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Card Player Player of the Year Update
POY Standings:
John Phan — 6,704
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier — 5,410
David “The Dragon” Pham — 5,222
Ivan Demidov — 4,940
Erik Seidel — 4,754
Michael Binger — 4,416
David Benyamine — 4,376
Peter Eastgate — 4,320
Vinny Pahuja — 3,918
Michael Martin — 3,800
POY Movement
A handful of players made progress on the Card Player Player of the Year leader board during the past two weeks, but two of them made moves near the top 10, as Michael Binger and Dario Minieri added to their point totals. Binger won the third poker tournament of his career when he beat 131 opponents to win the title at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe. For his victory in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event, he took home $181,379 and 624 points. This took his point total up to 4,416 and put him in sixth place, ahead of David Benyamine.
This was the 10th final table of the year for Binger, who has won $1,005,846 during the course of 20 cashes in 2008. This was the seventh time that he has cashed for more than $100,000 in any one tournament since he started competing on the tournament trail in 2006.
Dario Minieri finished in third place at the European Poker Tour Polish Open final table in Warsaw to win $155,184 and 704 points. This was the third final table of the year for Minieri, who also made an EPT final table in San Remo in April where he finished in third place, as well. Those high showings on the EPT, combined with his gold bracelet win at event No. 31 at the WSOP this summer, give Minieri 3,784 points, which is currently good for 11th place.
Many players other than David Pham benefited from the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals final table at Foxwoods, largely winner Jonathan Little, who was awarded 2,400 points and $1,120,310 for winning his second WPT event. Little currently sits in 38th place with 2,910 points total. Jonathan Jaffe was awarded 2,000 points and $670,635 for finishing runner-up, and he is currently tied with Little in the standings in 38th place. Sitting ahead of both Little and Jaffe is Jack Schanbacher, who cracked the top 20 by finishing in fifth place at Foxwoods. He took home 1,000 points and $182,196 to take his yearly totals up to 3,414 points and $716,128 won in 2008.
Schanbacher has made four final tables this year of his five total cashes. He made two of those at the Borgata Poker Open in September, where he finished in second place in a $2,500 no-limit hold’em event to take home 930 points, as well as $128,940, and then he followed that up by winning a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event two days later. He was awarded $342,000 and 1,104 points for the first tournament win of his career. Schanbacher’s other final-table appearance this year was a runner-up finish in a $2,000 no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Palace. He lost a heads-up match against Ted Lawson, but he still took home $62,992 and 380 points for his efforts.
This Week in Tournament Poker
Card Player Live Coverage Event – EPT Warsaw
The final table of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Polish Open took place on Wednesday, Nov. 19 in Warsaw, Poland. A field of 217 players shrunk to nine for the final table during three days of poker and pros that cashed along the way included, Marty Smyth (23rd), Isabelle Mercier (16th), Roland de Wolfe (13th), and Uffe Holm (10th). Here were the chip counts at the start of the final table:
Seat 1: Arnaud Mattern (France) -- 328,000
Seat 2: Ludovic Lacay (France) -- 296,500
Seat 3: Andrea Benelli (Italy) -- 100,000
Seat 4: Michael Muheim (Switzerland) -- 89,000
Seat 5: Joao Barbosa (Portugal) -- 123,000
Seat 6: Dario Minieri (Italy) -- 359,500
Seat 7: Nico Behling (Denmark) -- 343,500
Seat 8: Sergey Shcherbatskiy (Russia) -- 349,000
Seat 9: Atanas Gueorguiev (Bulgaria) -- 186,500
When the dust settled, it was the birthday boy, Joao Barbosa, who emerged with the $462,596 first-place prize by holding off the likes of able challengers Dario Minieri, Arnaud Mattern, and Ludovic Lacay. Here are the final-table results:
1: Joao Barbosa -- $462,596
2: Nico Behling -- $258,640
3: Dario Minieri -- $155,184
