Young Gun Joe Cada stops by the Deal bringing his own brand of Michigan madness to Bristol.
Celebrities are gambling for a cause!
This is the week when celebrities descend upon the World Series of Poker, with the Ante Up for Africa Celebrity-Charity Tournament.
The WSOP Main Event has has participants from the world of music, sports and movies and are expecting the same this year. world of music, movies, . The participation of such high-profile non-professionals playing alongside the game’s greats often brings added attention to poker.
Considering the circumstances, sometimes these celebs perform exceptionally well. Here are ten especially notable instances of celebrities making good.
1. Gabe Kaplan, 1st place ($190,000), 1980 Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker
2. Guy Laliberte, 4th place ($696,220), 2007 World Poker Tour Championship, Five Star World Poker Classic
3. Gabe Kaplan, 3rd place ($256,519), 2004 World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown
4. Jennifer Tilly, 1st place ($158,335), 2005 WSOP Ladies’ Event, No-Limit Hold’em
5. Ben Affleck, 1st place ($356,400), 2004 California State Poker Championship
6. Shannon Elizabeth, semifinalist ($125,000), 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
7. Gabe Kaplan, 6th place (no cash prize), 1980 World Series of Poker Main Event
8. Telly Savalas, 21st place ($8,080), 1992 World Series of Poker Main Event
9. Sam Simon, 329th place ($39,445), Tobey Maguire, 292nd place ($39,445) and Sully Erna, 237th place ($45,422), 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event (three-way tie)
10. Orel Hershiser, Quarterfinals ($75,000), 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Read more from PokerNews.com
From PokerNewsDaily.com:
With only scant days remaining until the start of the $10,000 Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the race for the remaining bracelets is heating up in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, Event #50 on the WSOP schedule, played out deep into the evening on Sunday. A total of 571 players started the event on Friday, with the final eight survivors having won their way to the final table by winning two sit and gos over the previous two days. As with the shootout format, the players all started with the same number of chips (450,000 at the final table) and there were plenty of strong players in the mix.
Bodog’s David Williams, who famously finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event and has since captured his own WSOP bracelet, was joined by two other bracelet winners from this year’s play. Marc Naalden, who won only the second bracelet in WSOP for his home country of the Netherlands, and Full Tilt Poker’s Greg “FBT” Mueller, the former Canadian hockey player who picked up his first bracelet this year, led a contingent of players from around the world. Millie Shue, who was the runner-up in the Ladies’ event in 2004, the Netherlands’ Joep Van Den Bijgaart, Argentina’s Jose Barbero, Italy’s Flaminio Malaguti, and the United States’ Matt Sterling rounded out what was truly an international table.
The three bracelet winners got off to fast starts and, within two hours, had separated themselves from the pack. Mueller pulled into the chip lead when he drew the first blood at the table with the elimination of Barbero in eighth place. Prior to the table taking the dinner break, the two Scandinavians battled it out, as Naalden took out Van Den Bijgaart in seventh place.
After the dinner hiatus, Williams tried to mount an attack on Mueller’s chip lead. He vanquished Malaguti in sixth when he turned a five to match his A-5 against the Italian’s Big Slick, but couldn’t seem to find any traction after that point. He slowly slid down the leaderboard and was eventually eliminated by Shue in fourth place. Even with the knockout, Shue, who played conservatively through the final table, was eventually ousted in third place.
Heads-up play began between Mueller (who had dismissed Sterling from the tournament in fifth place) and Naalden, with the Canadian holding a 4:1 lead over the Scandinavian. With the two men reaching heads-up, it also guaranteed the fourth double bracelet winner of this year’s WSOP, setting a new record for most multiple bracelet winners.
Naalden attacked Mueller from the start of heads-up action and, through skillful play, was able to pull to even within 30 minutes of play. Over the next hour and a half, Mueller and Naalden, who both won their bracelets in Limit events this year, would swap the lead approximately a half dozen times before Mueller was able to go on a run. That run enabled Mueller, once his five kicker played over Naalden’s deuce after both paired a King on the final hand, to capture his second WSOP bracelet and the $194,854 top prize.
