The winner of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2008, Peter Eastgate will play the National Heads-Up Poker Championships (NHUPC) at Caesars Palace in March.
Peter Eastgate
Since retiring from professional poker and only days after the NHUPC in 2010 and just a short a period of time before the WSOP was to begin, Peter Eastgate has sold his WSOP bracelet on ebay to make money for UNICEF and remarked that it was never his intention to make poker his full-time pursuit.
Eastgate was holding an automatic entry bid to the NHUPC for being a WSOP winner in the last three years. The reason for Eastgate’s return has not been made clear, despite the large number of rumours, tweets and posts about it in the last few days.
Could it be Eastgate’s attempt at a swan song? He managed to stay in the same competition until 5th place last year and did very well for himself. But, unknown to many, the folk tale that the Mute Swan cannot sing during life and only sings one beautiful song just before it dies has been known to be untrue since 77 A.D. Will Eastgate have the star power necessary to whittle down his heads-up opponents as easily after almost a year out of the game?
NBC are to film and later emit the tournament, the president of programming of NBC Sports and Versus, John Miller, “We are proud to broadcast the National Heads-Up Poker Championship for a seventh consecutive year for our viewers to see some of the most exciting poker in the world. … You never know what match-ups you are going to get in Heads-Up.”
A massive field of 808 players turned up to the Main Event of the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Circuit event held in the Choctaw Resort Casino in Durant, Oklahoma last weekend.
The $1,500+ $100 buy-in for the event created a huge total pot that was to pay the 83 top finishers plus award WSOPC National Championship seats to the winner and the “Casino Champion” – the person accumulating the most points at any of the individual WSOP Circuit stops’ 10 official open “ring” events.
Winner, 25-year-old Nguyen reached his second final table at the Oklahoma tournament and his experience here helped him to take down the event and pocket the most solid of his four career WSOPC cashes. The heads up was played out against Traci Brown, who played the final day of the event on her birthday and received the blessing of the poker gods. She took home $143,462 for her second place – very good going after being in second-to-last place on the third day of play.
Sources have reported that the enormous field was dotted with well-known faces including Tom McEvoy, Ylon Schwartz, Berry Johnston and TJ Cloutier. The final table included WSOP bracelet-winner Robert Cheung, famed for his unbeatable trun in the 2007 WSOP $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event; and Drazen Ilich who has won two WOPC ring events and cashed on five occasions.
The Oklahoma stop of the WSOPC was the eighth event in the 2010-2011 calendar which began back in last August in the Horsehoe Council Bluffs Casino in Iowa. The next stop is underway from Thursday 27 January at the Harrah’s Casino in Tunica, Mississippi and will run until 15 February. The WSOPC consists of 17 events that culminate in the National Championship stop to be played from 27 to 29 May 2011.
Caesers Entertainment have released the schedule of events for the 42nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The new WSOP schedule will include 58 events that include a number of new tournaments and some minor amendments to the overall programming of the famous tournament.
Recent successes in schedule changes, such as the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, have received further backing from the organizers and are back in to the 2011 calendar. Reportedly requested by a number of players, and one can only imagine that that means high-ranking ones, the Player’s Championship will be played in July. ESPN has reported that this schedule change is due to the high price of the event; this is reported to negatively affect the WSOP as a whole due to the busting of some players right at the start of the tournament and give winning players in other events a chance of investing their earnings in events such as this later in the tournament.
A full-on addition to the WSOP in 2011 will be the $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship which has earned the organizers’ favour over the $25,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event which statistics show to be one of last year’s most popular events.
Another controversial modification has been the overlapping of the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event (#4), which begins at 1200 hours on 2 June with the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship (Event #7) teeing-off the very next day at five in the afternoon. Being two events close to professional players’ hearts, concern has been shown that many pros will have to decide between one event or the other as a good run in the NLHe will mean they miss the PLO World Championship.
The $2,500 buy-in short-handed 10-game mix is a major new event that will include no-limit hold’em, seven-card razz, limit hold’em, limit Badugi, seven-card stud, no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball, Omaha eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, limit deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball, and seven-card stud eight-or-better. Beat that!
Accommodating the large numbers of players who wish to participate in the Main Event but not travel on the 4 July thereby missing Independence Day celebrations with families and loved-ones has meant the Main Event will now open its doors on 7 July.
Once again the World Series of Poker kicks off with a new special tournament – The Poker Player’s Championship which commands a $50,000 entry fee.
At the 2009 WSOP a one-off $40,000 tournament started the longest running poker festival in the world to celebrate the series’ 40th anniversary. That particular event attracted 201 players and was eventually won by Vitaly Lunkin of Russia who netted $1,989,120.
This year Harrah’s, owner of the World Series of Poker, have introduced the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship which will see some of poker’s elite battle it out over eight different poker variants. The games to be played are fixed-limit Hold’em, fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo split, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud hi/lo split, no-limit Hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and 2-7 Triple Draw. Games will rotate every eight hands although the final table will be solely no-limit Hold’em.
Harrah’s have decided to use this tournament to replace the $50,000 HORSE event which attracted only 95 entries last year, down from 148 in 2008. Much of the blame for the reduced figures must go down to the decision to not air the final table on ESPN so many of the player’s sponsors refused to buy their players into the tournament. This mistake will not be repeated in 2010 as the final table of the $50,000 event will be broadcast by ESPN who have the rights to the WSOP for the next couple of years. Tournament poker videosof the event should also be available.
Another new tournament that is sure to draw in the crowds, especially the internet tournament specialists, is Event #52 – the $25,000 6-max no-limit Hold’em tournament. Each of the players will start with 75,000 chips and play to blind intervals starting at 150/300/25, increase every hour. The short-handed format should generate a lot of action and the coverage of the event should boost ESPN’s viewing figures as thousands will tune in to see some super-aggressive poker.
