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2013 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 1A: Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger Leads Initial Flight

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The World Poker Tour has moved up the Pacific coast of the United States this week for the always fun WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, California. Bay 101 has carved out a niche in the tournament circuit as an event which has a high concentration of “name” players. The reason for this is that it is a bounty tournament, with 50 select players having $2,500 bounties on their heads. In addition, the chip leaders after each of the first two starting flights receive a $10,000 bonus. The first winner of that bonus, holding 341,000 chips after Day 1A, is Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger.

While players are randomly seated in tournaments, there did need to be a little bit of planning with the registrants for this tourney, as Bay 101 needed the bounties to be spread relatively even between Days 1A and 1B. Monday’s bounties were:

Dan O’Brien, Shawn Buchanan, Mohsin Charania, David Chiu, Jonathan Duhamel, Tony Dunst, Antonio Esfandiari, Will Failla, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Faraz Jaka, Nam Le, Jason Mercier, Michael Mizrachi, Greg Mueller, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Dominik Nitsche, Dwyte Pilgrim, David Sands, Noah Schwartz, Erik Seidel, Vanessa Selbst, Mike Sexton, Shannon Shorr, Dan Smith, and J.C. Tran.

Those who eliminate one of the “Shooting Stars” receive a shirt emblazoned with that Star’s name and face and typically get it personally autographed by their victim. Should a Shooting Star win the tournament, he or she would win their own bounty and, of course, get to proudly wear a t-shirt with their own face on it. This has never happened.

Additionally, this is a re-entry tournament in which players eliminated on Day 1A can re-buy for Day 1B. Should a Shooting Star bust and re-buy, there will not be a second bounty placed on his or her head.

Bounties aside, one of the biggest hands of day came right before the tournament shut down for the night. Jeff Madsen raised pre-flop and WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open champion Andy Hwang re-raised to 4,300. Anna Wroblewski called, as did Madsen. The flop was T-9♠-8. Madsen checked and then all hell broke loose. The three players kept raising and re-raising each other until Hwang and Wroblewski were both all-in (Hwang had Wroblewski covered) and Madsen, holding the most chips of the trio, called both.

Madsen held T♠-8♠ for Queens and Eights with a back-door spade draw, Wroblewski showed a set of Nines, and Hwang had flopped the nut straight to the Queen. The 5 and 7 landed on the turn and river, allowing Hwang’s hand to hold. That doubled him up to 240,000, while Madsen was crippled, falling to 12,000 chips, and Wroblewski was knocked out. Hwang had rocketed up to the third spot on the leader board.

Bay 1B of the Bay 101 Shooting Star will start at 11:00am PT as a new group of players tries to join the 109 who made it out of Day 1A.

2013 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star – Day 1A Chip Leaders

1.    Andrew Lichtenberger – 341,000
2.    Stephen Bokor – 274,200
3.    Andy Hwang – 242,000
4.    Phaly Nou – 232,800
5.    James Calderaro – 205,200
6.    Greg White – 183,000
7.    Brendon Rubie – 180,300
8.    Isaac Baron – 178,500
9.    Faraz Jaka – 177,300
10.    Lori Bare – 156,300


WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 1B: Rhea Motley Tops Second Starting Day, Lichtenberger Remains Number One

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The World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event made history Tuesday as another 365 players bought into the tournament, bringing the total entries for both starting flights to 635, a new record for the northern California tour stop. The previous record was set during Season IV (we’re in Season XI now), when 516 players participated. Winning the $10,000 reward for ending Day 1B as the chip leader was Rhea Motley, whose 243,100 chips were less than 10,000 more than her closest competitor, Steven Kelly.

25 more “Shooting Stars” took their places at the tables yesterday, each with a $2,500 bounty on their head:

Todd Brunson, Joseph Cheong, Allen Cunningham, Andy Frankenberger, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Christian Harder, Maria Ho, John Juanda, Kyle Julius, Eugene Katchalov, Moon Kim, Jason Koon, Kathy Liebert, Tom Marchese Mike Matusow, Chris Moorman, Amanda Musumeci, Joe Serock, Scott Seiver, Dan Shak, Jason Somerville, Vince Van Patten, Taylor Von Kriegenbergh, and David Williams.

The prize pool and payout schedule has not been determined yet, as official registration numbers will not be known until the start of play today. Players can still buy-in before Day 2 starts and those who got knocked out during Day 1B can still re-enter before the beginning of play Wednesday. Unofficially, there were, as mentioned previously, 635 players in the field, with 249 remaining after the first two starting flights.

For Day 2, most of the tables look like they have a fairly even mix of chip stacks, but there are a few outliers. Of the ten players at table 23, for example, eight have more than the average of 76,506 chips. Half of those have stacks in the 80,000 chip range, so it should be quite the competitive table.

Four tables actually have eight players below the average while one, table 39, only features one player out of nine with a chip stack greater than average. It’s a testament to the top-heavy nature of the leader board; only about 100 players are above the mean chip stack. The median is closer to 64,000 (the figure isn’t exactly precise, as there is one player on the WPT’s list with no chip count).

Day 2 of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star will start at 11:00am PT on Wednesday.

2013 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star – Day 1B Chip Leaders

1.    Rhea Motley – 243,100
2.    Steven Kelly – 233,500
3.    WeiKai Chang – 195,400
4.    Numit Agrawl – 193,200
5.    Noah Wiseman     - 191,700
6.    Jesse Yaginuma – 184,600
7.    Taylor von Kriegenbergh – 182,900
8.    Jeff Gross – 179,800
9.    Tim Couse – 177,300
10.    Danny Wong – 161,300

2013 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders

1.    Andrew Lichtenberger – 341,000
2.    Stephen Bokor – 274,200
3.    Rhea Motley – 243,100
4.    Andy Hwang – 242,000
5.    Steven Kelly – 233,500
6.    Phaly Nou – 232,800
7.    James Calderaro – 205,200
8.    WeiKai Chang – 195,400
9.    Numit Agrawl – 193,200
10.    Noah Wiseman – 191,700

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day Two: Money Bubble Pops, Paul Volpe Leads With 44 Players Remaining

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Players are making quick work with their play at the World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, popping the money bubble on Day Two as they battle towards a champion that will be crowned on Friday.

Coming together for the first time in the tournament, the 249 players left were promised a long day of action around the Bay 101 tournament room. The plan by tournament director Matt Savage was for the field to work down to eighteen players by the end of Wednesday’s action, but that was viewed by many to be virtually impossible. With this in mind, the “hard stop” time of 2AM (Pacific Time) was a more likely option for the end of Day Two play.

Day 1A top dog Andrew Lichtenberger was the overall leader with 341,100 chips heading into Day Two play and there were still sixteen Shooting Stars (eight from each Day One) that were around for Wednesday’s action. The Shooting Stars – bountied players that had a $2500 price on their heads – included Shawn Buchanan, Antonio Esfandiari, Andy Frankenberger, Jennifer Harman, Christian Harder, Maria Ho, WPT announcer Mike Sexton (the only one of the announcing crew to make it out of Day One) and Dominik Nitsche (among others). They would have a tough day, however, as the action played out.

Until the start of Day Two, there was no prize pool announced or the number of players that would be paid due to the ability of those who had been eliminated on Day 1B to re-enter before the start of play on Wednesday. After a few moments of play on Day Two, the official numbers saw 635 entries for the tournament (a record brought about by the re-entry format as well as the lower buy-in of $7500) to build a prize pool over $4.5 million. 63 players would take away the minimum $15,110, while the eventual champion of the tournament would walk off with a $1.13 million payday.

With the financials taken care of, the players got down to eliminating players. Within the first two levels of play (two hours), more than 100 players found their way to the rail. Of those players, Shooting Stars Buchanan and Tom Marchese were causalities (by Nick Schulman and Jason Somerville, respectively) while other Shooting Stars (Harman and Noah Schwartz) tried to keep pace with the field.

As mid-afternoon approached, the players kept flooding the exits at the Bay 101. Greg Mueller, Mohsin Charania, Sexton and Schwartz hit the rail, leaving only a dozen Shooting Stars remaining in the event. As the field dropped under the century mark, Brendon Rubie became the first player to crack the 500K chip count as he took over the lead.

More Shooting Stars would be eliminated before the money bubble was burst. Harman was coolered when her pocket Queens were topped by pocket Aces and former World Champion Carlos Mortensen knocked off Frankenberger to claim his bounty medal and a $2500 payday. As the dinner break arrived, Ho was able to double up to set herself for a run after some sustenance.

When play picked back up Wednesday night, 102 players were still alive for this WPT championship, but those numbers would plummet as the night wore on. Nine Shooting Stars were remaining and, by the end of the action, that number would be cut by a third.

