2012 WSOPE: SIX IS ENOUGH - SIRWATTS TURNS MICRO STACK INTO HIGH ROLLERS WIN

This usually doesn't happen when you have six bb's and you're last in chips at the final table of a major High Rollers event.

Well, they don't call him Sir for nothing ... Star poker pro Michael Watson (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 58th) turned his micro stack into a 1M EURO payout earlier today in Cannes at the 50K Majestic Super High Rollers event.

The event, which drew 60 players (includes 11 re-entries) featured, as expected, some of the biggest names on the tournament circuit including the #1 and #2 ranked poker players in the world Daniel Smith and Marvin Rettenmaier.

But it's Watson who drew all the attention when all was said and done, a fantastic victory, coming back from the dead to win it all. This was Watson's 11th Top 10 finish at a major series event since October of 2011.

Watson defeated John Juanda (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 91st) heads-up. Defeating Juanada in high roller events is certainly not an easy feat. Juanda has played in some of the biggest games around the world - he most recently finished 5th at the 100K Macau High Stakes Challenge.

International businessman Richard Yong (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-522nd) finished third in the event. Yong is best known for reaching the final table at the WSOP Big One for One Drop earlier this summer in Vegas ... Yong had a personal butler (dressed in a tuxedo) at this side during the One Drop event.

In was the second big score in less than a month for Germany's Philipp Gruissem (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-157th). The former two-time EPT High Rollers champ final tabled the WPT Grand Prix de Paris in September.

High Stakes tournament standout Tobias Reinkemeier (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 105th), Jani Sointula (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1,696th), Steve O'Dwyer (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 41st) and the Raptor, David Benefield (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-877th) all cashed in the event.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) Mike Watson 1,000,000 John Juanda 600,000 Richard Yong 400,000 Philipp Gruissem 275,000 Tobias Reinkemeier 200,000 Jani Sointula 160,000 Steve O'Dwyer 130,000 David Benefield 115,000 RELATED POSTS > GET YOUR POPCORN READY, HELLMUTH LEADS WSOPE > WSOPE MAIN EVENT HEATING UP > A CHIPPY AFFAIR IN CANNES > DA COSTA SANTOS WINS BRACELET > ROSADONI WINS FIRST BRACELET > BIG WIN FOR BIG ROG! > THE YEAR OF ANTONIO > WE'RE OFF IN CANNES > SMOKROKFLOCK WINS WSOPE MAIN

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT WORLD SERIES OF POKER EUROPE Majestic Super High Rollers Event October 2-4, 2012 Hotel Majestic Barriere | Cannes Buy-in: $65,830 | Prizepool: $3,614,240 Entries: 60 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION MIKE WATSON 100 JOHN JUANDA 60 RICHARD YONG 35 PHILIPP GRUISSEM 25 TOBIAS RENKENMEIER 18 JANI SOINTULA 10 STEVE O'DWYER 8 DAVID BENEFIELD 5

STANLEY CHOI WINS MACAU HIGH STAKES CHALLENGE

PHOTO: POKERACE.com

The Star World Hotel and Casino hosted the inaugural 2M HKD buy-in (250K USD) Macau High Stakes Challenge on Friday. The event drew a total of 94 entries (73 players registered, 21 of them re-bought).

While many of the top / well-known high stakes poker players in the world entered the event, it's those that aren't in the poker world spotlight that stole the headlines on Friday as Stanley Choi (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-162nd) won the event, picking up over 50M HKD (almost 6.5M) for the victory.

John Juanda (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 250th), Sam Trickett (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-214th) and Phil Ivey (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 11th) all final tabled the event while Nicholas Wong, Tang Zheng, Philipp Gruissem and J.P. Kelly cashed in the event that carried a monster 23M USD prizepool.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (HKD) Stanley Choi HK$50,149,000 Zhu Guan Fai HK$33,737,000 Nicholas Wong HK$25,530,000 Tang Zheng HK$17,324,000 John Juanda HK$12,765,000 Lap Key Chan HK$9,574,000 Sam Trickett HK$7,750,000 Phil Ivey HK$6,383,000 Alan Sass HK$5,471,000 Philipp Gruissem HK$4,559,000 Di Van Hoang Dang HK$4,559,000 JP Kelly HK$4,559,000

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT MACAU HIGH STAKES CHALLENGE NLH Super High Rollers August 31, 2012 Star World Hotel | Macau Buy-in: $237,875 | Prizepool: $23,512,950 Entries: 94 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION STANLEY CHOI 100 ZHU GUAN FAI 60 NICHOLAS WONG 35 TANG ZHENG 25 JOHN JUANDA 18 LAP KEY CHAN 10 SAM TRICKETT 8 PHIL IVEY 5 ALAN SASS 5

EPT BARCELONA: U MAD? GIVE SMITH HIS NUBS!

