Buckle up. This is the In and Out List.

Poker’s In List: January 30 – February 5, 2012

Chopping the 75 Billionth Hand on PokerStars: IN

Earlier today PokerStars hit its latest milestone, hand 75 billion. And to celebrate they gave away $140,000.

And it gets better. The milestone pot was chopped, meaning two players had their prizes doubled!

edroqui07 and acer2831 both made the same seven-high straight and took $42,810 and $34,600, respectively.

Here are the payouts for the 75 billionth hand and their chat box reactions, courtesy of PokerStars Blog.

edroqui07: $42,810... "yeeeaaaaaaaaaa" acer2831: $34,600 i-268: $19,450... "awesome, ty" ant_poker: $19,010... "ooooh" Sebastfrz: $16,970 pavl007: $16,970... "enough for a sandwich" (but presumably a very big one)

We really like the sound of a $16,000 sandwich.

tcash777 for Live Updating his $2/$5 Game Against Jamie Gold: IN

Two Plus Two forum poster tcash777 sat down in a $2/$5 game at the Trop in Las Vegas and found the poker room’s namesake Jamie Gold sitting to his left.

"No one's live updated me since the 2006 Main Event"

 

He’s In this week because instead of sitting starstruck, or the much worse ask-for-a-picture, he started a thread about it.

Drawing on the vast number of bored slackers knowledge and experience available in NVG he asked for help. The feedback wasn’t exactly helpful, and his cell phone ran out of batteries before he could get much of a dialogue going, we're still commending him for taking the initiative.

Check out the thread right here.

Bryan Devonshire for Winning a Second WSOPC Ring: IN

The man known in the poker world as Devo has won a second WSOP Circuit ring, and a spot on this week’s In List.

Bryan Devonshire defeated the venerable Paul “Eskimo” Clark heads-up and pocketed $55,291. In total 228 players bought into that $1k event at Caesars Las Vegas.

Devonshire narrowly missed the 2011 November Nine, finishing 12th in the Main Event for over $600,000. He’s now got close to $2 million in lifetime earnings.

Get the full story from the amazing Nolan Dalla right here.

Poker’s Out List: January 30 – February 5, 2012

Subject: Poker for Closing its Virtual Doors: OUT

Subject: Poker, the website that has become synonymous with secret-source Full Tilt Poker news, has packed up shop and will no longer be publishing new articles.

Site founder NoahSD announced that he was getting into the online poker security consulting game, and would therefore be unable to present the kind of independent news for which the site was revered.

Feature writer Diamond_Flush has started a new blog, however, and will continue to follow the Black Friday debacle as it develops.

Daniel Negreanu for Bubbling the $250k Down Under: OUT

Some might call it cruel but we’re putting Daniel Negreanu Out this week for nailing one of the biggest bubbles in poker, the $250k Super High Roller at the Aussie Millions.

Maria Ho is one of 11 players bumped off the GPI this week.

 

Negreanu posted yesterday about what it’s like to go out in fourth and lose $250,000, instead of finishing third and winning $800k.

To make matters worse Negreanu spent the next evening with Patrik Antonius, the one who busted him out of the Super High Roller with jacks against A-8. Antonius, his wife Maya, plus Jason Mercier and his fiancée all went to the Aussie Open finals for that epic Nadal/Djokovic finale.

Click through here for Negreanu’s latest blog post.

11 Players from the Global Poker Index: OUT

Earlier this week 11 players were knocked off the weekly Global Poker Index ranking. The GPI ranks the top 300 live tournament players in the world.

Among those bumped off the list was Maria Ho, who has been in the top 300 since the 2011 WSOP, and Cornel Cimpan, who earned over $3 million in 2009 but hasn’t done a whole lot lately.

Still in the number one spot is Erik Seidel whose 2011 was among the greatest in poker history. Seidel has been number one 14 of the 32 weeks the GPI has been in existence. That’s more than any other player.

Click here for the full ranking.

Today in the 3-Bet we find ElkY heading for the heat in Brazil, UK superstar Robbie Williams taking heat and Phil Hellmuth showing exactly how popular he is.

1) Brazil Recognizes Poker as a Sport, ElkY Shopping for Sunscreen

Two big pieces of poker news to report from Brazil this week.

ELKYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

 

One, the Brazilian Sports Ministry has officially recognized poker as a sport and named the Confederação Brasileira de Texas Hold'em (CBTH) as the official governing body.

