Tag: wsop

Duhamel Gets His Gold Bracelet Back

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Jonathan Duhamel has been on one heck of a ride since the home invasion and robbery that occurred back in December of 2011, but one of his most prized possessions that was missing has now been returned to its rightful owner.  This is none other than the World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet that he took down back in 2010.  He was bent on trying to get this bracelet back, as it was one of the things that meant the most to him out of what was taken.  It was gone for around two months, but this past Wednesday it was found, but not quite in the same condition that he lost it in.

It was found by a street sweeper named Denis Theriault, who cleaning up the Ville-Marie tunnel, when he found the bracelet while emptying the sweeper out.  It was completely beaten up, and looked as though someone had just taken a hammer to it.  It was worse than that though, as it had actually been run over by a car unfortunately.  The bracelet has (had) a diamond mix in it as well, and no one is positive about how it ended up in this tunnel, but there are a few assumptions.  One of the most popular ones is that whoever had  the bracelet at the time decided that there was no way they could sell the bracelet without being caught, so they simply threw it into the tunnel.

The bracelet essentially has lost everything except for it’s main plate, but fortunately Seth Palansky, who is the Media Director of the World Series of Poker, told tournament director Mitch Garber to let Duhamel know that they would work with him to replace the bracelet.  The current bracelet has Duhamel’s last name scratched off, but his first name, the date of the event, and the name of the tournament are all engraved, so there was no way that someone would not be able to realize that this bracelet belonged to Duhamel.

Duhamel has been one of the hottest players to start 2012, and it looks like he’s rebounded well from the home invasion as well.  Keep an eye on him throughout the year as he could be in for another huge year.

Official Schedule Released for 2012 World Series of Poker

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WSOPIt’s finally the time for poker players around the world to get excited about the biggest poker tournament series out there.  Caesars Entertainment Corporation has officially released the schedule for the 2012 World Series of Poker, and it’s one that looks more than just a little bit interesting.  For starters, when you look at the schedule you’ll see that there are now a total of 61 events, a number which is definitely higher than last year.  There have also been some interesting additions made in terms of tournament styles as well.  The action will begin at the end of May, on the 27th to be exact, and will run over a 50 day span until July 16th.  Just like normal though, it will kick off with the $500 Casino Employees event.

A few of the newer events that are featured include a $3k Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed event, a $5k No Limit Hold’em Mixed Max event, a $1,500 Ante only NLH event, and of course the $1 million tournament called the “Big One for BIG DROP”, which features 11.1 percent of the buy-ins to go towards the charity for ONE DROP.  Each of these events should be fun to watch, and should draw quite a bit of interest as well.  Other additions to the tournament will include the “exhibition events”, which won’t give out any gold bracelets to the winners, but will feature smaller buy-ins.  These tournaments will be $560 events and the first one will be on June 30th.  It is a Doubles No Limit Hold’em event which features two players to a team, and the players will play through each level attempting to build their stack.  The other one is on July 6th and is a bounty event which will place bounties on every player in the tournament who has won a gold bracelet before.

One last interesting thing to note about the WSOP is that the final nine players are no longer the “November Nine”, as they have decided to move the final nine players of the Main Event to the end of October, since the US Presidential Election will be going on in November. The Main Event will be have three starting days instead of four this year as well, but has added about 92 tables to the poker room in order to accommodate all of the players.

888 Poker Starts 2012 WSOP Satellites

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With the start of 2012 comes the anticipation for the 2012 World Series of Poker. And 888 Poker is wasting no time in pooling players to send to the next WSOP Main Event.

Every other Sunday, 888 Poker holds a 2012 WSOP qualifier at 20:05 GMT. The buy-in is $500 + $25.

Players can avoid that direct buy-in and win their way into the qualifier through any number of lower cost satellites. Satellite buy-ins start at just $1 + $0.10 where one player for every $25 in the prize pool will advance to the next stage. There’s also a $5 + $0.50 stage 1 event that advances one in five players to the next stage.

Step 2 satellites cost $23 + $2 to buy-in directly and advance 1 in 5 players to step 3, which in turn costs $105 + $10 to buy-in directly and advances 1 in 5 players to the 2012 WSOP 888 Poker Qualifier.

At each 888 Poker World Series of Poker 2012 Qualifier, one prize package worth $15,000 will be awarded. That value includes the $10,000 buy-in for the 2012 WSOP Main Event, $2,000 cash to apply toward travel expenses, $500 more in cash to apply toward other expenses, 8 nights of accommodations during the event, access to a special 888 Poker player lounge, an invite to a special 888 Poker VIP party, and an 888 Poker live event merchandise kit.