Most of the attention of the crowd at the Rio was focused on play in the Players’ Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. A total of 53 players came back to attempt to work down to the cashout level (the final 16 players), but were unable to do that as 19 remained by the time play ended for the day.
Vitaly Lunkin, who captured the title in the $40,000 Anniversary Event, leads the field with 1.5 million in chips. He is joined by internet legend Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom, 2007 H.O.R.S.E. champion Freddy Deeb, and David Bach as players who have all eclipsed the million chip mark. Lurking just under that level is Ville Wahlbeck, who captured his first bracelet earlier this month in the World Championship Mixed event. They are joined by such professionals as eight-time WSOP champion Erik Seidel, former World Champion and current National Heads-Up Champion Huck Seed, 2009 Pot Limit Hold’em World Champion John Kabbaj, and Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen, who has no WSOP jewelry in his career. The 19 remaining players returning for Day 4 will play through to a final table tonight and a champion determined tomorrow.
A championship will be determined tonight in Event #51, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Thirty-five players remain from the 2,781 who started the tournament, with newcomer Durand Thibaud holding the chip lead. He is joined by Owen Crowe as the only players over the million chip mark, with Josh Schlein on the verge of cracking that mark.
Two tournaments enter into Day 2 action today, the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #52) and the $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low tournament (Event #53). Jeffrey Lisandro, who has already captured three WSOP bracelets this year, is looking for an unprecedented fourth in the Triple Chance event, although there are still 149 players left. Currently Lisandro holds a healthy stack of 113,800 and is in pursuit of Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who has 127, 900. In the Seven Card tournament, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke are a few of the top names that have survived to play Day 2, with Allie Prescott holding the lead over the 143 runners remaining.
Two events will kick off action with their Day 1s that begin at Noon today. Event #54, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, should draw a sizeable crowd and Event #55, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball tournament, should be stocked with top professionals. Poker News Daily will be on top of this and all of the rest of the action at the Rio as the poker world prepares for the start of the Main Event later this week.
from The Canadian Press:
Recent biochemistry graduate Poorya Nazari isn’t too worried about landing a job in today’s tough market. Why? The Toronto-area man knows how to play poker.
The 22-year-old, who still lives at home with his parents, recently returned home from a poker tournament in the Bahamas US$3 million richer. He spent about $700 to gain entry into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and his investment paid off big time.
“It was pretty surreal, I just couldn’t believe it was happening,” said Nazari, who graduated from McMaster University last week but has long considered playing poker to be his future full-time job.
“I dreamt about doing something like that for a really long time, so it was absolutely amazing.”
Nazari, who had previously won about $80,000 in another big poker payday, said he doesn’t consider his success at the game similar to winning a lottery since poker requires a lot of skill and practice.
Winning the Bahamas tournament was the culmination of days of tough play and not just a few quick hands of poker, he said.
“We played pretty gruelling hours, about 12 hours a day (for) about four or five days,” he said. “It was just absolutely tough.”
Nazari said it wasn’t until the last day of the tournament that he began thinking he could win the multimillion-dollar prize.
While Nazari is still living with his parents at their home in Richmond Hill, Ont., north of Toronto, he plans on getting his own place soon.
Other than that, he said he doesn’t know what he’ll do with his new-found riches.
“Right now I’m just trying to take it all in,” he said. “I really don’t know what I’m going to do and what my plans are for all the money.
“I never thought what I would do if I came across this much money, so I’m going to have to take some time and think things through.”
Nazari will have a chance to earn more cash at a tournament he’s been invited to in Monte Carlo in April.