According to a statement on the Brazilian Sports Ministry’s website:

“Poker is a competitive discipline, which requires the participant to have intelligence, ability, and intellectual and behavioural skills in order to succeed.

“The CBTH represents the most extended definition of poker, Texas Hold’em and all the other variants of this game including but not exclusively Omaha, Omaha High / Low, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud High / Low, Razz and Mixed Games.”

Two, big-name players are making plans for the upcoming LAPT Grand Final in Brazil.

Among the big names committed to play so far: Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov, Humberto Brenes, Jose Barbero and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Brazilian PokerStars pro Andre Akkari, for one, is very excited about hosting ElkY at Carnival:

“ELKYYYYYY IS INDA HOUSEEEE!!!! O Monstro Elky está vindo para o Carnaval no Brasil! Mais um dos gênios do poker na nossa terra!”

More on the LAPT Grand Final and how to qualify at PokerStars.

2) Robbie Williams Taking Heat Over New "Free" Poker Site

Take this, poker haters.

 

Former Take That member and multi-platinum singing icon Robbie Williams is taking heat in the UK as he launched a beta version of a new “sort-of-real-money” poker site.

Players who sign up can win Robbie-related merchandise, tickets for future gigs and the chance to meet their idol.

It’s mostly free to play, but you can also buy extra chips and some tournaments have real buy-ins.

As the site says, "Many tournaments require a buy-in to participate...because if you aren't risking anything then why are you playing!?"

Given Williams' past troubles with addiction, several fans and activist groups are already calling him out for his "lack of sensitivity," going so far as to say it's "deplorable" and "awful."

None, however, have taken issue with the real human suffering caused by his music career. Hiyo.

More from the Sun here.

3) Bo Don't Know Hellmuth

Everybody knows Phil Hellmuth is an egregious name dropper, both in life and on Twitter.

In the past week alone Hellmuth has dropped almost 20 celebrity "friends" into his tweets in his unrelenting quest to share his baller lifestyle.

Poker pro Gavin Smith finally responded by tweeting the question on everyone's mind about the name-dropping:

Does anyone else think @phil_hellmuth drops way to many fucking names, think any (of those) guys tweeter about meeting phil?

The answer:

Amy Tan does. Everybody else, not so much.

Names dropped by Hellmuth in the last week and their tweet reciprocation:

#celebrityrehash

 

Follow Phil and his celebrity friends here.

The interview with Poker Player UK, written by Alun Bowden and entitled “What’s Wrong With You?” for its January issue, covered a wide range of subjects including the current state of the poker world, improving his online game and the ongoing Full Tilt Poker debacle. True to his nature, Negreanu didn’t pull any punches as, in the first few paragraphs, Bowden states that Negreanu believes that the game of poker is in “big trouble.”

In discussing the current state of the game, Negreanu is quoted as saying, “I think we’re heading in the wrong direction. The WSOP was much more serious and boring this year. It was much more fun with guys in chicken suits being jerks.”

“When poker became popular you had people like Devilfish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey,” Negreanu continues. “Today the story is: ‘I dropped out of college and I grinded 20 tables to build my bankroll.’ The story isn’t sexy…they don’t want to hear, ‘Well, he’s raising UTG+1 and polarizing his range with a 31BB effective stack.’”

Daniel allegedly addresses how to fix the current state of the game during the interview, stating, “Televised poker needs to address it. If you want to create the best show you need to create poker personalities. Audiences like Phil Laak and Antonio (Esfandiari)? Then okay you invite them. Daniel Cates? Okay you’re a great player, but nobody gives a s**t. You may be a better player, but who cares?”

Poker Player UK also touches on the subject of Full Tilt Poker, where Negreanu unleashed a few more barbs. Bowden asks the Team PokerStars Pro member his impressions of the ongoing saga and Negreanu doesn’t hold back, stating, “They were running the company like buffoons.” When asked if he had been in touch with any of the former Full Tilt pros, including his good friend Phil Ivey, Negreanu allegedly responds, “I’ve spoken to all of them. They are embarrassed and have disdain for their leaders. They trusted Howard (Lederer)…I didn’t. I don’t trust that family. It’s a family of scoundrels.”

When pressed by Bowdon as to his impressions of Lederer, Negreanu is quoted as saying, “I don’t think he’s evil, but he’s arrogant. He talks to people like they are stupid. I don’t think he set out to defraud people, it’s just negligence, arrogance and incompetence.”