The prize pool for the 2012 WSOP Main Event is projected to be around $180 million.

Four People Arrested For Robbing Duhamel

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Last week there was an interesting story released about the home invasion and robbery of a winner of one of the largest online poker tournaments out there, the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.  The report said that two men rang the doorbell of Duhamel’s home in Montreal, Quebec at about 9:15am on the 21st, and the men forced their way into his house and beat the man.  They also stole his WSOP gold bracelet, an engraved rolex, and quite a bit of money.

Four people have been arrested for the incident now though for the crime.  It was three men and one woman who were involved, and the first arrest came on the 24th of December, which was a 20 year old woman that was charged with conspiracy.  After that two men, ages 22 and 26, were arrested for attacking Duhamel, and they were charged with breaking and entering, forcible confinement, assault, and possession of stolen goods.  The fourth and final arrest came on the 29th, and it was a 20 year old male.

The arraignment came on the 28th for three of the four suspects at the Longueuil Courthouse.  The Rolex that was stolen from Duhamel was recovered, but his World Series of Poker gold bracelet is still MIA, which has led to Duhamel offering a reward of $10,000 for any information about the thieves and the recovery of the items that were taken from him.

After the incident Duhamel dialed 911 and was taken directly to to the hospital.  After the incident occurred, he released a statement saying that he “spent the night at the hospital and was black and blue all over but had no broken bones, no blood clots, and nothing to worry about.”  He also went on to state that he was exhausted but happy to be alive.

It’s definitely good to see that the four people involved in this situation were arrested, and it helps raise the awareness of how careful poker players need to be in general, and that especially includes if they are able to take down big prizes like the $8.9 million grand prize that Duhamel took down at the World Series!

WSOP Main Event Winner Gets Robbed

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In some shocking news, a former World Series of Poker Main Event winner is in the middle of an alleged assault on Wednesday morning.  Jonathan Duhamel is one of the best up and coming young stars in the poker world, and is best known for winning the 2010 WSOP Main Event, and taking home the $8.9 million grand prize for it.  On top of the alleged assault, his home was also the target in a home invasion as well.  No one has made statements about it except for Duhamel’s agent, Phillipe Jette, who made a few remarks that help prove the truth in this story.

Jette said that Duhamel was injured during the incident, and made statements like that his “Christmas photos won’t be the prettiest”, and also that “getting out of bed will be particularly hard tomorrow”.

There hasn’t bee anyone specifically named  in this assault yet, but the story is that two men went to a house on Wednesday morning at 9:15am in Boucherville.  The two men then rang the door bell and this led to them assaulting the man who opened the door.  It was an armed assault, and no one has stated if there was anything taken from the house by the two men who were involved.

Duhamel has had quite a bit of success in the poker world, which obviously all starts with his $8.9 million payday.  After winning the Main Event, he went on to travel around the world and play in many different poker tournaments.  He won over $600k on his trip, and is also a part of Team PokerStars Pro roster as well.

You never want to hear a story about any type of assault, but this is not the first time that a poker player has been in the midst of a situation like this.  Doyle Brunson wrote about his run in with a home invasion and assault, and Greg Raymer was also once nearly robbed at the Bellagio as well.  Obviously before any final conclusions are made, we’ll have to see what exactly happened, but this is a story that is definitely worth keeping your eye on.

$1 Million WSOP Event Has 22 Confirmed

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One of the most talked about events for the upcoming World Series of Poker is the $1 Million buy-in event, which will not only be a gold bracelet event, but it will give the winner a platinum bracelet when all is said and done.  The talks of this event have became more and more in-depth over the past few months, and the main thing surrounding the event is that it could potentially be the largest first place pay day for the winner of any poker tournament in history.  The event currently has 22 players confirmed for it, and is called the “Big One for One Drop”.

The name comes from the charitable organization called One Drop, who will receive one ninth of the players’ buy-in’s to go towards the charity ($111,111).  The remainder of the buy-in will go straight into the prize pool, and there is no rake taken from it either.  The idea was started thanks to Guy Laliberte, who is not only the Chairman of the organization, but is also the founder of Cirque du Soleil.  The organization was created to help solve the problem of a lack of access to clean water for close to a billion people.

