoping 2011 is even better!




Eric