Bodog Poker Open II Bounty Tournaments Abound
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
Evelyn Ng was among the poker players with a bounty on their head
The Bodog Poker Open II is underway with its eight Championship events and six Bounty Tournaments. Online poker players have already been enjoying the extra value that Bodog Poker has been infusing these tournaments with.
Last Sunday saw the start of the BPO II and along with it the first Bounty event.
There were 16 players with bounties on their heads with each one paying out T$109 (buy-in to a BPOII Main Event satellite). Bodog also juiced the prize pool by adding $5,000 giving the field of 242 players plenty to battle over.
By the time it got down to heads-up all the bounties had been collected but one. Online poker player iLLNuGWichee fought to keep his own bounty against bstu24. But it was not to be as bstu24 took down the first place prize worth $8,030 as well as the T$109 that came with knocking out iLLNuGWichee.
Here is a breakdown of the final tablists and their payouts:
1. bstu24 - $8,030
2. iLLNuGWichee - $5,110
3. snarlcakes - $3,387
4. Paz5050 - $2,336
5. WillyNilly - $1,752
6. THEBULL108 - $1,314
7. BuschInCans - $1,022
8. JanM - $759
9. L Rocketz - $496
Get complete details on the Bodog Poker Open II tournament schedule and get a seat in these high value poker tournaments.
PartyPoker.com 36 Hour Poker Den Live!
You can follow the live action from the 36 hour marathon Party Poker Poker Den from the Matchroom site. The event is underway now in London, with a huge line up of professionals in town for the WSOPE. The format is a $10,000 buy-in with $50/$100 blinds and ten seats at the table. Players may come or go as they like with an interesting group ready to take any empty seats.
Currently playing (at hour 12 of 36):
Neil Channing*
Robert Williamson III*
Sammy “any two†George*
Chris Parker (second session)
Bodo Sbrzesny
Andrew Feldman
Phil Laak
Barny Boatman
*Original participant in hour 1.
Also played:
Roland de Wolfe (moved to announcer's booth)
Ilios Kamatakis (busted)
David Williams (busted)
Ian Frazier (out)
Jennifer Tilly (left game a winner!)
There is a $1,000 added "Party Pot" once an hour, which seems to stimulate a lot of action. The first Party Pot got up to $17,000.
World Series of Poker Europe down to 62
The World Series of Poker Europe main event is down to 62 players from the starting field of 362. With so few starting runners compared to the thousands in the Las Vegas WSOP, it is not surprising that the leader board is still full of big name professionals. Here are the players at the top entering day three.
1 Bloch, Andy - Las Vegas 321,600
2 Townsend, Brian - Santa Barbara, CA 290,100
3 Seidel, Erik - Las Vegas 282,300
4 Juanda, John - Las Vegas 252,500
5 Rouas, Phillippe - San Francisco 233,300
6 Elliott, Christopher - Alloa UK 231,900
7 Moorman, Christopher - Brighton UK 219,500
8 Smith, Justin - Kissimmee, FL 217,700
9 Negreanu, Daniel - Las Vegas 203,700
10 Adams, Brandon - Miami, FL 190,000
11 Sointula, Jani - Helsinki Finland 184,800
12 Sonnert, Ben - Linkoping Sweden 184,600
13 Matusow, Mike - Las Vegas 180,300
14 Demidov, Ivan - Moscow Russia 176,200
15 Moreira, Tome - Porto Portugal 165,800
16 Alekhin, Stanislav - Moscow Russia 164,000
17 Williamsson, Christofer - Gothenberg Sweden 163,500
18 Fischman, Scott - Las Vegas 152,800
29 September 2008: Ultimate Bet Cheating Scandal Update
(MOHAWK TERRITORY OF KAHNAWAKE – September 29, 2008) Kahnawa:ke Gaming Commission ("KGC") Chairman Dean Montour today announced the initial findings of the audit conducted on licensee Ultimate Bet, as well as the sanctions to be imposed.
