Watching live streaming of the Bay 101 10K Main Event. Today (Monday Mar. 8th) is the first day. Tuesday is day 1B. Runs Wed – Fri. Final table Fri. at 4PM pacific time.

Bounties and end-of-day highest stack pay outs.

Annie Duke wins the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Champion in a best of 3 against Erik Seidel. Duke won the first and the last matches. Duke wins $500,000 and Seidel wins $250.000.

How’d they get to the finals? 

Clubs/Spades Bracket

Erik Seidel beat Peter Eastgate
Scotty Nguyen beat Jason Mercier

Hearts/Diamonds Bracket

Dennis Phillips beat Doyle Brunson
Annie Duke beat Jerry Yang

Semifinals

Erik Seidel beat Scotty Nguyen
Annike Duke beat Dennis Phillips

Watching the LA Poker Classic being streamed. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/la-poker-classic-2010.  Featured table has Daniel Negreanu.  Not the best video, but, better than than not seeing it.

Winding up for today, but, expect that they will run Noon – 8:30 again tomorrow.

It’s been an interesting morning here at PokaPaloma central. While catching up on the poker news I found…

PokerDailyNews reports that James Akenhead won Full Tilt’s Poker Million VIII.

The Full Tilt Poker Million was an invitational event featuring 72 players from around the globe fighting for the half-million dollar first place prize. The shootout-style event’s preliminary and semi-final bouts were filmed earlier this year in London and already aired on Sky Sports in Europe. While those rounds were taped, the final table players returned to London Friday to play down to a champion.

Here are the final table results from this year’s Poker Million:

1st Place: James Akenhead – $500,000
2nd Place: Juha Helppi – $250,000
3rd Place: Dag Martin Mikkelsen – $200,000
4th Place: Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz – $150,000
5th Place: Craig Wakeham – $100,000
6th Place: Peter Vasiliou – $75,000
7th Place: Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby – $50,000
 

Gambling911.com reports that James Akenhead won the PokerStars Poker Million 8:

Professional poker player James Akenhead has won the PokerStars 2009 Poker Million 8. His total winnings in live tournmanet play for the year amount to just over $2 million now.

By the end of the tournament, Akenhead found himself heads-up against Finnish veteran, Juha Helppi, eventually winning out.

 
Found lots of tweets and retweets about Gambling911.com story.

And BetFair reports that James Akenhead won the Poker Million

James Akenhead can seemingly do no wrong right now and has capped off a fantastic year by taking down his first major tournament of 2009, the Poker Million.

Over the weekend Akenhead played the final table of the 2009 Poker Million aiming to win and add $500,000 to the $1,442,077 h had won this year all ready. After seeing the likes of Taylor Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen and Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz hit the rail, Akenhead found himself heads-up against Finnish veteran, Juha Helppi.

So whose tourney is it? Enlighten me!

Monday, November 9, 2009, the morning of the 2009 WSOP FINAL Final Table when Darvin Moon and Joe Cada were to battle it out for the championship, I played in a daily no limit hold’em tournament at the MGM Grand.

I registered about 5 minutes before start time.  There were 70 players registered already. I was told that the tables were full and that I was 1st alternate. By tournament start time there were enough alternates to seat another table. One of the alternates inquired about that and the tournament manager said that he would like to start another table, but, he didn’t have enough dealers.

Mental Note: MGM Grand, Monday mornings @ 11am, the casino plans on 70 runners for the tourney (in November).  

Buy In:               $65
Starting Stack: $1500
Levels:               20 minutes
Re-Buys:            No
Alternates:       Original players busting out within the first 4 levels may apply to get on the Alternates list.
Seating:            10 players per table

I was seated during the first level; probably saw 2 – 3 hands before the end. There were a couple of very experienced players at the table; a couple of newbies, and the rest mediocre players.

The last hand of the second level (50/100/no ante) I was in the Big Blind. The most experienced player at the table was in the hijack seat. Everyone folded to her and she opened with a $400 bet. Fold, fold, fold to me, and I called with AhQd. We were heads up. Flop came 2 7 10 rainbow.