Nitsche would be the first Shooting Star to leave after dinner, with Alex Keating knocking him off. Scott Seiver eliminated Star Eugene Katchalov when Katchalov’s pocket Jacks failed to find a partner against Seiver’s pocket Queens. As the money bubble approached, David Chiu was dismissed from the tournament by WeiKai Chang, Chang’s second bounty of the tournament (he knocked off Todd Brunson on his Day One).

Mortensen would do the honors of popping the money bubble, eliminating Jeremy Druckman in 64th place and guaranteeing the rest of the field would earn something for their trip to San Jose. In a battle that would see our Day Three leader determined, Matt Affleck and Paul Volpe fought it out over several hands only to see Affleck’s stack end up in Volpe’s possession as the hour grew late. By the time the 2AM curfew came, only 44 players remained to come back for Day Three action on Thursday with Volpe holding the lead.

1. Paul Volpe, 1.394 million
2. Brendon Rubie, 988,000
3. Isaac Baron, 896,000
4. Steve Behm, 854,000
5. Maria Ho, 805,000
6. Antonio Esfandiari, 787,000
7. James Anderson, 770,000
8. Erik Seidel, 751,000
9. Matt Stout, 687,000
10. Jordan Cristos, 672,000

While Volpe’s run to the top was impressive, Ho’s play was truly stunning on the day. She was all-in on several occasions and, as a Shooting Star bounty, was able to find a great deal of action. She was able to use that action to go from nearly on the felt to one of the chip leaders for Day Three.

It will be another long day for the 44 survivors in the Bay 101 Shooting Star as they are tasked with getting down to the six handed WPT final table. The action begins at noon in San Jose with only six Shooting Stars remaining (Ho, Esfandiari, Seidel, Harder, Kyle Julius and Somerville) but plenty of money still left to hand out before the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table is determined.

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day Three: Paul Volpe Leads Second Consecutive WPT Final Table, Erik Seidel In Second

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The World Poker Tour stop at the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, CA, is shaping up to be an epic battle, with a player making his second consecutive WPT final table (with the chip lead to boot) and one remaining Shooting Star left at the six-man final table.

44 players came back on Thursday afternoon, ready to determine the six players who would battle it out for this latest WPT championship. Paul Volpe was in the lead – the only player over a million chips – while Brendon Rubie, Isaac Baron, Steve Behm and Shooting Star Maria Ho rounded out the Top Five. Joining Ho as the only remaining $2500 bounties remaining in the field were Antonio Esfandiari, Christian Harder, Kyle Julius, Erik Seidel and Jason Somerville as the cards hit the air.

Volpe took an early hit, doubling up Joe Nguyen to give up the lead, while Axel Werner and Garrett Greer (television table “bubble boy” at the L. A. Poker Classic last week) hit the rail within moments of the opening bell. Another player who did fairly well at that tournament last week, eventual LAPC champion Paul Klann, got back into the action in the Bay 101 by doubling up through Robert Tepper.

The top of the leaderboard got a bit more familiar to casual poker fans in a clash between Shooting Stars. After Somerville moved all in pre-flop, Seidel made the call out of the small blind. After some consideration, Klann decided to get out of the way and the twosome turned up their cards. Somerville was on a complete steal attempt with his J-9 and Seidel’s A 10 was in a tenuous lead (63.3-36.1 pre-flop odds). An Ace on the flop cemented Seidel’s position, but a nine on the turn opened up some outs for Somerville. When those outs failed to show on the river, Somerville was out in 42nd place while Seidel shot up over 1.1 million and pocketed $2500.

The casualties would continue to mount as the afternoon wore on. Carlos Mortensen (36th), Todd Terry (34th), Kathy Liebert (33rd) and overall Day One chip leader Andrew Lichtenberger (29th) all would hit the rail within three hours of the opening of play while Volpe began a charge to the top that would put him in first position at today’s final table.

In a key hand, Volpe and Behm duked it out with a board that read K-9-8-Q-8. After Behm tossed out 100K into a 400K pot, Volpe popped the action to 372K to send Behm into deep thought. The thought was so deep that the clock was eventually called and, just before it was counted out, Behm made the call. Volpe turned up A-8 for rivered trips and a disgusted Behm mucked his cards. The hand would shoot Volpe to nearly two million in chips and leave Behm with “only” 560K.

Julius would depart at the hands of Klann in a particularly gruesome fashion. On an 8-7-6 flop, Julius bet out and Klann moved all in. Julius made the call with less chips, putting his tournament existence on the line, and showed pocket Jacks against Klann’s 9-4 (open-ended straight draw). The three on the turn missed, but the five on the river brought Klann his out to knock Julius from the tournament in 27th place.

Volpe continued to attack the field, eliminating Rubie from the tournament, but he found himself in second place behind Klann as the tournament reached three six-handed tables (Ho was eliminated by Matt Stout in 20th place; on the next hand, Stout would take down Robert Lo to reach those three tables). By the time the dinner bell rang, fourteen players were left on the felt, working their way down to the final six.

The men returned to the felt with three Shooting Stars remaining, but not for long. Harder, crippled in a flush over flush fight with Joe Kuether, would fall in 13th place to Volpe on the next hand. Esfandiari would last a bit longer, making it to ninth place, before losing a race (holding pocket Jacks against Big Slick) to Danny Wong when Wong hit a King on the flop and added an Ace on the river for further insult. Seidel’s chip stack was a rollercoaster throughout the Day Three play but, by the time of Esfandiari’s elimination, he was sitting on a 1.5 million stack.

Volpe first doubled through and then eliminated Wong from the tournament to boost his stack to nearly six million as the final seven players gathered together on the same patch of felt to determine the official final table. After ten hands of play, Behm would get his chips to the center of the felt against Seidel (the final Shooting Star) with an A-Q against Seidel’s pocket Kings. Once the board brought no surprises, Behm was out in seventh place and the final table was set.

1. Paul Volpe, 5.525 million
2. Erik Seidel, 3.435 million
3. Joe Kuether, 2.83 million
4. Chris Johnson, 2.74 million
5. WeiKai Chang, 2.59 million
6. Joe Nguyen, 2.175 million

Volpe is coming off a runner-up finish at the LAPC, making him a serious contender not only for this championship but also to potentially take over the Season XI WPT Player of the Year race lead. As the final Shooting Star, Seidel might have the target on his back, but the $2500 bounty at this point is pocket change (sixth place receives $162,240). The remaining contenders – Nguyen, Johnson, Chang and Kuether – will have to get a double up to push their name into consideration for the championship.

The final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star begins this afternoon at 4PM (Pacific Time) and will be taped for broadcast on the WPT’s Season XI schedule. It should be an exciting final table as Volpe looks to take it one step further than he did last week at the LAPC and take down this WPT championship.

WeiKai Chang Storms From Bottom Of Ladder To Win WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star

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After starting the day near the bottom of the leaderboard, WeiKai Chang took down his first major championship in winning the World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star late last night in San Jose, CA.

As the cards hit the air on Friday, Chang found himself sitting down the ladder in fifth place with his 2.59 million stack. Only Joe Nguyen was beneath him and they were looking up at Chris Johnson, Joe Kuether, Shooting Star Erik Seidel and chip leader Paul Volpe as the action began. As the last Shooting Star left in the event, Seidel had a $2500 bounty on his head, but the players weren’t concerned with that as the first man out would receive nearly 65 times that amount by being at the final table.

Chang was aggressive off the start, adding a million chips to his stack within the first dozen hands of action. He would give those back, however, to Johnson when he made Aces up against Chang. Over the first forty hands, there was little fluctuation on the leaderboard as the players looked for the right situations to get their chips into action. As the play moved on to Level 27 (25K/50K with a 5K ante), Chang would be able to work himself back into the lead after taking a pot off of Volpe.

Seidel, who came to the final table in second place, was going in the opposite direction. On the 50th hand of play, he lost a 2.8 million chip pot to Joe Nguyen when Nguyen’s K-10 paired on the flop to best Seidel’s offerings. Seidel would see his stack slip under the two million mark, ahead of only Kuether as the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. Nguyen continued to take large pots, besting Volpe when his flopped pair of Queens was better than Volpe’s holdings to seize a 1.8 million chip pot. After starting off the day as the short stack, Nguyen would sit behind only Chang at this point as the 60-hand mark came and went with no eliminations.

On the 79th hand of play, the first elimination would occur. Chang opened the betting for 125K and Kuether decided it was time to make his stand. What he didn’t expect, however, was Nguyen’s “over the top” move from the big blind. After Nguyen’s all in, Chang departed the battle and Kuether showed a pocket pair of Jacks. Nguyen had woke up in the big blind with pocket Aces, however, and the Ace on the flop virtually sealed the deal. After the turn brought Nguyen a full house, Kuether was drawing dead and out of the tournament in sixth place.