This is brutal… From the TaxProf blog:
The big winner at this year’s World Series of Poker: the tax man. Russ Fox computes the tax liability of the final nine players on their $32.7 million of winnings as $14.3 million — a 43.7% tax rate:
1. Peter Eastgate (Denmark) won $9,152,416 — $6,660,545 Denmark tax (72.8% rate)
2. Ivan Demidov (Russia) won $5,809,595 — $755,247 Russian tax (13.0% rate)
3. Dennis Phillips (IL) won $4,517,773 — $1,568,950 federal tax, $135,533 state tax (37.7% rate)
4. Ylon Schwartz (NY) won $3,774,974 — $1,396,304 federal tax, $387,966 state tax (47.3% rate)
5. Scott Montgomery (Canada) won $3,096,768 — $929,030 withholding tax (30.0% rate)
6. Darus Suharto (Toronto) won $2,418,562 — $725,569 withholding tax (30.0% rate)
7. David Rheem (CA) won $1,772,650 — $651,262 federal tax, $170,302 state tax (46.3% rate)
8. Kelly Kim (CA) won $1,288,217 — $470,995 federal tax, $121,074 state tax (46.0% rate)
9. Craig Marquis (TX) won $900,670 — $328,911 federal tax (36.5% rate)
Ylon Schwartz is one of the November Nine, the most hyped final table in poker history. He’s about to play on poker’s biggest stage for the championship of the world and more money than even he could burn off in a few years. The eyes of the world will be upon him and the other eight remaining players in the main event, looking on as poker’s next world champion is determined. However, one senses that he’s not interested in the accompaniment of fame.
From CasinoGamblingWeb.com:
John Juanda had to stare down Daniel Negreanu for much of the final table at the World series of Poker Europe Main Event. That is not an enviable task for any poker player.
What was not well known before this final table is that Juanda has as nice a resume on the poker tables as Negreanu. After the tournament was over, Juanda had even more bragging rights when he emerged as the champion.
Juanda endured the longest final table in World Series of Poker history on his way to the championship. He was the chip leader much of the way, and played nearly flawless poker. he now adds another bracelet to his others.
“A relieved Juanda had this to say after his win. “This is the longest final table that I have ever played. It’s so long ago when I won my last bracelet.” It might have been long ago, but there is no doubt that he is a true champion and one of the greatest players of his generation.
As for Negreanu, he was making waves at the Main Event throughout. He held the chip lead at several different points in the tournament, but was unable to put together a chapionship run in the end.
The focus of the poker world will now shift back to the United States. At the beginning of November, the World Series of Poker Main Event will resume with its final table.
Via Sports-Odds.com:
The 2008 World Series of Poker schedule has been set and posted so that poker enthusiasts can either prepare for the journey to play for a high cash prize in Las Vegas or know when events are being held if they wish to observe the series, either on television or in person. While there are some similarities between the poker series schedule of 2007 and that for 2008, there are a number of improvements that have been made to the 2008 schedule for the series. Online Poker can be wagered on atMost importantly, players can enjoy a more extended allotment of time when it comes to certain events. Last year, a number of professionals boycotted the series because of the problems they felt were occurring when it came to the treatment and conditions of the series. This year, players can enjoy a little more freedom and relaxation in that some one day events have been extended to two days.
Taking place from May 30, 2008 until July 16, 2008, players can enjoy a number of different games and buy ins, courtesy of the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule. 2008 World Series of Poker schedule. For the two days preceding the May 30th opening event, individuals will be able to take part in the World Series of Poker freeroll in order to try to gain last minute entry into the Main Event of the series. At noon on May 30th, individuals start out with a $10,000 pot limit of Texas Hold’em. The next $10,000 event in the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule is on June 4th and is for the World Championship Mixed Event. While there are a number of mixed events in between, including the No Limit Hold’em and Hi/Lo events, the biggest highlight of the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule is on Thursday July 3rd as individuals battle out the Main Event throughout the end of the event, scheduled to hold the Final Table on July 16th. Ultimatebet.com.
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