4: Atanas Gueorguiev -- $110,846
5: Arnaud Mattern -- $91,632
6: Sergey Shcherbatskiy -- $72,420
7: Andrea Benelli -- $ 57,639
8: Ludovic Lacay -- $41,382
9: Michael Muheim -- $26,604
Full EPT Warsaw Final-Table Recap
WSOP Circuit Event -- Harvey’s Lake Tahoe
The final table at the World Series of Poker Circuit Lake Tahoe $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event began on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. The event had attracted 132 players and the nine that remained on the third day of play featured an impressive collection of poker talent. Here were the chip counts at the start of play:
Seat 1: Allen Kessler -- 196,500
Seat 2: Scott Clements -- 66,500
Seat 3: Michael Binger -- 403,500
Seat 4: Bill Bostick -- 100,500
Seat 5: Tay Nguyen -- 132,000
Seat 6: Mike McClain -- 283,000
Seat 7: Jake Solis --302,000
Seat 8: Ty Stewart -- 275,500
Seat 9: Travis Erdman -- 224,500
Ty Stewart came out of the gates on a hot streak to start the day, he took down the first couple of pots and he was also the first player to eliminate an opponent. Scott Clements called all in against Stewart with A-K-10-4-5 sitting on the table, but he discovered that Stewart had flopped the nut straight when he revealed Q-J to send Clements home in ninth place ($13,444). Binger busted the next contestant at the final table, sending home Bill Bostick in eighth place ($18,566) 20 minutes later.
Stewart took over after that by eliminating Travis Erdman in seventh place ($24,968), and once again he flopped a strong hand. This time it was a nine-high spade flush that did the damage. Allen Kessler fell next in sixth place ($31,370) in a painful way. Kessler was in the lead when he moved all in preflop holding pocket aces. His opponent Stewart held pocket sevens and it looked like Kessler would double up, until the river brought a third 7 and sent Kessler out of the tournament.
Tay Nguyen then fell in fifth place ($40,653); and Mike McClain was eliminated in fourth place ($53,777), while Stewart took a sizeable chip lead and dominated the final table. Michael Binger had begun the day with the chip lead, but even he now trailed Stewart. Binger received a boost three handed, when he eliminated Jake Solis with a pair of queens. Solis held pocket eights and he was eliminated in third place ($77,464) to leave two final opponents.
Heads-Up Chip Counts:
Ty Stewart: 1,156,000
Michael Binger: 824,000
The two players were feeling each other out early in the heads-up match, and no major action went down for the first half hour. Binger was able to even things up by winning the first pot of consequence, but then Stewart took a large lead when he moved all in on a board of Q-J-10-3-7 and Binger mucked. Binger saw his stack shrink to under 200,000 at one point in play before he staged his comeback. He dug in and inched back to even before he finally turned the tables against Stewart two hours into the match. Stewart raised to 30,000 preflop and Binger reraised to 130,000. The flop was dealt 7
5
3 and both players checked. The turn fell J
and Stewart bet 250,000. Binger made the call and the river fell K. Both players checked again and Binger showed down Q
7 to win the pot over Stewart’s A 6 to take the chip lead in the final. The final hand came 20 minutes later and Stewart held the dead man’s hand when he moved all in after the flop against the Q-9 of Binger on a board that read 9-8-4-10-Q.
Binger won $181,379 for winning the tournament, as well as a WSOP circuit championship ring. Stewart took home $112,675 for finishing in second place. Binger also picked up 624 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win and he now sits in sixth place on the 2008 POY leader board.
The next WSOP circuit stop will take place at Harrah’s Atlantic City from Dec. 5-18. The $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship will run from Dec. 14-16.
Asia Pacific Poker Tour -- Manila
The $2,080 no-limit hold’em main event at the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour stop in Manila began on Thursday, Nov. 13, and attracted 285 players. The first-place prize that awaited the winner of the final table was $162,856, but first that champion would have to fight his way through a long final nine on Sunday, Nov. 16.