The very next hand would bring about another elimination. Johnson popped it to 125K and Chang and Seidel decided to come along for the ride. On the 10-8-5 rainbow flop, Seidel checked his option but folded after Johnson bet 200K and Chang moved it up to 700K. Johnson pushed his final chips to the center and Chang called immediately, tabling his pocket tens for the flopped set. Johnson could only muster a K-10 for battle, which didn’t hit on the Jack turn or the Queen river to send Johnson out of the Bay 101 tournament arena in fifth place.

After that flurry of action, the four men at the felt settled in for a bit of a grind. Chang was at the head of the table, with Nguyen, Volpe and Seidel looking to gain some ground. Nguyen and Chang swapped the lead between the two of them while Volpe and Seidel waited patiently to attack. It would take almost forty hands of play before the next elimination was determined in a dramatic fashion.

Seidel, battling valiantly on a short stack for much of the final table, got his chips to the center with J-10 against Volpe’s A 4 and things looked good on the flop for a Seidel double. The J J 7 brought the Poker Hall of Famer trips, but the diamond draw was available for Volpe to come back. This he did on the K turn, taking over the lead and leaving Seidel looking for the board to pair or the case Jack. Neither would happen on the river, sending Seidel to the rail in fourth place and earning Volpe the final bounty of the 2013 Bay 101 Shooting Star.

Even with the knockout of Seidel, Volpe was still in dire shape. His three million in chips paled in comparison to the stacks of Nguyen (over 8.6 million) and Chang (over 7.6 million), but Volpe would make them work for his chips. Thirty hands after knocking out Seidel, Volpe would succumb to Chang when his suited Q-10 was unable to catch up with Chang’s A-9 on a King high board and leave in third place.

With the elimination of Volpe, Chang held slightly less than a 2:1 lead over Nguyen and heads up play would last for all of six hands. On the final hand, Nguyen raised from the button and Chang made the call to see a 10♥ 7 5♠ flop. Chang would check call a 325K bet from Nguyen to see a 9 on the turn. Nguyen moved all in, only to have Chang snap him off with the call and table an 8♠ 6 for the turned straight. Nguyen, holding the Doyle Brunson (a 10 2), was drawing to a diamond flush that failed to materialize on the 6♣ river, sending him out in second place and earning WeiKai Chang the championship.

1. WeiKai Chang, $1,138,350
2. Joe Nguyen, $666,740
3. Paul Volpe, $435,610
4. Erik Seidel, $295,590
5. Chris Johnson, $208,910
6. Joe Kuether, $162,240

After their two week frenzy in California, the WPT will be taking a bit of a break before holding two tournaments outside of the U. S. The Gioco Digitale WPT Venice Grand Prix is set to start on March 25 in Italy and the Casino Barcelona plays host to the bwin WPT Barcelona beginning on April 5 in Spain. The next stop in the States for Season XI of the WPT will be the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in Hollywood, FL, beginning on April 11.

2013 WPT Venice Grand Prix Day 1A: Stephen Behm Leads Field

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The World Poker Tour got back to it yesterday as the first of two starting flights of the WPT Venice Grand Prix kicked off at Casino di Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi in Venice, Italy. As expected, it was a small field, with just 65 players paying the €3,300 to play in the single re-entry event. Leading the 32 players who remain after Day 1A is Stephen Behm with 188,000 chips.

This technically just the second year of the WPT Venice Grand Prix, though the city of Venice has been on the tour longer than that. WPT Venice (just WPT Venice, not Grand Prix), was made its debut as the first stop on the World Poker Tour in Season VIII back in 2009. Almost 400 players participated in that one, with Sven-Ragnar Arstrom taking the title and $532,388. The tournament was moved to the second half of the WPT schedule the following season and it grew bigger; Italy’s Alessio Isaia topped the 523 player field to win $518,382 after the longest heads-up match in WPT history. It took him eight hours to beat Szabolcs Mayer. Last season was when the WPT Venice Grand Prix was introduced and, as appears will be the case this year, the field was small, just 155 entrants. Rinat Bogdanov won that tourney and $301,909. WPT Venice was held just two stops prior and was not much bigger, with 213 people playing.

Our chip leader, Stephen Behm, has virtually no live tournament resume whatsoever. The American has just one cash listed on his page on TheHendonMob.com, but it was a good one. Just this month, he finished seventh in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, good for $124,460.

Despite the small field, the rest of the top ten chip leaders has several recognizable names. Marvin Rettenmaier, best known for being the only player to win back-to-back WPT titles (2012 WPT World Championship and 2012 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic), is in second place with 129,600. WPT announcer Mike Sexton is in third place with 99,900 chips and Kara Scott is in ninth with 81,200 chips.

After Behm and Rettenmaier, it is a tight race at the top, as just 19,900 chips separate third from tenth place.

Day 1B of the WPT Venice Grand Prix is already underway as another group of players try to join the Day 1A survivors in Wednesday’s Day 2. This a re-entry event like most WPT events nowadays, so players who were eliminated on Day 1A are allowed to give it one more shot on Day 1B.

2013 WPT Venice Grand Prix – Day 1A Chip Leaders

1.    Stephen Behm – 188,000
2.    Marvin Rettenmaier – 129,600
3.    Mike Sexton – 99,900
4.    Raffaele Castro – 96,000
5.    Gianluca Rullo – 95,100
6.    Armando Donnini – 85,500
7.    Lauri Pesonen – 83,800
8.    Ivan Losi – 81,300
9.    Kara Scott – 81,200
10.    Martino Favaretto – 80,000

2013 WPT Venice Grand Prix Day 1B: Fernando Cimaglia Tops Second Starting Flight

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The World Poker Tour (WPT) Venice Grand Prix continued Tuesday as another set of players took their shot at glory in the second of two starting flights. As is usually the case, the field on Day 1B was larger than that of Day 1A, as 108 registered for play, compared to just 65 runners on Monday. The total of 173 players eclipses the 155 from last year’s inaugural WPT Venice Grand Prix.

Italy’s Fernando Cimaglia emerged from Day 1B as the flight’s chip leader, bagging 175,000 chips at the end of the night. There is a sizable drop-off from Cimaglia to the rest of the Day 1B survivors, as the next biggest chip stack, belonging to Massimo Mosele, is 132,500. Day 1A’s chip leader, Stephen Behm, still leads all players with 188,000 chips.

The 173 entrants have created a prize pool of €503,430 (173 x €3,000 less 3 percent local tax). The winner will receive $180,097 (the World Poker Tour site lists the prize structure in U.S. dollars even though the buy-in is in Euros; first prize is approximately €141,000). A total of 21 players will make the money, with payouts starting at $6,964.

Cimaglia is gunning for his first major live tournament title, though he has come close. In 2011, he placed 12th at WPT Venice (not to be confused with the WPT Venice Grand Prix), earning €7,510 ($10,068). His most sizable cash came back in 2009 when he finished 3rd in the Campionato Italiano Main Event, winning €70,000 ($92,635).

Cimaglia had been doing well throughout Day 1B, but experienced a setback late when he doubled-up Klaus Pichler to fall to 70,000 chips. Near the end of the night, though, he grabbed the chip lead, taking a pot from Giuseppe Cristaudo when he held T-8 on a T-T-6-2-7 against Cristaudo’s 4-4.

59 of the 108 players on Day 1B survived to Day 2, bringing the Day 2 player total to 91. Play is already underway at Casino di Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi as the tournament marches towards the money. Come back tomorrow for further updates.

2013 WPT Venice Grand Prix – Day 1B Chip Leaders

1.    Fernando Cimaglia – 175,000
2.    Massimo Mosele – 132,500
3.    Simone Ferretti – 122,600
4.    Ludovic Lacay – 118,000
5.    Quoc Trung Nguyen – 113,800
6.    Francesco Delfonco – 100,000
7.    Ivan Gabrieli – 97,900
8.    Roberto Begni – 96,200
9.    Giacomo Fundaro – 93,700
10.    Jurgen Paulisch – 93,000

2013 WPT Venice Grand Prix – Overall Day 1 Chip Leaders

1.    Stephen Behm – 188,000
2.    Fernando Cimaglia – 175,000
3.    Massimo Mosele – 132,500
4.    Marvin Rettenmaier – 129,600
5.    Simone Ferretti – 122,600
6.    Ludovic Lacay – 118,000
7.    Quoc Trung Nguyen – 113,800
8.    Francesco Delfonco – 100,000
9.    Mike Sexton – 99,900
10.    Ivan Gabrieli – 97,900

WPT Venice Main Event Day Two: Ludovic Lacay Takes Over Lead, 36 Players Remaining

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The World Poker Tour has taken to Europe for the next couple of weeks with its first stop in Venice, Italy, taking center stage this week. The rather cozy field of 173 entrants has worked its way through Day Two on Wednesday with France’s Ludovic Lacay moving into the lead as play gets ready to start this afternoon (Venice Time).

The overall leader as play began yesterday was Day 1A chip leader Steve Behm, but a host of notable contenders were arranged behind him in the roughly 100 players that remained. The biggest threat may have been that of defending WPT Champion Marvin Rettenmaier, who came into the day with the fourth largest stack, while Finland’s Lauri Pesonen and WPT announcer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton also looked to provide a challenge to Behm.