I knew the flop didn’t hit her and I had observed that she played very aggressively when in hijack to big blind position, so, I thought this was more of the same.  I decided to check-raise to drive her out of the hand. I checked. She bet $400. I raised  it to $800. She called… hummm. I had her on KQ or KJ. Was she sitting on trips? Better slow down.

A 4 came on the Turn. I figured that didn’t improve her hand. I thought for a few moments and decided she was convinced she had the winner and was going to let me hang myself, so I checked. She checked.

An A came on the flop. She called me all in for my last $300. I called, was outkicked, and lost. She had AK offsuit. I didn’t last more than 25 minutes.

Room:
The no-smoking poker room is located at one end of the casino area. It is curved like a quarter moon and holds about 20 tables. Two sides are open to the casino area and are separated from the casino by a black rail. The other two sides are abutted by the Race and Sports Book area on one side and the Centrifuge lounge on the other. The tournament took place in what staff refer to as the “back” of the poker room. The “back” is the side of the poker room farthest from the registration desk. It is railed off and open like the other side, but has less traffic as the popular attractions (Lions Habitat exhibit, for example) are on the registration side. It was actually pretty quiet at that time of day considering that the Race and Sports Book area (with tons of TV monitors) and the Centrifuge lounge are on either side and the 22,000-square-foot Studio 54 nightclub is just across the hall. The tables and chairs were in very good condition, and although there were 10 seated at a table and there was a little bit of jostling for space, the tables were separated a good distance from each other. Here’s a map of the MGM Grand layout.  Poker Room is in the lower left of the diagram.

Dealers:
I only experienced two dealers this tournament. I recognized both from having played at the MGM Grand in previous years. Both were professionally friendly and rather quiet. They announced raises, but didn’t go out of their way to guide the newbies. When there was a delay, they pointed to the person whose turn it was and said something to encourage a response and move the game along.

Players:
At my table, there were all levels, so, I am guessing that is the general spread across the tables.

After attending the 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table in Las Vegas, I attended the 2009 PubCon Conference. I registered to play in the No Limit Hold Em Tournament the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino put on for PubCon on Tuesday evening.

The tournament was held in a private room alongside the Casino. Number of entries was 40. $0 buy-in. Each player received $1500 chips to start. All levels of experience. Ten seated at each table. $20,000 worth of prizes were being given away. All prizes were awarded in Hilton promotional chips. The promotional chips were good for playing any game in Hilton’s Casino. Winnings in those games would be paid out in “real” chips which could be cashed in. 

Top 4 places were paid. First place received $10,000 in promotional chips.

Each player reaching the final table received $100 in promotional chips.

We had a very fun time hooting and hollering and cheering. There were some serious hands, but, mostly the players were there to have fun.

There were 4 players in my last hand. Two of us got busted out and a third was down to the felt, while the winner of that hand went on to win the tournament. I went out in 6th place, earning $100 in promotional chips. I converted that to $50 cash with a little round at the Roulette table.

Since I started playing live no limit hold’em tournaments recently, I’ve found there are a couple of things that get on my nerves: sticky chips and drunk players.

Sticky Chips
In a couple of recent games, players started to put together their bets and ended up raising the bet because two of the chips stick together. It doesn’t bother me that they raised the bet. It bothers me that the chips are so dirty that they won’t come apart with a fingernail prod. They need two hands to disengage.  In these times with H1N1 hanging over our heads, what would it take to clean the chips? Soapy water?

Drunk Players
Another live game pet peeve is the drunk players. The two players that I am thinking about from this week’s play were a distraction and took away from the game. One got up and went to the bar to get a drink in the middle of a hand while he was the dealer. In another game, a more belligerent know-it-all was abusive to other players. He was also frustrated with the pace of play and let the table know. A couple of times he went outside to have a cigarette. Since he wasn’t there when it was his turn to act, we folded his hand. Upon returning he’d be angry because his hand was folded. Huh?

What about you? What gets under your collar when you are playing live no limit hold’em tournaments?