Finally, Negreanu discusses the improvements in his online game, giving credit to his improvement through his usage of poker software and strategy discussions with other players. Perhaps most interesting during this discussion, however, was when Bowden asked Negreanu about his deal with PokerStars.

“If I hadn’t signed with PokerStars I would be a much better player today,” Negreanu reportedly said. “I would be infinitely better. It sounds really bad, and I really enjoy working for PokerStars, but look at the paths me and Ivey took. We were on a similar level and he just played poker non-stop and I started doing a lot more media work. It’s no coincidence that he became the best player in the world and I fell off the map a little. I still think I am one of the best, but I need to work a lot harder on my game.”

Naturally, Negreanu’s alleged statements during the interview were like chum in the water for sharks when it comes to the message boards. Negreanu seemed to have started it himself when he Tweeted on Wednesday, “Just read my article in Poker Player mag and it set a new record for the number of misquotes. Pretty impressive! They twisted everything.”

On the Two Plus Two message boards, the discussion escalated between not only the posters on the site but also Negreanu and Bowden. “Let’s nip this one in the bud,” poster ‘InsidePoker’ (apparently Bowden) wrote yesterday. “There is nothing in that article that is misquoted. It’s all on an audio file if he has any specific points he would like to address.” In the thread, Bowden also apparently releases the audio file after several requests by posters.

Negreanu and Bowden discuss their issues through the 2+2 thread and reach a form of détente, with Negreanu contributing an article to the online arm of PPUK where he clarifies the interview, while the discussion continues to rage on the message board.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu bristling at an interview misinterpretation, Norman Chad pissing off an LA superior court judge and French rap pioneer Kool Shen crushing the EFOP.

1) Negreanu Bristles at "Twisted" Interview

In January, Poker Player UK magazine ran an exclusive interview with Daniel Negreanu.

Didn't say that at all.

 

Titled “What’s Wrong With You,” Negreanu was characterized as suggesting he “conquered” online poker, thought poker was in “big trouble” and that there's “something wrong” with young kids in poker.

Only problem, Negreanu says, is he didn't say any of those things.

Tweeting “Just read my article in Poker Player mag and it set a new record for the number of misquotes. Pretty impressive! They twisted everything,” a back-and-forth with the writer quickly ensued on the 2+2 forums.

The result was a quick reconciliation and a rebuttal from Negreanu posted on pokerplayer.co.uk that clarifies what he really said.

An excerpt:

“I don't think poker is in “big trouble” as was implied in the article, and I certainly don't think there is something inherently wrong with the younger generation of player.

“As I was correctly quoted in the article stating that players like DevilFish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey became fan favourites not only because of their skill set, but because of their interesting, and unique backgrounds and storyline.

“My fear is that the current story line for many of the younger generation lacks sexiness.”

Read the rest here.

2) Chad Scolded for Tweet Frenzy During Burglary Trial

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge seems to have less patience for the off-color comedy stylings of Norman Chad than ESPN's WSOP viewers.

Can't stop won't stop.

 

Chad was given a good scolding and a contempt of court warning by judge Laura Foland Priver yesterday for tweeting while serving on the jury for a burglary trial.

"He made a mockery of our system," Priver said to Chad's attorney, according to the LA Times

"I'm disturbed by this behavior. Once the information is out there, it's out there forever. The public who sees these tweets is going to think this behavior is OK."

Among the poker-themed tweets Chad desparately needed to get out to his 18,000 followers:

"I love my jury seat: Front row, on the far aisle. Great view, with all the aggressive jurors to my left."

"And, in an extremely unfortunate coincidence for the defendant, he bears a striking resemblance to Phil Hellmuth."

"I'm sitting right behind the court reporter - I get instant replay on all testimony INSTANTANEOUSLY! It's better than seeing the hole cards.

"Memo to WSOP: Jury seats in LA courthouse are far more comfortable than chairs in Rio Amazon Room. I'm going to bring you one to show you."

Not one to miss a set-up, Chad's ESPN co-host Lon McEachern tweeted, duty-free:

If any of you 18,000 @NormanChad followers feel let down by his recent courtroom actions I will gladly take you in.

If things go REAL bad for @NormanChad with the Los Angeles DA we can always do the WSOP shows during visiting hours.

