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Event 35: Ayaz Mahmood turns out to be the champion of champions
2010-07-29

Ayaz Mahmood made his career’s first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet victory by winning the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em championship. Mahmood first attended the WSOP in 2003 and this was his fourth appearance in the final. He defeated Ernst Schmejkal in the final match which was played in the best of three format. Mahmood had an earning of $626,674 as the prize money for winning the event. The event number 35 saw 256 entries with the net prize money being totalled at $2,406,400 and having 32 final paid places. The match was played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Nevada. The details of the way match went by are as under.

Event Details:

On the first day 256 of the best players in poker were up against each other in a contest which required strong nerves and brilliant skills to win. The event had some of the best names from poker. Out of the 256, 64 survived to play the next day. At the end of the next day there were only 8 left to make an attempt for the golden bracelet and the huge winning sum.

The final eight did not have a single former WSOP winner. The winner Mahmood had to win nine straight heads-up matches in total to emerge victorious. Ernst Moritz Schmejkal was the toughest opponent that he faced and also the last one. Though he defeated him 2-0 in the best of three final format, the victory was not easy for him as the match had to be extended to an unscheduled fourth day.

Match 1 saw the two opponents battling it out for more than 6 hours and although in the final two hours Mahmood had the lead, it was not easy for him to take the first match.

Match 2 was played on the fourth day. The final hand was dealt after five hours of play when against Schmejkal’s Ad 6s, Mahmood had Qh Th. This was followed by Ah Td 9c. When the final two cards were Jd Ks, Mahmood managed to make a straight and win the second match. Thus he won the best of three finals by 2-0.

The runners up won $386,900 while the two semi-finalists, Jason Somerville from New York and Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow each won $ 219,969. Both of them had won 6 of their 7 matches. The remaining players in the final eight won $94,956 each. The finishers were Vanessa Rousso from USA, Faraz Jaka from USA, Ludovic Lacay from England and Thang Pham from USA. The defending champion of last year Leo Wolpert failed to cash in this year.

About the Winner:

Ayaz Mahmood is a Bangladeshi born 38 year old who has been living in the US since he was 14. He is in fact the first Bangladeshi born WSOP champion. Before turning to playing poker full time in 2004, Mahmood owned a furniture store in Houston.

He was quite excited on winning the title and said that he had waited ten years for this. He said that it was not an easy task to win the title against strong players and was happy on being able to do so. He said that now he would like to have a shot at the main event.

The November Nine is coming, Who are you betting on? Matthew Jarvis at +700, maybe Soi Nguyen at +1200? The lines are all at www.sportsbook.com get over there today and bet!

CAKE POKER MANAGER APOLOGISES FOR SECURITY BREACH (Update)
2010-07-28

"Somewhere along the software ladder, there was a error of omission, commission, stupidity, documentation or some combination thereof.
Lee Jones, the Cake Poker Network cardroom manager, has 'fessed up to the embarrassing disclosures by Poker Table Ratings Tuesday (see previous InfoPowa report) that the security encryption on the network was not all that it should be.
The PTR sleuths have in the meantime produced video evidence of their ability to successfully steal hole cards as these were dealt, along with passwords and user names from multiple Cake Network skins.
Posting on the respected poker forum 2plus2, where a lengthy thread is running, Jones wrote:
"Sure, when the issue came up in May, I asked our software management team. They told me that we were more secure than Cereus [another network whose security flaws were exposed by PTR]. When this all came to light a few hours ago and they got down into the actual code, it turned out they were wrong (as one of the senior managers just admitted to me).
"Somewhere along the software ladder, there was an error of omission, commission, stupidity, documentation or some combination thereof. I'm not happy about it and neither is the manager to whom I spoke.
"Furthermore, I definitely have to accept some blame here. I could have (and wished I had) pushed further on the response I got, talked to some development people about it (they're in-house), etc.
"I'm going to post an official response shortly, but believe me, I feel crappy about having said in May that we had stronger encryption than Cereus did when we didn't. The lesson I've learned is to ask more harder questions when these sorts of things come up.
"I owe the entire Cake poker community an apology: I am very, very sorry."

