ONLINE POKER ACES IN INTERNET SPAT
2011-03-16
Freidman claims Bonomo and Haxton are account sharing
Top internet poker pros have been engaged in some bitter exchanges this week, with Prahlad Friedman using Twitter to warn that through personal experience he is of the opinion that Isaac Haxton and Justin Bonomo have been sharing and switching accounts to the detriment of their opponents for some time.
Bonomo was quick to react, using the social media site to characterise the accusation as "completely baseless' and suggesting that Twitter was not the place to debate the issue.
He followed that up with a forceful posting on the poker forum twoplustwo, writing:
"So here is where we are now: Prahlad Friedman has publicly slandered both myself and Isaac Haxton. Clearly he thinks I'm a terrible poker player that needs Isaac's help to beat him.
"Above I have issued a challenge. Prahlad must either accept this challenge, or give both of us a public apology.
"I swear I will go very far out of my way to assure Prahlad that no one is assisting my play. We can play under his terms, and his conditions; whatever makes him feel comfortable (within reason of course).
"I do not plan on responding to specific questions in this thread. For obvious reasons I would find it quite disadvantageous to have to outline how Isaac and I play, and how to tell us apart. I have already given a lot more information in this post than I feel I should ever need to.
"Furthermore, I am currently on vacation with my girlfriend and plan on enjoying it. However, if Prah decides to take me up on my offer, I promise to make myself available in a very short period of time.
"Thank you very much to those that have realized Prah has absolutely no basis for these accusations."
Is another poker Challenge shaping up here? Friedman's reaction the Bonomo's gauntlet will be interesting...and Haxton has yet to say his piece.
UBOC ONLINE POKER TOURNEY SCHEDULE RELEASED2010-12-2029 events and $5 million in guaranteed prizepools up for grabs next month
The Cereus online poker network has released its schedule for the sixth UB.com (formerly UltimateBet) Online Championship, better known as UBOC, showcasing a total of 29 events supported by over $5 million in guaranteed prize pools.
The schedule launches on January 16, 2011 and runs through to January 30, climaxing in a $1 050 buy-in NLHE Monster Stack competition.
The events cater for a wide diversity of poker genres, so there will be something for most players in the current championship, which will be complemented with a concurrent Mini UBOC offering a similar schedule of events, but with buy-ins only ten percent that of its big brother.
Full details are available on the UB.com website.
MORE PRESSURE IN CYPRUS (Update)
Local police continue with festive season blitz
The police in Cyprus have upped the anti-online gambling pressure in a pre-festive season blitz that has included raids on two online gambling centres on the Mediterranean island.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos revealed that premises in the Engomi and Lakatamia areas in Nicosia had been targeted as part of an intensified campaign to fight illegal gambling over the Christmas period.
“The operations will be intensified in view of the holidays and will cover all of the districts, with some of the operations taking place in premises where investigations have already taken place,” he said, reporting that in one night raid police teams seized five outside cameras, one computer used for storing CCTV footage, one laptop, 27 computer towers, three cheques and cash. Eight people were detained, including the owner and the manager.
He did not supply names or companies involved.
Katsounotos claimed that the raid in Lakatamia revealed that illegal betting was taking place on the premises, and that police raiders had found computers that transformed into gaming machines. From the Lakatamia premises 14 computer towers were confiscated as well as a total of Euro 2,000 in cash and cheques, along with other evidence.
According to official estimates, the annual turnover of online gambling in Cyprus is Euro 2.5 billion (see previous InfoPowa reports). The government has drafted laws banning the pastime, which have been submitted to the European Commission for approval. A response is expected soon.
DENMARK’S POKER BOSS WINS UNIBET VALENCIA2010-10-13It’s a Thomas thang as Danish Poker Federation chief bests 361 hopefuls
Unibet’s 2010 Open Valencia poker tournament produced a winner over the weekend as two days of action culminated in a win for Thomas Thang, perhaps better known up in the European north as president of the Danish Poker Federation.
