Tag: wptpoker

There will be no big money for Rochdale poker player Jake Cody after he bust out from the fourth day at the WPT World Championship. Jake got off to a great start on the first couple of days of the $25,500 buy-in Main Event but a tricky third day saw him slide down the poker chip rankings and put himself in jeopardy.

Jake doesn’t have a great record of cashing in at WPT Events with his only previous monetary success at this style of event coming way back in August 2010. This was a triumph at the WPT London event so perhaps Jake isn’t too fond of WPT events. Then again, give that he did actually manage to win that London event means he can’t have too much hate or distrust for what WPT offers to poker players! Cody slipped out due to the poker play of Chino Reem who ended Day 4 as the chips leader for the Main Event.

Jake Cody looking on the bright side of life

At least Jake was able to look at the outcome in a philosophical manner, taking to Twitter to talk to his followers. Jake said;

Oh well life is good, Mexico in a few days for the end of SCOOP on PokerStars then straight back to Vegas #bracelethunting

The fact that there are so many different poker tournaments to choose from means that poker players will always have an opportunity to bounce back as quickly as possible. Any poker player that suffers a disappointment knows that they need to get back in the game as quickly as possible and this is the attitude shown by the top poker players.

If you are a casual poker player or you are just starting out, this is the attitude that you need to show with respect to poker. You should always bear in mind your financial commitments and it doesn’t make sense to go charging into every game and tournament available in an attempt to keep playing but you can’t let defeats get to you too much. Being able to bounce back quickly and become a stronger player after you lose is what helps poker players to grow and it is definitely something that all of the top poker players can rely on. You should look to take their advice in this manner too.

At major poker events, you can only take things one hand at a time and you can only really look forward to a single day at a time. Just because you have a brilliant day on Day 2 of a poker tournament is no guarantee that Day 3 is going to follow in the same manner. Sometimes a fresh start is what some players require to change their fortunes whereas sometimes a break in proceedings can do a lot to derail the success that a poker player is having. Some players are able to bring a level of consistency that sees them through the various days of a poker tournament without any great trouble but for others, it is a bit more difficult.

Jake Cody seemed to bring his good form from Day 2 of the World Poker Tour World Championship into the third day of the event. The Rochdale born poker player knows that there are a lot of expectations being placed upon him for this event but all you can do is keep your head down and keep on playing poker in the right manner. There is still a long way to go in this tournament but Jake is certainly going about things in the correct fashion.

Poker players falling by the wayside

Day 3 may not have been as successful as Day 2 was but when the number of poker players fall, surviving the cut is all you can really look for. 67 poker players made it back to the Bellagio and by the end of the day; this had been chopped down to 24 poker players. The closing stack of 365,000 for Jake Cody may have seen him slip out of the top 10 with regards to chips but as we all know, this is a situation that can change very quickly.

The money bubble is at the 15th position so this is obviously the first target for Cody to aim for. You don’t only want to think about the money, you should always be able to look higher but sometimes getting to this level is the thing that can allow players to relax a little. Battling so far in a tournament only to get no financial return to show for it can be tough so at least knowing you have some money in your pocket can be of benefit.

Things may have got a little gloomier for Jake Cody on Day 3 of the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio but the fact that he remains hanging on in there is definitely something to be proud of. The money places are close by so he just needs to cling on in there for a little while longer.

No matter the activity or the discipline you are involved with, you want to be involved at the business end where it really matters. It is all well and good playing great poker at small tables and in the meaningless games but it takes something special to turn on the class and style at the major events. There are not too many poker events that are bigger than the season closer of the World Poker Tour World Championship event and this is why Jake Cody will be delighted with his early showing at the Bellagio.

Making it through to the start of day 3 is no great reason to be over excited but there is definitely a strong sense of pride in performing well in the first two days’ worth of play. The Rochdale player took to the event, which carried a $25,000 buy-in with great purpose and played strongly in the initial two days. At the end of the second day of play, Cody had amassed 453,000 chips. This was enough of a stack to place him into 5th place at the end of the second day of play.

Cody definitely in the mix for the third day of poker

Cody had barely stepped away from the table when he was accosted by the WPT media team for a quick interview. Such is the high profile nature of these events, players know that media activities are part and parcel of what they have to do and Jake was more than happy to give a quick sound bite of his tournament so far.

