Andrew Cimpan Wins the 2009 L.A. Poker Classic

For the first time in WPT history, a final table played more than 300 hands, with Andrew Cimpan outlasting Binh Nguyen to win the title in Hand #303. (The old record, set at Foxwoods this past November, was 275.) 

Here’s one last look at the final table finishers:

1st: Andrew Cimpan – $1,686,760 + $25,500 seat in WPT World Championship
2nd: Binh Nguyen – $935,424
3rd: Mike Sowers – $654,797
4th: Chris Karagulleyan – $430,963
5th: Pat Walsh – $310,694
6th: Chris “Jesus” Ferguson – $240,538

Hand #303 – Andrew Cimpan has the button and the small blind.

Cimpan moves all in, and Nguyen quickly calls all in with A9. Cimpan shows K5, and he’ll need to improve to bust Nguyen here.
The flop comes 1053, and Cimpan takes the lead with a pair of fives. The turn card is the 10, and Nguyen needs an ace or a nine on the river to stay alive.

The river card is the 4. Unbelievable. Someone actually won this tournament.

Andrew Cimpan wins the pot — and the tournament — with two pair, tens and fives.

Binh Nguyen is the runner-up, earning $935,424.

Andrew Cimpan wins the 2009 WPT Commerce L.A. Poker Classic, earning $1,686,760, plus a $25,500 seat into the WPT World Championship, a WPT bracelet, and a very large trophy based on the Frederic Remington statue “Bucking Bronco.”

Playing Big Hands on the Button

Written by Full Tilt Pro, Dario ‘Ryu’ Alioto

Improve your poker skills without putting too much at risk with lower Micro-Stakes tables, where you can play $0.01/$0.02 No-Limit or Pot-Limit, and $0.05/$0.10 Limit Hold ‘em games.

Participate in next month’s Iron Man Challenge and take the opportunity to play in Iron Man Freerolls and win prize money up to $100K.

If you have a big starting hand on the button – and you get raised – a player’s initial reaction is usually to focus on how to play back at the raiser. In this week’s tip, Full Tilt Poker pro Dario Alioto suggests that you need to give equal consideration to those still to play their hand – the blinds.

No matter what poker variant you’re playing, it’s vital to constantly think about the players left to act behind you and what their tendencies are. Too often, when facing a raise, poker players think only about how to play back at the raiser to their right, without thinking about the opponents still…read more at Full Tilt Poker, Lessons from the Pros!

Kevin Connolly, Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro host Tonight’s $25,000 Bounty

The DoylesRoom Star Studded VIP Poker Event is TONIGHT! They’re rolling out the Red Carpet for Kevin Connolly and Team Brunson Pros Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro and last week’s champion WhaHappened?

Seating is limited so please register NOW and don’t miss your chance at this celebrity packed $25,000 Doyle’s Bounty. Remember, all first time Bounty players get 100% of their buy-in back so register and enjoy the Bounty on us!

Next week, Doyle’s Bounty is not to be outdone as the lovely Nicky Hilton returns to battle her adoring fans and bounty hunters.

Register from the poker lobby:
Tournaments > Scheduled > Doyle’s Bounty
ID: 4417019

“Magic Moments of Poker”

Magic Moments of Poker at bwin is set to amaze poker and sports fans alike. This series of poker tournaments will be stopping off at some of the biggest football clubs and events in Europe: Real Madrid, AC Milan and a MotoGP racing weekend in Jerez,
and a luxury stay on PokerIsland. Players can qualify for free via online freeroll tournaments at bwin Poker
(www.bwin.com/magicmomentsofpoker).

Over a total of seven exclusive weekends, players will get to meet sporting stars from the best football teams in the world and socialise with MotoGP racers exclusively at the paddock club. At each location, the seven online qualifiers will be accompanied by camera teams and will star in their very own Magic Moments of Poker show. A million-strong audience around the globe will be keeping close tabs on each player’s performance at the televised poker table.

Become a member of the bwin Poker team. At each one of these unforgettable Magic Moments of Poker events, one player will
qualify for the Grand Final in Vienna. The winner of the Grand Final will walk away with the membership on the bwin Poker team and the chance to participate in the most important international poker tournaments of the year. The first stop on the Magic Moments of Poker tour will be in Spain at the beginning of March to experience veterans Real Madrid as they take on Atlético Madrid in a city
derby. Qualifiers for the first round of Magic Moments of Poker will be running until 14 February 2009 at bwin Poker (www.bwin.com/magicmomentsofpoker). The chance to experience major sports events up close, play poker in front of live TV
cameras and the membership on the bwin Poker team – this is the stuff to set the hearts of all true poker fans racing!

