SOURCE: PTPR POKER, THEHENDONMOB.com
So many moments from 2011 could have served as PTPR Moment of the Year from this past season. Seidel's return to form, the rise of the next generation's Sam Trickett, Alessio Isaia making Italy believe, Hellmuth back in the saddle at the WSOP ...
Here are a few other highlight (or should I say lowlight?) moments from this past season:
ROUSSO REVEALS CHAD BROWN HAS CANCER/BROWN RETURNS TO THE FELT
It was a shocker to start the year. Vanessa Rousso tweeting that her husband and fellow poker pro Chad Brown had cancer.
It shook the world of poker that Saturday night, while many of poker's and Hollywood's elite were meeting up at the WPT Invitational in LA, Rousso announced that a 10-pound tumour was removed from Chad's abdomen.
Amazingly, Brown was back at the poker tables in no time and all seems well in the Brown-Rousso camp. Keep on fighting the good fight folks!
RELATED POST:
SAD NEWS AS ROUSSO REVEALS CHAD BROWN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER
APRIL 15 - BLACK FRIDAY/MASS EXODUS
Poker shutdown, no if's and's or but's. I can still picture the DOJ logo and the words "This domain name has been seized by the F.B.I." when trying to visit Pokerstars.com for the first when I heard the news about poker sites being shutdown in the US.
It was shocking to see all those star online pros having to move to Mexico, my native Canada and other locations in order to play the game they love - and not to mention the economic impact on the US with the departure of so many players, willing to pay their taxes like any other American.
Well, it's almost nine months later and it sure looks like things are headed in the right direction - and that's fantastic news.
IVAN FREITEZ ANGLE SHOOTING
It was a disgusting moment and a black eye for poker at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. The eventual EPT Tour Champion, Ivan Freitez, pulling off a weak, weak angle shoot when we were down to less than 10 players and this live on the EPT feature table.
I won't go into how Freitez performed his act but, suffice to say, it's the first time I see a tournament director instructing a rival player that this player (Freitez) is indeed an angle shooter and that he had done the same thing earlier in the tournament.
Freitez won the event, I'm sure that the EPT would have preferred another winner last May.
RELATED POST:
EPT GRAND FINAL: FREITEZ CONQUERS SPAIN
But, in the end, one moment is still stuck in my head and that is why it has been selected as the 2011 PTPR Moment of the Year ...
LAMB, STASZKO KICKOFF THE WSOP FINAL THREE WITH A BANG!
After all the amazing and LIVE ESPN coverage throughout the summer - the WSOP Final Three (also live) started off with a bang!
There I was, sitting on the couch, waiting for the 10PM ET start on TSN up here in Canada - wondering how the "live" final three would play out.
Well, we certainly weren't disappointed - on the very first hand, FIREWORKS! Ben Lamb opens from the button, Martin Staszko re-raises and Lamb goes all-in - caught with the hand in the cookie jar as Staszko calls the man most believed was the favourite amongst the final three.
Staszko held on to win the pot and cripple Lamb - who was out only a few hands later.
It was raw emotion, television at it's best. We tend to forget why we love poker so much, this hand, this one hand, made me remember why I love cards, why we love sports. Oh, and we also were reminded why No Limit Hold'em is "the Cadillac of Poker" - thanks Doyle!
RELATED POST:
2011 WSOP: THERE IS NO OTHER KIND - HEINZ IS YOUR WORLD CHAMPION
2011 PTPR AWARDS TRACKER
Player of the Year: Will Failla | 2010: Sorel Mizzi
Moment of the Year: Lamb, Staszko at WSOP Final 3 | 2010: Duhamel wins one for Canada
Most PTPR Scores: Marvin Rettenmaier | 2010: Sorel Mizzi
Rookie of the Year: Oleksii Kovalchuk | 2010: Thomas Marchese
Comeback Player: Phil Hellmuth Jr. | 2010: Michael Mizrachi
Breakthrough Player: Andrey Pateychuk | 2010: Vanessa Selbst
Future Watch: Dominik Nitsche | 2010: Pilgrim, Bjerkmann
Tournament of the Year: WSOP Poker Players Champ. | 2010: WPT Tour Champ.