Thang bested an entry field of 361 in the Euro 1,500 buy-in event, winning a first prize of Euro 135,080 after triumphing over runner up Andreas Hofman of Germany, who took home a second placing paycheck for Euro 89,350.
Going into the final table, Thang was joined by Hofmann, Jose Diez, Atanas Gueorguiev, Andrei Grigoras, Yoni Houri, Michael Schuerpf, Tim Van De Riet, Jose Luis Melia and Andre Joranger.
CAKE POKER: SECURITY RESTORED (Update)2010-08-09PTR confirms encryption issue has been addressed
The encryption issue at the Cake Poker network which was picked up by independent poker information website Poker Table Ratings.com (see prevous InfoPowa report) has been successfully addressed.
PTR confirmed this week that the problems at Cake Poker had been solved by adding SSL encryption to the old XOR client and new beta software.
The site's confirmation followed earlier assurances from Cake's card room manager, Lee Jones, that the technical team at Cake had successfully added an SSL layer to both the regular client and the new Client 2 beta version.
PTR originally exposed the flaw, claiming that it was possible to launch the MS Windows calculator, switch it to Scientific mode, and start decoding the Cake Poker Network’s XOR. This meant that players on unsecured wireless networks were at risk of having their hole cards and account information compromised.
Cake's first solution, implemented on August 4th, was less than successful, according to PTR, but the technical staff soon sorted out the flaws to report that all Cake Poker Network skins and the network’s flagship site had SSL encryption.
PTR then carried out further tests and reported that the previous vulnerabilities had been satisfactorily addressed.
PTR gave players tips on how to reassure themselves that their favourite Cake skins had the added protection through C Drive>Program Files>name of the skin in question>ssleay32dll. The advice was that if the dll file was absent, then the skin was not yet fully protected, but if it was present, the skin had been fitted with the added security.
The security scare appeared to have some impact on business, with the independent poker stats website Pokerscout.com reporting a 15 percent dip in peak cash game action over the period when the crisis surfaced.
THREE MORE BRACELETS AT WSOP (Update)2010-06-29Rockowitz, Bell and Eskeland all honoured
With the World Series of Poker going into its 32nd day in Las Vegas, three more players claimed gold by winning their events.
For Jesse Rockowitz it was the excitement of a first bracelet when he took down event 45, a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em contest with a main prize of $721,373 after a heads up with Raymond Coburn that ended at four in the morning.
Coburn, who gave a very good account of himself throughout the see-saw final confrontation thoroughly, deserved his runner-up prize of $446,274.
The two had battled through a field of almost 3 100 over three tough days of competitive poker before third placed Thiago Nishijima busted out for $315,828, setting the scene for the final confrontation.
Event 46 - the $5,000buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better competition also came to a conclusion after three days and the elimination of an entry field of 284 players, reduced to 130 and then 21 on the final day.
Despite formidable opposition from the likes of multiple bracelet holders like Erik Seidel, Perry Green, Dave Ulliott and Rob Hollink, it was Chris Bell who ended up in the heads up against Dan Shak, managing to prevail although the chip lead changed several times.
Bell’s win was worth $327,040 and his first WSOP bracelet, whilst Shak’s second placing delivered a take-home of $202,142.
Already a respected pro, Bell now adds to an impressive record that includes three WSOP final tables.
With two Day Ones necessary to handle a huge entry field of 3 128 players, event 47, the fifth of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em affairs, was fast and competitive with many international poker aces competing.
A total of 476 players made it through to Day 2, led by Sergey Chernykh with Tom Braband and Olivier Busquet among those in the top ten. Further back in the field was Jeff Madsen, four-time WSOP bracelet winner Mickey Appleman, and 2003 Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker. Scott Montgomery, who had take down an earlier $1000 event, was also trying for a second bracelet, and a chance to at least cash once the field was down to 324 players.
By late Monday night the field was down to 33 with Manuel Davidian bagging the most chips at 889 000 for the night, and average chip stacks at 284 363.
Event 48, the $2,500 Mixed Event, pulled in 453 players, but by he end of Day 1 action just 192 remained, and that was down to 20 by the end of Day 2. Despite a dynamic start, Vitaly Lunkin crashed out, along with Frank Kassela, who had also enjoyed a promising start.