Out of the 22 players who have confirmed, the first two to do so are well known poker pros Jonathan Duhamel and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.  Both made their announcement at this past years’ November Nine, and Duhamel stated that out of any of the winnings that he takes from the event, that he will donate an additional 5% to One Drop.  This number, 22, is exactly the number that was needed to be confirmed in order for the tournament to be an official bracelet event, and the tournament will work a bit differently than other events.  Instead of the top 10% making the cash, the top 20% of players will make money, and the field will cap at 48 total players.

As far as the players who will be joining Duhamel and Grospellier, you’ll find names like Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan, Laliberte, Phil Ruffin, Bobby Baldwin, Tony G, Dan Shake, and Andy Beal.  There will also be qualifiers from satellites such as the Loto-Quebec satellite, the European satellite, and the Caesars satellite, as well as a seat awarded for the Montreal Group.

Site Claims To Have Stake in WSOP Main Event Champion Pius Heinz

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With the 2011 World Series of Poker now in the books, many people assumed that there wouldn’t be much on the news front until next year.  That would be incorrect though, as an interesting bit of news has come out about the new World Series of Poker Main Event champion, Pius Heinz.  Heinz beat out the field of over 6,800 players, and won an exciting heads up match against Martin Staszko to win the gold bracelet, and also won $8.7 million for his efforts.

The news that came after the winning effort from Heinz, was that he was staked into the event.  Being staked is something that commonly happens in the World Series of Poker, and the idea behind it is that people will sell a percentage of their entry into the tournament, and in return will give back a percentage of their winnings.  Heinz apparently went onto an online poker site and was looking for someone to buy a part of his action into a $1,500 event, and after he made it to the final table of the event; he went back for a stake of the $10,000 Main Event.  The site decided to buy a “large part” of his action, as one of the members of the site said.

Essentially what this would mean, is that whatever percentage that they bought of Heinzs’ action, he would now pay that percentage back to the site for buying him into the event (which most likely is a pretty pay day).  The site has also staked three other World Series of Poker bracelet winners this year as well, so all in all, they had a nice year in terms of staking.  The official numbers that were reported are 170 different players staked, and 2,915 total events that players were staked for.  Overall, it made up $1 million at least of staking, which they most likely made back pretty easily from their four total bracelet winners, but mainly Heinz!

Staking is just one of the many ways that players can get into World Series of Poker Events, and avoid having to pay the whole buy-in.  The 2012 World Series is only a few months away, so start preparing for the action!

Pius Heinz is the 2011 WSOP Main Event Champion

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WSOPIt took quite a while for the field of 6,865 players to be eliminated down to one, but when all was said and done, it ended up being one of the most exciting events in history.  The November Nine kicked off on Sunday, and before the action started back on Tuesday, we were left with only three players who were playing to win the biggest tournament out there.  The three players who were left featured the 2011 Player of the Year Ben Lamb, Pius Heinz from Germany, and Martin Staszko from the Czech Republic.  When the action started, Heinz was the massive chip leader with 107.8 million chips, and had more than both of his opponents combined; as Lamb had 55.4 million, and Staszko had 42.7 million.

The action was exciting from the word go, as Staszko was all in against Lamb on the very first hand; which resulted in Staszko’s pocket sevens holding up against the K-J of Lamb.  This left Lamb nearly crippled with only 10 big blinds left, and he would push the rest in only three hands later.  He shoved Q-6 all in, and was snap called by the pocket Jack’s of Staszko.  That was that for our three handed play, and the heads up match would be between Staszko and Heinz.

Staszko was the chip leader entering play, but they two went back and forth more than one could possibly imagine.  The play went on for hours, and then came hand number 115 which started with Staszko as a 124.75 million to 81.15 million chip lead.  The two went back and forth with a few raises, before Heinz finally pushed all in with a flop of Tc-7c-Ks showing.  Staszko debated it for a minute or two, and finally made the call, turning over Qc-9c for a flush draw and straight draw as well.  Heinz turned over Ah-Qh, and to his surprise was actually the favorite to win the hand, as a Jack would give him a better straight than Staszko.  Heinz was able to dodge Staszko’s outs, and went on to take a huge 162.3 million to 43.6 million chip lead.

It was all over just eight hands later, as Staszko pushed his last 39.8 million in the middle, and was called by Heinz, who flipped over A-K off suit.  Staszko had only 10c-7c, and was behind his opponent.  The board helped neither, which gave Heinz the win with Ace high.

Heinz took home the gold bracelet, and the incredible $8.7 million grand prize, and will now be among the most well-known names in poker for years to come.  For his efforts, Staszko got an excellent consolation prize of $5.7 million.