3) Kool Shen Krushes European Finals Championship

We've written about the poker prowess of French rap pioneer Bruno 'Kool Shen" Lopes before, and he proved it yet again in the recent EFOP in Paris.

Lopes took down the €5k European Finals of Poker Diamond Championship last weekend, beating out 108 runners for a €100,000 ($127,514) first-place prize.

It wasn't just a field of amateur patsies either as David Benyamine, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Ludovic Lacay, and Basil “Basou” Yaiche all bought in.

Lopes boosted his career earnings to over $300,000 with the win, although he says his main field of concern is still hip-hop.

Rightly so, as you can see in the video below (h/t to Booksa-P.com):

Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu bristling at an interview misinterpretation, Norman Chad pissing off an LA superior court judge and French rap pioneer Kool Shen crushing the EFOP.

1) Negreanu Bristles at "Twisted" Interview

In January, Poker Player UK magazine ran an exclusive interview with Daniel Negreanu.

Didn't say that at all.

 

Titled “What’s Wrong With You,” Negreanu was characterized as suggesting he “conquered” online poker, thought poker was in “big trouble” and that there's “something wrong” with young kids in poker.

Only problem, Negreanu says, is he didn't say any of those things.

Tweeting “Just read my article in Poker Player mag and it set a new record for the number of misquotes. Pretty impressive! They twisted everything,” a back-and-forth with the writer quickly ensued on the 2+2 forums.

The result was a quick reconciliation and a rebuttal from Negreanu posted on pokerplayer.co.uk that clarifies what he really said.

An excerpt:

“I don't think poker is in “big trouble” as was implied in the article, and I certainly don't think there is something inherently wrong with the younger generation of player.

“As I was correctly quoted in the article stating that players like DevilFish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey became fan favourites not only because of their skill set, but because of their interesting, and unique backgrounds and storyline.

“My fear is that the current story line for many of the younger generation lacks sexiness.”

Read the rest here.

2) Chad Scolded for Tweet Frenzy During Burglary Trial

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge seems to have less patience for the off-color comedy stylings of Norman Chad than ESPN's WSOP viewers.

Can't stop won't stop.

 

Chad was given a good scolding and a contempt of court warning by judge Laura Foland Priver yesterday for tweeting while serving on the jury for a burglary trial.

"He made a mockery of our system," Priver said to Chad's attorney, according to the LA Times

"I'm disturbed by this behavior. Once the information is out there, it's out there forever. The public who sees these tweets is going to think this behavior is OK."

Among the poker-themed tweets Chad desparately needed to get out to his 18,000 followers:

"I love my jury seat: Front row, on the far aisle. Great view, with all the aggressive jurors to my left."

"And, in an extremely unfortunate coincidence for the defendant, he bears a striking resemblance to Phil Hellmuth."

"I'm sitting right behind the court reporter - I get instant replay on all testimony INSTANTANEOUSLY! It's better than seeing the hole cards.

"Memo to WSOP: Jury seats in LA courthouse are far more comfortable than chairs in Rio Amazon Room. I'm going to bring you one to show you."

Not one to miss a set-up, Chad's ESPN co-host Lon McEachern tweeted, duty-free:

If any of you 18,000 @NormanChad followers feel let down by his recent courtroom actions I will gladly take you in.

If things go REAL bad for @NormanChad with the Los Angeles DA we can always do the WSOP shows during visiting hours.

3) Kool Shen Krushes European Finals Championship

We've written about the poker prowess of French rap pioneer Bruno 'Kool Shen" Lopes before, and he proved it yet again in the recent EFOP in Paris.

Lopes took down the €5k European Finals of Poker Diamond Championship last weekend, beating out 108 runners for a €100,000 ($127,514) first-place prize.

It wasn't just a field of amateur patsies either as David Benyamine, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Ludovic Lacay, and Basil “Basou” Yaiche all bought in.

Lopes boosted his career earnings to over $300,000 with the win, although he says his main field of concern is still hip-hop.

Rightly so, as you can see in the video below (h/t to Booksa-P.com):

Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu breaking the golden online poker security rule, Jonathan Duhamel getting a partial refund and Padraig Parkinson cracking wise as usual.

1) Negreanu Accounts Hacked, Culprit Donks Off $100k

PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu returned to a nice surprise after his long flight home from Australia.

Step 1: Watch your password.

 

His email account had been hacked.