Give the man his due ... or his nubs, as he would prefer. Only 10 days after losing his lead atop the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard to Marvin Rettenmaier, Dan Smith (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 1st) has taken back what's his, the #1 spot.

With his win in the EPT Barcelona 50K Super High Rollers event, Smith has won his fifth major event this season, four of those wins counting for PTPR Points and Smith becomes the first player since the beginning of the PTPR Rankings back in 2010 to top the 500-point mark in a season ... and we still have four and a half months to go in 2012!

Smith started the season winning the 100K High Rollers Challenge at the Aussie Millions, he then proceeded to win THREE events in one week during the EPT Grand Final festivities in Monte Carlo. Smith also had a fine WSOP this past summer, earning three Top 20 finishes including a third place finish in the 5K NLH event a few days before the start of the Main Event.

Smith joins Jonathan Duhamel and Phil Ivey as the only three players with seven PTPR Scores for 2012.

JC Alvarado (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-273rd) was Smith's heads-up victim, nursing a very short stack for most of heads-up play. Alvarado earning his second PTPR Score of 2012.

Ilari Sahamies (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-932nd) - better known to the poker world as Zigumnd - and the Canadian duo of Mike Watson (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 401st) and Mike McDonald (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-281st) were the other members of the Top 5.

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) Dan Smith 1,075,500 JC Alvarado 676,100 Mike Watson 399,500 Ilari Sahamies 291,900 Mike McDonald 215,100 Erik Seidel 153,600 Talal Shakerchi 138,300 Jim McCrink 122,960 RELATED POSTS > SMITH TO TAKE WHAT'S HIS > SMITH TOPS APRIL > KATCHALOV THIRD AT BARCELONA > LUNDMARK WINS BARCELONA NEXT EPT EVENT EPT San Remo Festival Casino San Remo, Italy October 3-11, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT EUROPEAN POKER TOUR EPT Barcelona 50K Super High Rollers August 17-19, 2012 Casino di Barcelona | Spain Buy-in: $61,605 | Prizepool: $3,786,190 Entries: 64 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DANIEL SMITH 100 JC ALVARADO 60 MICHAEL WATSON 35 ILARI SAHAMIES 25 MIKE MCDONALD 18 ERIK SEIDEL 10 TALAL SHAKERCHI 8 JIM MCCRINK 5

EPT BARCELONA: SMITH LOOKING TO TAKE BACK WHAT WAS HIS

It was only ten days ago when Dan Smith (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 2nd) was the only player to be over the 400-point mark and was leading the way in the 2012 QuadJacks Player of the Year race. Then Marvin Rettenmaier decided to win the WPT Merit Classic and takeover from Smith, who had led the Player of the Year race since his crazy run at the EPT Grand Final series in Monte Carlo at the start of the summer.



Well, Smith didn't take long to put himself in a position to regain the #1 spot. With only 8 players remaining in the 50K Super High Rollers event at EPT Barcelona, Smith holds the chip lead and, unless he loses all of his chips first, will regain the #1 overall ranking from Mad Marvin.

Smith is one of only three players with over 700K in chips, in fact, Smith, Mike "Timex" McDonald (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-425th) and J.C. Alvarado (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1695th) have an absurd advantage on the rest of the final table as all three hold at least 3M chips as final table play looms.