According to KGC Chairman Montour, the Commission has reviewed the information provided to it over the past months from Frank Catania of Catania Gaming Consultants of New Jersey; Gaming Associates, an Australian game testing company; and the permit holder. Chairman Montour said, "The Commissioners have made several findings of fact with regard to the cheating that occurred on the Ultimate Bet web site that included the identification of some of the individuals responsible for these incidents as well other significant violations of the Kahnawa:ke Interactive Gaming Regulations."
The Commission found clear and convincing evidence to support the conclusion that between the approximate dates of May 2004 to January 2008, Russell Hamilton, an individual associated with Ultimate Bet's affiliate program, was the main person responsible for and benefiting from the multiple cheating incidents. Furthermore, the KGC is currently in contact with the appropriate law enforcement agencies and intends to fully cooperate in the prosecution of all individuals involved in the UB cheating incidents.
Mr. Catania states,
"My intention is to provide further information as it is uncovered, although the information already submitted to the KGC relating to Ultimate Bet warrants the KGC taking the actions it has today. Any further evidence uncovered with regard to cheating, withholding or destroying records in our continuing investigation will be reported to the KGC and the proper agency for appropriate action."
.
As a result of the KGC's findings of fact, the Commission called a special meeting, at which time it was unanimously decided to impose the following sanctions against Ultimate Bet:
1. Ultimate Bet is directed that by November 3, 2008 it shall, under the close supervision of the KGC, its employees and agents, commence refunding all players accounts found to have been adversely affected by the cheating of individuals under the control and supervision of the licensee. It is estimated that Ultimate Bet has to date reimbursed $6.1 million USD to players' accounts found to have been adversely impacted by the cheating activity
2. Ultimate Bet is directed that by November 3, 2008 it is to remove any and all persons deemed as "unsuitable" by the KGC from all involvement with the company, which shall include all levels of ownership, management and operation. Ultimate Bet during that time period until November 3, 2008 is required to continue to provide complete details of all day-to-day operations of the company. These shall include financial as well as daily gaming records to Frank Catania and or his assigns. It is anticipated that this action will provide full disclosure and prevent any further improprieties or wrongdoing from occurring while ensuring that the public is being offered fair and honest games and all player monies will be protected.
3. Ultimate Bet's control system as defined in section 9 of the Kahnawa:ke Interactive Gaming Regulations has been modified to prevent any further incidents of cheating or related improprieties.
4. Ultimate Bet will not delete or modify any logs including but not limited to web logs and game logs as required by the Kahnawa:ke Interactive Gaming Regulations and will continue to have those logs immediately available for inspection by the KGC or its agents.
5. Ultimate Bet shall immediately pay a fine of $1.5 Million USD to the KGC for its failure to implement and enforce measures to prohibit and detect fraudulent activities.
6. Ultimate Bet's failure to comply fully with these measures will result in the immediate revocation of its KGC gaming permit.
Murray Marshall
Senior Advisor
Kahnawa:ke Gaming Commission
2008 WSOP Main Event Day 3 Poker Faces
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jean-Robert Bellande
Start the week with a dozen unpublished poker faces from the 2008 Main Event. All of today's Flipchip photos were taken on Day 3 at the Rio resort in Las Vegas. Player's chip stacks are becoming large as the checks are consolidated following the mass of player eliminations.
More photos after the jump.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Evelyn Ng
*****************************
Carmel Petresco
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Venessa Russo
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack talks with Shawn Sheikhan
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Rain Khan
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Bill Gazes
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Bob Bright
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jeremiah Smith
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Allen Cunningham
Chau Giang
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tournament Director Jack Effel and a Asia Pacific Poker Tour
Lost in the glow of the World Series of Poker Europe is the Asia Pacific Poker Tour event in Seoul, Korea. While Southeast Asia remains a difficult area of the world to bring big poker tours to, because of various national laws and controls. There is both an Asian Poker Tour and competing Asia Pacific Poker Tour. The APPT main event in Seoul is down to a final table of nine players today and unlike many tournaments, this one has not been dominated by either youthful internet players or big name professionals. While most of the "name" players are in London or on the rail here in Seoul for the final table, the field was full of internet qualifiers, but age and experience seems to have won out at the APPT, thus far. Only one player under 21 years of age will take a seat for the championship. Here is the line-up for today's final table.
