Pokerblog – 2009 July

With the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event on hold until the return of the “November Nine,” Bodog.com already has its sights set on next year’s Main Event in Las Vegas. One of the first events to qualify online poker players for the 2010 Poker World Series, the Bodog Mini Poker Series, awarded a $12,000 prize package this past Sunday to winner John “Getn_Outa_MI” Ormsby.

“The possibility of winning a seat in next year’s Main Event was the main reason I was interested in playing in the Bodog Mini Poker Series,” explains Ormsby, who has earned the distinction of becoming the first member of Team Bodog at the 2010 Poker World Series. “I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas to play in the World Series but have never had the chance. The Mini Series provided me with a great opportunity to do so.”

Wrapping up the 13-event online poker tournament series that ran alongside the 2009 Poker World Series Main Event, the Bodog Mini Series Final included 82 players, all who had either won their way in by placing in the top ten of the series’ Tournament Leader Board, placing in the top 18 of the Semifinal Tournament held on July 21, or playing in all 13 of the Bodog Mini Poker Series events.

While it was the $12,000 Poker World Series package the players were ultimately battling for, it was not the only prize up for grabs in the Bodog Mini Poker Series Final. “Dannenman” and “turningstone,” who finished second and third respectively, each won buy-ins to every event in the upcoming Bodog Poker Open IV (T$2,000). “ManHound” and “prophet” each received seats to any Bodog Flight Club Semifinal (T$270) of their choosing for finishing in fourth and fifth. For placing sixth through ninth, “Mattaru,” “Jeffrado,” “PrinceSheba,” and “757Gam” each won entry to one of Bodog’s weekly $100,000 Guaranteed Poker Tournaments (T$162), held every Sunday at 4:00 pm EST.

With the Bodog Mini Poker Series now in the books, attention in the Bodog.com Poker room turns to Bodog Flight Club, which awards online poker players prize packages to major poker tournaments all over the world, including the EPT, WPT and LAPT. Right now, qualifiers are running for the WPT Legends of Poker event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Bodog.com players can get started on their way for as little as $1 or 100 Bodog Poker Points.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
$1,891,012 in cash waits for the winner of event #2, the $40,000 Anniversary Event
Tuesday night is WSOP poker night on ESPN Sports TV. Beginning at 8 PM ET July 28th get set for two hours of 2009 WSOP Poker every week until the November final table. Shows 1 & 2 kick off the action with the final table of the 2009 WSOP 40th Anniversary $40,000 NLHE Championship. The winner, Vitaly Lunkin, received almost $1.9 million in cash and a WSOP Championship Bracelet. Second place went to Isaac Haxton along with $1,168,655 in prize money.More Flipchip photos featuring former WSOP Main Event Champion playing in the $40K event after the jump.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here’s another opportunity to rub shoulders with some of poker’s elite while doing a great service for our senior citizens in need of special care. The M Resort Las Vegas is hosting a charity poker tournament today, Thursday, July 23rd at Noon, to benefit Homestead of Boulder City, a Volunteers of America assisted living and memory care facility serving Southern Nevada.

The tournament is a $200+20 Buy-In NLHE event with unlimited $30 Rebuys the first three levels plus one $30 Add-On for double the starting chip stack. Fifty percent of all proceeds will go to the charity while the remaining fifty percent will be paid out to the final table players. The winner will also receive a very nice Rockwell Time sports watch. Complete details are available at greasywheels.com.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
November Nine pose with the elusive World Championship bracelet and a couple of dollars in cash
Day 8 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event welcomed 27 players to do battle commencing at High Noon across the felt for the nine seats of the November Final Table. Those 9 lucky players would leave the Amazon Room at the Rio Resort as members of the nouveau riche, all millionaires after each received $1,263,602 for 9th place.Considering the amount of money at stake it was again assumed the players would show caution and restraint, playing far into the wee hours of the next day. Some thought we could still be there twenty four hours later recording a slow grind toward poker immortality. No one believed it would be over in time to catch the 11 o’clock news. There was no fear among this crowd of poker warriors. Aggression ruled on the day and “All-in and a Call” was the oft-heard battle cry.

More Flipchip photos from Day 8 after the jump.

That’s it from the 2009 WSOP summer event at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas. The Main Event final table will be played November 7-10 right back here at the Rio and promises to be a great one. Many believe this is the most poker talent at a Main Event final table in recent years so expect to see some great poker with the likes of Phil Ivey, Jeff Shulman, chip leader Darvin Moon, and a slew of young talent.

With over twenty thousand images from the 2009 WSOP we will be selecting and publishing them regularly here on the Poker Prof’s Blog. We will also publish bio’s along with more photos of each of the final nine players so stop by daily. 2009 WSOP photos will also be added to our permanent photo galleries and as always will be offered for use free through our Creative Commons License.

ESPN Sports TV will broadcast their coverage of the 2009 WSOP beginning on Tuesday night, July 28th, and continuing every Tuesday evening through the November final table.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Day 7 ESPN TV feature table
Day 7 finds 64 players returning to the tables for the semi final round of play. When this day ends we will have the 27 finalist set to play for a seat at the November Final table. The chip stacks are millions huge and a slowing of play is assumed as the play began to smell the fame and fortune awaiting the November Nine. Slow play just never happened this day and the 64 went at each other as if there was no tomorrow and for many there wasn’t. This bunch didn’t hesitate to push their stack in so eliminations continued at a furious pace.More Flipchip photos from Day 5 after the jump.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So you invest $5 into a 50,000-player tournament on Sunday, win 1st place for $45,000, and what do you do?

Go back to grinding a $10 heads-up sit’n’go.

That’s what Chicago-based breo40 did, coming down off Full Tilt’s largest tournament in their history, which lasted almost 9 hours (the final table alone was 90 minutes).

That’s dedication. We don’t know if we’d have that much restraint and discipline not to jump into a higher limit game, you know, to parlay.

But the 30-year-old will continue to play his regular low-limit sit-n-go games, though he conceded he’d go as high as $100… non-turbo.

During the marathon session, he never fell below average stack and his Aces held up. He led the final table with a 3:1 chip lead, and his final hand was A9 vs. 34. A9 held up.

He doesn’t yet know what he’ll do with his newfound windfall, but for now he’s content playing the same games he did before.

And trying to get the money out of his account as fast as possible.

Full Tilt informed breo40 that at least a dozen players attempted to hack into his account after his win. His account is currently being monitored for any fraudulent activity.

Asking the instant online poker celebrity what he did as soon as he won, breo40 said: “bout crapped my pants.”

And by the way, he lost the heads-up SnG but jumped into a 6max $6 SnG.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)