The stops on The Magic Moments of Poker tour
March – Real Madrid – Atlético Madrid
March – AC Milan
May – MotoGP Jerez
July – PokerIsland
September – FIBA EUROBasket
October – Real Madrid
December – Grand Final in Vienna

FTP’s WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship!

Just a quick reminder that there is still time left to win your way to the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship with a $12,000 prize package from Full Tilt Poker.

Last year’s WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship awarded a 1st place prize of $1 million, and featured a final table that included Team Full Tilt’s Jennifer Harman and Full Tilt Poker pros John Phan and Lee Watkinson. In additon to competing for a WPT title, qualifier winners will have the chance to collect bounties for knocking out select pros and playing at a nationally televised final table.

Buy in directly to any of these events or satellite your way in for as little as $1 or 50 Full Tilt Points. Register today and play for your $12K prize package and the chance to join the pros in San Jose for one of the WPT’s biggest events.

Tuesday, February 24th	21:00 ET	$300 + $22
Thursday, February 26th	21:00 ET	$500 + $35
Saturday, February 28th	21:00 ET	$200 + $16
Tuesday, March 3rd	21:00 ET	$300 + $22
Thursday, March 5th	21:00 ET	$500 + $35

Also if you are a new player to Full Tilt’s Poker Room then this is a great new offer for you!

$10 is all a player needs to make a first deposit on Full Tilt Poker.

Alongside this new low first deposit limit, they are also adding micro stakes poker. With new lower limits for ring games, players can sit down at a $0.01/$0.02 No-Limit Hold ‘em table for as little as $0.40, join a Sit & Go for as little as $1 or buy in to a Multi-Table Tournament for just 10 cents!

These are some really great ways to get you qualified so why not download now and get yourself a spot on the felt!

L.A. Poker Classic Day One

Day 1 of the L.A. Poker Classic  started with such a stacked field, there were bound to be plenty of casualties on Day 1. Among those busting early were November Nine member Scott Montgomery, Jean-Robert Bellande and Chino Rheem. The Commerce Casino’s gigantic poker tournament attracted 696 players seeking their own form of gold as the LA Poker Classic main event kicked off. Among the participants were poker superstars Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu, plus former world champions Phil Hellmuth, Jerry Yang and Chris Ferguson. 2008 LAPC champ Phil Ivey also joined the field, as did Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham and Michael Mizrachi.

Action has been fast today, but at two tables it slowed considerably when the clock was called.  First it was David Levi who called the clock on himself after being faced with an all in bet on a board of K8724.  Even with the allure of 64,000 in the pot, Levi let his hand go.

Next it was Jason Potter who would have the clock called on him.  Usually these big desicions that take enough time to warrant a clock are either large river bets or all in’s.  However, on the turn Potter faced a single 6,000 chip raise.  He tanked for several minutes before a player at the table called for the floor.  Potter looked upset and mucked his hand shortly after the floorperson arrived.

Negreanu never lost steam after that hand, finishing the day high on the leader board, trailing only Kasey Nam as play closed for the day and was Blue Diamonds Player of the day, now that’s salty

See the days final results below:

Kasey Nam — 141,000
Daniel Negreanu — 128,000
Jeff Madsen — 112,500
Bertrand Grospellier — 86,000
Danny Wong — 79,500
Nick Schulman — 79,000
Phil Ivey — 75,000
Kofi Farkye — 68,000
David Chiu — 68,000
Steve Paul-Ambrose — 65,000

durrrr’s Challenge Begins

So the challenge has finally begun, it is here for all to witness and talk about with friends and colleagues. durrrr has made the challenge, Antonius has accepted and after round one we are as follows:  The challenge started about 6.30 EST and 1541 hands were played during the first session and has ended with a $135k profit for durrrr.

Day two in the challenge started out with a 96 hands warmup session where durrrr won $36k from Patrik Antonius. Finally Patrik Antonius made some nice hands and good plays to end the session with a profit of $191k. That makes Patrik Antonius up $56k in total so far in the match.