For anyone who is waiting to see the main event on TV when ESPN begins its coverage later this month, read no further. The rest of you who want to keep updated can follow along.
It is the end of Day 7 for all of the 27 players remaining and the 11th total day for the tournament. The biggest news has to be the presence of Phil Ivey who is 4th in at the end of the day. He has put his large chip stack to work by punishing the rest of the field. It will be his first cash in the Main Event since being bounced on a bad beat by Chris Moneymaker in 2003, a hand that was immortalized as one of the best hands of the year. He has to be the odds on favorite to win the title as he is one of only a few professionals remaining. He is within firing distance of the chip leader, Darvin Moon, who has over 20 million in chips. Ivey sits with just over 11 million.
Another notable pro who is remaining in the tournament is Antonio Esfandiari. With a little over 4 million in chips is on the short end of the field. Esfandiari has seen little success in the WSOP and has a small fan base thanks to other televised poker events such as High Stakes Poker and the WPT. He has a very good skill set and can be dangerous at any point in a tournament so he is one to watch out for, but “The Magician” needs to have a few tricks up his sleeve to take down this bracelet.
After today, the ”November Nine” will be set, so look for updates on the tournament along with player profiles right here.
It has been two very long hard weeks of poker and it all comes down to one day. The November Nine, as the final table of the WSOP has now been dubbed, will be decided on Wednesday and then they have almost 4 months to stew on what could possibly be the greatest opportunity of their life.
With only 27 players remaining, the pressure gets turned up and we will see what these guys are made of. While most of the pros that have entered have since gone to the rail, two names are still glaring on the leader board. Antonia Esfandiari (4,470,000) has never really had a truly great run of cards, but he seems to make the most of every hand that he is involved in. He is grinding away and continues to survive. His style of play is ideal in this type of tourney and while he may never get that monster stack, do not be surprised to see his name on the final table.
The one person that everyone has to fear at this point is Phil Ivey (11,350,000). He is currently sitting in 4th place, but that doesn’t really matter. As he has been having an incredible WSOP, the rest of the field must take notice and beware of any hand that they play with him. He has a tendency to go early or go deep and deep is obviously the case here. Only one other player managed to get three bracelets this time around and Phil obviously has his heart set on being the second one to hold that honor this year.
While the rest of the players are going after the bracelet and the $8,546,435 that goes with it, Phil Ivey probably stands to make more in side bets were he to take down the Main Event. Everyone knows he loves to gamble and the circuit that he hangs around in is not scared to throw out a $1,000,000 on anything. You can rest assured that if Phil makes it to the final table, the gallery will be a star studded field of poker superstars with their hands in their wallets.
The overall leader of the tournament is an unknown player by the name of Darvin Moon (20,160,000). He has never had a cash in the WSOP and has sure picked a great time to break his cherry. At this point, all of the players are guaranteed well over $300,000 and once they get it down to two tables, the payouts start to increase significantly.
Unfortunately for Moon, he will have to sit across from Ivey when play resumes. You can be assured that his eye balls will be popping out of their sockets when he sees that chip stack and make it is sole purpose in life to move it across to his side of the table. How will Moon handle the pressure of being the big stack with one of the greatest poker players in the world on his table? Only time will tell, but we should have that answer in about 24 hours.
With the WSOP Main Event having begun, the question of how players can stay mentally focused for so many days and such long sessions. The simple answer is that it isn’t very easy and you absolutely have to be prepared if you are going to invest in this marathon tournament and take your shot at poker glory. However, it is not just a session like this that requires preparation. Sitting down at any MTT is a commitment and if you aren’t ready for it, you will find yourself mumbling and walking to the rail because of an unfocused play that costs you your stack.
If you are going to go deep in any tournament, you need to do a couple of things that will help you stay in the game. The most obvious of course is to pay attention to the play of everyone on your table, but keeping that focus is not easy if that is all you are doing. Sitting there staring at the table will turn you into a zombie. Have you ever noticed how many players are wearing headphones in today’s tournaments?
Music is a great way to not only keep your focus, but also a great reminder to keep your play on track. For instance, maybe you want to program some rather aggressive music once an hour or so to mentally trigger you that if your stack in not in good shape, that you need to start making moves. Music also will allow you to enjoy the tournament instead of getting stuck in that zombie state. People are often much more focused under the influence of music. Get that iPod out and put your favorites on there. Just don’t forget that you want to also use it as a trigger to keep that play focused.
Another thing that you may want to consider is to bring some energy snacks to the table with you. Let’s face it, a huge MTT field means a lot of boring hours at the tables. During those long runs when the cards dry out, it is often very difficult to stay sharp and alert. By eating some healthy energy snacks, you can get that much needed boost to keep you alert and ready for that massive run that awaits you.
Finally, don’t be afraid to get out of your seat if you are starting to feel tired. Even if a break is not coming up, get up and take a quick walk after the blinds pass you by. It will get the blood flowing again and re-energize you at the table. When everyone else is falling asleep because of the long hours, you can pounce like a tiger and start scooping pots. It is quite easy to fall into the trap of fold, fold, fold and you want to avoid that at all costs by staying sharp and alert.
An MTT is not an easy thing to win and if you are going to give yourself a true shot, you must come prepared. Physical ability is one thing, but you also have to be mentally prepared for the long hours that you have to put in at that table. The fact that you cannot re-buy means that one simple mistake could lead to you being ousted. Stay sharp and use this tips to give you an advantage and get you to the final table.
It has been two very long hard weeks of 