Pot-Limit Hold’em/ Omaha $ 2.5K: Jose-Luis Velador has the victory
2010-07-28

Jose-Luis Velador emerged victorious in the $2,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha championship at the ongoing World Series of Poker (WSOP). After his victory in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event at WSOP in 2008, this was Velador’s second WSOP gold bracelet victory. He got earnings of $ 260,552 for his victory. The event had a total of 482 entries for the 45 paid places in the event which had a net prize pool of $ 1,108,600. The event was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Nevada.

Event Details:

The event had some of the big names in the 482 entries that were seen on the first day. There were 126 players who survived the first day and got an opportunity to come back on the second day. There were only nine players who could make it to the final table on the last day. Out of these nine three had earlier won a gold bracelet, Luis Velador and Rob Hollink had won one each while Dave Chui had won four earlier.

In fact Velador, Chui and Ivey had finished at the top of the leader board at the end of day two. At the end of the event, David Chiu finished as the runner up while Rob Hollink got the third position. It was for the first time in 2010 WSOP that the first three spots had been taken by former winners.

David Chui got $ 160,902 for his position while Rob Hollink earned $ 116,358 for being the third finisher. David Chiu’s last gold bracelet victory came in the year 2005 while Rob Hollink had won the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship in 2007.

As the match became two handed in the last stages, Chiu found himself short-stacked and after 20 minutes he went out. When Luis Velador was dealt 7d 6c against Chiu’s Ac Th, the final hand of the tournament came. 6s 3s 2d 9c Js ran on the final board, giving Velador his second WSOP title.

Craig Gray the fourth finisher pocketed earnings of $ 85,029 while Kavin Macphee earned $ 62, 791 for finishing fifth. Cashing in for the 16th time in his WSOP career was Annand Ramdin who earned $ 46,860 for the sixth position. James Mitchell from England received $35,331 as he had finished seventh while Gavin Cochrane who had finished at the eight position and Matt Sterling who finished ninth won $ 26,905 and $ 20, 697 respectively.

About the winner:

Born in Mexico Luis Velador has been playing poker professionally for the past 13 years. He first entered in the WSOP main event in 2006 which he followed up by participating in the same event in 2007 and was lucky enough to cash in both the events. Prior to turning a professional he was a tile setter.

After winning his second WSOP he said that there was a very tough final table and it is not easy to win a title considering the number of strong players that one has to beat. He said that winning a title meant a lot to him. He also said that the game of poker was getting tougher each day with new kids playing in.

On a lighter note when asked what he was going to do with the bracelet, he said that he was going to gift it to her wife on her birthday.

The November Nine is coming, Who are you betting on? John Racener at +700, maybe Filippo Candio at +1200? The lines are all at www.sportsbook.com get over there today and bet!

WSOP Event 48: Eskeland Excels
2010-07-26

The 48th Event at the 2010 World Series Of Poker was the $2,500 Mixed Game scheduled for the 26th June, 2010. Eight different games were played that began at 3:00 p.m. with 20 players at 3 tables. The game ended 14 hours later with Sigurd Eskeland emerging as the champion.

As the match got under way with the final two, Steve Sung & Sigurd Eskeland, Eskeland made a bet & the first three cards were dealt with by Sung. He had a Qc 9h 9d. Sung then declined to make a bet leading Eskeland to make a turn of his card which was the Kc, thus calling the current bet of zero by both the players. The final card was dealt with in the current poker hand, a 10c and Eskeland discarded his hand to a bet from Sung. Then Sung made a razz hand, which got him 1,200,000 however, Eskeland was still up ahead of him with 2,600,000.

A few minutes later Sung again made a razz hand with Eskeland having to make a forced bet in the stud game & requiring Sung to raise the amount of the bet to a normal-sized bet. There was the fourth street by Sung with Eskeland matching the bet. Eskeland bet on the fifth street & asked Sung to match the raise. Eskeland folded on sixth street when Eskeland checked and Sung bet. With this both players levelled against each other.

