06 Aug 06
Defending champ Hachem finished at WSOP
USAToday - LAS VEGAS (AP) — Defending champion Joseph Hachem was knocked out of the World Series of Poker on Saturday night and finished in 238th place.
Hachem, who won $7.5 million last year, went all-in with a pair of aces, but lost to his opponents three of a kind.
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06 Aug 06
WSOP: Daniel Negreanu busts out
gambling911.com - Saturday evening, 2006 World Series of Poker favorite to win, Daniel Negreanu, busted out. Negreanu over his professional poker career has amassed a nice fortune totaling close to $8 million.
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04 Aug 06
1,159 players remaining in WSOP
Wednesday, LAS VEGAS (AP) — After six days of poker, 1,159 players remain in the hunt for poker's biggest prize, the $12 million top purse for the winner of the main event at the World Series of Poker.
Dmitri Nobles has the lead at 549,200 in chips when play resumes Friday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino after a day off.
Ken Jacobs, son of poker pro Tom Jacobs, was fourth with 375,300, while Canadian "Kid Poker" Daniel Negreanu was sixth with 331,000.
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04 Aug 06
Poker becomes "reality" on new doc
Gambling911 -- The 2006 World Series of Poker’s Main Event is underway this week in Las Vegas, and ABA Entertainment, LLC is capturing the behind-the-scenes footage for an upcoming documentary, “House of Cards” – revealing the roller-coaster-real-life-grind of the professional poker player.
Marc Goodwin, the face of USAPoker, is one of seven widely recognized players being followed in this new documentary. For six weeks, camera crews will be following them between the tournament tables, bathroom breaks all the way to their residence, the “Parisian Palace;” a $13 million home rumored to have been previously owned by Whoopi Goldberg.
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04 Aug 06
Negreanu hangs tough
"One of the biggest names in poker - maybe even the biggest name in poker - Daniel Negreanu continued to play strong with the World Series of Poker resuming Friday. Negreanu, who has won nearly $8 million throughout his poker career, ranked #3 in chip count Wednesday night."
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03 Aug 06
WSOP Field Narrows
Forbes.com -- Tournament supervisor Charles Ciresi was just trying to drum up morale. What he got was an answer that was more of the same - the relentless shuffling of chips and a dispassionate smattering of applause. ...
With Day 6 of the World Series of Poker's main event in full swing, there were 1,541 players left, down from a record 8,773 entrants.
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02 Aug 06
Ordinary Joe buys into WSOP
LAS VEGAS (AP) - It costs $10,000 US to enter the main event at the World Series of Poker, which is more than Mike Kurtyak or any of his poker buddies can afford on their own.
So, they had an ingenious idea: Hold a year-long tournament, one event a month, with the winner earning a trip to the main event.
Ten guys chipped in $100 every time they played. They accumulated points for finishing first, second, third and so on. The guy with the most points at the end got the entire pot of $11,000 - $10,000 for the entry fee and $1,000 for travel.
Mike won it, and now he finds himself in a much different game - the world's biggest poker tournament.
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02 Aug 06
WSOP 2006 Breaks Prize Records
With 8,773 competitors this year, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has already broken the record for the greatest number of participants in one live poker event. Now, they are set to break the prize record to, with the eventual winner taking home a massive $12 million. Players who finish as low as 12th will win 1 million. The total prize pool for the event is a colossal $82.5 million.
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01 Aug 06
Ferguson Plays Miracle Hands at WSOP
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Chris (Jesus) Ferguson put his tournament on the line twice Tuesday, both times catching miracle cards at the World Series of Poker and turning a below-average stack into more than enough chips to remain a contender in the main event.
In a feisty exchange, the poker pro raised and re-raised his way into a massive pot holding pocket kings, with the board showing a harmless-looking queen, five and four. Opponent Robert Ozeran, a 21-year-old student from the University of Southern California, held a queen and five, giving him the dominant two pair. When the betting was done, Ferguson's 40,000 in chips were all-in.
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01 Aug 06
Harrah's Final Count For Main Event
cardplayer.com -- It’s official. The numbers on the total field and first place cash prize for the 2006 World Series of Poker are in…almost.
With three first flights in the book and Day 1D half over, Harrah’s released the final head count for the main event’s field — 8,773 entrants.
So what about the money?
“We’re probably looking at at least $11,500,000 for first place.” WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said early on Day 1D. “It’s unofficial, we won’t know until the end of the day today, maybe tomorrow morning.”
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01 Aug 06
Defending champ plays aggressively
LAS VEGAS — Defending champion Joseph Hachem of Australia turned the poker table into his bully pulpit Monday, aggressively raising players he considered out of line and increasing his own stack at the main event in the World Series of Poker.
Hachem more than doubled his opening stake to 22,000 chips after six hours of play, knocking out an opponent along the way.
"It's just going smoothly," Hachem said during a break. "I don't play too many hands, so they don't think I'm getting out of line a lot. And if I think they're getting out of line, then I make them move all-in. If I'm right, I'm right, and if I'm wrong, then I've got to shut up shop."