In the early action, two other popular pros were able to work their way up from smaller stacks. Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates was the first of those pros, earning a double up when his A-J off suit was able to withstand all challenges. The United Kingdom’s John Eames also was on a tear, eliminating three players on his way to building his once-short stack up to more than 70K in chips.

The ladies were also doing well during the early action on the felt in Vienna. Liv Boeree kept her name on the table, although she needed to double up with an A-9 against A-K after losing considerable chips when her A-K was defeated by A-J. Doing a bit better was Kara Scott, who burst over the 100K point when she was able to work Gianluca Rullo for three bets while holding pocket Aces.

Lacay began to surge during the late afternoon action. He had built his stack up to 180K (good for second at the time), while Sexton tried to keep pace by eliminating Eames from the tournament. Pesonen, meanwhile, outpaced them both by rocketing up to 230K in besting Grzegorz Wyraz while Pesonen held pocket Queens. Behm was able to stay in the mix but wasn’t able to add many chips to his stack as darkness fell on the Venetian canals.

The action away from the big names was frenetic, however, as the players dropped from the event. Originally set to go deep into the night, officials with the tournament were forced to call a halt to the festivities once the players hit the 36 player mark. When the chips were bagged and tagged, Lacay had emerged as the leader of the pack:

1. Ludovic Lacay, 351,400
2. Lauri Pesonen, 287,300
3. Erion Islamay, 281,200
4. Steve Behm, 263,800
5. Giuseppe Pastura, 254,000
6. Marcello Montagner, 249,000
7. Mike Sexton, 241,500
8. Francesco Delfonco, 225,000
9. Gianluca Speranza, 205,400
10. Angelo Recchia, 205,000

There are at least three ladies left in the battle in Venice, with Boeree (93,600), Scott (113,400) and Giorgia Tabet (190,000) leading the female charge. Rettenmaier (187,700) is lurking off of the Top Ten, joined by two other WPT Champions’ Club members in Matt Salsberg (100,100) and Giacomo Fundaro (97,400). Cates, for his part, will have some work to do with his 87,600 stack if he is to take anything home from Italy, as will veteran pro Max Pescatori (57,800).

The 36 players returning on Thursday will have to work out who will be getting the money first. Only the final 21 players will earn the $6964 minimum payday from the nearly $650,000 prize pool, but all have their eyes set on the first place prize of $180,097. The plan for action on Thursday is for the players to try to whittle the field down to the final nine players, meaning it could be a long day of action for the contenders to the WPT Venice crown.


WPT Venice Grand Prix Day 3: Erion Islamay Moves To The Lead On Slow Day Of Action

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It was a slow day of action for Day 3 of the World Poker Tour’s stop at the Casino di Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi in Venice, Italy, yesterday. How slow was it? After rocketing through two thirds of the survivors on Day Two, only half of the 36 remaining players were eliminated over the span of Thursday’s action.

Ludovic Lacay led those 36 players to the felt on Thursday, with the original plan to be for the runners to get down to the nine handed unofficial final table. With a host of top players in pursuit, including Poker Hall of Famer and WPT announcer Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, two time WPT champion Marvin Rettenmaier and fellow WPT winner Matt Salsberg, the action kicked off Thursday afternoon and it became evident early that it was going to be a long night.

Several of the short stacks were able to double up within moments of the opening bell, but one that didn’t was the ClubWPT qualifier for the tournament, Socrates Ioannides. After shipping a good bit of his stack to Salsberg, Ioannides went to battle with Max Pescatori and actually hit the 9-9-3 flop with his 10-3. Problem was Pescatori hit it also with his A-3, which proved to be good enough after the turn and river to eliminate Ioannides short of the money.

Two other notable names would join Ioannides soon after his departure. After bluffing off a sizeable chunk of his stack to Eddie Tasbas, Daniel Cates would leave when his K-Q was unable to catch Ivan Gabrieli’s pocket deuces. A few hands later, Liv Boeree would join him after her Q-9 was defeated by Antonino Zito’s K-J.

The big surprise on the departure list (and short of the money also) turned out to be Rettenmaier, whose final hand also changed the top spot on the leaderboard. After three-betting the action, Rettenmaier saw Xia Lin four-bet him to 40K. After everyone else cleared the way, Rettenmaier pushed his remaining stack to the center and Lin called. The race was on – Rettenmaier’s A-K versus Lin’s pocket Queens – and it looked to be all over when the flop came with an Ace and a King. The turn kept Rettenmaier in the lead, but a Queen on the river ended his run in giving Lin a set.

Erion Islamay began to gain some momentum as the money bubble approached. He knocked out Tasbas to reach 185K in chips as he set his sights on the bigger stacks ahead of him. Sexton was one of those stacks, after he eliminated former WPT champion Giacomo Fundaro to get to the 400K mark, and Lacay (who had been on the rollercoaster through the early action) was still in the mix with 380K.

As the sun faded in the Venice skies, the bubble was reached following the elimination of Day 1 chip leader Steve Behm. Bubble play would last for almost an hour before Salsberg was able to knock off Pescatori to bring the remaining 21 players to the money and send the players off to a dinner break. Once back from that break, the action slowed down tremendously as the players looked to maximize their payout from the WPT Venice.

Islamay continued to slowly grind his way up the ladder, working some chips from Martin Staszko to climb over the 250K mark. Scott, meanwhile, was using her stack like a machete as she bullied Robert Begni out of a pot to push herself to 390K. After the eliminations of Daniele Mazzia, Francesco Delfoco and Davor Lanini (in 21st through 19th places, respectively), the final eighteen players gathered together at two tables and REALLY slowed the pace of play. Over the next two hours, the players basically shuffled chips until tournament officials decided to call for a stop in the Day Three action.

When the chips fly on Friday in Venice, Islamay will be the player that everyone is looking up at:

1. Erion Islamay, 470,000
2. Marcello Montagner, 460,000
3. Giuseppe Pastura, 432,000
4. Xia Lin, 425,000
5. Mike Sexton, 414,000
5. Kara Scott, 414,000
7. Ludovic Lacay, 402,000
8. Rocco Palumbo, 378,000
9. Ivan Gabrieli, 295,000
10. Martin Staszko 251,000

On down the table, Matt Salsberg (196,000) is still in contention in the tightly bunched field, just ahead of Lauri Pesonen (195,000), while the other lady left in contention for this WPT title, Giorgia Tabet, has some work to do with her 150K stack.

The action on Friday will play down to the six handed WPT final table and, if Thursday’s play is any indication, it promises to be another long day. Besides being taped for the Season XI television broadcasts, the WPT Venice Grand Prix will put another name on the WPT Champions’ Cup and pay the winner $180,097.

WPT Venice Grand Prix Day Four: Marcello Montagner Heads Final Six Players, Mike Sexton In The Mix

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The final table is set for the World Poker Tour’s Venice Grand Prix, with several surprises that unfolded as the Day Four play determined those six players.

At the start of play on Friday, Erion Islamay was at the top of an eighteen player field that saw a host of top pros looking to take him down. Poker Hall of Famer and WPT announcer Mike Sexton lurked back in the middle of the Top Ten, and the final two women in the field, Kara Scott and Giorgia Tabet, held strong stacks to make a run at the final table. Unfortunately, only one of those three would make it through the day’s action.

From the start of play on Friday, Scott’s chip stack was in reverse mode. She doubled up Matteo Fortunato who, as his name indicates, got very fortunate to hit a nine with his A-9 against Scott’s pocket sevens. Still sitting over 300K, Scott next tangled with former World Series of Poker Championship Event runner-up Martin Staszko and came out on the losing end again when her pocket sixes were run down by Staszko’s J-9. She would hang around for a bit longer after that, but the wind was essentially pulled from her sails.

Islamay was responsible for the first knockout of the day, sending a short-stacked Angel Recchia out the door when his A-7 was able to find a straight against Recchia’s A-K. As Islamay padded his lead, Tabet was able to get a key double up through Sexton that put her in contention. It was a big hand that resulted in a double knockout that got the crowd buzzing in the Casino di Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi, however.

After an initial raiser from Giuseppe Pastura, Ivan Gabriele made the call but saw Antonino Zito move his short stack of 100K to the center of the felt. Pastura was confident with his hand, re-raising to push Gabriele out of the hand, but Gabriele changed the script on Pastura by moving all in himself. Pastura, with two players all in and a huge stack of chips in front of him, made the reluctant pot odds call and was way behind.

Gabriele’s pocket Aces were not only dominating Zito’s pocket Kings but also Pastura’s meek K-9 offering, but fortune sometimes favors the meek. The Q-10-10 flop gave Pastura some outs for the straight, but none would come on the seven turn. Lightning would strike, however, on the Jack river to give Pastura that straight. With that miracle river card, Pastura performed the double knockout of Gabriele and Zito and surged to the lead.

