Daniel Craker Wins Biggest Poker Tournament in New Zealand History
October 13, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
New Zealander Daniel Craker beat a field of 305 other players from 21 countries to win New Zealand’s biggest poker tournament in history, the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Main Event for NZD $257,040 (approx. USD $155,800, Euros 114,300 , or GBP 90,075), plus an entry into the APPT Main Grand Final in Sydney and a shot at its top prize of one million dollars.
Craker spoke with New Zealand’s 3 News after his win that spanned 4 days, saying, "I just felt something was just telling me - before I’d even started - that I was going to have a good go at it." He added, "On day two I played probably my best poker of the tournament which got me up there."
The Final Table included (showing chip counts):
Craker took out the championship title and the winner’s check by betting 1.7 million chips on a pair of twos against Matthew Konnecke. "It was heads up and I had pocket twos. I was pretty tired and my strategy was to play aggressive and I raised it. He re-raised, I went all in… and they held up."
His strategy impressed those watching at the casino as well as poker buddies watching on line from his home town.
"The final table was sensational,"says host SKYCITY Auckland Executive Manager of table games Ejaaz Dean. "The crowd participation, the quality of the players and the quality of the hands was second to none."
Craker, a plasterer by trade from Lower Hutt, does not expect his new found fame and fortune to change him too much. He says he will use his winnings to buy a house but definitely has not forgotten his day job.
"I’m actually in the middle of a job at the moment," says Craker, before telling his boss: "I’ll get to that job eventually!"
Final Standings (showing prize money in NZD) were:
Source: pokerpages.com
Player Profile: Erik Seidel
October 2, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
While he may not be one of the names called when people discuss the best players in the game today, the highly underrated Erik Seidel is a player that, if not considered one of the best today, certainly should be in the running for that as well as the best of all time.
Born in New York City in 1959 and now calling Las Vegas home, Erik began his trek to the poker tables by languishing at the backgammon board and trading stocks on Wall Street. For eight years he played backgammon professionally and, although he was making a name for himself, the smaller tournaments and prize pools made him yearn for a stronger challenge. He would discover that on the baize of the poker tables.
Seidel found the legendary Mayfair Club in New York in 1985 and, with his talent for tournament backgammon play and some prior knowledge of poker, followed in the footsteps of other players such as Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington and Steve Zolotow to pursue the game professionally. Little did he realize that he would have perhaps one of his most recognized moments, if not one of his personal highlights, a scant three years later.
At the 1988 World Series of Poker Championship Event, Seidel maneuvered his way to the final table alongside Jim Bechtel (the 1993 WSOP Champion), T. J. Cloutier and Humberto Brenes. Battling these difficult players, an inexperienced Seidel found himself the only player remaining against defending champion Johnny Chan. In a clip immortalized in the feature film Rounders, Erik was beaten by an expertly slow played straight by Chan and denied the world title. Even Seidel himself admitted, “I was totally out of my element,” in Steve Rosenbloom’s The Best Hand I Ever Played. It would be the last time that Erik would find himself in that position.
Four years later, Erik picked up the first of what has now become an impressive eight WSOP bracelets and also returned to the WSOP $10,000 Championship Event final table in 1999. The victories haven’t all been in No Limit Hold‘em; Erik also has tournament victories in Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball. He has been one of only five men to win a bracelet in three consecutive years (along with Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Gary “Bones” Berland and Allen Cunningham) and his eight bracelets put him in rarefied air behind only Phil Hellmuth, Brunson, Chan and tied with Moss on the list of all time bracelet winners.
The World Poker Tour has also been a fertile ground for Seidel. He has cashed in sixteen events there, made two final tables and captured the Foxwoods Poker Classic in April 2008. All totaled, Erik has a stunning 125 cashes in major events around the world and sits in ninth place in all time money earnings with over $9 million won.
Source: PokerNewsDaily
Russian Players’ Took Off At World Series of Poker Once Again
October 2, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Russia’s Ivan Demidov was listed with +425 odds at BetCRIS.com to win the 2008 World Series of Poker. Demidov had the second largest number of chips coming into the delayed final which is scheduled to play out this November.
Demidov served as a precursor to this year’s Russian success at the World Series of Poker Europe where two players from his nation have made the final table.