So far this is how the standings are looking:
durrrr’s results: -$56,779,00
Patrik Antonius’s results: +$56,178,50
 

With all eyes watching and the media going nuts over this kid, we can only watch next to see what will happen. Bluff magazine worte and article featuring Tom Dwan recently and the  journalist who wrote it, Chris Vaughn, describes watching Dwan in action:

“Tom asked me to watch him play a quick “sesh”. Naturally, a quick sesh for Tom involved opening six tables at which the smallest limit being played was 100/200 NL Hold’em. Over the next 45 minutes, I watched him win nearly $200,000. I have never seen, and don’t expect to ever see again, anyone win that kind of money in such a short amount of time.”

EPT S5 Copenhagen: Jens Kyllonen Wins!

For what seemed to be the fastest played action in years the season 5 EPT Copenhagen crowned a new champ, Jens Kyllönen, from Finland and PokerStars player, wins the coveted crown and takes home the DKK 6,542,208 ($1,141,474) top prize! Day one brought two quick exits, with Denmark’s Jonas “slaktarn” Klausen in eighth (DKK 598,774 / $104,473) and France’s Eric Larcheveque in seventh (DKK 842,728 / $147,038.

Kyllönen was one of the relative short stacks at the start of play, but there was a rare focus to the Finn and seasoned observers noted early on that if he was to get chips, he could be very dangerous indeed. The two massive overnight stacks — Langset and Nielsen — clashed in a 700,000 pot early in the day, crippling Nielsen and vaulting Langset clear at the top.

Langset, was able to sit back and relax as Peterson perished in fifth, before Jussi Nevanlinna and Kyllönen went to battle.

Then there was the tournament-defining hand. Kyllönen and Langset had largely stayed out of one another’s way until the gloves came off in a whopping all-in pre-flop clash. Langset had pocket eights and the chance to eliminate his closest opponent; Kyllönen had Kd-Qh and the opportunity to get right back in it.  However when Kyllonen hit his overcard and his flush for good measure for the first time Langset was on the ropes.

One further hand between the two and it was all over for the Norwegian: Kyllönen’s As-8s flopped the nut flush and picked off Langset’s bluff.

And so Hedlund and his enthusiastic supporters went heads-up with Kyllönen, Kyllönen found jacks as Hedlund had A-J. The board ran out in favour of Kyllönen, and that was the end of that.

 
Watch EPT Copenhagen S5: The Winner – Jens Kyllonen on PokerStars.tv

“I definitely didn’t expect anything,” Kyllönen said. “I came in as the short stack and tried to play the best game I could. It turned out well.”

L.A. Poker Classic

On Saturday, the televised Main Event of the L.A. Poker Classic will kick off from the Commerce Casino in the West Coast city. The $10,000 buy-in tournament will air as part of the seventh season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net and names a winner on February 26th.

The L.A. Poker Classic will start at High Noon on Saturday. It’s actually the 35th event of the tournament series, which began on January 22nd. Already throwing their hats into the ring in Los Angeles are several of poker’s top players, including Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, Todd Brunson, Erik Seidel, 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen. The tournament has been a staple of the WPT schedule and is one of the only events to be held in each of its seven seasons.

The $30Million SCOOP!

Get ready – because ALL PokerStars players have the chance to win big, with millions of dollars in cash prizes on the line. This is the Spring Championship of Online Poker – All Stakes, and it’s going to be massive. Here’s the deal: 22 events, two a day running from April 2-12, with a total guaranteed prize pool of $30,000,000. And if you think it’s only the high-rolling players that win the life-changing money in events like these, think again. Because this time round we’re laying down the challenge to all our players, no matter what stakes you play at. This is the biggest online poker tournament series anywhere online so far in 2009, and satellites are running now, including cash, FPP and Steps Sit & Go qualifiers available in a range of different buy-ins.

Each event will include three tournaments – one for low-stakes players, one for those who play medium-stakes, and finally one for those that play in our high-stakes games. The huge prize pool guarantees in each tournament mean that even low-stakes players have the chance to win big.

There will also be two High-Roller events, and the series ends with the Main Event on Sunday, April 12 – including a $1,000,000 guarantee for the lowest stake level tournament, and a $5,000,000 guarantee for the high-stakes tournament! See the schedule below for full event information.

For more information visit PokerStars.com!

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