Seat 1: Dan Williams, Canada (42,000 in chips): This 29-year-old is playing in his first live tournament.
Seat 2: Daniel Schreiber, Seoul, South Korea (253,500): At the age of 22, he arrived in South Korea in 2004 to compete as a professional StarCraft gamer.
Seat 4: Fam Yat, Singapore (66,500): A 28-year-old primary school maths tutor.
Seat 5: David Horvath, Szodliget, Hungary (124,000): A 29-year-old experienced poker player, who qualified online.
Seat 6: Yuji Masaki, Hiroshima, Japan (13,500): A 45-year-old pharmacist, he also qualified via an online satellite.
Seat 7: Sam Faqiryar, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (185,000): Just 20 years of age, but he calls himself a full time professional poker player.
Seat 8: Brian Kang, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (394,000): This 29-year-old financial analyist was born in Canada to Korean parents.
Seat 9: Hidenari Shiono, Tokyo, Japan (269,000): A 39-year-old president of a hardware company.
Seat 3: Yoshihiro Tasaka, Osaka, Japan (226,500): This 49-year-old service industry employee has been playing poker for over 30 year. LATE UPDATE: Yoshihiro Tasaka is the winner of the APPT Seoul Championship.
Pondering Poker
There has been some interesting and sometimes strange news around the poker world this week. Here is a glimpse and a glance at some of the more or less interesting tidbits.
The World Series of Poker Europe has been running this week with three preliminary events and today's first of two Day Ones in the main event. The Events are being "double numbered", they are WSOPE 2008 Events 1-4, as well as 2008 WSOP 56-59. We have heard only minor grumbling about "diluting" the value of the WSOP bracelet; I mean they give out 55 bracelets in Las Vegas every summer, so what are four more. The question may be raised in 2009 when rumor has it, there may be a WSOPE group of tournaments in both London and Barcelona. Then again, it is supposed to be the World Series of Poker.
Next item, the State of Kentucky in the United States is attempting to seize control of 141 poker websites because.... well you can read the legal background but it comes down to yet another moralistic fundamentalist who believes that politicians have the right to restrict the freedoms of citizens based on their own irrational fears and beliefs. Wars have been fought over such morality or immorality based legislation.
A new study was found that interest in poker, at least among youth, has fallen. Indeed, according to this study: "interest in poker peaked in 2005" and has been falling dramatically since then. The reason? Poker was trendy and like all trends the novelty wears off. So poker will go the way of backgammon and the macarena?
One final report, gaming revenues for July in the State of Nevada were off again. The total "take" or "win" for the casinos was down 14% year over year and this includes the Las Vegas Strip casinos, which account for 50% of the total gaming revenues in Nevada. Poker revenues were down just slightly more than were the overall gaming totals. There is some doubt about whether all of the revenue from the World Series of Poker was included in these numbers, since the WSOP does not technically end until November 11th.
PokerStars offers freerolls to win piece of WSOP final table
PokerStars is offering a chance to win a piece of the November 9.
The November 9, of course, is the World Series of Poker's final table comprising the nine remaining players that will duke it out on Nov. 9.
Stars has invested in six of the players, and will be hosting a $100,000 freeroll (500 FPP required for entry) for each player every Sunday beginning Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. ET.
In addition, if you make it to the top 100, you'll receive 0.01% of that player's eventual winnings from the final table.
Freeroll schedule (all begin 4 p.m. ET):
Oct. 5: David "Chino" Rheem
Oct. 12: Darus Suharto
Oct. 19: Ylon Schwartz
Oct. 26: Peter Eastgate
Nov. 2: Ivan Demidov
Nov. 9: Dennis Phillips
Let's see... every player is guaranteed to take away $900,670. So if you make the top 100 in any of the six tournaments, you'll receive an extra $90.07.
First place to this year's WSOP winner is $9,119,517, so if you're in the top 100 for that player's tourney, you'll get $919.52 extra.