As an added bonus, the culprit also hijacked Negreanu's PokerStars account and dumped off around $100k.

Explained Negreanu in a forum post on 2+2:

"I was on an airplane home while this guy was joyriding my Stars account.

“He hacked my email and I got that back, still figuring out what happened. When I have all the details I'll share when it makes sense to."

The fake Negreanu burned off the money sitting at a few $100/$200 NL tables and playing, err, less than optimally, including an all-in five-bet call with A-5.

The hands sparked a bit of a debate in the forums with some suggesting Negreanu was just hungover and playing badly, to which Negreanu replied:

"Some of you NVGtards really thought that was me??? Man HSP has really done wonders for my image”

Negreanu’s money will be returned by PokerStars, of course, but it should be a reminder to all poker players to practice the basics of good online account security – in particular using an RSA token.

2) Half of Jonathan Duhamel’s Money Found in a Mailbox

Welcome back, cash.

 

If you’re going to steal over $100k, it’s always good to have a secure hiding spot lined up just in case you run into any heat.

You know. Some place people rarely check or would suspect to find things delivered to them.

Like a mailbox, say.

Police in Quebec report they've recovered about half of the money stolen from 2010 WSOP Champ Jonathan Duhamel in his well-documented home invasion from earlier in December.

Of the $115,000 stolen, including $40k CDN and €74,000, police say they recovered part of the cash on Jan. 6.

An anonymous tip led them to a stash in a mailbox in Old Longueuil, about eight kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Yep. A mailbox.

Duhamel's ex-girlfriend Bianca Rojas-Latraverse has pleaded not guilty to five charges and along with two others was denied bail in a recent hearing.

The three are due for sentencing shortly.

3) The Importance of Reading Padraig Parkinson

The Irish uncle we never had.

 

For our money, one of the most enjoyable blogs in poker has always been that of Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson.

The live tournament stalwart and 888 Poker rep has always had the right balance of self-deprecation and off-key, charming anecdotes to make for a good read on just about any subject. Even poker.

Parkinson’s latest blog post covers the important subject of “The Importance of Being Important” and does what he does best: Pokes fun at himself and others in a whimsical Irish brogue.

That’s how we hear it in our heads anyway, because we grew up with Lucky Charms commercials.

An excerpt (that followed a sarcastic rail about re-buy tournaments):

“There was no reentry option at the WPT Dublin. The main reason was that it’s a minor miracle when an Irish player manages to get a buy-in together in these tough times.

“The thought of having to pony up twice is enough to make a grown man cry.

“Nevertheless I managed to play three tournaments there and got knocked out four times!”

Oh Padraig. Full blog here.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Doyle Brunson planning to step up his game (and vegetable intake), top TD Matt Savage making a case for a "Poker Majors" system and Liv Boeree revealing her inner demon.

1) Doyle Pushing Envelope, Going Vegan

Pass the kale.

 

Poker legend Doyle Brunson is essentially the EF Hutton of poker. When he talks, people listen.

Thankfully his fans will get to hear more of what's on his mind this year as he says he's ramping up the volume in his blog for 2012.

His latest post explains just how serious he is about competing with the best in the world this year - and an odd new meat problem:

“Im going to push the envelope pretty hard this year because if I cant compete at the highest level, I need to know it, I'm confident I can beat the mixed games because all the younger guys have one or two games they are very weak at. However I plan on playing in the big NLH with the best NL players in the world.

“...For some strange reason, I've become allergic to most kinds of meat besides some kind of fish. I can still handle a cheeseburger but for someone that has always been a steak and potato eater it's a big change.

“It seems nothing in my life has ever been normal so I guess this shouldn't surprise me. Maybe I'll see what all this vegan way of eating is all about.”

Expect a congratulatory tweet and some recipe ideas from Daniel Negreanu to follow.

2) Savage Calls for Syncing of "Poker Majors"

When Matt Savage speaks, Jason Mercier and Matt Glantz make fun of him (in jest) on Twitter.

Everyone else in poker, however, listens pretty closely as Savage is the preeminent TD in the game and runs the best structured and most popular poker tournaments around the globe.

First to ever use behooves in poker context.

 

In a new guest post on Glantz's blog, Savage asks for another big step in poker's history - creating a "majors" system to sync up schedules and high-end tournaments around the world. His logic:

"The players are the most important factor in the success of these poker tournaments, and it behooves the organizers to work together to make the events convenient and beneficial for them.