Pastura added to that lead in knocking out Gianluca Speranza in 14th place, once again hitting a saving card on the river to make a set of sevens over Speranza’s pocket Jacks. Scott’s day would come to a close soon after that as she got her final chips in against Roberto Begni but was unable to outrun his A-K with her K-8. Once Ludovic Lacay (12th), Fortunato (11th) and Staszko (10th) were eliminated, the unofficial nine handed final table was set.

The run to eliminate three more players went fairly quickly and with a great deal of drama. Sexton moved into the chip lead after battling against Islamay, while the final lady in the field headed to the rail. Tabet would fall victim to Sexton’s run on the felt, his A-10 defeating her pocket nines, while Pastura’s fortunate run would end at the hands of Begni. Once Matt Salsberg was eliminated in seventh place after Marcello Montagner rivered a straight against his flopped set of threes, the final table was set for today’s play.

1. Marcello Montagner, 1.805 million
2. Roberto Begni, 1.203 million
3. Mike Sexton, 1.079 million
4. Erion Islamay, 406,000
4. Rocco Palumbo, 406,000
6. Xia Lin, 309,000

The championship will be determined between the top three players as the bottom of the survivors has a very unlikely chance of making a run. Sexton would seem to be the dominant player on the table, but Begni and Montagner will not roll over for the poker legend. It should be a fantastic table that plays out today and the latest champion on the World Poker Tour is crowned.

Rocco Palumbo Comes From Behind To Win WPT Venice Grand Prix

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Stunning the audience in attendance at the Casino di Venezi Ca Vendramin Calergi, Rocco Palumbo fought back from the bottom of the standings to win the World Poker Tour’s Venice Grand Prix Saturday night.

Although there were plenty of home country favorites for the Italians to cheer for (chip leader Marcello Montagner, Erion Islamay and World Series of Poker bracelet holder Palumbo), sentiment in the crowd seemed to favor Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton. Normally relegated to the broadcast booth at WPT events, this time around Sexton found himself in the midst of the action in third place at the start of the final table. Roberto Begni and Xia Lin filled out the final two seats as the cards hit the air on Saturday afternoon.

Montagner was able to extend his lead early in the day’s play when he went to battle against Islamay. After Islamay moved all in from the button, Montagner decided to look him up from the small blind and he had the goods. Montagner’s pocket tens were ahead of Islamay’s A-6 steal attempt and a ten on the flop virtually ended any discussion about who would win the hand. Although Islamay would pick up a gut shot straight draw on the turn, it didn’t come home on the river to send him out of the event in sixth place.

Palumbo was also making some moves to push his way up from the bottom of the table. Starting the day tied for fourth, Palumbo made judicious use of the all-in move to garner some much needed chips. He would give some of those over to Sexton, however, who patiently waited for the most opportune moment to strike his opponents on the felt. After doubling up through Begni’s A-Q with pocket Aces, however, Palumbo was in much healthier shape as well as being a contender for the championship.

The Italian pro would also be the beneficiary of the next knockout in the tournament. After opening up from early position, Begni called but Lin pushed his remaining stack to the center. Palumbo isolated with an all-in of his own, forcing Begni from the hand, and showed an A-J to crush Lin’s A-6. He would make an unnecessary straight on the turn to close out the hand and send Lin into the Venetian evening in fifth place.

After Lin’s departure, Sexton ramped up his action on the table. He would take three consecutive hands to keep himself in the mix, but Palumbo and Montagner were also quite aggressive. The brunt of that aggression was Begni, who would eventually fall to Montagner when his A-6 was cruelly defeated by Montagner when he hit a deuce on the river with his J-2.

Down to three handed, Montagner and Palumbo had been able to pull away from Sexton a bit and the veteran pro was unable to make much headway into rising any further. As Montagner and Palumbo passed chips back and forth, Sexton couldn’t find anything to get into the action with. The end of the tournament for the venerable ambassador of the game came in a three way pot that didn’t lack for drama.

After Sexton opened the betting, Montagner made the call and Palumbo came along for the ride also. The J-7-6 flop brought another bet from Sexton but only Montagner would join him to see the turn. On the Ace turn, Montagner checked his options and Sexton moved all in. Montagner nearly beat Sexton into the pot with his call, showing A-7 for a turned two pair. Sexton could only manage a J-9 for a pair of Jacks and, once he missed hitting trips on the river five, Sexton was out of the tournament in third place.

Even with the knockout of Sexton, Montagner was still behind Palumbo by about a million chips and the heads up match didn’t take long. Although Montagner would take the first hand of heads up play, Palumbo went on a tear that slowly saw Montagner’s stack cross over to his. The final hand was a stunner that would shock those around the table.

After Palumbo made a bet, Montagner three bet the action to 170K and Palumbo made the call to see the flop. The J-10-8 flop saw Montagner fire again on the arrangement, but this time Palumbo raised it up to 480K. Montagner made the call and an innocuous four appeared on the turn. Montagner pushed all in and Palumbo snapped off the call, showing J-8 for a flopped two pair. He still had to dodge a wealth of outs, as Montagner’s pocket nines held open-ended draws to the straight as well as the two other nines in the deck, but the river three wasn’t one of them, earning Rocco Palumbo the championship of the WPT Venice Grand Prix.

1. Rocco Palumbo, $180,097
2. Marcello Montagner, $108,316
3. Mike Sexton, $69,723
4. Roberto Begni, $51,585
5. Xia Lin, $38,721
6. Erion Islamay, $31,002

Not only did Palumbo earn the right to put his name on the WPT Champions’ Cup and a ticket to Las Vegas for the WPT Championship in May, but he also puts his name on the list of players who are striving for poker’s mythical Triple Crown (WPT, WSOP and European Poker Tour championships).

The WPT now moves on to Barcelona, Spain for their next tournament at the Casino Barcelona beginning on April 5. The field for that tournament may be a bit sparse, as the inaugural WSOP stop in Melbourne, Australia, begins on April 4, but for now Rocco Palumbo can celebrate being the latest champion of the WPT.

World Poker Tour Barcelona, Day 1A: Manuel Bevand Takes Opening Day Lead

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While most of the attention of the poker world is centered on the autumnal climes of Australia (remember, the Southern Hemisphere is opposite the Northern), the springtime urges of some poker players are being satisfied by the World Poker Tour’s venture to the Casino Barcelona in Spain.

Day 1A of the WPT Barcelona brought out several players who either have chosen to take part in this event (versus the battles of the WSOP APAC) or those players who figured to take a shot here before heading “Down Under.” The €3500 buy in tournament features a rebuy format, with players who were either eliminated on Day 1A or who weren’t happy with their stacks the opportunity to come back on Day 1B for action. With that said, several top players were among the hopefuls as the cards hit the air on Friday afternoon (Barcelona Time).

WPT Grand Prix de Paris champion Matt Salsberg, fresh off barely making the final table at the WPT Venice Grand Prix last week, decided this was a better opportunity than heading to Australia for the festivities. He was joined by such prominent pros as Kevin MacPhee, Faraz Jaka and WPT Baden champion Vladimir Bozinovic in taking the shot here.

In the early going, one of the top pros who has – as of yet – captured his first major championship made some early moves. Kevin Vandersmissen opened the action and only the big blind came along to see an A-K-5 flop. The big blind would check call Vandersmissen’s continuation bet to see a four on the turn, which both players checked. On the river six, the big blind would open up the betting, but lay his hand down once Vandersmissen upped the price to play to 2400. In winning the hand, Vandersmissen would move to 5000 chips above the starting stack of 30K and set himself on a course for a good day.

Before the waning light of the sun had faded on the Spanish coast, one player was heading to the exits, a position he has been in way too much lately for his talent. Guillaume Darcourt lost most of his stack after his pocket Kings were outdrawn, lost once again to a shorter stack when his pocket Queens were outdone by pocket Aces, then suffered the indignity of getting the remainder of his stack in with 4-3 after a Q-4-4 flop against K-Q. Unfortunately for the flamboyant Frenchman, another Queen would come on the river to send him into the Barcelona night, but he will more than likely be back for another shot on Saturday.

Darcourt wasn’t the only casualty of the day’s action, albeit he may have the argument for cruelest departure. Davidi Kitai, Michael Benvenuti, Philippe Ktorza, defending WPT Barcelona champion Lukas Berglund and Salsberg would be some of the departures through the evening hours, but one player was able to rise above the fray to take the Day 1A chip lead.

France’s Manuel Bevand seemed to be on a slowly rising chip stack throughout the day that was punctuated by a battle against Artem Litvinov. On a K-5-2 flop, Scott Baumstein checked from the small blind and, after Bevand checked his big, Litvinov fired a bet that only Bevand came along with. On a six turn, Bevand would check-call another bet out of Litvinov to see a ten come on the river. Another check came from Bevand and a confident Litvinov pushed out a third bullet into the fray. Considering the actions, Bevand would not have been wrong to fold, but he found something in his observations of the Russian to make the call. Litvinov turned up J-9 for a big nothing, Bevand showed a K-9 for a flopped pair of Kings, and the pot would help push him into the chip lead for the day overall.

