A busy January, full of a number of huge tournaments, is winding down as we go to press. And there's tons of exciting news to report, as some big names have tallied big results.
The
Aussie Millions just wrapped up, and Full Tilt, a title sponsor of the event, saw two of its marquee players win the two biggest events of this ultra-destination tournament.
After six days and 746 eliminations, Gus Hansen prevailed as the 2007
Aussie Millions main-event champion, winning $1.5 million. Gus had a very quiet 2006, but the always dangerous "Great Dane" took down his third major title and the biggest tournament payout of his career.
It took Hansen's fellow Team Full Tilt member Erick Lindgren only 14 hours to make a million bucks. He won the exclusive $100,000 buy-in pot-limit/no-limit hold'em tournament that 18 players entered, the second million-dollar score of his career. Expect a full report on this tournament series in issue No. 5.
I'd like to congratulate Daniel Negreanu. As we go to press, he is heading to the final table of the
World Poker Tour's World Poker Open in Tunica second in chips. He has cashed in four straight
WPT events, breaking a record, and now is tied with John Juanda and Casey Kastle for most all-time
WPT cashes. All three players have 14. Way to go, Daniel!
Speaking of poker and big names, on Jan. 24,
NBC announced the 62 players chosen for the third
National Heads-Up Poker Championship. I am excited about being invited back to play. A number of new players who had great results in 2006 - including Nam Le, J.C. Tran, and Jeff Madsen, all top contenders in
Card Player's 2006 Player of the Year race - were added to the roster. The
NHPC will take place at Caesars Palace March 1-4, and CardPlayer.com will be there covering every minute of it.
For all of you heads-up masters out there who were not invited, you still have a chance to participate in this event. The last two players will be determined through freerolls at
NBC's website, and a supersatellite that will take place at Caesars Palace on Feb. 10. The satellite starts at 3 p.m. with a buy-in of $230, $300 rebuys, and a $200 add-on.
Well, you've seen his name over and over for the past 26 issues or so: Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. That's because he only won a few million dollars last year and the 2006 Player of the Year race. In this issue, we salute The Grinder and all the other players who made the POY race go wire to wire.
Also, the poker world is peppered with highly successful and entertaining gamblers, and Dewey Tomko is by far near the top of that list. The three-time
World Series of Poker bracelet winner and 2001
WSOP championship runner-up has made millions of bets with the likes of Doyle Brunson and crew. He shares a glimpse into his "action"-packed life.