The remaining five players - which include Erik Seidel (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-760th), Zigmund a.k.a. Ilari Sahamies (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) and Mike Watson (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1265th) - will have a huge mountain to climb in order to hope to win this thing on Sunday.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS / CHIP COUNTS
Seat 1 JC Alvarado 3,116,000
Seat 2 Mike McDonald 4,650,000
Seat 3 Erik Seidel 698,000
Seat 4 Mike Watson 604,000
Seat 5 Dan Smith 5,108,000
Seat 6 Jim McCrink 500,000
Seat 7 Ilari Sahamies 685,000
Seat 8 Talal Shakerchi 670,000

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st 1,075,500 2nd 676,100 3rd 399,500 4th 291,900 5th 215,100 6th 153,600 7th 138,300 8th 122,960 RELATED POSTS > SMITH TOPS APRIL > KATCHALOV THIRD AT BARCELONA > LUNDMARK WINS BARCELONA NEXT EPT EVENT EPT San Remo Festival San Remo, Italy October 3-11, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT EUROPEAN POKER TOUR EPT Barcelona 50K Super High Rollers August 17-19, 2012 Casino di Barcelona | Spain Buy-in: $61,605 | Prizepool: $3,786,190 Entries: 64 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 100 2nd position 60 3rd position 35 4th position 25 5th position 18 6th position 10 7th position 8 8th position 5

EPT BARCELONA: THE PLACE TO BE AS ESTRELLAS, SUPER HIGH ROLLERS DRAW BIG NUMBERS

By inserting the final tour stop of the Estrellas Poker Tour at the beginning of the EPT Barcelona Poker Festival, PokerStars were certainly hoping for a large field. But event the folks at PokerStars must be impressed by the massive 1,036 player field and the over 1M EURO prizepool - with 200K EURO to the winner - making it the largest poker tournament ever held in Spain!

A large number of poker pros have entered the ESPT Main Event with Italian player Lorenzo Sabato holding the chip lead following Day 2 play Friday.

Former EPT Champions Michael Eiler and Martin Finger as well as Canadian poker pro Jason Lavallee are three of the 49 players who survived Day 2 play as the money bubble burst six hours into Friday play.

TOP 15 CHIP COUNTS
Lorenzo Sabato 1,185,000
Samuel Bernabe Guilabert 1,018,000
Artur Alabart Urgelles 762,000
Andrey Demidov 741,000
Jason Lavallee 534,000
Antonio Luft 528,000
Mikel Diaz Allende 501,000
Rumen Nanev 498,500
Martin Clemmense 455,000
Carlos Lopez Salazar 454,000
Martin Finger 451,500
Vincente Zamorano 425,000
Michael Weiss 412,000
Miguel Mora Hernandez 411,500
Jonas Garstick 400,500


RE-BUY A GOOD MOVE FOR O'DWYER
2011 standout Steve O'Dwyer didn't have the WSOP everyone expected him to have this summer but he's hoping to make up for lost time as the EPT Barcelona Poker Festival rolls along with the 50K NLH Super High Rollers Event.

O'Dwyer was eliminated early during Day 1 play but thankfully, there were unlimited rebuys for the first day of play. O'Dwyer was one of three players to rebuy during Friday's opening day play - Jonathan Duhamel and Masa Kagawa were the other two with Duhamel being the only player to be ousted twice on Day 1.

Daniel Negreanu is another player who was eliminated during Day 1 play. Negreanu and any other player not currently in the field will have one last opportunity to rebuy before play starts on Day 2. All indications point towards Kid Poker re-entering the event Saturday.

The prize pool will be - at the very least - 1.8M EURO with the winner getting a nice pay check on Sunday once final table play is concluded.

TOP 15 CHIP COUNTS
Steve O'Dwyer 1,249,000
Erik Seidel 738,000
JC Alvarado 713,000
Ignat Liviu 656,000
Simon Ravnsbaek 640,000
Mike Watson 639,000
John Juanda 638,500
Dan Smith 585,000
Steven Silverman 580,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 565,000
Raffaele Gerbi 530,000
Jason Mercier 503,000
Ilari Sahamies 487,000
Vadzim Kursevich 477,000
Timothy Adams 442,000

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st 200,000 2nd 122,500 3rd 76,500 4th 59,200 5th 44,200 6th 30,100 7th 22,000 8th 16,000 9th 12,500 10th 12,500 RELATED POSTS > O SO CLOSE, O'DWYER 2ND IN VENICE > KATCHALOV THIRD AT BARCELONA > LUNDMARK WINS BARCELONA NEXT ESPT EVENT Season 4 Events TBA

