Marc Naalden Wins WSOP USD 2,000 Limit Holdem Event

The Netherlands’ Marc Naalden has won the second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the history of his country. Marc Naalden dominated final table play, suffered a slight setback during heads-up action, and came back to win Event #38, the USD 2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament.

The final table was determined early Sunday morning from the original 446 runners. Naalden, who had dominated the field since it was around 25 players, came to the featured table with a sizeable chip lead. His two closest competitors, Danny Qutami and Steven Cowley, didn’t even have as many chips combined as Naalden with his stack of 755,000. When play began at 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the players went to work quickly, with Cowley eliminating pro Rep Porter in the ninth place after an hour of play.

Naalden extended his lead when he crippled Jared O’Dell with pocket aces, jumping up over one million in chips. O’Dell was eliminated soon afterwards in the seventh place and was immediately followed by Naalden’s elimination of Qutami, who bled chips at the final table. After Naalden eliminated Alex Keating in the fifth place, he held over half of the chips in play.

Once Tam “Tommy” Hang (who finished in third place in last year’s USD 10,000 World Championship of this discipline) was eliminated in the fourth and 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Ian Johns dropped in third, heads-up play came down to Naalden and Cowley. While it seemed that it would be a quick ascension to the bracelet for Naalden, who had Cowley dominated by over 7:1, it would actually prove to be one of the more exciting battles of this year’s WSOP.
Over the first 30 minutes of heads-up play, Cowley put on a surge that actually pushed him into the lead. In that time span, he either won or chopped every pot that was contested and had the Scandinavian scratching his head. After an hour, Naalden gathered himself and pushed back the Cowley assault, retaking the lead that he had held for much of the late action in Event #38. Naalden continued to batter the valiant Cowley until after two hours of heads-up play, he was able to catch a queen against Cowley to win the gold WSOP bracelet and USD 190,770 first place payday.

Two tournaments enter their final day of action with quite a bit of work to be done. Event #39, a USD 1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament that started with 2,715 players on Saturday, could only get down to 26 by the 3:00 a.m. WSOP curfew. There is some controversy as to the chip count of the player at the top of the leaderboard, Michele Iacovone, as he has quoted his stack at 1,605,200 and there are no tournament chips of the 100 denomination in play. Nevertheless, he is atop the remainder of the field, with former World Poker Tour (WPT) champion Joe Bartholdi, veteran Raymond Davis, Alex Jacob, Nam Le, and WSOP bracelet holder Brandon Cantu in hot pursuit of the USD 657,787 first place prize.

The stacked tables of professional players remain in Event #40, the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha, and they were also unable to work their way down to the final table on Day Two. There are still 43 players remaining in the fight from the original 295 starters. Noah Schwartz is at the head of the field, which also includes bracelet holders such as Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer, PokerStars’ Barry Greenstein, Bodog’s David Williams, and Josh Arieh. The USD 40,000 Anniversary Special champion, Vitaly Lunkin, and Padraig Parkinson are a couple of the European players also in the mix. At the end of the rainbow when the tournament ends tonight: a highly prestigious gold WSOP bracelet and a USD 679,379 bankroll boost.

A total of 280 players stepped up to take part in Event #41, the USD 5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, and after the carnage of Day One, 30 players remained on five tables. There are some notable names that are alive as Day Two starts, like Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Mark Teltscher, Barney Boatman, Jennifer Harman, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Jean “Prince” Gaspard, and David “The Dragon” Pham. Even with this much star power, the attention of fans gathered at the Rio will be on 2009 double bracelet winner Phil Ivey as he aims for a third this year, a feat no one has accomplished since Ivey in 2002.

Day One of the USD 2,500 Mixed Game tournament, Event #42 on the WSOP schedule, drew a 412 player field eager to attack the eight disciplines of poker that it features. The combination of games could conceivably be a more difficult challenge than HORSE and the quality of some of the remaining players in the tournament shows the skill necessary to battle in this arena. 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, David Sklansky, John Juanda, Robert Williamson III, Marcel Luske, and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi are some of the top names that are still in contention for this championship.