Oh, but wait a moment, one of those two players is none other than Demidov himself. That’s right, while Demidov awaits play in next month’s World Series of Poker (Las Vegas) Final, he will be taking part in Thursday’s WSOPE final nine. For someone who only began playing poker in 2006 and has won a few thousand dollars on the live tournament circuit (just under $40,000 to date), Demidov could become one of the richest poker players by year’s end should he happen to win both World Series of Poker events. The WSOP pays first place $9.1 million while the World Series of Poker Europe will pay its first place winner just over $2.1 million.
Also sitting at the WSOPE final table is Russian Stanislav Alekhin. The relative unknown had the second largest number of chips at 1,278,000 heading into Friday’s showdown.
According to poker player Daniel Negreanu, The World Series of Poker has always attracted a competitive international field. Interestingly, this year’s World Series of Poker event in the US featured more players from Russia than ever before. Negreanu, who is competing with Demidov at the final table of the WSOPE, believes that Demidov has a good shot of winning the WSOP for his Russian homeland. It can be assumed Daniel feels differently about Demidov’s chances to win this year’s World Series of Poker Europe.
"Poker’s popularity is surging in Russia," Negreanu stated. "You can expect to see more Russian names winning on the European Poker Tour and other major international tournaments in coming years.
"Why are so many talented Russian players suddenly bursting on the poker scene? Maybe it’s because of the game of chess. Many years ago, Russian masters dominated their American counterparts in a different game of skill.
"That game, of course, was chess. The battles between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were epic. And while poker isn’t quite at that point, we’re definitely headed in that direction."
Aside from Demidov and now Alekhin, Russians making a name for themselves on the international poker circuit include Kirill Gerasimov.
The 37-year old Gerasimov worked as an insurance salesman in Moscow, and started entering poker tournaments throughout Europe in 2001.
In May 2003, Gerasimov made his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) final table, finishing 6th in the $1,500 No Limit Hold-Em event and receiving a $24,000 prize.
He would return to the World Series of Poker in April 2004, making an appearance at two final tables: a 5th place finish ($30,060) in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold-Em event featuring Huck Seed and Tony Bloom, and a 2nd place finish ($100,000) in the $1,500 No Limit Hold-Em shootout event featuring John Juanda, Asher Derei and Daniel Negreanu.
He also made the money 4 times in the 2005 World Series of Poker, including a 2nd place finish ($108,775) in the seven-card stud tournament, and he also made the money in the $10,000 Main Event for the first time, with his 444th place finish earning $16,055.
Gerasimov made two final tables during the second season of the European Poker Tour (EPT), finishing 5th in London and 3rd in Deauville.
As of 2008, Gerasimov has made over $2,000,000 in live tournament winnings. Prior to Alex Kravchenko’s 2007 performance at the WSOP, Gerasimov was number one on the Russian all time winning list.
Speaking of which, Kravchenko is another 37-year old professional poker player based in Moscow, Russia. He made a huge impact during the 2007 World Series of Poker, cashing six times, including finishing fourth at the Main Event and the $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event where he won a WSOP bracelet. Kravchenko became the first Russian citizen in history to win a WSOP gold bracelet.
Kravchenko is a phenom on the European poker circuit. He’s also won the Austrian Masters Pot-Limit Championship and the Russian Pot-Limit Championship, both in 2001. He has cashed over 30 times with career winnings totaling $2,611,088.
Then there is the easy-to-pronounce Rafael "Ralph" Perry. Yes, he is from Russia and, yes, he changed his name from Rafael Perivoskin. Perry has won over $2,500,000 on the live poker circuit since 1992, most notably finishing third in the 2002 WSOP Main Event.
Like with the Americans, Russia also has its own celebrity players who were known for something else before they hit it big on the poker circuit. Yevgeny Kafelnikov has had a few impressive finishes at the 2005 World Series of Poker. He is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Russia. He won two Grand Slam singles titles (one French Open and one Australian Open), four Grand Slam doubles titles, and the men’s singles gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games.
Source: gambling911.com
Riding the Poker Wave – New Hardcore Poker TV Show
October 1, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Quick question for you: What is the third most watched televised sport in North America? Hockey? Basketball? I bet you didn’t say ‘poker’.