Here were the chip counts at the start of the final table:
Seat 1: Tae Jun Noh -- 466,000
Seat 2: Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson -- 238,000
Seat 3: Van Marcus -- 438,000
Seat 4: Benjamin Lim -- 115,000
Seat 5: Rainier Aquino -- 40,000
Seat 6: Hyoung Jin Nam -- 561,000
Seat 7: Manish Sansi -- 192,000
Seat 8: Chang Yong Suk -- 539,000
Seat 9: Ramil Tandoc -- 184,000
The final table (14 hours total) and the heads-up match (three hours) were the longest in the history of the APPT. The eliminations fell slow and steady during the final table, leaving the final match between Van Marcus and Tae Jun Noh as the hardest fought of the night, as a prize difference of $59,714 up for grabs. Here were the heads-up chip counts:
Van Marcus: 1,674,000
Tae Jun Noh: 1,100,000
Final Hand:
After three hours of heads-up play Marcus moved all in on a flop of 8 6 3 and Noh made the all-in call. Their cards:
Marcus: 9 7
Noh: J 8
Turn and River: 10 J
Marcus was overjoyed when he finally won the heads-up match and the long tournament. He took home $162,856 and a championship trophy for the win. Noh took home $103,142 for finishing in second place.
Final-Table Results:
1: Van Marcus -- $162,856
2: Tae Jun Noh -- $103,142
3: Hyoung Jin Nam -- $54,285
4: Michael Chang -- $37,999
5: Ramil Tandoc -- $29,134
6: Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson -- $21,714
7: Manish Sansi -- $16,285
8: Benjie Lim -- $12,485
9: Rainier Aquino -- $9,228
The next stop on the APPT will be the APPT Grand Final in Sydney, Australia. The $4,724 no-limit hold'em main event will run from Dec. 2-7.
HPT Championship Open -- Gary, Indiana
The $2,000 no-limit hold’em Heartland Poker Tour main event will begin on Friday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m., and it is the featured event of the HPT Championship Open hosted by the Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Indiana. This is the last stop on the 2008 HPT schedule, the fourth for the tour and its television show. This is the 16th stop on the tour for this season. The fourth season on the HPT saw record tournament fields and prize pools as this unique tour made poker champions out of amateur players that had won their way into tour main events through numerous levels of satellites tournaments. Those satellites were still running at press time, and they will continue to do so until the main event begins tomorrow night at 6 p.m. CST.
Here is a look at the schedule for the championship event.
Friday, Nov. 21, 6 p.m.: Day 1 -- Flight A
Saturday, Nov. 22, 9 a.m.: Day 1 -- Flight B
Saturday, Nov. 22, 5 p.m.: Day 1 -- Flight C
Sunday, Nov. 23, 11 a.m.: Day 2
Monday, Nov. 24, 11 a.m.: Final table
NOTE: The HPT main event is a Card Player Player of the Year tournament.
The fourth-annual British Columbia Poker Championship begins on Thursday, Nov. 20, and it will crown a champion on Sunday, Nov. 23. The event will also be televised and will gather a lot of poker professionals to the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia. Among the professionals who will play in the event are Canadian-born Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, and Brad “Yukon” Booth. The main event is a $2,500 no-limit hold’em tournament, which caps off a schedule that includes four preliminary events.
This is the second-largest poker tournament of the year in Canada, outside of the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship, which is hosted each fall in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The River Rock Casino Resort is also the largest casino in Western Canada, and the poker room holds 25 tables (making it the largest in Canada) that spread limit and no-limit variations of Texas hold’em, Omaha, Omaha eight-or-better, and seven-card stud, as well as daily poker tournaments.
Here is a look at the main event schedule:
Thursday, Nov. 20: Day 1 (All tournament days begin at noon PST)
Friday, Nov. 21: Day 2
Saturday, Nov. 22: Day 3
Sunday, Nov. 24: Final Table
Looking Ahead
Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza IV
Event Schedule
Turkey Shoot/ Ho-Ho Hold’em – The Bicycle Casino
Event Schedule
Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Event Schedule
Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final
Event Schedule
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