Kathy Liebert Wins PartyPoker Million Tournament

An awesome week of cruising, featuring an incredible poker tournament, ended with history being made as professional poker player Kathy Liebert took first-place honors in the PartyPoker Million tournament hosted by Card Player Cruises. This tournament had the largest first-place guarantee ($1 million) in limit hold'em history.

Since some readers may not have heard about this special tournament, I will describe its format and then fill you in with surrounding details. In short, this was the first attempt to combine online poker with brick-and-mortar cardrooms as follows: 100 players won entry into the tournament plus cruises for two and cash (a $10,500 value) by playing $22 satellites online at PartyPoker.com. Other players bought in for $8,000 each, and the tournament took place during four days of a seven-day cruise on a Card Player Cruises vacation to the Mexican Riviera. The Travel Channel sent a crew to film the event, and it will air multiple times later this year. The following is a brief synopsis of day-by-day activities on the cruise.

Day One (Sunday): Players got on board and met in the poker room to draw their seating assignments for the tournament. Half the field was assigned to play on Monday, and the other half would play on Tuesday. Following the draw, a welcome-aboard cocktail party was held for all cruisers. Card Player Cruises booked approximately 500 players on this cruise, and 139 of those players actually participated in the PartyPoker Million tournament. Sunday evening after dinner, the poker room opened for live play, featuring limits from $2-$4 to $200-$400.

Day Two (Monday): Seventy players started the tournament, which was held in the conference room aboard Carnival Cruise Line's beautiful Elation. Play started at 10 a.m. and continued until 4:30 p.m., when action was suspended for three hours to allow players to attend the captain's cocktail party and formal dinner. After dinner, play resumed for several hours until the field was whittled down to 27 players. Players who were not in the tournament enjoyed live play all day or participated in pool activities, trivia, golf, dancing, and other shipboard activities.

Day Three (Tuesday): Sixty-nine players started the tournament, and played the exact time period of the previous day. When play ended for the day, there were 18 players left who were scheduled to return to play Friday with the 27 players from the previous day. Nontournament players spent the day playing live poker, swimming, getting massages, and relaxing on deck. Twenty-five novice players showed up for my poker lessons, and enjoyed learning how to play the game.

Day Four (Wednesday): We were in Puerto Vallarta from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Many cruisers enjoyed the private catamaran/snorkel trip that Card Player Cruises booked to Los Arcos. Along the way, there was lots of fun, as we danced and played games. The Travel Channel came along to film some of the action, and I can tell you it was wild. At Los Arcos, many snorkelers took the plunge, while others chose to sunbathe on deck. After the catamaran trip, some cruisers shopped, enjoyed the local beaches, or went to Chico's Paradise for a wonderful lunch. Just prior to setting sail, poker players were treated to a seminar given by Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, Jan Fisher, Tom McEvoy, T.J. Cloutier, Steve Zolotow, and me. That night, many of those players applied what they had learned in the live games.

Day Five (Thursday): The ship docked in Mazatlan from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Many players met at El Cid Hotel/Resort to enjoy swimming, sunbathing, jet skiing, and parasailing. Others went on city and countryside tours or fishing trips, while many partied at Señor Frogs. A Calcutta was held once we returned to the ship, with all 45 remaining players being auctioned to the highest bidders. More than $11,000 was raised in the Calcutta. Bruce Yamron was the successful bidder ($850) on the eventual winner Kathy Liebert, and received 60 percent of the Calcutta prize pool. After dinner, all tables were full for live-action play from $1-$2 up to $300-$600.

Day Six (Friday): At 7 a.m., we arrived in Cabo San Lucas. For the next five hours, players enjoyed a wide variety of activities, such as swimming at Lover's Beach, whale-watching tours, shopping, and relaxing on the beach. We sailed at noon, which meant the live games were under way shortly thereafter. At 1 p.m., the 45 PPM finalists resumed play and played into the evening until they got down to the final table of nine players.

Day Seven (Saturday): The Cole Porter Lounge was the setting for the final-table play of the PPM tournament, which began at 10 a.m. After the finalists were introduced, Mike Sexton presented the Recreational Player of the Year award to Brian Saltus. Brian was the winner of the 2001 Tournament of Champions, and has other poker accomplishments. His speech to the hundreds of spectators who had gathered to watch the final table was inspirational. These people stayed in their seats all day, as one by one, players were eliminated in the following order: Mel Judah, Ken Flaton, Mike Yuwiler, Chris Ferguson, Scott Buller, Bruce Yamron, and Phil Hellmuth. After about six hours of play, only two players were left: Kathy Liebert, a professional player, and Berj Kacherian, who had won his entry online. The lead went back and forth many times during the two and a half hours of heads up play, but Kathy finally was able to claim first-place honors. She played well all day and never gave up, even when trailing significantly. Later that evening, Card Player Cruises hosted a cocktail party for all participants, and the winners were introduced during an awards ceremony. There was plenty to celebrate, then lots more poker was played as we sailed back to Los Angeles.

All in all, the PartyPoker Million, hosted by Card Player Cruises, was a huge success. For more details on the tournament, see Mike Sexton's column and/or go to www.partypoker.com/ppm1results.htm and click on "Tournaments." Online qualifying for the PPM2 already has begun. To qualify for the next PPM tournament, go to PartyPoker.com, open a real-money account, register Code CPC1000 in the sign-up code box, and have some fun!

Now, let's play poker!

Note: For information about PartyPoker.com, Card Player Cruises, the World Poker Industry Conference, the World Poker Players Conference, or poker in Costa Rica, E-mail Linda Johnson at [email protected], or call (888) 999-4880.