Next came in the stud, with Jh As 6s Ad of Eskeland & Qh Ah 5d 3d of Sung, putting Eskeland back in the lead. He opened the betting round and then called a completion from Sung on third street. When Sung bet nothing on the turn card, Eskeland bet and Sung matched with him. Sung check-raised on fifth street allowing Eskeland to call. On sixth street it was Eskeland who bet with Sung calling. Eskeland began a final round of betting & got Sung to fold.

The next hand showed Eskeland- 6d 2c 4h 10c, & Sung- 3s 10s 5s 3d. Sung opened the betting round but three-bet Eskeland after Eskeland increased the size of his bet. Fourth street was pretty simple with Sung betting and Eskeland matching the bet & it was the same till seventh street when Sung bet and Eskeland forfeited his interest in the current pot. Thereby, Sung was up by 200K, he had 1,800,000 to Eskeland's 1,600,000.

After this there was a flop of 10h 9s 3h. Sung check-called a bet of 640,000 from Eskeland and they both passed the 4d on fourth street. The river card was 5h, Sung bet out 200,000, and got Eskeland to fold.

Eskeland rose to 80,000 from the buck and got a situation of a three-bet to 260,000 from Sung. The cards were as such, Sung- Qd Qs & Eskeland- Ac 9s. The flop came 3d 9c 4c but it didn’t prove to be of much help to Sung. However, the Jc on the turn gave Eskeland a chance to draw for his flush in addition to his higher card. The final card was the 2c, giving Eskeland all the cards of the same suit as well as his victory, with which the event ended.

Steve Sung had won a bracelet last year in a $1000 event but could only gather a $160,952 & a 2nd place this year. Whereas, Sigurd Eskeland, from Oslo, Norway had previously cashed in two WSOP events, including the main event in 2008 but went all the way to win $260,497 & the coveted bracelet in this WSOP.

And the WSOP action isn’t over yet. www.sportsbook.com has the lines for the final table even held in November. The current longshot is Jason Senti at +2000. Are you ready to take a shot at the longshot, or maybe the favorite John Dolan at +250? Head over to Sportsbook.com today and get into the action!

WSOP Event 50: $5K POT-LIMIT OMAHA
2010-07-26

The 50th event of the World Series Of Poker was the $5K POT-LIMIT OMAHA which was held on the 28th of June and went on for three consecutive days.

There was naturally a lot of anticipation regarding the event and a great run-in to the bracelet was expected.

The remaining 31 contestants were all set for the face-off determined to win the bracelet. With all talented contenders left on the field, it was Robert Mizrachi at the top of the chip counts, followed by Chance Kornuth, Jose Barbero, and Eric Liu.

As the event reached its third day, there were 28 players left, and a possibility of the winner being revealed that day itself. As the blinds were to get steeper starting at 5,000/10,000 there was every possibility of some very quick eliminations.

With 20 players left after a much expected explosive round, the game only got interesting. From 5,000/10,000, the blinds went up to 6,000/12,000 and the average stack also rose over 405,000.

With Ross Boatman, Josh Tieman and Ayaz Mahmood also out of the game there were a total of seventeen players left.After another level was completed, and the players came back after a twenty minutes break there were only 14 players left and the blinds rose yet again to 8,000/16,000.

There was yet another thing that happened during this level, Ran Azor, one of the players was seen enthusiastically blowing smoke rings into the air while all the others were in a hand. It was finally found out that he was smoking a fake cigarette which did have the nicotine and smoke but did not have any smell. The poor floor guys had no clue what to do as they had no idea if it was legal or illegal. It was thereon decided that the stench less smoke would certainly act as a distraction for the others if not anything else and so, he was asked by the floor to put it off.