Cody spoke to Jeanine Deeb from WPT and said;

I just seem to keep on getting big hands and being called, and then my bluffs always seem to get through, so it seems to be going very well so far.

The success of Cody also added to the current woes that Phil Ivey is having with the British at the moment. The world famous poker player is in the news a fair bit due to the “cheating” scandal that he finds himself embroiled in with Crockfords casino. At this event, Ivey lost out a large stack of chips as he sent off to the rail as the same time as Cody was marching on building up his stack in an impressive fashion.

Although the stack of 453,000 chips held by Cody was impressive, the chip leader for the beginning of day 3 was Mike Linster. Mike was able to bring 744,000 chips in his stack and he is continuing to show a good run of form. Mike gained entry to this event by bagging the recent WPT Main Event in Jacksonville and he will no doubt be keen to pick up another WPT title.

Jake Cody is still a long way off of getting any money at this event and who knows, due to the vagrancies of time and when you read this, he may be suffering a turnaround in his fortunes at the event! Regardless of this, Cody definitely made a strong impact on the opening couple of days at the World Poker Tour World Championship.

Sadly there was to be no final day or final table spot in Venice for Kara Scott who had a cruel end to the WPT Venice event on Friday. Kara had been looking good up until the end of the week but we all know that it doesn’t take too long to turn a winning position into a failing one in the poker world. This sadly ends the British involvement in the event but anyone who appreciates good poker will have found plenty more to keep themselves interested in the big event.

Going into play on Friday, there were just 18 players left in the hunt and Kara Scott was looking good in joint fifth place. She held 414,000 chips, the same amount as was held by Mike Sexton. The chip leader at this point was Erion Islamay who held an impressive 470,000 chips in his stack at the start of play on Friday.

Former chip leader dropping back in the pack

Islamay is still in the running but the player who was the chip leader at the event for a long time found himself back in joint fourth place. Islay was tied with Rocco Palumbo on 406,000 chips. The leader going into the final was Marcello Montagner, who managed to have 1,805,000 chips and he was followed by a fellow Italian, Roberto Begni, who had 1,203,000 chips.

It is funny that the leader, Montagner, is a commentator of the Italian WPT because in third place was Mike Sexton. As you will probably be aware, Mike Sexton is considered by many to be the voice of the WPT so it just goes to show that those who talk about poker also seem to know a lot about it. This gives viewers around the world an added sense of confidence that they are being kept up to date by people who have a genuine love and passion for poker.

The long search for Scott to obtain a WPT finish goes on but she should be able to take a lot of comfort and confidence form her showing in Venice. The fact that she was considered to be in such a strong position and there was genuine surprise and empathy when she busted out indicates the support she has in the community.

Kara found herself facing down the bad end of a couple of big flips, which can happen at any time or to anyone when playing poker. There will hopefully be plenty of other opportunities for Kara to find success with the WPT but there were still plenty of players looking to bring home the big money from Venice and the World Poker Tour.

One of the problems on looking back at poker events and tournaments that straddle the week into the weekend is that you often have to appraise performances before the final placings are announced. As we all know, a lot can happen before the final placings are announced and people who looked like sure-fire winners can often find themselves left with no money and a lot of disappointment. However, that is the nature of poker. The final table will always be the most important thing and the area that players should look to but if you can’t turn it on during the early days of an event, you’ll have no chance of making it through to the final places.

We are no nearer to finding out who the big winners at the WPT Venice event are but when the event made its way down to 36 players, a couple of British players were looking in a great position. This alone is something to be approved of, the more British players making the latter stages of poker tournaments the better but when you hear the names of the players who have battled through to the final 36, there shouldn’t be any surprise.

Cheering on the Scott!

Kara Scott may not be strictly British but anyone that spent 10 years of her life here and did a lot to help females rise to prominence in the UK poker scene is always going to be one to keep an eye on. Of the two British interest players in the final 46, Scott was the better placed. This is down to the fact that she held 113,400 chips, which was not a bad level to be at. It has been a busy time for Kara because she has recently been serving as the hostess at the recent PartyPoker.com Premier League VI event. Perhaps keeping an eye on eventual winner Dan Shak gave her some pointers.