Going into Day 3, which started about an hour late Monday afternoon, Nikolai Yakovenko led the field on 310,000, but there was still some impressive star-power in the field, including Mike Matusow, Dario Minieri, Bill Chen, Alexander Kravchenko, Jennifer Harman, Scott Seiver, Daniel Negreanu and Steve Sung. The plan was to play nine more levels of eight-game action.
All 20 starters on Day 3 were in the money, and set to earn at least $7,585 in prize money.
By the early hours of Tuesday morning after 14 hours of action poker it was all over…and none of the international names had taken the bracelet. Instead, it was a first bracelet for Sigurd Eskeland, ia 36-year-old former teacher from Oslo, Norway. He's previously cashed in two WSOP events, including the Main Event back in 2008.
Eskeland faced Steve Sung in the heads up, starting with over a million chips more and turning the advantage into a victory, but only after a real battle with his determined opponent. Eskeland won the day, however, to take home the bracelet and $260 000, leaving Sung to collect the runner-up prize of $160 952.
Event 49, the last of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em events (barring a Shootout still to come) started 12 noon Monday with a field of 2,543 players, generating a prize pool of $3,433,050, with $609,493 of that earmarked for the winner.
Another star-studded field was registered, including: Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Eric Baldwin, Chino Rheem and Vanessa Rousso – none of whom won through to the end of Day 1.
Aces who did manage to survive were Allen Kessler, Andy Bloch, Liv Boeree, David Pham and Roland De Wolfe.
315 survivors will gather again for the Day 2 start Tuesday, all with a chance at the money, which starts on position 270.
Leading the field is Guiseppe Zarbo on 156 500, comfortably ahead of Andrew Gillis (120 500) and Roberto Stamerra (120 100). Average chip stacks are 36 328.
Event 50, the $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha attracted a field of 362 opponents in 2009, a field that was eclipsed this year with 460 entries, all geared up for a format of eight levels, with 20-minute breaks after the first two and before the last two and a 60-minute dinner break in the middle.
At stake is a prize pool of $2,162,000 which will see 45 player cashing and a minimum payday for them of $10 226. The victor in this event will collect a cool $508 090.
By the time play was completed Monday night over half the field had been eliminated, with famous players like Daniel Negreanu, Chad Brown, Vanessa Selbst, Marco Traniello and Erick Lindgren among the fallen.
207 players will be starting Day 2 Tuesday, including Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Jason Mercier, Lex Veldhuis, Phil Hellmuth, and Bertrand Grospellier, with Kevin Schaffel in the lead on 178,900. Day 2 just started
WSOP Tournament of Champions
By the end of Day 1, five of the 27 champs in this event had been eliminated, namely John Juanda, Greg Raymer, Barry Shulman, Sammy Farha and Phil Ivey. Erick Seidel held the lead at the end of Day 1.
Another four levels of play kicked off Monday afternoon, with play ending that night on level 8 with 17 players left and average chip stacks at 47 648. Mike Matusow stole the show on Day 2, building his stack to 85,500. He was chased by Huck Seed (73 000) and Johnny Chan (68 600).
Day 2 casualties included Doyle Brunson, Doyle Brunson, who was followed soon after by reigning Main Event Champion Joe Cada, Internet qualifier Andrew Barton, Mike Sexton and Dan Harrington.
Day 2 survivors will reconvene for Day 3 action on Saturday, July 3rd at 7 p.m. to play to a final table.
SAN DIEGO DEALER WINS WSOP PLAYER'S EVENT2010-05-31$71 424 and the first 2010 bracelet picked up by Hoai Pham
The first 2010 World Series of Poker bracelet has been handed to San Diego dealer Hoai Pham, who won the $500 buy-in Casino Employees event over the weekend.