1. Manuel Bevand, 141,200
2. Besim Hot, 121,500
2. Simon Berntsen, 121,500
4. Kevin Vandersmissen, 120,200
5. David Konstandoff, 112,900
6. Paul Testud, 106,500
7. Lauri Pesonen, 103,700
8. Terry Flood, 103,500
9. Marcin Wydrowski, 98,400
10. Kevin MacPhee, 95,400

Others still remaining among the 56 survivors from the 106 Day 1A players include Ana Marquez (67,600), Adam Levy (60,600), Benjamin Pollak (44,100), Dan Cates (41,900), Toby Lewis (38,300) and Steve O’Dwyer (30,600).

With the start of Day 1B only a few hours away, you can expect that some of the casualties from Day 1A – such as Kitai, Ktorza, Salsberg, Max Pescatori and Ludovic Lacay – will take a second shot at the tournament. It sets up for an exciting day of action in the Casino Barcelona as the WPT Barcelona looks to crown the next champion on the tour.

WPT Barcelona Day 1B: Sergio Fernandez Blitzes The Field To Take Overall Lead

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The World Poker Tour stop at the Casino Barcelona in Spain has finished off its second Day One, with a Spaniard storming through the Day 1B field to take the overall chip lead in the event.

As expected for the second Day One, there was a rush to get in on the action for this latest WPT stop. Several players who were eliminated on Day 1A, including Matt Salsberg, Giacomo Fundaro and Michael Benvenuti took advantage of the second chance through the re-entry process, and they were joined by a host of newcomers that included Raul Mestre, Leo Margets and Bruno Lopes. From the start, the players wasted little time in getting their chips in action.

On the very first hand, Mestre and Alessandro Longobardi went to battle. After a bet from the button, Longobardi three bet the action from the small blind and Mestre four bet his action up to 1600. The button got out of the way, but Longobardi made the call and the twosome saw a K-9-5 flop. Both players would check their option to see a seven come on the turn, at which point Longobardi fired off a 1600 chip bet. Mestre made the call and, after another seven came on the river, the fireworks (for just the first hand) went off.

Longobardi took another shot at the pot, betting 3775, but Mestre nearly beat him into the pot with a reraise to 11,200. After agonizing over his decision, Longobardi would release his hand and about 7000 chips into the stack of Mestre.

Salsberg would have much the same fortunes as he had during his Day 1A run yesterday. He would give up some chips to Efstathios Stamoulos when Salsberg couldn’t call a river bet, then Jack Salter would take some more to drop the WPT champion under the starting stack. It would be a long battle for Salsberg through the day, but he would make it to the final bell with a 43,300 stack.

Through the evening hours in Barcelona, some players began to separate themselves from the pack. Mestre was able to rocket up the leaderboard in a clash with Davidi Kitai that found all the chips in the center with Mestre at risk for elimination. His 7-6 looked mighty weak against the powerful pocket Kings of Kitai, but the board made the weak strong. The 10-9-8 board left Kitai drawing extremely thin to Mestre’s flopped straight, but a Jack on the turn opened up Kitai for a better straight if a Queen came on the river. Alas, a deuce fell, doubling up Mestre to 90K and dropping Kitai down to only 13,500.

The news wouldn’t be as good for some notable names on Saturday, however. Fundaro would fall at the hands of Luis Larossa, Zimnan Ziyard departed when his pocket Jacks were run down by pocket tens and Benvenuti would be knocked off also. The true story of the day, however, was a local player who somehow flew under the radar for most of the day.

Mostly a cash game player, Sergio Fernandez picked up his seat to the WPT Barcelona through a local satellite event. He was able to stay out of the limelight throughout the day on Saturday, a difficult task considering that he blasted past Day 1A chip leader Manuel Bevand to hold a sizeable chip lead coming to the felt for Sunday’s Day Two play.

1. Sergio Fernandez, 170,600
2. Ognjen Sekularac, 143,400
3. Manuel Bevand, 141,200*
4. Simon Berntsen, 121,500*
4. Besim Hot, 121,500*
6. Kevin Vandersmissen, 120,200*
7. Igor Rodov, 117,000
8. David Konstandoff, 112,900*
9. Paul Berende, 108,800
10. Paul Testud, 106,500*

* – Day 1A players

The final numbers for the tournament have to be considered successful, considering the rather large event currently underway in Australia. After Day 1B’s 143 players came to the tables, the total field size was 249 entrants (no final numbers on the prize pool or places paid has been released at this time). 89 players made it through the action on Saturday and they will join up with the 59 finishers from Friday to continue on to the crowning of the next WPT champion next week.

WPT Barcelona Day Two: Anaras Alekberovas Atop The Table, Defending Champion Lukas Berglund In Top Five

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Day Two of the World Poker Tour stop at the Casino Barcelona in Spain is in the books with a chance at history looming if Sunday’s action continues its course.

148 players came back on Sunday, with local player Sergio Fernandez holding a 37,000 chip lead over Ognjen Sekularac. Day 1A chip leader Manuel Bevand was lurking in third place, with Kevin Vandersmissen, Paul Berende and Paul Testud sitting in the Top Ten. These men were joined by notables such as Toby Lewis, Steve O’Dwyer, Dan Cates and Matt Salsberg who, while not high up on the leaderboard, still had enough ammunition to go to battle.

Lewis would make an early move on the day to improve his stack, doubling up with his pocket eights against Alexandre Reard’s A-K to push his stack over the 80K mark. Despite starting with much the same stack, Cates would go the opposite way and was an early casualty of the day. Cates would soon have company on the rail in the forms of Faraz Jaka, Gaelle Baumann and Adam Levy.

The list of notable players who would make the march out of the Casino Barcelona in the early hours only would get larger. Davidi Kitai, Salsberg and Kevin MacPhee would be out before the dinner break, but it was at this time that the defending champion of the tournament, Lukas Berglund, began to make some moves. He would cut some chips from the rather large stack of Tahiri Hassani to push his way over the 130K mark and seemed to always be adding to his stack as the day wore on.

Fernandez and Sekularac also would clash in a hand that would see the two switch positions. After Raul Paez opened the betting, Sekularac fired off a three bet and Fernandez four-bet out of the big blind. That was enough for Paez, but Sekularac came along to see a Q-Q-7 flop. Sekularac check-raised a 13,600 bet from Fernandez to 27,500, but Fernandez wouldn’t back down, firing off a four bet. At this time, Sekularac quit playing around and moved all in, bringing an immediate fold from Fernandez. After the pot was pushed to Sekularac, he sat on 270K in chips while Fernandez dropped to 120K.

Sekularac would remain around the top of the leaderboard – although he cut some chips out for Vandersmissen – as the tournament went to the dinner break. After they came back from that break, Lauri Pesonen and Leo Margets would depart, but it was a battle between Benjamin Pollak and Morten Mortensen that would stun those in attendance.

After Sekularac started up the action, Pollak and Mortensen both called to see a 6-4-4 flop. Pollak opened up out of the small blind for 4100 and Mortensen called, but Sekularac didn’t believe them; he would up the betting to 15K and Pollak made the call. Mortensen now came to life, pushing it to 33K and forcing Sekularac into a fold. Pollak, surprising many around the table, made the call.

On the turn trey, Pollak made a smallish bet of 14K and, in another surprising move (after his flop aggression), Mortensen only made the call. A five on the turn brought what appeared to be a shutdown from Pollak in the form of a check and Mortensen sprung, moving all in. Pollak immediately made the call and, after seeing Mortensen table pocket sixes for the flopped boat, quietly turned up his pocket fours for flopped quads to eliminate Mortensen and move Pollak into the lead.

It would not be a lead that Pollak would hold long, however. Hassani would power his way to the lead after eliminating Andreas Berggren, but it would be Anaras Alekberovas who would end the day on the top of the leaderboard. Taking on Yigit Aktulga pocket Aces, Alekberovas was able to hit with his pocket treys on the flop and the river to eliminate Aktulga and take the overall lead heading to Day Three on Monday.

1. Anaras Alekberovas, 467,000
2. Tahiri Hassani, 434,500
3. Antonio Alfaia, 430,500
4. Alvaro Ballesteros, 351,500
5. Lukas Berglund, 347,000
6. Henri Benoni, 318,000
7. Atanas Gueorgulev, 255,500
8. Jari Mahonen, 227,500
9. Kevin Vandersmissen, 226,700
10. Carmelo Placenti, 217,500

Pollak is lurking in eleventh place (212,500), while Bevand (178,500), Testud, (140,000), Bryn Kenney (123,500), O’Dwyer (112,000) and Paez (109,000) all have their work cut out for them if they are to make an impact on this tournament.