Not that Kara Scott needs too many tips or advice about how to deliver the best poker performances as she has provided so many major poker highlights in her illustrious career. Any player that has picked up more than $570,000 in live tournaments is definitely a player of calibre but as of yet, Scott is yet to be a winner at a WPT Main Event. Hopefully Venice is the venue where she rips up that statistic but there is an awful lot of poker to be played before a winner steps forward.

Liv keeps on popping up

Scott was joined in the final 36 by Liv Boeree, the Team PokerStars professional and all-round poker star. Boeree went into the final 36 with a stack of 93,600 chips which she will need to build on if she wants to land a major cash prize. Boeree has been able to make it to the money spots before in a WPT event. She managed to earn herself over $40,000 for a money finish at the 2009 Seventh Annual Five Star World Poker Classic event. Sadly this was not a poker event commemorating the briefly successful and then non-existent pop career of the band Five Star.

The top five ranked players going into the final 36 saw Giuseppe Pastura sit in 5th place and he had 254,000 chips. In fourth place was Steve Behm who had 263,800 chips while Erion Islamay was in third place with 281,200 chips. Sitting in second was Lauri Pesonen who had 287,300 and the chip leader of the final 36 was Ludovic Lacay who had a stack of 351,400 chips.

The glamour and beauty of Venice clearly never impacted on the determination or focus of any of these players and this will have to remain the case until the event is over.

The Aspers Casino Westfield has already witnessed some great poker moments in its time but another one arrived on Tuesday afternoon. This was because Reece Lewis held his nerve and triumphed in the WPT National London Main Event.

There were a total of 218 players taking part in the tournament which carried a £1,650 buy-in but with only eight getting through to the final table, it had been a long slot to get to that point. The players who had triumphed in this regard were well rewarded with the fact that they knew they would all be receiving a minimum of £10,000 to carry home with them but with a much bigger prize up for grabs, no one was too keen to rest on their laurels and settle for the easy money.

The unfortunate player who was first to leave the final table was knocked out by the eventual winner. Emma Tolley will no doubt be annoyed at the fact that she exited so soon at the final hurdle but the £10,000 prize money she received will no doubt help to soften the blow. The money rose in small incremental steps with 7th placed Carlo Citrone taking away £12,500. Carlo entered the final table with the smallest amount of chips, 66,000 when the highest chip count was 1,731,000 so it was not unexpected that he was to duck out early on.

Slow and steady prize money rises for poker players

Wang Weikang was 6th and he received £15,000 while 5th placed Ramus Larsen received £19,000. The money on offer was now starting to get a little bit exciting with fourth placed finisher Kevin Williams receiving £25,000. Robin Fisher in third place took away £34,000 and Elior Sion, who was the chip leader coming into the final table was the runner up, receiving £54,159. Elior was close to having three times as many chips at the final table as eventual winner Reece Lewis but yet again, there was a stark reminder that chip counts count for nothing until the games have all been played.

Going into the head to head battle, Lewis had completely turned the situation around and held a massive chip lead over Sion. Lewis held 4,325,000 chips while Elior Sion was in possession of 1,085,000. This was close to being a four times advantage and in the end, it required less than half an hour for Reece Lewis to make this advantage count and be hailed as the winner of the WPT National London Main Event champion.

Whoever said that poker is a force for evil as it encourages people to gamble might well have to eat their words as the World Poker Tour (WPT) has got together with numerous poker pros and celebrities to launch the WPT Foundation with the aim of using the tour’s influence as an “engine for important change in the world”.

The WPT Foundation plans to host several charity poker events entitled WPT Playing for a Better World that aim to raise cash for their worldwide charity partners, including World Central Kitchen, We Advance, Enough Project, and Conservation International.

The first tournament will be hosted on Sunday, March 11, by SLS Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, with the celebrities already signed up including the likes of Joel Madden, Jeremy Piven, Don Cheadle, Gerard Butler, Maria Bello, Eva Longoria, Woody Harrelson and Will Ferrell.

Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari Signed Up

These stars of the big screen and music industry should certainly enjoy the event as they will be able to compare their poker skills – and maybe even win a lesson or two – against pros such as Andy Frankenberger, Maria Ho, Jamie Gold, Tony G, Vanessa Selbst, Antonio Esfandiari, Dan Harrington and Daniel Negreanu, as well as the WPT’s very own Tony Dunst and Mike Sexton.

The first stop will see celebrities enjoy some poker lessons, before then getting down to the serious business of playing in a $500 buy-in round-robin tournament, enjoying an auction and a raffle – with tickets priced at $100 – to raise funds for the previously mentioned charities.

The WPT has already made a donation of $100,000 towards the event, with the tour’s chief executive officer Steve Heller saying he expects a positive response from all concerned.

Steve Heller Says WPT is ‘Dedicated’ to Supporting Charities

Heller stated: “World Poker Tour has always been dedicated to supporting charitable causes, but by establishing WPT Foundation we are making a deep, lasting commitment to philanthropy the likes of which the poker world has not seen before.”

“With poker as a platform for an ongoing programme and the support of celebrities, our poker player family and fantastic global charities, we’re confident the world will be shown how WPT and the poker community can be an engine for important change in the world, and we’re pleased to fuel that engine with an initial $100,000 donation.”

“The launch event of WPT Playing for a Better World at the beautiful SLS Hotel will be a night to remember and the first of many such WPT Foundation events to come.”

Players will definitely enjoy more than just top-quality poker, though, as multi-award-winning Spanish chef José Andrés will be on hand to provide a buffet from his The Bazaar restaurant, which is attached to the SLS Hotel.

If you want to know even more about the event, then visit WPTFoundation.org.

The first ever World Poker Tour event in Dublin, Ireland, has gone to Brit David “Dubai” Shallow, who fought his way past the 337 other entrants to nab the title and $289,031 first place prize. In addition to the cash and recognition, Shallow also leaves Dublin with a seat at the WPT World Championships worth $25,000. This is by far the biggest win of Shallow’s career, and it makes up the vast majority of his $325k career tournament earnings.

Shallow entered the final table with a stunning chip lead– enough so that his eventual victory doesn’t come as an overwhelming surprise. He held over 60% of the chips in play when the final table began, holding 5 times as many as Steve Watts, who started with 1,600,000, and around 8 times as many as Ronan Gilligan, who started with the least chips at 775,000. The other two players at the final table were Patrik Vestlin with 1,100,000 and Charles Chattha in fourth place with 835,000. While poker is certainly anyone’s game, a spread like that is certainly a challenge for any player to overcome, and Shallow entered the final table confident and collected. While the final table should have had six players, Shallow’s elimination of both Steven Moreau and Shaun Conning on the last hand the day before meant a short-handed final table.

Shallow struggled at first during final table play, letting his chip stack dwindle to under 4.5 mil as he doubled up both Gilligan and Vestlin. Gilligan took advantage of his increase in chips and took on Steve Watts. Watts went all in with a pair of tens against Gilligan, who was holding out for an outside straight. The river gave Gilligan Broadway and another 1,130,000 chips and sent Watts to the rail as the first player out of the final table with $51,063. Vestlin would be out next, taking home $68,396, and he was also eliminated by Gilligan, who became the chip leader after eliminating two players during the first hour of final table play.

Gilligan continued the aggressive play that had served him so well early in the match, but when he called Shallow’s all-in on a hand that could easily go either way, he found that his luck had run out. Shallow knocked Gilligan out in third and vaulted to 7,280,000 chips as heads-up play began against Chattha, who held 2,860,000.

Just as Gilligan’s overconfidence bit him when he went up against Shallow, Shallow’s confidence and secure position caused him to make some less than ideal choices during the heads-up play, and at one point, he and Chattha were almost even in chips. Shallow made a few gains, and then the final hand happened: Shallow was sitting on pocket Queens while Chattha had pocket 9s. Shallow raised before the flop, and after raise and a re-raise, Chattha went all-in. Shallow called, and the flop came down K-K-2 with an 8 and 3 on the turn and river. All in all, the final table was over in under three hours, and David Shallow is the newest WPT title holder, and the first winner of a WPT Ireland main event!

The next World Poker Tour event will be in Venice, Italy, in early February.