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT ESTRELLAS POKER TOUR ESPT Barcelona NLH Main Event August 15-19, 2012 Casino di Barcelona | Spain Buy-in: $1,355 | Prizepool: $1,238,160 Entries: 1,036 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 120 2nd position 80 3rd position 55 4th position 45 5th position 38 6th position 30 7th position 28 8-9th position 25

EPT GRAND FINAL: SUPER HIGH ROLLERS - BONOMO BONANZA PLUS LADIES RULE HEADS UP

PICTURE: POKERSTARS

Justin Bonomo - Giant Killer! It was final table time in the 100K buy-in Super High Rollers Event at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final in Monaco and Justin Bonomo certainly made this final is b++ch.

Simply put, Bonomo destroyed his competition at the final table, single-handedly eliminating five of his seven final table opponents - Bonomo never lost the chip lead on Wednesday en route to the biggest paypday of his career, 1.64M EURO to be more precise.



With his third place finish, ElkY - Bertrand Grospellier - makes his return to the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 10, powered by PTPRpoker. ElkY finished 5th overall in the race for Player of Year last season (2011), ElkY's High Rollers win last week at EPT Berlin combined with this Super High Rollers finish earn his the 10th spot on the QJ charts for 2012, we're certainly expecting more from him this year.

COREN v WEISNER HEADS UP!
The final of the 5K Heads Up Championship concluded earlier today; an all-ladies final was on the agenda as former EPT winner Victoria Cohen defeated rising poker star Melanie Weisner in the best-of-five final.

This was the first time that two women met heads up for a EPT title, it's about damn time! Cohen collect just under 60K EURO for the win, this event did not qualify for PTPR Points.

NEVANLINNA WINS 5K PLO TURBO
Finland's Jussi Nevanlinna collected the win in the 5K PLO event in Monaco defeating former PCA PLO Champ William Thorsen heads up. Nevanlinna wins 80K EURO with the win.

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1. Justin Bonomo, €1,640,000 2. Tobias Reinkemeier, €1,064,000 3. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, €621,000 4. Patrik Antonius, €443,000 5. Masa Kagawa, €354,500 6. Daniel Negreanu, €310,000 RELATED POSTS >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET >> ElkY WINS BERLIN HR NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final Super High Rollers April 23-25, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $5,846,910 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JUSTIN BONOMO 100 TOBIAS REINKEMEIER 60 BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY" 35 PATRIK ANTONIUS 25 MASA KAGAWA 18 DANIEL NEGREANU 10

EPT GRAND FINAL: SUPER HIGH ROLLERS FINAL TABLE READY TO GO

PICTURE: POKERSTARS

We're off and running in Monaco! The EPT Grand Final is one of the biggest celebrations of poker of the year as the European Poker Tour closes out it's 2011-12 poker season.

We're expecting many events to qualify for QJ/PTPR Points status and right out of the gate, the first ever Super High Rollers event at the Grand Final has reeled them in for sure!

The final table at the Super High Rollers event has been set. Over 5.8M USD at stake, with the winner collecting a 1.64M EURO paycheque.

Justin Bonomo (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) will enter Wednesday's final table as the chip leader, Bonomo holds a over 2:1 chip lead on second place player Tobias Reinkemeier (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-350th).

Kid Poker, Daniel Negreanu, is third in chips. Negreanu and fellow PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand Grospellier (who's currently fourth) are certainly two of the favourites to - at the very least - cash in the event. Only the top 6 (out of the remaining 8 players) will collect money on Wednesday.

ElkY (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-37th) could move into the QuadJacks Player of the Year race with a Top 3 finish. ElkY could be ranked as high as second on the QJ Top 10 - should he win on Wednesday.