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31 Jul 06
Two Legends, Brunson & Hellmuth, Exit WSOP
Doyle Brunson, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and widely regarded as the best poker player in modern history has just lost a huge pot. He's left short-stacked with less than 3000 chips deep into level 3, with 50/100 blinds. ... Doyle battles the short stack and lasts past the dinner break into level four before finally bowing out. He receives not one but two standing ovations upon exiting.
In a stark contrast, earlier in the day, Phil Hellmuth was eliminated from the ESPN feature table. ...[H]e is out on the same hand as last year, when his A-Q fails to improve against pocket 7's. The announcement comes that Phil Hellmuth has just been eliminated over the loudspeaker and the crowd roars its approval, with thunderous applause and laughter following.
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31 Jul 06
Playboy, CryptoLogic join on poker site
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian gambling software company CryptoLogic Inc. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. will expand their relationship by launching the first Playboy-branded online poker Web site, the companies said on Monday.
The exclusive three-year licensing deal means CryptoLogic will provide the only software used by the site, which will target players around the world except in the United States. No terms of the deal were disclosed.
The two companies already have a similar agreement in place to launch a new Playboy casino site. Playboy plans to cross-promote the gaming Web sites in its other properties, including print and online, the companies said.
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31 Jul 06
Drew ready to give poker a try
Sydney Morning Herald -- Now that Drew Barrymore does not have to stay in character, the actress says she is ready to learn poker from the pros.
Barrymore, who stars in Lucky You, a movie set at the 2003 World Series of Poker, said she missed out on lessons given to other actors by pros such as Doyle Brunson because she plays a lounge singer who doesn't know much about gambling.
"Now that I don't have to stay true to the movie for my character, I'm planning to pick up as many tips as I can from the experts so I can go home and kick my friends' butts," the 31-year-old actress said.
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31 Jul 06
Playboy Poker Camp
"Here's a chance for aspirant poker champs to sharpen their skills. World class poker tuition by some of poker's top players is the main attraction at the Playboy Poker Camp, which was launched this week by Playboy Enterprises, Inc.in partnership with Moneymaker Gaming.
WSOP Champion Layne Flack and Jim "Krazy Kanuck" Worth are among the instructors, and activities at the camp will include nightly poker tournaments with prizes of more than $100 000 and related events with Playboy Playmates, culminating in a lavish party at the legendary Playboy Mansion."
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28 Jul 06
Dot.com Merchandise Banned At WSOP
There was a 15 minute delay to the start of the World Series of Poker's $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold 'em event after tourney officials would not allow players to wear merchandise bearing ads for online casinos.
Dot.com shirts and hats were being worn by many players who had qualified for the event through many of the satellite events sponsored by such sites as Pokerstars.com.
Players ended up turning shirts inside out or blocking it out with black tape.
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28 Jul 06
Players ready for poker's big event
"The biggest and richest high-stakes poker game in history gets under way today in the Amazon Convention Center at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 players from around the world are expected to ante up $10,000 each to compete for roughly $60 million in prize money, including between $10 million and $12 million to the winner, in the No Limit Texas Hold'em World Championship.
It's the main event in the 37th annual World Series of Poker, a gargantuan competition encompassing 45 individual poker tournaments that began June 25. More than 20,000 players from some 40 countries are on hand to compete for well over $100 million in total prize money."
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28 Jul 06
Poker Players Thrown from Airplane
"Poker pro Phil Laak, and four other www.InterPoker.com online poker players, took part in the sky high tournament, InterPoker’s Loser’s Leap Extreme Poker Challenge, 15,000 feet above the multi-colored Las Vegas.
Phil Laak, Nick Grudzien, Jamie Glasser, Frank Linkletter, and Patrick Neary played an intense game of extreme poker.
Four losers were thrown out of the plane, with parachutes of course, and amateur Nick Grudzien won the tournament, and a seat at the Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts."
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27 Jul 06
Hellmuth Makes History, Wins 10th WSOP Bracelet
Las Vegas, NV – Every World Series of Poker tournament has a special moment or two. This one had a dozen special moments that will linger on in the minds of everyone lucky enough to have been at the Rio on the night of July 25, 2006. Phil Hellmuth, Jr. finally broke down the barricade that had separated him from winning an elusive tenth World Series of Poker gold bracelet and sky rocketed to the top of the poker pyramid.
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26 Jul 06
Poker's true new world champion
Daniel Negreanu On poker -- [T]his year, a new event was added to the WSOP schedule -- a $50,000 buy-in HORSE tournament. The rich buy-in alone ensured an elite field of players, and the mixed game format guaranteed that there would be no lucky winners.
HORSE is an acronym for the following mix of games: Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Seven-Card Stud and Eight or better Stud. There's another unique twist to this tournament. Once play reaches the final table, the tournament reverts to No Limit Hold'em until a champion is crowned. ...
Chip Reese ended up winning the tournament and took home a cool $1.7 million. Sure, that payout will be dwarfed by the estimated $10 million first place prize in the main event, but those within the poker community will know who the real World Champion is.
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