2003 WSOP Main Event Final Table Deck of Cards Were Up for Sale

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WSOPMany people would say that back in 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event, that it was the start of the surge in popularity that we have all seen today.  Moneymaker is an incredibly well-known player in the poker world, and one who is still talked about today after he won the Main Event; a tournament that he qualified for by winning a $40 satellite online.  If you were a fan of that Main Event and the final table, you’ll find this news a bit interesting.  The deck of cards that was used during the big win for Moneymaker were up on eBay for sale, but interestingly, no one bit on the auction.

The starting prize on the auction was a $7,500 bid, and the deal included all 52 cards (of course), and a Certificate of Authenticity as well.  This certificate is signed by both Moneymaker, and the tournament director Matt Savage.  There is also an additional small bonus, in terms of a tape of the broadcast from ESPN, which features the match-up between Moneymaker and his opponent Sam Farha.  As excellent as this would have been for a fan of Moneymaker, or a fan of poker in general; no one went after the huge starting asking price, and the auction ended on Monday with 0 bids.

It was not Moneymaker who placed these cards up for bid, and it was apparently a former employee of the casino.  The employee was said to have received permission to take the deck after the tournament was over.

The final hand of action ended with Farha holding the Jack of hearts, and the 10 of diamonds, and was up against a five of diamonds and a four of spades of Moneymaker.  The flop came down with the Jack of spades, five of spades, and four of clubs.  The two got it all in at that point, and Moneymaker was ahead with his two pair against the pair of Jacks that Farha was holding.  Moneymaker’s hand held, and he won the gold bracelet, as well as the $2.5 million grand prize.

While this piece of poker history didn’t sell, it could potentially down the road with a lower asking price potentially.  One well-known player who sold a piece of poker history, was when Peter Eastgate sold his Main Event gold bracelet back in 2008, and donated the $147k that it sold for to charity.

2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Down to the Final Three

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There is always an incredible amount of excitement surrounding the World Series of Poker Main Event, but it is never bigger than early November when the Final Table is set to kick off.  There were nine players who started the day on Sunday, and they played down to three.  Those three will now play until there is only one champion on Tuesday.  The action kicked off at 3:30pm EST, with a fifteen minute delay for the broadcast on ESPN.

The final nine players featured some names that were well-known, and a few that fans had to learn about.  The final nine players looked like this (in order of chip stack to start the day)- Martin Staszko, Eoghan O’Dea, Matt Giannetti, Phil Collins, Ben Lamb, Badih Bounahra, Pius Heinz, Anton Makiievskyi, and Sam Holden.  Each player who finished higher than 8th place was awarded a $1 million payday at least, but the real push was for the $8.7 million first place prize.

The first elimination took quite a while, as all of the players were a bit tight with their chips and wanted to feel out their opponents.  Eventually, it was Sam Holden (who started as the short stack), who ran his A-J into the A-K of Ben Lamb sending him home in 9th.  After that, the eliminations came steadily in around 30-45 minute increments, with Makiievskyi going home as his K-Q couldn’t hold off the pocket 9’s of Pius Heinz.  Heinz began running hot at this point, and was looking good in terms of his chip stack.  It wasn’t long after that elimination though Bounahra’s A-5 pre-flop shove was way behind the A-9 of Staszko.

We were then down to six players before O’Dea made a huge call against Ben Lamb, and had A-9, against the Q-8 of Lamb.  Unfortunately for O’Dea; it just didn’t hold, and Lamb hit an 8 on the river to leave O’Dea with just over 2 big blinds.  He was indeed the next player gone, as he shoved his final chips in to no avail.

Just before we got to the dinner break, we saw one more elimination in the well-known Phil Collins.  Collins pushed his A-7 suited against the 9’s of Heinz, and had both a straight and flush draw after the turn, but was not able to hit anything in the end.  Collins was the 5th place finisher, and we only had one more elimination before they called the day.

One last thing to note before the final elimination, was how much of a turn around that Heinz had.  After the dinner break, he actually won another big pot and had over 100 million chips at this point.  The final knockout came when Matt Giannetti pushed his last 12 million, and showed A-3, but was up against the pocket Kings of Lamb.  The flop gave Lamb quad Kings, and sent Giannetti to the rail.

The three players are set to roll on Tuesday, with Heinz leading the way with over 107 million, Lamb in second with 55 million, and Staszko still very much alive with 42 million.