The U.S.
No one spends more time at the Rio each summer during the World Series of Poker than media director Nolan Dalla. He stays with each and every final table until the end, and he has had the job with Harrah’s since 2002. Before that he was P.R. director at Binion’s Horseshoe starting in 2001. “I pretty much made up my job title on the spot,” said Dalla with a chuckle when asked about his job title at the Horseshoe. Before that he wrote for Card Player, and in 2005 he co-wrote the book One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey “The Kid” Ungar. Card Player caught up with Dalla at the end of the 41st WSOP’s summer run for a retrospective interview about this year. Dalla
Read the full post >>
Who is Antonio Esfandiari?
Born on December 8, 1978, in Tehran, Iran, Antonio Esfandiari started his life as Amir Esfandiari. His family moved to California when he was 9, where he had his name changed to Anthony because of the teasing he received at school. After turning 19, he changed his name again, this time to Antonio.
Growing Up
Antonio is one of the world’s best young poker players. He left college to become a professional magician, and that is where he comes by his nickname, “The Magician.” Antonio got into poker after he was invited to a game after one of his magic shows.
Survivors from Day 1a and Day 1c came together for the first time as it was time for Day 2a at the Rio in Las Vegas as the 2010 WSOP Main Event continued. After just four levels of play, approximately 1,260 players had survived to reach Day 3 action, with notables Johnny Chan, Cole South, Patrik Antonius and Robert Mizrachi ending the day towards the pointy end of the chip count leaderboard.
There were mixed successes for the Australians on the felt today with a couple of big comebacks and a few disappointing eliminations.
Aaron Benton was an early casualty after running his into an opponent’s pocket aces on an ace-high, with two clubs, flop. His opponent filled up to a full house on the turn to leave Benton drawing dead and headed to an early exit.
Also out in the early stages was cricket legend and 888Poker ambassador Shane Warne who ran his K-Q into pocket aces on a king-high flop.
Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis was one who was quick to turn things around after starting the day with just 20,150 in chips. Dong had a strong day, connecting with the board and punishing his opponents once he had some chips to play with to end up bagging up 129,700.
Jackie Glazier progressed strongly to end the day with 128,700, while Tony Dunst cruised through to amass 106,000 by the day’s end.
Simon Watt went through with above average chips with 89,200 as did Gary Benson (84,500), while Jeff Fenech (66,000), Greg Shillig (62,800) and Peter Aristidou (52,400) are all in good shape.
The 2010 WSOP won’t only be known for its huge Main Event but also for being the biggest overall World Series of all time.
By the time the final entrant had been counted on Thursday, the 2010 WSOP had received a total of 72,966 players over 57 events.
When the Main Event is complete, the 2010 WSOP will have awarded a record-setting $187,109,850 to poker players from around the globe.
“By every measure, this was the most successful World Series of Poker in the event’s illustrious 41-year history,” said World Series of Poker Vice President Ty Stewart.
“From the lowest buy-in events to the highest, we saw enormous player demand translate into lengthy registration lists and massive prize pools.
ENTER OR RE-ENTER ANY DAY FROM JULY 20-24; TOP 10% OF EACH DAY'S FIELD WILL CASH; 27 ADVANCE DAILY TO FINAL Commerce Casino is heating up the summer with a new Guaranteed Million Dollar Tournament featuring a five-day entry, slated to begin July 20. This $335 Buy-In No Limit Hold'em event gives players the option of entering or re-entering on any of the five days from July 20-July 24. That's five different shots at the final table! Even better, approximately 10% of each day's field will take home a piece of the million-dollar prize pool, and the top 27 players every day will advance to the final on Sunday, July 25. The ultimate field competing for the guaranteed Commerce Casino payout will only number 135 players. M
Read the full post >>
Visit the 2010 WSOP Main Event and you’ll see numerous players wearing 1% Bad Beat on Cancer patches.
The Bad Beat on Cancer Initiative began as an idea between poker professionals Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst at the 2003 World Series of Poker event to fund cancer prevention research.
The pair had been raising money for the cause prior, but knew they had hit the jackpot when they came up with the idea to ask poker players to give one percent of their winnings to the foundation as a tax-deductable donation.
Since 2003, participation in the initiative has only grown and to date over $3.2 million has been raised for the Prevent Cancer foundation, proving just how charitable the poker community is.
Some of the more notable names on the pledge list this year include Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Annie Duke, Chris Moneymaker, Andy Block, Phil Hellmuth, Adam Levy, Phil Gordon and Toby Maguire.
“Poker players lead very lucky lifestyles, so it is good to give back when you can,” said Adam Levy, an accomplished Ultimate Bet pro.
It is clear many share Levy’s generous outlook with 94 players already listed on the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s pledge list.
“It’s important for all of us to realize that there is a lot of people in unfortunate situations…
Titan Poker has already kicked off their satellites to send players to the Emerald Isle to find their very own Pot of Gold – but there is still plenty of time for you to get onboard! And you don’t have to be Irish to get in on this deal, all you need is a little time, a few dollars and a lot of Irish Luck and you could be in Ireland this October!The Irish Winter Festival returns to Dublin this fall and will be held at the fabulous Burlington Hotel, which will be bursting with some of the best poker players in the world and Titan Poker wants to make sure you are there! S
Read the full post >>
British poker pro Steve Jelinek has won event #41, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 Or Better, at the 2010 WSOP. It is Jelinek’s first WSOP bracelet and he picked up $245,871 for the win. Jelinek’s win is the fifth bracelet for UK players this year after previous wins by Mike Ellis, Richard Ashby, Praz Bansi and James Dempsey. It is already the UK’s most successful WSOP of all time.
Jelinek was delighted with his win, saying, ‘It’s not quite sunk it yet.
It was a complicated event for most players, as the 8-game mixed tournament combined eight games in rotation to offer the field the most diverse poker game available. Event 48 brought those games – limit holdem, Omaha-8, 7-card razz, 7-card stud, stud-8, no-limit holdem, PLO, and deuce to 7 triple draw lowball – to the 2010 World Series of Poker with a $2,500 buy-in, and experienced players did not hesitate to step up for the challenge.The field was comprised of 453 players, which resulted in a $1,041,900 prize pool for the top 48 players, though the figure of $260,497 awaited the winner only.
Read the full post >>