While checking out the WPT website, I learned that there is a WPT tournament coming up at Foxwoods (a mere 1.5 hours away) in October. I checked the tournament schedule and there are some tempting options. BUT…I am heading to Las Vegas for the WSOP Main Event Final Table close to that same time, so I think I’ll save my cash for playing in Vegas. Thought I’d post information on the tournament for those who can attend.

Foxwoods World Poker Tour Finals
Dates: Oct. 19 – Nov. 10, 2009
Location:

Foxwoods Resort Casino
350 Trolley Line Boulevard
Mashantucket, CT 06338-3777

Games:

No limit hold’em, NL hold’em shoutouts, 7-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud 8+, Omaha 8+, Pot Limit Omaha High, H.O.S.E.

Eligibility: Foxwoods’ website says,

…The tournament is open to the public giving anyone the opportunity to mix it up with many top pros and amateurs.

Also from the website,

Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room is the largest poker room on the East Coast with 104 tables and 24 hours a day of continuous action. With a wide selection of all the most popular games, including Texas Hold’em, 7-Card Stud and Omaha-8 or better, you will find the right fit …

.

I think it is curious that the Foxwoods $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (effectively, its “Main Event”) will be held at the exact same time that the WSOP Main Event Final Table will be played in Las Vegas. The WPT $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship runs Nov. 5 – 10 and the WSOP Main Event Final Table runs Nov. 7 – 10.

It is disappointing because it’s likely that all the poker pros will be in Connecticut instead of viewing the WSOP Main Event Final Table in Las Vegas. waa…waa…waa

Learn more:

• Tournament Schedule
• About Foxwoods World Poker Tournament

July 7th follow up on July 6th’s post: WSOP Main Event Sold Out

While I was sleeping…

About 2:20am EST, Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack (@JeffreyPollack), tweeted two messages in a row:

Part I: A tough + disappointing day for sure. Last thing we want to do is turn people away, but we hit our maximum capacity for the day.

Part II: I’m truly regretful this wasn’t avoided + that we could not accommodate more people for the Main Event.

After reading all the tweets that were posted while I slept, the number of 2009 WSOP Main Event bracelet hopefuls that were shut out appears to be in the 500 – 700 range.  

Day One (all four) of the 2009 WSOP Main Event is over. There will be two day 2s; 2A and 2B. Then everyone is together starting day 3 of the Main Event.

A lot of people have been looking for information on No Limit Hold’em 4X Shootouts, so, I thought I’d dedicate today’s post to that.

What is a shootout tournament?
A shootout tournament is a multi-table tournament – without the load balancing. In a regular No Limit Hold’em tournament, throughout the tournament, players are moved from table to table in order to keep the number of players per table in balance (load balancing). In a shootout tournament, players remain at their original table until all tables have completed each round. For example,

Sample 4X Shootout Tournament
Assume that there are 10,000 registrants for our 4x shootout tournament, and that 10 are being seated at a table. There would be 1,000 tables to start.

Round 1
The winner of each table remains at his/her table until all 1,000 tables have a winner.

Round 2
Those 1,000 winners, are seated at 100 tables for this second round.  Again, each table winner remains at his/her table until all 100 tables have completed the round.

Round 3
The winner of those 100 tables, are seated at 10 tables, and each table winner remains at his/her table until all tables have completed this round.

Round 4 = Final Table for our 4x Shootout Tournament 
The 10 winners from the previous round meet at a single table – the final table, and the winner of that table wins the tournament.

So, in order to win the 4x shootout, you need to have won 4 tables, which in our example equates to having outplayed 39 other players.

2X Shootouts and 3X Shootouts
Using our easy number scheme, 2x and 3x shootout tournaments would work the same way, only the number of tournament players for each would be capped at a lower number. A 3x shootout would start with 1,000 entrants, and a 2x shootout would start with 100 entrants.

There can be anywhere from 4 – 10 players at a table in a shootout tournament; it’s up to the poker room. Also, prize money is given out along the way depending on the initial number of entrants and the tournament structure defined by the poker room.

Tip: At PokerStars, I found the WSOP 4X Freeroll Shootout tournament by clicking on Tourney, then Freeroll on the submenu.  Cash shootouts are  listed under Tourney, Satelite on the submenu, then Cash.