“When players can easily coordinate their travel schedules, money transfers, and even familial obligations around a set schedule, everyone will win, including the majors, which will see bigger turnouts and happier crowds.”

Savage suggests a "5 and 5 rule" – five years running, $5 million prize pools - to select the tournaments that qualify including:

and possibles the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, EPT London and EPT San Remo.

It's an intriguing idea and great post - check it out in full here. Look up "behooves" here.

3) Liv’s Inner Demon

Part three of the new PokerStars "We Are Poker" ad campaign has been released and this one is another winner.

Watch for appearances by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Sandra Naujoks and a guy in a giraffe mask and hoodie.

Liv Boeree also makes an X-men-esque turn.

Best one yet ioho. Full ad below:

As usual Kyllonen stuck primarily to the 6-max games and won some huge pots off Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, 1II|1II|1iI| and Zypherin.

Kyllonen is off to a hot start in 2012 and is now second in profit with $735k on the year. Incredibly 90% of Kyllonen’s profit for the year has come over the last seven days.

The player Kyllonen is chasing for first, patpatman who had $967k in online poker profit on the year, was the biggest loser last night as he got destroyed in a series of heads-up $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em heads-up matches against altiFC.

In the end patpatman lost a total of $220k to altiFC and is now up only $747k and will have to hold off a surging Jeans89.

Interestingly Daniel Negreanu has been playing high stakes online poker over the last 48 hours.

It’s rare that Negreanu plays the high stakes games on PokerStars but perhaps he was inspired by his hot run in the massive $500/$1000 live cash game at the Aussie Millions.

At any rate it didn’t go well for Kid Poker as he ended up losing close to $100k in a 48-hour period. All his hands were recorded in either $50/$100 or $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em.

Jeans89 was not the only player to win big last night, however, as altiFC (+$219k), wobbly_au (+$138k), takechip (+$114k), O.Klunssila (+$61k) were all killing it.

Meanwhile Eunjong (-$186k), Zypherin (-$103k), 1II|1II|1iI| (-$92k) and MrSweets28 (-$81k) all hit the top five losers list.

For more information on the high stakes action from last night be sure to check our online poker stats section.

Unperturbed, Ivey immediately took a seat in the $250k Challenge.

About 13 hours later, Ivey beat fellow pro Patrik Antonius heads-up to win the super high roller tournament.

“It feels good to be back,” said Ivey moments after winning. “I took some time off from poker.

"This is one of my first tournaments back and it’s nice to get back to winning again.”

Ivey went on an extended hiatus from poker after the events of Black Friday before re-emerging in Macau in November.

Ivey received more for winning the $250k Challenge than he would have for winning the Main Event.

The Main Event, which plays out tomorrow, will only pay out $1.6 million. Ivey still received $100,000 (AUD), however, for finishing twelfth.

“I got pretty close in the Main Event,” he said. “Luckily I got knocked out just in time to play this. It worked out.”

Murderer's Row of Poker Players

The high-profile $250k Challenge ended up drawing 16 brave participants and, as expected, it was a collection of some of the best poker players in the world.

Pros Daniel Negreanu, Antonius, Gus Hansen, Jason Mercier, Sam Trickett, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Tony Bloom, Dan Smith and Tom Dwan all got it on the action.

It wasn’t only poker pros in the field however as Chinese businessmen Winfred Yu, Paul Phua, Nick Wong and Richard Yong all bought into the tournament.

When registration finally closed organizers did a quick tally and informed players they were playing for a $4 million prizepool and only three players would be paid.

Negreanu Bubbles in Elite Final Four

Negreanu had the unfortunate distinction of being the bubble boy. He went out in fourth place when his A-8 fell to Antonius’ pocket jacks.

That left Antonius, Gus Hansen and Ivey to battle it out three-handed.

Hansen was the next player to go when he flopped top pair against Ivey’s flopped two-pair, although the $800,000 payout for third likely softened the blow.

Ivey and Antonius played heads-up for over an hour before a short-stacked Antonius finally moved in with K-3 and Ivey called with A-Q.

Ivey’s hand held up and Antonius had to settle for $1.2 million - now the biggest cash for the Finn in a live poker tournament.

With the victory Ivey also passed Negreanu for second place in all-time career tournament winnings with $15,990,000.

Durrrronimo.