Caesars Palace Classic Coming in October
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Caesars Palace Las Vegas
October 16th is the first day of the 2nd Annual Caesars Palace Classic poker tournament. Satellites for the 17 events begin at 9 AM and Event #1, $500 + $50 No-Limit Hold'em is scheduled for Noon on October 17. The action continues daily through October 30 with avariety of events including Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha 8/B, Limit Hold'em, 6-Handed Hold'em, and H.O.R.S.E. The Classic features a $10,000 Buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Championship three day event with a guaranteed $1,000,000 First Place Prize.
Daily Second Chance No-Limit Hold'em tournaments with a $175 + $25 Buy-in start at 7 PM. Last Chance No-Limit Hold'em tournaments with a $100 + $20 Buy-in are scheduled at 11 PM nightly. Both the Second Chance and the Last Chance events run October 16 through October 27.
Make plans now to be at the largest poker complex in Las Vegas, the Caesars Palace poker room, for the very popular Caesars Palace Classic. Event buy-ins range from $300 for the Ladies only event to $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, and $10,000 for the championship. Mega-Satellites for the Main Event are scheduled for October 27 with two $500 + $50 and two $1,000 + $60 events.
Visit Caesars Palace Poker Room online or call (702) 731-7110 or (800) 634-6001 for complete details. A schedule of events for the Caesars Palace Classic after the jump.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Caesars Palace Poker Room Manager, Jim Pedulla, invites everyone to the most exciting Caesars Palace Classic to date -- guaranteed
*****************************
Schedule of Events
Date Tournament
10/16/08 Satellites Begin
10/17/08 No-Limit Hold'em $500 + $50
10/18/08 No-Limit Hold'em $1,500 + $70
10/18/08 Pot Limit Omaha $500 + $50
10/19/08 No-Limit Hold'em $500 + $50
10/20/08 No-Limit Hold'em $1000 + $60
10/20/08 Limit Hold'em $500 + $50
10/21/08 No-Limit Hold'em $500 + $50
10/22/08 No-Limit Hold'em $2000 + $80
10/22/08 Omaha 8/B $500 + $50
10/23/08 No-Limit Hold'em $1000 + $60
10/23/08 H.O.R.S.E. $500 + $50
10/24/08 Heads Up NLH (64 Entries) $1000 + $60
10/24/08 Pot Limit H.O. $500 + $50
10/25/08 No-Limit Hold'em $500 + $50
10/26/08 Ladies Only No-Limit Hold'em $300 + $40
10/26/08 6 Handed NLH $1000 + $60
10/27/08 Free Roll Satellite $0
10/27/08 Mega Satellite $500 + $50
10/27/08 Mega Satellite $1000 + $60
10/28/08 Classic Championship Day I $9,800 + $200
10/29/08 Classic Championship Day II
10/30/08 Classic Championship Final Table
“Poker site cheating plot a high-stakes whodunit”
I remember over five years ago having the "online cheating" argument with my poker buddies. They would argue that the online sites would not cheat for "a couple of extra bucks" when they were already making millions on the rake. I would argue that money is money and since cheating was so easy from inside the server firewall that it just had to be happening. We had this same argument every time we got together on one of our poker road trip. Guess what! They don't argue with me any more. Not after both Ultimate Bet and Absolute were caught cheating.
Now to be fair, some of the details of both of these scandals are still unclear but the bottom line is not. Cut away all the accusations and finger pointing and you have the unrefuted fact that insiders with "super user" accounts were able to see the hole cards of other players and they cheated them out of millions of dollars. No one, any longer, denies this happened.
Did either site try to cover up the facts? Was it the 'previous owners' committing these crimes? Is there any jurisdictional basis for anyone to go to jail? Was any of the cheating erased from the databases? Who ultimately is responsible?
If you would like to know just how convoluted this mess really is... I want to point you to the MSNBC article from last week: Poker site cheating plot a high-stakes whodunit. For the first time in the "non-poker media" there is an honest treatment of just what may have happened in this case. The article ought to convince you not only of what did happen but of how legally difficult it might be to hold anyone accountable for the fraud and theft.
-
Featured Room
Cake Poker -
About
WSOP Info is your source to online poker news and information regarding the WSOP 2008. The World Series Of Poker is the largest Poker event in the world.
-
Blogroll