But poker has topped third on that list, behind only NASCAR and the NFL, a couple of properties that are legendary for television audiences. Poker comes in ahead of baseball, basketball, and hockey. How do you think Gary Bettman feels about THAT?
Obviously, poker has experienced a boom that dates back to 2003, and what is now known as ‘The Moneymaker Effect’. That was the year that a 32-year-old accountant from Tennessee managed to satellite his way into the World Series of Poker Main Event for $39, and walk away with the title and $2.5 million dollars. And from the moment that WSOP hit television, every guy in the world thought to himself, ‘that could be me’.
The resulting poker boom was breathtaking, and the WSOP has taken on the air of a month long Superbowl. With first place money in the $10 million dollar neighbourhood. That’s a pretty nice neighbourhood, and a lot of people want to take a crack at moving in.
Because of this giant explosion in the world of poker, several interesting things happened. Professional poker players, formerly a bunch of leather assed Texas rounders if you believe pop culture, took on the status of rock stars. Previously anonymous pros now found themselves household names.
Last year, Canadian poker star Daniel Negreanu and I were walking through a mall to grab a bite to eat at a tournament. We were approached by a young man in his early twenties who asked Daniel if he would autograph his forearm. So that he could get it tattooed on permanently! You’re talking Wayne Gretzky/Gene Simmons country right there. Rock stars.
But here’s the big difference that makes poker so appealing: accessibility. If you are a tennis fan, can you play tennis with Roger Federer? No chance. If you’re a golfer, can you play a round with Tiger Woods? Not unless you’re a millionaire. But if you’re into poker, you can sit down at a poker table and find yourself staring across at Doyle Brunson, or Johnny Chan, or Phil Hellmuth. You actually get the opportunity to test yourself against the legends of the game. And that’s why millions of players every year bust their butts trying to qualify to play in a WPT or WSOP event. Well, that and the prize money.
You can’t turn the TV on anymore without finding poker on one station or another. Everyone is playing, from garbage men to movie stars, and they all share the dreams of World Championship bracelets and millions in prize money. And that dream is very much attainable.
Two years ago, a part time auto worker from Oshawa named Soren Turkewitsch won his way into a World Poker Tour event in Niagara Falls. Five days later, he was holding a trophy and a cheque for $1.3 million bucks. Not a bad payday for a few days work. Might even be more than GM was paying him.
The poker boom is still going strong. I spent most of July in Las Vegas at the 2008 World Series of Poker, and I can guarantee you that poker is still on the upswing. Numbers for the WSOP were huge this year, and look to be getting even bigger. The final table from the main event will be played in November, and whether it’s some Cinderella-story nobody from next door, or one of the mega rich superstars we see on television who wins it, you can be sure it will be fun to watch.
What I’m hoping to do with this space is give you a peek at something even MORE interesting than just the surface scratching that is done with poker on TV. The world of high stakes poker is overflowing with colourful characters and wild stories. Most of the time, the behind-the-curtain world of professional poker players is infinitely more interesting than the actual card playing you see on the little screen.
High roller lifestyles, young millionaires, old road dogs, and crazy prop bets are all part of day-to-day life. For example, the aforementioned Daniel Negreanu had a little side bet with Phil Ivey for this year’s World Series of Poker: $200,000 per bracelet. Since Daniel won a bracelet, and Phil didn’t, Ivey owes Negreanu 200K.
Think that’s crazy? How about a prop bet to spend 12 straight hours in a hotel pool for $25K. Or how about losing 50 pounds of body weight in one year for a hundred grand? These kinds of crazy bets are just part of daily life in the poker world.
Like Cat Stevens once said, ‘Oooh baby, it’s a wild world’. But it’s a fascinating and fun world too. Come on by and have a look beyond the looking glass. It’s all-in or nothing, and the game is on…
Chris Tessaro is the host of The Hardcore Poker Show, North American wide on Wednesday nights at 8 PM on Sirius 98. www.hardcorepokershow.com.
Source: torontosun.com
CardPlayer.com Interviews Chris Moorman About World Series Of Poker Europe
October 1, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Chris Moorman Talks about his WSOPE Main Event Experience So Far
Englishman Chris Moorman is arguably the best online tournament player in the world right now, with an incredibly consistent record of victories including the FullTiltPoker.com $1k buy-in which is widely considered one of the toughest fields in poker — both online and live. Moorman branched out into the live arena in 2008, playing a succession of UK circuit events, yet finding little success. However, the young man from Brighton has been firmly tipped to replicate his online success soon, and the 2008 World Series Of Poker Europe main event, presented by Betfair, is a pretty good place to start.