Pham bested an entry field of 721 players (see previous InfoPowa report) to take the honours. By Day 2 the field had been whittled down to 52, and the intense attrition rate continued into the final table, where Pham ultimately confronted second placed Arthur Vea in the heads up. Pham took 13 hands to dominate and then beat his last opponent, leaving Vea with a runner up consolation prize of $44 079,
“This is magical. I am very happy. I’m a poker dealer and the whole table was fun,” said Pham, who added that he had informed his boss that he was going to take a vacation.
The final entry numbers for the second of the 2010 events - the $1 000 buy-in NLHE - was disappointingly low, failing to beat the field attracted to last year's equivalent, which reached 6 012. With 4 345 entrants, the 2010 field fell well short, a decline attributed to the still weak US economy or the Memorial holiday weekend timing. The remaining five $1 000 NHLE tourneys will be watched carefully to see if the lower registration trend persists.
The attrition rate was high as the tournament progressed, with Saturday's Day 1a entries dropping to 276, and as InfoPowa went to press early morning Monday Vegas time, Day 1b had 280 players still in the hunt, with one more level to play before bagging up.
Jon "FatalError" Aguiar and Terrence Chan are among the leaders, and the cashes should extend right down to the 441 spot, so the excitement is a-building.
The survivors from Day 1a and Day 1b will be starting again at Level 11 when Day 2 action begins.
The biggest gathering of railbirds was understandably watching the $50 000 buy-in mixed game Player's Championship, which saw 116 top players start late Friday afternoon and at press time had reached level 16 in the early hours of Monday morning, with 31 survivors going after the over $1.5 million winner's prize.
The top ten leader board positions and their chip counts looked like this:
Alexander Kostritsyn - 1.6 million
David Oppenheim - 1.1 million
Mikael Thuritz - 1 million
Vladimir Schmelev - 820,000
Nick Schulman - 820,000
Lyle Berman - 810,000
Erik Sagstrom - 730,000
James Van Alstyne - 730,000
Michael Mizrachi - 720,000
Andy Bloch - 688,000
Big names have been eliminated, including Eugene Katchalov, Jeffrey Lisandro, Justin "BoostedJ" Smith, Scott Clements, Phil Ivey, last years winner of the event David Bach, and Doyle Brunson, taken out well into the tourney by Andy Bloch.
Play was scheduled to continue to 3am Monday Vegas time, or about three further levels.
The momentum at WSOP continued with the start Sunday afternoon of the $1 500 buy-in Omaha hi-lo event.
POKERSTARS TWEAKS SCOOP SCHEDULE2010-03-04Player feedback acknowledged
Pokerstars' 2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) schedule has been tweaked following "constructive criticism" from players, according to the company's blog.
There is now a brand new SCOOP schedule with more events and a bigger guaranteed prize pool: 38 total events with a $45 million guaranteed prize pool.
Satellites for SCOOP should begin within the next couple of weeks.
Full details on the revision at http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/scoop/2010/pokerstars-releases-revised-scoop-schedu-065024.html
RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES
ONLINE POKER PLAYER HELPS THE HOMELESS2009-12-23'Leatherass' turns a heart attack to good advantage
The Portland Mercury blog carries an interesting video interview with a local online poker player with a heart of gold this week - he uses a significant chunk of his online winnings to prepay six months of rent for currently homeless families.
Dusty 'Leatherass' Schmidt (28) is a well known high stakes grinder (and a mean golfer to boot) who was one of the early PokerStars Supernova Elites and is an instructor at StoxPoker. His bread and butter poker comes from middle stakes cash games in 5/10 and 10/20 with some 25/50 and very occasionally 50/100 action when the games are good.
Interviewed in a local park, where he used his laptop to play several online poker tables simultaneously, Schmidt explaining that he became obsessed with Internet poker after a heart attack four years ago left him bedridden for months.
Overcome with medical bills, Schmidt bet his last $1 000 on a hand and won back not only enough money to cover his bills, but enough to make a good living, too.
He told the Portland Mercury reporter that in the last three years, he has made over $1 million a year on Internet poker (and won an Aston Martin).
This (December) month, he decided to donate all of his December winnings to Transitions Project, a Portland homeless non-profit organisation. With the $20 000 he has won so far, Schmidt plans to help support three families by prepaying their rent.