Two tournaments will start play today in the Amazon Room at the Rio: the USD 1,000 Seniors No Limit Championship and the USD 2,500 Razz tournament, Events #43 and 44 respectively. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2009 WSOP.

Veldhuis, Young talk WSOP $5k Shootout

According to Lex Veldhuis, today's $5,000 No Limit Hold'em shootout might as well be a different sport. The game is so different from a standard NLHE tournament that the Dutch pro says, "comparing it to a No Limit Hold'em tournament is like comparing Texas Hold'em to Omaha." The key difference, Veldhuis says, is the table draw.

In a shootout format, players compete in a series of single-table tournaments, with the winner of each table advancing to the next round. The WSOP's $5k event features three rounds in total, with the starting field slated to be distilled to a five-handed final table by Day 3. 

Since players don't move tables as in a normal tournament, avoiding the big name pros and SNG icons while registering can be key. "Your table matters more in a tournament like this," Veldhuis told to leading online site. "It's so much more important." Beyond table draw, which is uncontrollable, the pros point to the importance of adaptability as a key to success.

"I noticed in this tournament a lot of people were going wild preflop, so I'm sitting back and waiting for hands," said 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Young. "At the same time, people have been noticing that I'm playing tight so I've been able to get away with a couple of big bluffs."

Veldhuis, meanwhile, took the opposite tack on his Day 1 table. "You have to adjust for going from full-ring to shorthanded play," he said. "I try to pick on people who switch gears too late. "I try to double my stack early by putting pressure on people who are playing too tight. If I get to four-handed play I usually have the chip lead.

"I've made plenty of blow-ups with eight or nine people left too," he said. "But it's all about pressure." Young told that he found the shootout format easier than a normal freezeout-format tournament. "I like it," he said. "You've got to know how to play from ten players down to heads-up. For every player that you lose it's a different game. "It's also good because you're at the same table the whole time, so you can adapt to the players' different strategies."

In Day 1 action, Veldhuis emerged victorious at a table that included Philippe Rouas and Jerrod Ankenman. He'll return to action on Monday for Round 2 guaranteed $16,740 in prize money. Also advancing to the second round were Phil Ivey, Davidi Kitai, Danny Wong and Joe Serock.

A total of 280 players bought-in to the Shootout event, including poker icons Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Hellmuth was eliminated after a sometimes testy heads-up battle with Andrea Bonelli, while Ferguson, J.C. Tran, Isaac Baron and Jonathan Little also numbered among the eliminated.

William Hill To Host No Surrender UK Poker Classic

iPoker Network site William Hill has teamed up with the No Surrender Charitable Trust to bring the first ever No Surrender UK Poker Classic to life. The online event will raise money for a cancer-related social network and research institute.

The tournament is slated for Friday, June 26 and has an expected prize pool of USD 30,000. Its grand prize winner will take home a one-of-a-kind VIP trip to Las Vegas, Nevada worth USD 10,000

Organizers are gunning for 1,000 players in the online event, which will play out on the virtual felts of William Hill. A longstanding fixture in the online poker industry, William Hill is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange, where it can be found under the symbol “WMH.” The UK Poker Classic comes with a price tag of USD 30 with USD 20 re-buys available for those finding themselves short on chips.

Its winner and a very lucky guest will jet set to Sin City in style aboard British Airways in the carrier’s luxurious Club World class. While in Las Vegas, the duo will call the Bellagio, a Strip casino, home for four nights. The venue is rich in poker lore, playing host to the annual World Poker Tour (WPT) end-of-season Championship event each April as well as the Bellagio Cup, Festa al Lago, and Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. It’s the equivalent of Ground Zero for the WPT tournament series and also hosts Bobby’s Room, the home of high-stakes cash games featuring poker’s biggest names.

“We are always looking for new ways to raise funds and keep within the spirit of the No Surrender Trust, which ultimately is to do it having fun! Jason would have loved this event. As a city trader before he contracted pancreatic cancer, he was hugely competitive and loved synergy between the city and a game like poker,” Marc Maley of the No Surrender Charitable Trust commented in a press release distributed by William Hill.

