The Nightly Turbo: World Poker Tour Borgata Update, PokerStars' 50 Billionth Hand, and More
The World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open will find its final table members today and there was a very special birthday boy in the field (read: Mike Sexton). In other celebratory news, PokerStars dealt its 50 billionth hand this morning and the players at that table are certainly very happy about it. Read on to find out more.
In Case You Missed It
Kristy Arnett caught up with Lauren Kling recently to discuss a hand she played in a tournament on Full Tilt Poker. Check out Lauren's tips in our latest strategy article.
If you want, you can finish reading the Turbo and catch the Patrik Antonius video at the bottom of this page. We know some of you are impatient; however, so you can also check out Patrik's video here.
UFC 119 is coming up and we were discussing the fights here at PokerNews HQ, which obviously snowballed into our latest Top 10 list. Check out the top ten poker players we'd like to see in the Octagon.
Did you miss ESPN's coverage of the WSOP this week? Well, just like every week, we didn't. Here's our WSOP recap.
WPT Update
The World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open was looking at having a back-to-back story much like that of JP Kelly at Event #3 of the World Series of Poker Europe (minus some of the other records) with Olivier Busquet in contention of defending his BPO title. Busquet led the field in Day 3 for a bit, but finished in fifth place on the Day 3 chip leaderboard. Not a bad spot. Going into the fourth day of play, it was Brandon Novena who led the way.
The final 27 players would come back for the fourth day of play to determine who would be seated at the televised final table. A repeat title would not happen for Busquet, however. He was eliminated in 25th place after moving in on a flop of K?8?5? holding K?3? and being called by Novena who had flopped a set of fives. Busquet could not hit his runner-runner outs and exited with a much smaller payday ($15,009) than last year.
Birthday boy Mike Sexton cashed in his first-ever WPT. For the first five season he was contractually forbidden to play and only plays a few WPT events a year because of his hosting duties. His consolation prize was $15,009 and a "Happy Birthday" serenade by the Royal Flush girls.
At the time of this writing, 15 players remain and Novena is still leading the way with 5.9 million chips. His closest competitor isLee Childs with 3.86 million. Andrew Youngblood is just behind him in third place with 2.55 million, and John D'Agostino rounds out the top five with 2.3 million.
Follow along as the field is whittled away at WPT.com.
50 Billion Hands
It happened. After weeks of buildup and handing out cash prizes for every millionth hand since 49.7 billion, PokerStars has dealt its 50 billionth hand. It happened at 10:37 a.m. EDT Wednesday. There were 220,000 players logged on to the site and playing on 33,000 tables, hoping to be at the one that would be dealt the milestone hand.
The $.02/$.05 table named Ornamenta was the place and the winner of the hand was "tbvle." What will winning the 50 billionth hand get you, you might ask. Oh, just $56,140. The other players at the table received between $2,990 and $3,070, an amount based on the number of VIP points they had earned over the previous 50 hands. Not too shabby of a bankroll boost for any of the players at the table. Oh! And to add to it all the players at Ornamenta also received a $5,200 WCOOP Main Event ticket.
We've given you the long and short of it, the PokerStars Blog has the rest.
WCOOP Update
Speaking of PokerStars, we've got your World Championship of Online Poker Day 17 update for you today, too. Three events were held on Tuesday: Event #46, the $320 Mixed [pot-limit hold'em/pot-limit Omaha], Event 47, the $530 Stud Hi/Lo, and Event #48, the $1,050 No-Limit Hold'em Two Day. Thus far, over $38 million has been awarded, so let's get to who took home some of it and which players can snap a bracelet on their wrists.
PokerStars WCOOP 46 - $320 Mixed [PLHE/PLO]
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $300 + $20 | 1,123 | $400,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| *1 | FlyingSumo | $64,000.00 |
| *2 | oppy01 | $49,038.95 |
| *3 | $teamroller1 | $45,681.05 |
| 4 | diffsam | $28,400.00 |
| 5 | URMYLeNoR | $20,000.00 |
| 6 | danistiofi | $16,000.00 |
| 7 | LUCKY FACE | $12,000.00 |
| 8 | _unskiIIed_ | $8,000.00 |
| 9 | Catenaccio | $4,600.00 |
* denotes a three-way deal
PokerStars WCOOP 47 - $530 Stud Hi/Lo
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500 + $30 | 454 | $227,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xaston | $43,130 |
| 2 | PearlJammer | $31,780 |
| 3 | Andy McLEOD | $23,290.20 |
| 4 | Mammola | $17,025 |
| 5 | ODECCUTKA | $11,350 |
| 6 | ImaLuckSac | $7,945 |
| 7 | AJB444 | $5,675 |
| 8 | faithless | $4,540 |
The $1,050 two-day no-limit hold'em event that began Tuesday attracted a field of 1,224, surpassing the $1 million guarantee. First place in this event will pad your pockets by $213,955.20 and put some shiny gold on your wrist, but before we get there, we have to get through Day 1. Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips is sitting in eighth place on the chip leaderboard to start Day 2. Play kicks off at 20:00 EDT with the final 69 players vying for the top prize. Take a look at the top ten chip counts.
PokerStars WCOOP 48 - $1,050 No-Limit Hold'em 2-Day
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 + $50 | 1,224 | $1,224,000 |
| Place | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mrvogt | 460,897 |
| 2 | G's zee | 371,815 |
| 3 | APowers1968 | 355,263 |
| 4 | gmcrafter | 321,077 |
| 5 | Civell | 308,504 |
| 6 | AlwaysFelted | 305,971 |
| 7 | BehnamPatros | 264,889 |
| 8 | Dennis Phillips | 234,765 |
| 9 | GripDsNutz | 231,880 |
| 10 | joe9859 | 229,806 |
WCOOP action ends this weekend. If you're looking to add a win to your resume, you'll need a PokerStars account first. Sign up for one through PokerNews.
Watch it Live
If you're looking for coverage of the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe, you know you can find it on PokerNews. If you're looking for a visual, you can find it on ESPN3. ESPN's 24/7 sports broadband network will be streaming the final two days of the WSOP-E Main Event next Monday and Tuesday. Coverage gets under way at 12:00 p.m. EDT from the Casino at the Empire in London and will be hosted by Dave Tuchman. This coverage marks the first time that WSOP-E coverage will be seen in the U.S. with same-day timing and another first, ESPN3 will show the players' hole cards with a five-hour delay.
"ESPN is committed to delivering the best Poker content to fans, and ESPN3 is the ideal format to showcase this great event as it happens," senior director of programming at ESPN Doug White said.
Head on over to ESPN3.com for more.
Talking to PA
Gloria Balding caught up with the pretty one, err, Patrik Antonius, at the Full Tilt Poker media junket at the Casino at the Empire during the 2010 World Series of Poker Europe. They talked about his tournament schedule, the cash games, which he says are "the s**t, pardon my language," and the "durrrr" Challenge.
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