 

Durrrr Busts Quickly

One of the marquee players in a marquee field, Tom "durrrr" Dwan went bust first early in Level 2, losing with trips queens when Hansen filled up on the river.

Businessman Wong was the next to bust, going out early in Level 3. Fellow businessman Yong followed when he flopped a set of kings against Hansen’s flush draw.

The flush came on turn and Yong was sent packing.

John Juanda, Sam Trickett and Erik Seidel followed shortly after and Paul Phua was the final-table bubble boy busting out in tenth to kickstart the final table redraw.

Jason Mercier was the first to crack in the final nine, getting all in with A♣ 7♠ against Ivey’s A♥ Q♠ and failing to improve.

Dan Smith, Tony Bloom and Winfred Yu went out in short succession before Sorel Mizzi exited fifth to set up the elite final four, getting in with nines against Ivey’s tens.

The Final 3 and Payouts:

1. Phil Ivey $2,000,000 AUD

2. Patrik Antonius $1,200,000 AUD

3. Gus Hansen $800,000 AUD

Today in the 3-Bet we find John Juanda hitching a ride to the Aussie Millions, Jason Mercier pocketing another half-mil and an outsider’s look at the success of social media in the fight for poker regulation in the US.

1) Juanda Gets Free Upgrade to Private Jet Class

Friends in high places.

 

We've said it before: the best way to get through life is to make friends in high places.

Former Full Tilt pro John Juanda, a veritable regular in the high-stakes games at the Aussie Millions for years, has been surprisingly absent this year but it has nothing to do with the ongoing FTP saga.

The problem? This year's schedule ran right on top of Chinese New Year, keeping Juanda – and 8 wealthy Chinese businessmen, he adds - out of the $100k Challenge.

As explained via his Twitter:

“Really miss Melbourne& Aussie Million; but impossible to go bcos its same time as Chinese NY. Hope they do better job w/scheduling next year.”

Despite the scheduling conflict, Juanda and at least one of said businessman are on their way now.

They'll be arriving in style on the Crown Casino corporate jet (see pic above) no less – a substantial upgrade for Juanda from his previous flight on Continental.

“Crown sent this to pick up my Super HR friend&he let me tag along. I hope its better than my last continental flight!:)”

Look for Juanda and the unnamed super high roller in our coverage of the $250k event at the Aussie Millions this weekend.

2) Mercier Dismantles Elite Cash Game at Aussie Millions

It’s been awhile since Jason Mercier binked a huge tourney score (*awhile meaning 6-8 weeks on the Mercier scale) so he’s been forced to take to the high-stakes cash games to keep the #whenwillitend machine going.

Despite an insane line-up including Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Dan Cates and Sam Trickett, it’s worked out pretty well for him - to the tune of roughly half a million dollars in the last two days.

Just another day at the office for Mercier, apparently, as he ho hummed on Twitter:

Making Dilbert jokes with durrrr.

 

“Kinda nice to win 500k in 2 days ... Gamble on the 250k 2moro :)”

Mercier's office reminds us very much of our office, except we don't play $500/$1k NLH/PLO much any more and Trickett, Negreanu, Antonius and durrrr don't drop by ever, despite our e-vites.

Also coming out big winners from the cash game were Trickett (roughly $220k) and Negreanu ($150k).

Most of the game was filmed for TV and will air shortly, but check Poker Asis Pacific for a recap of some big hands.

Follow Mercier on Twitter here; just skip over the Miami Heat tweets and every third #hashtag.

3) PC World Gives PPA Thumbs Up for Social Media Efforts

PPA Director John Pappas.

 

Truth be told, it may be giving the Poker Players Alliance a bit too much credit.

But noted computer magazine PC World has given the PPA and its ongoing drive to regulate online poker in the US a big thumbs up in a recent list of social media campaigns is says have combined activism and social media to spur change in the world.

Ranking it as “effective” and connecting the campaign to the recent DOJ ruling that online poker falls outside the Wire Act, PC World puts it alongside such heavyweight social media campaigns as the Anonymous hacks, the Occupy Movement, revolutions in Russia and Egypt and Dan Savage’s It Gets Better campaign.

High company, for sure.

While it may be a stretch to say the PPA was the driving force behind the DOJ decision, there's still no doubt the work of the PPA since 2006 has certainly put the issue in the scope of millions of people who might not care otherwise.

Getting in the discussion is a win in itself.

See the full list here.