The “Jason” in question is Jason Boas, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago at the age of 33. Nevertheless, he has raised over GBP 150,000 for cancer-related causes, including research and a helpful social networking site for patients.

The tournament kicks off at 8:00 p.m. 70 per cent of the prize pool will be donated to the charity, while the remaining 30 per cent will serve as the event’s purse. In addition, William Hill will add USD 1,000. The USD 10,000 travel package is good for non-blackout dates before December 1. Travel is not permitted on Independence Day (July 3rd and 4th), Labor Day (September 7th), Columbus Day (October 12th), Veteran’s Day (November 11th), and Thanksgiving (November 26th), all major US holidays when tourists flock in droves to Las Vegas.

The iPoker Network’s weekly major is the USD 250,000 Guaranteed, which runs on Sunday nights at 19:00 UK time. The tournament sports a USD 320 buy-in and satellites start as low as USD 3.80. On Friday, the family of sites hosts a USD 150,000 guaranteed prize pool event, which comes with a USD 109 buy-in and unlimited re-buys are available. The high-stakes contest kicks off at 20:00 UK time and qualifiers start at an affordable USD 1.20. Finally, Saturday night sees the running of the USD 50,000 Guaranteed, which has a USD 109 price tag. Thee freezeout starts at 18:30 UK time and satellites begin at USD 8.80.

Players on William Hill battle with competitors from across the iPoker Network, which also includes CD Poker, Mansion Poker, Noble Poker, Paddy Power, and Titan Poker. The Network is the third largest worldwide and the biggest that does not accept players from the United States. 

Tentative Schedule for 2009 WCOOP Bared

Even though the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is still in full swing, PokerStars is already preparing for September through the release of a tentative schedule for the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).

The WCOOP, which is considered the online version of the WSOP, is the longest running online tournament series around, with the inaugural event held in 2002. Back then, the WCOOP consisted of only nine events and awarded USD 730,000, an astronomical sum at the time. In the past seven years, the WCOOP has grown into a month-long event which last year featured 33 tournaments and paid out just under USD 40 million in prize money. Over the history of the WCOOP, USD 104 million has been awarded to its cashing players and 121 champions, who receive a 14 karat gold bracelet along with a huge payday for their achievement.

The tentative schedule issued by PokerStars says this year’s WCOOP will begin on September 3. PokerStars continues to make the tournament even better by offering more events and larger guaranteed prize pools. This year’s tournament schedule offers 42 tournaments and guarantees prize pools of over USD 40 million during the 17 days that the WCOOP will run. On September 20, the traditional USD 5,200 buy in Main Event takes place alongside the USD 10,300 High Rollers Event, which has also become a staple of the PokerStars sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT).

Here’s a complete look at what is being advised by the PokerStars brass to be a tentative schedule of events for the 2009 WCOOP:

Sep 3 14:30 USD 215 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max, USD 1.25 million guaranteed
Sep 3 16:30 USD 215 Razz, USD 200,000 guaranteed
Sep 4 14:30 USD 215 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 4 16:30 USD 215 No Limit Single Draw 2-7 with Rebuys, USD 200,000 guaranteed
Sep 5 12:45 USD 109 No Limit Hold’em, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 5 14:30 USD 215 No Limit 5 Card Draw, USD 200,000 guaranteed
Sep 5 16:30 USD 215 Limit Hold’em, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 6 12:45 USD 215 Special Sunday Warm-Up, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 6 14:30 USD 10,300 No Limit Hold’em, USD 2 million guaranteed
Sep 6 16:30 USD 530 No Limit Hold’em, USD 3 million guaranteed
Sep 7 14:30 USD 320 Mixed Hold’em Six-Max, USD 350,000 guaranteed
Sep 7 16:30 USD 215 Pot Limit Omaha Cubed Six-Max, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 8 14:30 USD 320 Stud, USD 150,000 guaranteed
Sep 8 16:30 USD 320 Badugi, USD 100,000 guaranteed
Sep 8 20:00 USD 1,050 No Limit Hold’em, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 9 14:30 USD 530 No Limit Hold’em Triple Shootout 10-Max, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 9 16:30 USD 320 Eight Game Mixed Event, USD 300,000 guaranteed
Sep 10 14:30 USD 530 Pot Limit Hold’em Six-Max, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 10 16:30 USD 320 2-7 Triple Draw, USD 100,000 guaranteed
Sep 11 14:30 USD 215 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys, USD 1.25 million guaranteed
Sep 11 16:30 USD 530 Limit Omaha H/L, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 12 14:30 USD 530 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 12 16:30 USD 320 HORSE, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 13 12:45 USD 215 Special Sunday Warm-Up, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 13 14:30 USD 25,500 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em, USD 800,000 guaranteed
Sep 13 16:30 USD 1,050 No Limit Hold’em, USD 3 million guaranteed
Sep 14 14:30 USD 320 Half Pot Limit Hold’em, Half Pot Limit Omaha, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 14 16:30 USD 320 No Limit Hold’em 2X Chance, USD 800,000 guaranteed
Sep 15 14:30 USD 320 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys, USD 700,000 guaranteed
Sep 15 16:30 USD 530 Stud H/L, USD 200,000 guaranteed
Sep 15 20:00 USD 1,050 No Limit Hold’em, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 16 14:30 USD 215 No Limit Hold’em Big Antes, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 16 16:30 USD 320 Pot Limit Omaha H/L, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 17 14:30 USD 530 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys Six-Max, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 17 16:30 USD 2,100 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max, USD 600,000 guaranteed
Sep 18 14:30 USD 530 No Limit Hold’em Cubed, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 18 16:30 USD 1,050 Limit Hold’em Six-Max, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 19 14:30 USD 530 Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha, USD 500,000 guaranteed
Sep 19 16:30 USD 2,100 Eight Game Mixed Event, USD 400,000 guaranteed
Sep 20 12:45 USD 215 Special Sunday Warm-Up, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 20 14:30 USD 10,300 HORSE, USD 1 million guaranteed
Sep 20 16:30 USD 5,200 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, USD 10 million guaranteed

The reason that PokerStars is calling this a “tentative” schedule is that the site is seeking input from players regarding changes that could potentially be made to make it better. By e-mailing PokerStars at wcoop@pokerstars.com, the voices of those who make up the tournament fields will be heard. 

EU pressing US to legalize online gambling

A News from the EU report says the European Union is now intervening in the internet gambling dispute with the United States, and is pressing for a solution. This new EU reports appeared in the same week when the US authorities seized around USD 30 million from bank accounts believed to be connected to online poker and other gambling websites.

This helping hand from the EU is good news for the millions of online gambling amateurs and lovers currently living in the US.

The European Commission is urging the US to lift its ban on online gambling companies. They are urging them to end the ban this week, stating that the online gambling ban was passed during the Bush administration and it now violates world trade agreements. The EU is even saying they will step up and seek compensation from the World Trade Organization this time around. They claim that this ban made which bars foreign gambling websites from operating in the US violates international trade laws.

The online gambling bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) was also mentioned as it aims at legalizing the online gambling industry in the United States. It safeguards clients against illegal activities like money laundering and others, thus protecting gamblers.

These talks and negotiations between the US and the European Union will hopefully pave the way for a more sensible legal structure for the online gambling industry around the world.

Tran bags Second Career Bracelet, Confirms Bid for Asian Poker Tour Title

Las Vegas: With fellow Poker Pack member Steve Sung already winning a bracelet this year, everybody knew that it would not be long before J.C. Tran followed suit. 

Tran picked up the second WSOP® bracelet of his career Wednesday by winning the USD 2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event (Event #30) at the 40th annual World Series of Poker®. His dominating heads-up performance was completed when his full house on the final hand left runner-up Jeff Kimber’s pocket pair and failed straight draw in the dust. With the victory, the Poker Pack pro picked up USD 235,685 in prize money – his third cash win at this year’s WSOP® – and the coveted gold bracelet.

