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Sunny San Remo
The European Poker Tour reached San Remo this week, the penultimate stop of the tour’s sixth season. In keeping with previous EPT events on the Italian Riviera a record breaking field of 1,240 players registered to play on day one, defying volcanic ash to turn a sleepy town into the temporary poker capital of Europe. Among them were the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro, including Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein and former World Champion Peter Eastgate, who made an overnight bus journey from London to reach the tournament on time to play. They’ll play to a final table of eight to be played and broadcast on EPT Live this Wednesday. For coverage of the event and for videos, go to www.pokerstarsblog.com
Majestic Monte Carlo
If San Remo is on the horizon it means Monte Carlo, venue for the Grand Final of the European Poker Tour, cannot be far behind. The Grand Final highlights all that is great about the EPT. The Monte Carlo Bay Hotel awaits those seeking solace and celebration on the Monegasque side of the Franco-Italian border, after a week in San Remo and will be worth the trip for those battling cancelled flights. The €10,000 buy-in main event will bring the sixth season of the EPT to a close, with a side helping of events including a €5,000 Heads-Up tournament, a €1,000 Ladies event and a three day €25,000 High Roller. It’s the finale the EPT has grown accustomed to: the richest tournaments in the richest and most luxurious poker place in Europe, and it all starts on Sunday 25 April.
SCOOP the lot three ways
The online poker world will be abuzz in less than two weeks time when the Spring Championship of Online Poker begins next month. The 38 event series will feature three levels of buy-in, allowing everyone from high to low rollers their share of the action and a piece of the total guaranteed prize pool of $45,000,000. It all starts on May 2, with events covering every poker discipline known to the game. For more details go to the SCOOP website (http://scoop.pokerstars.com).
APPT Macau
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour gets its official start in less than a month’s time when the APPT Macau kicks off at the Grand Casino Lisboa. Macau is a top draw attraction to poker players across the region, featuring numerous casinos as well as the PokerStars card room. Last year Dermot Blain beat a field of 429 to a first prize of $541,072 and this year’s event will also feature side events including a charity tournament and a show stopping high roller. The fourth season of the APPT has already had a start of sorts, with a special event in Manila. The PAGCOR Chairman’s Cup was an additional tournament won by Binh Nguyen form the United States who took home $260,700 from the Philippine capital. After Macau on 18 May the tour heads to Auckland, New Zealand; Cebu in the Philippines and Sydney, Australia for the finale in December. For more information please go to www.appt.com.
ANZPT Sydney
The Australia New Zealand Poker Tour moves to its next leg, this time in Sydney Australia and the Star City Casino. In season one last year, the Sydney leg was won by Paren Arzoomanian who took home a first place cheque of AUD$246,500, beating a field of 493. So far, season two has had events in Adelaide and Perth – the west coast leg one by Team PokerStars’ Tony Hachem, bother of Joe Hachem, who on winning $132,750 immediately caught a plane to Manila to play the APPT Special Event. The action in Sydney begins on Wednesday 21 April with the final table on Sunday. After Sydney the tour then heads to Canberra in June. For more information please visit www.anzpt.com.
NAPT broadcasts
The first of two broadcasts of the North American Poker Tour are set to be aired tomorrow (April 20th) on PokerStars.tv. Every episode of the NAPT Venetian will be broadcast on the channel following their initial showing on ESPN. The first episode features the NAPT Venetian $25,000 high roller bounty shootout event with a line-up of elite players in a winner takes all clash. Find out not only who wins the first prize but also who takes the bounties – $5,000 in cash each player gives up to the player that eliminates them. Among those playing are Barry Greenstein, Annie Duke, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Hellmuth and John Duthie. Watch it all tomorrow on www.pokerstars.tv.
Tune in to PokerStars TV
While you can catch highlights of the NAPT Venetian on PokerStars.tv there are two more webcasts due for broadcast in the next two weeks. Coverage from EPT San Remo begins on Tuesday 20 April with the main event final table on Wednesday. Then follows the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo with coverage of both the main event and the high roller. You can find the coverage via each of the tour websites or on PokerStars.tv. The coverage free for any site to embed, the code for which can be found here:
I don’t like Mondays
While volcanic ash grounded some there was always the consolation of the Sunday Million over the weekend to satisfy any poker player wanting some top tournament action. This weekend it was ‘Speedy308’ who was very glad they logged on to play, taking away first place and $205,983.76 ahead of a field of 8,464, each of whom had an eye on the $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool. The eventual prize pool of $1,692,800 exceeded that, paying a total of 1260 players. If you weren’t one of them then we do it all again next weekend.
Donning the exact same shirt he wore two Aprils ago when he won the 2008 EPT San Remo
Main Event (€869,000), and armed with a little help from one of his favourite hands, Team
PokerStars.net Pro Jason Mercier won the 2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun
$25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout (HRBSO) taking home $475,000.
The win marks Mercier’s second high roller title in as many years. The 23-year-old pro from
Davie, Florida also won the 2008 EPT London High Roller Event (£516,000) and came close
to winning a third high roller title back in February at the L.A. Poker Classic (3rd – $141,780).
Mercier battled heads-up opponent Sam Stein for the better part of three and a half hours
before the most pivotal hand of the tournament took place.
Mercier moved all in over the top of a three-bet from Stein holding pocket threes and Stein
looked him up with the ace-jack of diamonds. When the money went in, Stein had Mercier
covered by just 13,000 in chips. Stein spiked a jack on the flop to take the lead, but the turn
and river gave Mercier a runner-runner six-high straight to win the pot. Stein was eliminated
from the tournament two hands later.
“Pocket threes were really lucky for me when I was 17 or 18 and that’s why I made my
(online) name “treysfull,” but I haven’t really won any enormous pots with threes until that
one,” Mercier said. His former online screen name was “treysfull21.”
Runner-up Sam Stein has had a successful year thus far in his own right. Stein finished
runner-up to Tom Marchese at the NAPT Venetian Main Event ($522,306) and posted
another second place finish in a $5,000 preliminary event at the PCA in January (168,390).
Stein earned $75,000 in prize money at the NAPT Mohegan Sun HRBSO; $60,000 for
winning his Round 1 table and $15,000 in bounties.
PokerStars.net sponsored player Faraz Jaka finished third, collecting $80,000 in prize
money for his efforts; $60,000 for winning his Round 1 table, and $20,000 for accumulating
four knockout bounties. Jaka is the only player to have final tabled both NAPT $25,000
HRBSO events. Jaka placed fifth at the NAPT Venetian HRBSO back in February
($95,000).
The NAPT Mohegan Sun HRBSO attracted 35 players including Team PokerStars.net Pros
Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Greg DeBora, Marcello Del
Grosso, Pat Pezzin and Anh Van Nguyen.
A full selection of high resolution photos from the NAPT Mohegan Sun High Roller Bounty
Shoot Out can be downloaded from this link http://senduit.com/a80a83. Please credit
PokerStars.net NAPT photographer Joe Giron with their use. The file will remain available
for download until 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 21st.
The NAPT Mohegan Sun $25,000 HRBSO was streamed on a five-minute delay over the
Internet via NAPT Live at www.napt.com/tv.
ESPN2 broadcast dates for the NAPT Mohegan Sun $25,000 HRBSO are as follows:
Monday, May 3, 2010 – 9:00 PM
Monday, May 3, 2010 – 10:00 PM
Monday, May 10, 2010 – 9:00 PM
The next stop on the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour will be announced soon.