When Card Player caught up with Moorman, he was on the money bubble with a sizeable stack. However, shortly after we spoke, Moorman was crippled in a huge pot holding pocket kings against Johnny Lodden’s aces. He eventually crashed out in 38th, just before the cash, yet his great display here has sent a statement of intent to the live poker community.
Shane Gittes: Talk us through how your main event has gone so far.
Chris Moorman: I had a really good start managing to stack Howard Lederer in the very first level and I built up to about 80,000 before the antes kicked in. And then this guy from my hometown who I’d never met before pulled the sickest bluff on me, which tore me into pieces after he showed it. The rest of that day I stayed pretty level at 60,000. Day 2 started with me bluffing off most of my stack to send me into pieces once again before I managed to bust a Scandinavian and build up gradually through the day. It was all a bit of a rollercoaster really.
SG: You have an online reputation as being super-aggressive. Have you been bringing that same style here to the WSOPE?
CM: Yeah, really aggressive. Sometimes I give myself a heart attack. I’m aggressive in all positions really!
SG: How has Day 3 gone for you so far?
CM: I had a few tough hands early. I made a big laydown with jacks. I called a raise against a guy and we were both very deepstacked. The flop came down ten-high and it went check, check. The turn was a 3 and I just figured when I bet that he would call me down with A-K or something like that. So I bet and then he raised me which I wasn’t expecting. I called anyway. The river was a king which didn’t really change much but then I think he owned me with his bet sizing because it looked so much like a value bet and I laid it down because I was sure he was just taking me to value-town. It might have been a bad laydown thinking about it though.
Then I played an awful hand against Mike Matusow. A really bad player raised under the gun when both me and him were really deepstacked. I was pretty sure I’d be able to take him off most flops and so I called with 2-2. If he had an overpair and I flopped a set, I was confident I’d be able to stack him. I called. Mike asked how much he had and he called so I put him on a speculative hand. Mike had been playing pretty tight and reminded me of that every five minutes by singing ‘Tight Mike, tight Mike’! To be honest, I was pretty happy to have another player in the pot. The flop came 9-3-3 with two clubs. The preflop raiser checked and I knew 100 percent that he didn’t have a hand. I bet two-thirds the pot expecting to take it down and then Mike raised me. I started to own myself by thinking, ‘How can he have a 3?’ Pocket nines is about the only hand he could raise me with, I thought. But I knew that if I raised on the flop it just looked like a bluff. So I just called and then bet into him big on the turn. Mike then put me all-in! So I folded …
SG: This is your deepest run in a major live tournament, despite all your online success. When you lose big hands and a big chip stack like you’ve just described, did you start to panic a little bit?
CM: Yeah, I was just thinking, ‘Here we go again’! If this was online with my stack then I still would have been pretty healthy but all I could think of was how many chips I’d lost and how hard it was going to be for me to get them back. The field is so tough.
SG: We are approaching the bubble now. Does cashing really matter that much to you or is your sole aim to shoot for the final table?
CM: I’d be lying if I said cashing didn’t matter. Obviously it would be nice but it’s not the main aim. I’m trying to chip up and give myself the best chance to win the thing.
SG: You had a huge hand against John Juanda where you got all in preflop with pocket sevens and doubled up. How did that come about?
CM: Juanda had been raising with any two cards all day. I had an awful image, yet I had a really weird sized stack of about 32 big blinds. I had 7-7 and didn’t love to raise but really didn’t want to just call out of position. I figured that a lot of the time I was going to pick up the pot by reraising. Yet when I raise I know I’m going to have to go with the hand whatever happens. When Juanda moved all-in, I obviously wasn’t thrilled but I knew a lot of the time that I would be in a race.
SG: How important is it for you make a mark in a major live tournament such as this one? Would a final table here for example stand out as your greatest achievement in poker?
CM: Definitely. At the moment, all online players pray for this. And I just hope I play well enough to keep it going.
Source: CardPlayer.com