42 players will come back to the tables in Barcelona this afternoon, with the first order of business to figure out who will get paid. The Top 27 finishers will take home a minimum $8,658, with the champion of the tournament earning a $258,488 payday, a seat at the WPT Championship next month and their name on the WPT Champions’ Cup.

2013 WPT Barcelona Day 3: Sergio Fernandez Jumps from Outhouse to Penthouse

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The 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Barcelona Main Event ground down to just two tables Monday as the Day 3 starting field of 42 was narrowed to just 13. Spain’s Sergio Fernandez has a sizable lead going into Tuesday’s action; with 1.268 million chips, he has more than a 400,000 chip advantage on the next closest player and looks like he should make the final table, barring something disastrous.

That Fernandez is even still in the tournament, let alone at the top of the leader board, is impressive. Going into Day 3, he was one of the shortest stacks remaining, holding just 66,000 chips. He went on an amazing rush of cards almost from the get-go, however, to get right back in the game. Early in the first level of the day, he got it all-in pre-flop with Kings and was able to triple-up against Jari Mahonen’s Queens and Nikolaus Teichert’s pocket Twos, bringing his stack up to 210,000.

Later in the same level, he made it up to 450,000 and then, during hand-for-hand play, he eliminated Henri Benoni with Aces versus A-Q to take the chip lead with about 700,000 chips.

The power cards kept coming, as another pair of Aces in the hole after the money bubble burst allowed Fernandez to eliminate Bryn Kenney. Just after that, pocket Sixes let him oust Atanas Gueorguiev and his Q-T, followed by more pocket Kings, doing in Kevin Vandersmissen and his A-6.

Fernandez eliminated one more player before the day was done, once again using a pocket pair. This time it was Nines, all-in and holding against the K-J of Timothy Harold.

Even if Sergio Fernandez is knocked out on the first hand Tuesday, this will end up being the biggest cash of his career. According to his live tournament record in TheHendonMob.com database, Fernandez has just one career cash, a sixth place finish in a small event this past October for which he won $3,399. With 13 players remaining in the 2013 WPT Barcelona Main Event, Fernandez is already guaranteed at least $14,215. Of course, with the lead he has right now, he likely has his sights set on the quarter-million dollar first prize.

It should be a short Day 4 today at Casino Barcelona. The plan is to play down to the six-handed final table, so there are only seven more players left to hit the rail before it’s time to retire for the evening. Then again, you never know; players are often very careful as the final table approaches so there is always the chance of long gaps between eliminations. Either way, it should be a fun day of poker.

2013 World Poker Tour Barcelona – Day 3 Chip Counts

1.    Sergio Fernandez – 1,268,000
2.    Chanracy Khun     – 838,000
3.    David Konstandoff – 791,000
4.    Antonio Alfaia – 780,000
5.    Benjamin Pollak – 752,000
6.    Alvaro Ballesteros – 697,000
7.    Mario Sanchez – 671,000
8.    Tahiri Hassani – 560,000
9.    Paul Testud – 520,000
10.    Anaras Alekberovas – 195,000
11.    Nikola Ivancic – 180,000
12.    Bruno Garcia Cortelo – 171,000
13.    Erich Kollmann     – 151,000


2013 WPT Barcelona Final Table Set

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Day 4 was a fairly short one at the 2013 World Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event; it took only about five hours to whittle the field from thirteen players to the final table of six. Leading the charge is Canada’s Chanracy Khun with 2.393 million chips as the final table looms on Wednesday.

The chip stacks are fairly spread out compared to the typical final table. After Khun, it’s a half million chip drop to Benjamin Pollak and then another 260,000 to Tahiri Hassani. It’s a 900,000 gap between Hassani and the fourth place competitor, Bruno Garcia Cortelo. Sergio Fernandez is almost 200,000 behind Cortelo, followed by Antonio Alfaia, who is less than 300,000 behind.

Despite the brevity of the day, it was chock full of interesting, if not odd, hands. Case in point: the ouster of Anaras Alekberovas. Antonio Alfaia limped pre-flop and Alekberovas raised to 100,000, leaving himself just 60,000 behind. Alfaia made the call and they saw the flop of A-Q♠-2. As expected, Alekberovas moved all-in and Alfaia called. Not as expected, though, was the K-8♣ that Alekberovas turned over, well behind the Q♣-K♠ of Alfaia. Alekberovas got no help on the turn or river and was knocked out in 12th place.

Another strange one came a bit later when Mario Sanchez raised pre-flop to 25,000, Tahiri Hassani called from the small blind, and Khun called from the big blind. Sanchez bet 35,000 on the A-4♣-3♣ flop and again, both opponents called. Everyone checked on the turn card of T and then, after the J♠ on the river, Hassani led out the betting for 69,000. Khun folded and after counting out some stacks of chips, Sanchez raised to 150,000, about half his stack. Hassani insta-called and the two turned over their cards. But they didn’t. To everybody’s surprise, Sanchez mucked his hand without even seeing Hassani’s holding.

The biggest hand of the day was the one on which Khun took the chip lead. After Alfaia opened the pre-flop betting, Khun raised to 50,000. Sergio Fernandez four-bet to 126,000 from the big blind, Alfaia folded, and the remaining two players ended up getting all their chips in the middle. Fernandez had a dominating hand: K♦-K♣ against Khun’s A♦-K♥. Fernandez was sunk immediately on the flop, as an Ace fell, giving Khun a better pair. Fernandez couldn’t catch back up and saw his chip stack sink to about 800,000 while Khun’s rose to 1.6 million.

WPT Barcelona will wrap up on Wednesday as the final six players gun for the quarter-million dollar first prize. The action can be followed via WPT.com’s live stream.

2013 World Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts

1.    Chanracy Khun – 2,393,000
2.    Benjamin Pollak – 1,899,000
3.    Tahiri Hassani – 1,636,000
4.    Bruno Garcia Cortelo – 722,000
5.    Sergio Fernandez – 548,000
6.    Antonio Alfaia – 273,000

2013 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Final Table Set

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It was final table or bust Monday at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Showdown as the last 21 players in the field looked to make Tuesday’s six-handed final table. It took about nine and a half hours to find 15 eliminations, but the final table was finally set with Louisiana’s Kevin Eyster holding the chip lead with 5.68 million chips.

Eyster has never won a major live tournament, but he has had some nice cashes on the live tournament circuit. Just last month, he finished second in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Black Hawk Main Event for $85,852, the biggest cash of his career. He had a couple that came close to that back in 2010: $79,876 for a 16th place finish in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final and $72,576 for an eighth place finish in the WSOP Europe High Roller Heads-Up event. All told, Eyster has won just over half a million dollars in live tournaments.

With 542 entrants paying $5,000 to play, the total prize pool for the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown is $2,547,400. First place will pay out $660,395 and payouts went down to the top 54 players. Everyone playing today will make at least $100,000.

Eyster began Monday as the chip leader with about 1.9 million chips, but had a rocky beginning to the day, doubling up a couple players and falling back a bit. About a third of the way through, though, he regained his mojo, knocking out Nancy Birnbaum in 15th place to raise his stack to 3.45 million. It was a tough beat for Birnbaum, who held pocket Queens and flopped a set, only to see Eyster river a straight with 8-5 suited.

His stack stayed stagnant for hours after that before shrinking a bit, but finally, when the field was down to ten players, he began his climb once again. The highlight hand came less than an hour before the end of the night. Eyster raised pre-flop to 65,000, Faraz Jaka re-raised to 350,000, and Eyster shoved all-in. Jaka made a quick call with pocket Kings only to see Eyster turn over pocket Aces. The hand went just like one would expect and Jaka was knocked out of the tournament in ninth place. Eyster vaulted way ahead of the pack with that pot, which took him up to over 5 million chips.

The final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown will begin at 4:00pm and will continue until a new champion is crowned.

2013 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown – Final Table Chip Counts

1.    Kevin Eyster  -  5,680,000
2.    Paul Dlugozima  -  4,470,000
3.    Ben Tarzia  -  2,380,000
4.    Daniel Letts  -  1,665,000
5.    Jeff Madsen  -  1,385,000
6.    Zo Karim  -  685,000

Kevin “1SickDisease” Eyster Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown

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Kevin Eyster led the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown after Day 3. He led after Day 4. And aside from a few minutes, he led Day 5 all the way through, winning his first World Poker Tour title and $660,395.

Eyster, going by the screen name “1SickDisease” (and variants) is a highly respected online poker player, with over $3.2 million lifetime tournament earnings. He currently ranks 225th on the PocketFives.com World Wide Rankings and was as high as 4th back in March 2010. According to PocketFives, he has over 2,700 online tournament cashes, averaging more than $1,200 each.

