This Week in Poker: Poker Tournament News Oct. 18 - Oct. 24

Check out CardPlayer.com every Friday for a weekly wrap-up of the news from the live poker tournament trail.

This Week in Tournament Poker

Card Player Live Coverage Event -- World Poker Tour Festa al Lago

The World Poker Tour Festa al Lago $15,000 no-limit hold’em championship attracted 368 players and created a total prize pool worth $5,354,400 and a first-place prize worth $1,411,015. There are currently 12 players still in contention at press time, including chip leader Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Joe Sebok, Michael DeMichele, Nenad Medic, Nam Le, Andrew Robl, Mike Wattel, Jimmy Tran, and Adam Levy.

Here is the remaining schedule for the event:

Saturday, Oct. 25: Day 5 (noon)
Sunday, Oct. 26: WPT final table (begins at 5 p.m.)

WPT Festa al Lago Day 4 Recap

Card Player Live Coverage Event -- Caesars Palace Classic

The highlights for week one from the Caesars Palace Classic included an appearance by the most decorated Olympian in history, swimmer Michael Phelps. Phelps played in Event No. 2 ($1,500 no-limit hold'em), where he made the final table and placed ninth, and he also played in Event No. 5 ($1,000 no-limit hold'em); where he suffered a bad beat during day 1 that knocked him out of the tournament. Card Player caught up with Phelps for an interview and video this past week at Caesars.

Professional players that made final tables at Caesars Palace this past week include Clint Schafer, David Plastik, Justin Young, Tom McEvoy, O'Neil Longson (Won Event No. 3 -- $500 pot-limit Omaha), Mike Nguyen, Charles Townsend, Richard Tatalovich, Yarom Limor, Jared Okun, Brandon Garrity, Yosh Nakano, Surinder Sunar, and Card Player’s own Barry Shulman, who won Event No. 4 ($500 no-limit hold'em).

Caesars Palace Classic Full Results List
Event No. 5 Tournament Recap
Event No. 8 Tournament Recap

Selected Tournament Results:

Heartland Poker Tour NY Fall Poker Classic

$5,000 HPT no-limit hold’em main event

Number of entries: 49
Total prize pool: $232,750
First-place prize: $90,773
Place paid: 6

Final-Table Results:

1: Christopher Dombrowski -- $90,773
2: Newton Graziano -- $53,532
3: William Bostick -- $32,585
4: Daniel Colman -- $23,275
5: Andrew Lictenberger -- $18,620
6: Johannes Mueller -- $13,965

Card Player Player of the Year Update

POY Standings:

John Phan — 6,704
Erik Seidel — 4,754
David Benyamine — 4,376
David “The Dragon” Pham — 4,022
Michael Martin — 3,800
Michael Binger — 3,792
Sebastian Ruthenberg — 3,648
Matt Brady — 3,640
Shannon Shorr — 3,548
Jason Mercier — 3,504

POY Movement

David “The Dragon” Pham jumped into the top four on the POY leader board after he finished in second place in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em prelimnary at Festa al Lago. Pham won $116,100 and 440 points to take his yearly totals up to $1,060,739 and 4,022 points won. This is familiar territory for Pham, who is the defending POY champion. A major tournament win could bring him close to challenge John Phan for the lead. Kathy Liebert continued to inch up the standings as well. She finished in third place in a $500 no-limit hold’em event at Festa al Lago to take home $5,485 and 72 points. This was enough to put her total at 3,126 and leap frog a few players to jump up to 18th place in the standings after her third-place finish in the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship vaulted her up the leader board last week.

Looking Ahead

Caesars Palace Classic

Saturday, Oct. 25, noon: Event No. 14 ($500 no-limit hold’em)
Sunday, Oct. 26, 10 a.m.: Event No. 15 ($300 ladies no-limit hold’em)
Card Player Live Coverage Event -- Sunday, Oct. 26, 1 p.m.: Event No. 16 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em six handed)
Monday, Oct. 27, 1 p.m.: $500 Mega Satellite
Monday, Oct. 27, 3 p.m.: $1,000 Mega Satellite

Card Player Live Coverage Event -- $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship

Tuesday, Oct. 28, noon: Day 1
Wednesday, Oct. 29, noon: Day 2
Thursday, Oct. 30, 2 p.m.: Final table

Card Player Live Coverage Event -- EPT Hungarian Open

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 1 p.m.: Day 1A (overall cap: 500)
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1 p.m.: Day 1B
Thursday, Oct. 30, 1 p.m.: Day 2
Friday, Oct. 31: 1 p.m.: Day 3
Saturday, Nov. 1: 1 p.m.: Final Table

World Poker Finals

Saturday, Oct. 25, 10 a.m.: Event No. 6 ($300 Ladies no-limit hold'em)
Sunday, Oct. 26, 10 a.m.: Event No. 7 ($600 no-limit hold'em shoot-out)
Monday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m.: Event No. 8 ($600 seven-card stud eight-or-better)
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.: Event No. 9 ($600 no-limit hold'em)
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 10 a.m.: Event No. 10 ($600 limit hold'em)
Thursday, Oct. 30, 10 a.m.: Event No. 11 ($1,000 no-limit hold'em)
Friday, Oct. 31, 10 a.m.: Event No. 12 ($1,500 no-limit hold'em)

World Poker Open

Friday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m.: Event No. 12 ($500 no-limit hold'em)
Sunday, Oct. 26 - Tuesday, Oct. 28: Event No. 13 ($5,000 no-limit hold'em championship)
Monday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m.: Event No. 14 ($200 no-limit hold'em)
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.: Event No. 15 ($200 no-limit hold'em)

WSOP Circuit – Horseshoe Hammond
 
Saturday, Oct. 25, noon: Event No. 2 ($555 no-limit hold'em)
Sunday, Oct. 26, noon: Event No. 3 ($1,100 no-limit hold’em)
Sunday, Oct. 26, 3 p.m.: Event No. 4 ($235 ladies no-limit hold'em)
Monday, Oct. 27, noon: Event No. 5 ($555 no-limit hold'em)
Monday, Oct. 27, 3 p.m.: Event No. 6 ($235 pot-limit Omaha w/rebuys)
Tuesday, Oct. 28, noon: Event No. 7 ($775 no-limit hold'em)
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 3 p.m.: Event No. 8 ($345 H.O.R.S.E)
Wednesday, Oct. 29, noon: Event No. 9 ($2,100 no-limit hold'em)
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 3 p.m.: Event No. 10 ($345 Omaha eight-or-better)
Friday, Oct. 31 - Sunday, Nov. 2: Event No. 11 ($5,150 no-limit hold'em championship)

Heartland Poker Tour – Detroit, MI

$1,650 HPT Main Event

Friday, Oct. 24: Day 1
Saturday, Oct. 25: Day 2
Sunday, Oct. 26: Final Table

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