“Wow! It’s been great for us so far!” said a jubilant Tran after the event. “Steve’s won one and made another final table and today I got my second bracelet. Now we’ll look to keep this up all the way to the main event.” 

Aside from the rest of the WSOP® events, J.C. Tran said that the win he is looking forward to getting is at the Asian Poker Tour Macau tournament this August.

“It’s definitely going to be fun in Macau. The Asian Poker Tour has some great events planned that you won’t see anywhere else. We are also ambassadors of the APT. So it would be twice as good to win there.”

The Poker Pack is a team of specially selected players of Asian origin who are ambassadors for the Asian Poker Tour. The group is composed of J.C. Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, David “Chino” Rheem, Steve Sung, and Kwang Soo Lee. Together, the six have approximately USD 24 million in live tournament winnings.

Asian Poker Tour Macau 2009 will be held at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau from August 12 to 23, 2009. Buy-in is set at HKD 32,000 + USD 2,400 (approximately USD 4300).

Team UB signs up Brandon Cantu

Ultimate Bet, which constitutes one-half of the CEREUS Network, has signed up World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Brandon Cantu as the latest member of Team UB. He can be found playing under the screen name “brandon cantu” on the USA-friendly site.

Cantu burst on to the live poker scene by winning a USD 1500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2006 WSOP for USD 757,000. He stormed through the 2,776 player field, and a final table which also included Carlos Mortensen. He finished 20th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for USD 257,000 and has a total of eight in the money finishes in the Las Vegas tournament series. Cantu is also a World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner, having taken down the Season VI Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament for USD 1 million. In that event, Cantu defeated WSOP Stimulus Special winner Steve Sung heads-up and squeaked by John “The Razor” Phan and Jennifer Harman at the final table. He’s one of only a handful of players to have won WSOP and WPT events.

“This is an exhilarating time for Team UB. We’re constantly on the lookout for poker players who have real integrity, unquestionable talent, and an incredible passion for the game and we’ve found it all in Brandon Cantu,” Ultimate Bet Card Room Consultant and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke said in a press release. 

Cantu’s poker resume also includes a victory in a USD 300 buy-in tournament held as part of the 2006 Ultimate Poker Challenge for USD 9,000 and a runner-up showing in the Scotty Nguyen Poker Classic USD 1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2007.

Cantu will be donning Ultimate Bet gear in this year’s tournament series, including the Main Event, which kicks off on July 3 with the first of four starting days. In a trend that began last year, the 2009 WSOP Main Event’s final table will once again be pushed back until November in order to coincide with television coverage on ESPN. Among those in the field also sporting Ultimate Bet gear will be Duke and Phil Hellmuth. The former finished as the runner-up to comedian Joan Rivers in the finale of NBC’s second season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” The reality show helped raise USD 730,000 for Refugees International, Duke’s chosen charity. Hellmuth is an 11-time WSOP bracelet winner, the most all-time.

Team UB also includes online poker aficionado Adam “Roothlus” Levy, blackjack expert “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Gary “Debo34? DeBernardi, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Tracy “Fatcats” Scala, and Tiffany Michelle. The latter was the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, where she earned USD 334,000 for her 17th place. Scala won the first season of Ultimate Bet’s “Best Damn Poker Show,” which airs on Fox Sports Net and recently completed its second season. Patrick Karst won the series’ newest installment.

Ultimate Bet is fiercely qualifying its members to head to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. To date, it has stamped the entry forms of 113 players to the USD 10,000 buy-in tournament. A 50 Package Guaranteed event will take place this Sunday, that is June 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET. The tournament boasts a USD 530 buy-in and a bevy of satellites are available.

Players who qualify through Ultimate Bet and win the WSOP Main Event by wearing the site’s gear at the final table will qualify for an extra USD 10 million prize. Online qualifiers will also receive 15 per cent off their stay at the MGM Grand and free shuttle service to and from the Rio, and will be included in the exclusive guest list for the Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 on June 29. Finally, players will receive access to the Phil Hellmuth Suite at the Rio to unwind during breaks at the Main Event.