With the approaching final table the players decided to go a bit slower and demanded a short break. Hence the play was to be resumed after a halt of five minutes. There was an addition to Kevin Boudreau's chips as Niall Charlton's were also added to his after the latter was eliminated at the 14th position. Scott Mandel also eliminated David Iammarino after flopping a flush against him. He was at the 13th position and took with him $24,711.

With 12 players left on the table, the blinds being paid still got steeper to 10,000/20,000.

Robert Mizrachi took the call and Mark Eddleman was taken down at the eleventh position after being busted.

After the level got over with just ten players remaining as it had been desired, the players went on a hour long dinner break and returned at about 8.40 for the final table of the game, the blinds rising again to 12.000/24,000.

Ran Azor was first to leave the final table, finishing at the tenth position and taking home $31,448. With the final nine players being established, the game was stopped so that the chip counts could be taken and remaining players could again situate themselves on the table.

Robert Mizrachi and Kevin Boudreau seemed to have the largest fan following in the crowd. Hasta Luego Barbero was soon sent out of the game finishing at the 9th spot, followed by Robert Mizrachi (whose fans couldn't unfortunately save him) and Eric Liu.

At level 25 and with six players left, the blinds reached up to 20,000/40,000 and the average stack to a whopping $1,380,000. Julian Gardener was knocked out at the 6th place for $91,387, followed by Scott Mandel who was eliminated at the fifth rank foe $122,455.

After the fifth elimination, the players went on a twenty minutes break and when they returned to play the blinds had risen up to 30,000/60,000.

There was a tiff which broke out between Chance Kornuth and Kevin Boudreau. It went on to such a level that the latter had to be warned for a penalty.

Soon the blinds started looking larger than the stacks and it was easy to make out that the time of the final decision wasn't too far. Ted Martin was busted in 4th spot for $165,825, and Danny Smith finished 3rd with $226,923.

The final battle was between Kevin Boudreau and Chance Kornuth. It did not take long for the winner to be decided and the crowed cheering for Kornuth was overjoyed as he emerged as the champion after beating Boudreau, who got a respectable second place along with $313,792.

The shiny WSOP bracelet and $508,090 went to the one who most deserved them, Chance Kornuth who successfully defeated many strong contenders to become a part of WSOP's history!

WSOP Event 49: Linn Assassinates the Quiet Assassin
2010-07-26

On the 32nd day Of the World Series Of Poker, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, Event 49 of the Tournament of Champions was held. It continued for a stretch of three days with numerous bad beats & lucky final cards, only to see Michael Linn emerge as a champion & winning the coveted bracelet.

A total of 2,543 players enrolled for this game, which included notable players as well as novices. However, the game called out for the elimination of more than two thousand players with only 290 players returning for the 2nd day, that is, the money day.

An action-packed game followed with players such as JP Kelly, Matthew Matros, Allen Kessler, Ari Engel, George Lind, Shane Schleger, Marc Naalden and David Pham making an early exit before the third day, until only twenty-three players were.

On day three Taylor Larkin retained the maximum lead of casino tokens as nine players were left in the game. Twenty minutes into the match on the third day & Tyler Cornell was out of the game. Erle Mankin, Justin Zaki, Alexander Kuzmin and Chadwick Grimes were also all gone during the course of two levels.

As four players were left at the table, Larkin was still up ahead but Mihai Manole & Michael Linn had quite bridged the gap & were reaching up to him. At this point Benjamin Smith tried to trick the people with the idea of a short stack but was unsuccessful & fell out on the fourth spot. Gathering himself up Linn collected so many chips, that they were double that of his two opponents thereby, outdoing Manole when he outdrew his ducks.

A gruelling match followed next, amongst the final two players. For two whole hours they battled it out, with Linn moving from a two-to-one lead to a four-to-one lead before doubling up Larkin twice to keep him in the match.

Family, friends & random onlookers that were all at the sideline, watched at the 12th hour of the event, Linn finally steam-rolling Larkin with his Ace-Quacks & claiming $609,493 due his worth. On the other hand, Larkin went home with $378,905, Manole with $268,189 & Smith with $193,418.