Jonathan Duhamel (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 1st) has a chance to pad his lead at the top of the Player of the Year race. Duhamel, however, does have one of the smallest stack at the final table, he will need a great effort in order to score some points ... a win and Duhamel would be up to 356 PTPR Points on the season. Last season's Player of the Year, Will Failla, had a grand total of 363 Points.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Justin Bonomo 4,393,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 1,682,000
Daniel Negreanu 1,581,000
Bertrand Grospellier 1,265,000
Masa Kagawa 1,076,000
Jonathan Duhamel 654,000
Patrik Antonius 338,000
Eugene Katchalov 262,000

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st 1,640,000 2nd 1,064,000 3rd 621,000 4th 443,000 5th 354,500 6th 310,000 NEXT TOUR STOP Season 9 Schedule To Be Announced

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final Super High Rollers April 23-25, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $5,846,910 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 100 2nd place 60 3rd place 35 4th place 25 5th place 18 6th place 10

2012 PCA: ISULDUR1 IS THE LONE SUPER HIGH ROLLER IN THE BAHAMAS!

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Viktor Blom is the first millionaire of 2012! That's right, after a stalemate three-handed, Isuldur1 decided to get things going, eliminating defending PCA Main Event Champ Galen Hall ... moments later, he had eliminated Dan Shak to pickup the big win in the Bahamas!

It sure looked like Canada would dominate today earlier on - but, the three Canadians at the 8-player final table all left the tournament relatively early as Mike McDonald, Daniel Negreanu and Jonathan Duhamel were all eliminated prior to Final 3 play - at least Negreanu and Duhamel cashed in the event before leaving Atlantis for the day.

PCA HIGH ROLLERS FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in USD):
1 - Viktor Blom 1,254,400
2 - Dan Shak 846,700
3 - Galen Hall 470,400
4 - Jonathan Duhamel 313,600
5 - Daniel Negreanu 250,900

RELATED POSTS:
SUPER HIGH: KATCHALOV OUTLASTS NEGREANU TO WIN 2011 PCA SUPER HIGH ROLLERS

THE SHR EVENT DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR PTPR POINTS
European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
EPT PCA 100K Super High Rollers NLH Event
January 5-7, 2011

Atlantis Resort and Casino | Bahamas
Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $3,136,000 | Entries: 32

Defending Champion: Eugene Katchalov

2012 PCA: CANADA DAY AT THE PCA? BETTER THAN 1 IN 3 SHOT AT SHR GOLD

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

It could be Canada Day at the PCA later on Saturday. The final table for the 100K buy-in Super High Rollers has been set as the PCA is set to hand out it's first trophy later today.

2011 PCA Main Event Champ is looking to start the 2012 edition of the PCA in style. Hall (who finshed 22nd on the 2011 PTPR Charts) headlines the final table, with a 1.748M chip stack.

Then, Canada starts to invade the charts. What a story it would be if the man who sits second - 2010 WSOP World Champion Jonathan Duhamel (2011 PTPR Rank: 71st) - could wrap this one up. Weeks after being attacked in his own home, the Canadian has 1.336M in chips.

Fellow Canadian - and PokerStars Pro - superstar Daniel Negreanu is third in chips. Negreanu (2011 PTPR Rank: n/a) promised to re-focus on tournament in 2012 - wanting to play more prelim and side events - could start the year off on the right foot, winning the Super High Rollers!

The third Canadian still alive in the Bahamas is Mike McDonald. Timex (2011 PTPR Rank: 207th) has been on fire in the past six months - picking up cashes around the world - and although he's one of the short stacks, we're not ready to count out someone who someone who has 4+ million dollars in live tournament earning - yet he's barely old enough to order a Molson Canadian in a Vegas Casino!

Viktor Blom, Dan Shak, WPT Tour Champion Scott Seiver and Humberto Brenes are the other players still alive and in contention at the final table. Over 1.2M is waiting for the winner - only five of the remaining eight players will get paid today - look for some intense action early on at Atlantis!

PCA HIGH ROLLERS FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS:
Galen Hall 1,748,000
Jonathan Duhamel 1,336,000
Daniel Negreanu 1,230,000
Viktor Blom 1,228,000
Dan Shak 1,199,000
Scott Seiver 556,000
Mike McDonald 360,000
Humberto Brenes 343,000

PCA HIGH ROLLERS PAYOUTS (IN USD):
1. $1,254,400 + Shamballa Jewels bracelet
2. $846,700
3. $470,400
4. $313,600
5. $250,900

LIVE UPDATES: POKERSTARSBLOG.com
PLAYER TWEETS: #PCA


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THE SHR EVENT DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR PTPR POINTS
European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
EPT PCA 100K Super High Rollers NLH Event
January 5-7, 2011

Atlantis Resort and Casino | Bahamas
Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $3,136,000 | Entries: 32

Defending Champion: Eugene Katchalov