This was Eyster’s first major live tournament victory, though he did come close in the past. In March, he finished second in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Black Hawk Main Event for $85,852, the biggest cash of his career.  In 2010 he had a couple deep runs over in Europe: a 16th place finish in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final ($79,876) and an eighth place finish in the WSOP Europe High Roller Heads-Up event ($72,576). This WPT victory has taken his career winnings on the live tournament circuit up over $1.1 million.

It was a dominating final day for Eyster. He went into the six-handed final table with 5.68 million chips, 1.2 million more than his next closest competitor. He was never in any semblance of danger at any point during Day 5 and maintained his chip lead the entire way, save for three hands. And those hands weren’t even consecutive, meaning he immediately regained his chip lead after losing it.

Eyster took definitive command of the tournament during three-handed play. He already had a nice chip lead, holding 7.26 million chips versus about 4.5 million for each of his two opponents, but at that point, things can still go very wrong with one bad hand. But on hand 107 of the final table, Eyster put a stranglehold on the event. He min-raised to 160,000 pre-flop, Ben Tarzia called, and Eyster’s friend Zo Karim re-raised to 460,000. Both players called. Everybody checked the Q♠-T♣-7 flop. When the 9 was dealt on the turn, Tarzia checked, Karim bet 385,000, Eyster called, and Tarzia ended up folding. Karim checked the 6♣ on the river, prompting Eyster to bet 500,000. Karim thought a while and decided to call. Eyster revealed K♠-Q for top pair and Karim folded. That took Eyster up to 9 million chips, while the other two men had just over 7 million combined.

Eyster grew the lead from there, falling back a bit late in three-handed play before going into heads-up against Tarzia with a 12.775 million to 3.49 million chip lead. From there, it was academic. After just a short time, Tarzia moved all-in with 7♠-7 and Eyster made the call with A♣-T♣. An Ace was dealt on the flop, giving Eyster the better pair and his first WPT victory.

World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown – Final Table Results
1.    Kevin Eyster  -  $660,395
2.    Ben Tarzia  -  $389,750
3.    Zo Karim  -  $252,190
4.    Paul Dlugozima  -  $171,950
5.    Daniel Letts  -  $122,275
6.    Jeff Madsen  -  $100,000

WPT bestbet Jacksonville Open Day 1A: Raj Vohra Holds Lead, POY Hopeful Salsberg In Fourth

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Kicking off their next to last event prior to the WPT Championship next month, the World Poker Tour has settled into Jacksonville, FL, for the bestbet Jacksonville Open, what has become a popular stop on the circuit schedule not only for the players but also for the WPT staff also.

The $3500 buy in tournament has, in the past, drawn excellent fields for their tournaments with the lower buy in and re-entry rules. That hasn’t changed for this year’s version of the tournament. Players who busted out within the first five rounds of the day had a one-time option to rebuy and continue playing on the day. For those that decided not to exercise that option, there is also the opportunity to come back on Day 1B (today) to try their luck again with the same five level rule in place. If a player was to take all the opportunities to enter the tournament, a player would spend $14,000 from their precious bankroll (although there aren’t many takers on this option!).

Just after noon on Friday, the field for Day 1A slowly gathered and got about the business of playing poker. With ten 60 minute levels on tap, it was expected that the field would slowly materialize as the late entry/rebuy period moved closer. Still, as the first level for the day came and went, 98 players were on the felt with some looking to make significant moves.

One of those players was Matt Salsberg, the current leader of the WPT Player of the Year race. Holding that slim 100 point lead over Paul Volpe, the task looked as if it would be a difficult one for Salsberg. The defending champion of the WPT Grand Prix de Paris found himself on the felt with two former POY victors, defending WPT POY Joe Serock and Andy Frankenberger, but he didn’t seem to let that affect his game as he rumbled through the day.

The defending champion of this event, Shawn Cunix, decided to wait a bit before entering the fray and perhaps he should have waited a bit longer. He would use up his first buy in after clashing with Brian Hastings on a 5 4 2 flop in which the chips went to the center. Cunix showed a nice pair of pocket nines, but Hastings held a 7 6 that would get there when the river turned up 4 for the straight flush. Unfortunately for Cunix, a second bullet wouldn’t work any better as he would be eliminated again.

By the time the five levels had passed, 146 entries had been registered on the tournament clock. This meant that eliminated players could not re-enter on the same day, but were welcome to come back today for action. At this point, the prize pool is over $500,000 and, if the usual flood of players (and reentries) holds on Saturday, it is entirely possible that the prize pool for the tournament will eclipse the $1.5 million mark.

Some of those players who might be back on Saturday include Will “The Thrill” Failla, Carter Phillips, Lily Kiletto (who was runner up at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in February in Hollywood, FL), Shannon Shorr, David Tuthill, Chris Klodnicki and Jason Mercier. There were some players, however, who were able to build nice stacks they will take to play on Sunday.

One of those players was Raj Vohra, who was responsible for the knockout of Mercier. Pre-flop, Mercier was all in with his pocket fours against Vohra’s A♠ Q♠ and the flop took away much of the drama. Coming down A-J-6, Vohra took the lead in the race, which would hold up on the deuce turn and second six on the river. By eliminating Mercier, Vohra moved up to 137,000 in chips and would add a few more in eliminating both John Dibella and Harrison Gimbel on one of the last hands of the night to hold the Day 1A lead over the 44 remaining players.

1. Raj Vohra, 224,800
2. Talesh Patel, 213,200
3. Matt O’Donnell, 180,500
4. Matt Salsberg, 172,700
5. Tommy Vedes, 171,700
6. Hank Sitton, 168,500
7. Mark Rose, 152,300
8. Matt Giannetti, 151,300
9. Brian Hastings, 150,000
10. Blake Barousse, 141,200

Salsberg’s efforts have put him in good shape to add a few more points to his POY aspirations. With only this tournament, the WPT Montreal (next week) and the WPT Championship left on the Season XI schedule for the WPT, a solid finish in this event may sew up the POY championship for Salsberg, although last year’s POY race wasn’t determined until the final event.

Expect bestbet Jacksonville to be flooded today for Day 1B action! There are plenty of players who used up their two shots on Friday who will be back for Saturday’s final Day One and, with a large payday looming for someone come next Tuesday, it should be a hectic day of poker action on the felt in Florida.

2013 WPT bestbet Open Day 1B: Chad Deberry Leads Second Starting Flight, Raj Vohra Maintains Overall Lead

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The second starting flight of the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Open Main Event concluded Saturday (Sunday morning, to be exact) and, as expected the field was bigger than that of Day 1A. 205 entrants paid the $3,500 to participate, bringing the total field to 351. Prevailing over the 85 survivors from Day 1B was Chad Deberry with 209,400, the only player who finished Saturday’s play with over 200,000 chips.

Those 351 players created a total prize pool of $1,123,2014, of which $321,521 will go to the winner. Payouts will start at 36th place; the minimum payout will be $7,138.

Deberry is in great shape to make the largest cash of his live tournament career. He has just two listed on his resume (thanks go out to TheHendonMob.com), the largest of which is $3,111. A cash in this tournament will be more than his total lifetime earnings.

Despite finishing Day 1B as the chip leader, he still trails the overall leader, Raj Vohra, by about 15,000 chips. Talesh Patel sits in between the two with 213,300 chips. Vohra has significantly more experience than Deberry, having earned over $670,000 in his live tournament career. His largest cash came in 2008 when he finished fifth in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker, a score of almost $200,000.

This is just the second-ever running of the WPT bestbet Open. It debuted last season at almost exactly the same time of year, though the name was slightly different: the WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open. It is the same tournament, though, hosted by the bestbet Jacksonville casino. 320 players entered the Main Event last year for a $1.5 million prize pool. Shawn Cunix emerged victorious, winning $400,600. Also making the final table was one of the hosts of the World Poker Tour telecast, Tony “bond18” Dunst and a guy who seems to always make deep runs in major events, Will “The Thrill” Failla.

Day 2 of the WPT bestbet Open Main Event starts at noon ET on Sunday as the players make their way closer to the money.

2013 World Poker Tour bestbet Open – Day 1B Chip Leaders

1.    Chad Deberry – 209,400
2.    Aaron Lucas – 170,700
3.    Michael Linster – 158,500
4.    Brian Hawkins – 149,000
5.    Bolivar Palacios – 148,900
6.    Ebony Kenney – 146,700
7.    Chris Klodnicki – 138,700
8.    Anthony Spinella – 137,700
9.    Joey Couden – 133,800
10.    Farid Jattin – 133,200

2013 World Poker Tour bestbet Open – Overall Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders

1.    Raj Vohra  -  224,800
2.    Talesh Patel  -  213,000
3.    Chad Deberry  -  209,400
4.    Matt O’Donnell  -  180,500
5.    Matt Salsberg  -  172,700
6.    Tommy Vedes  -  171,000
7.    Aaron Lucas  -  170,700
8.    Hank Sitton  -  168,500
9.    Michael Linster  -  158,500
10.    Mark Rose  -  152,300

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