The 2016 World Series of Poker main event begins today....July 9,2016

[Greenbacks]

Daniel Negreanu is a poker hall-of-famer and two-time World Series of Poker player of the year. But he's never made it to the final table in the tournament's marquee Main Event in Las Vegas. Twice, in 2001 and 2015, he missed by just two seats.

This weekend, the 41-year-old who lives in Las Vegas will give it a 19th try.
"As long as I live, I'll never miss the Main Event," Negreanu said this week as play continued at the 47th annual tournament at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
"It's such a spectacle," he said. "It's the one the mainstream media pays attention to, and everyone's eyeballs in the industry are on that one event."
Tournament officials project that as many as 7,000 players will ante up $10,000 each to buy in to the no-limit Texas Hold 'Em competition when play begins with three opening stages Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

A final table of nine players is scheduled to emerge July 18 — and then take a break until Oct. 30, when they'll return for the Main Event championship through Nov. 1. Dates were moved this year to avoid conflicting with the U.S. presidential election, tournament official Seth Palansky said.
Poker pro Joe McKeehen, 25, of North Wales, Pennsylvania, won the gold bracelet last year and a $7.68 million top prize.

This year's Main Event is expected to attract past winners including Phil Hellmuth (1989), Scotty Nguyen (1998) and possibly Chris Ferguson (2000), along with other notables from the poker, sports and entertainment worlds, Palansky said.
Brazilian soccer star Neymar has qualified, and former Australian cricket star Shane Warne could play. Screen and television actors who may return include James Woods, Ray Romano, Brad Garrett and Jennifer Tilly, winner of a World Series of Poker women's event in 2005.

"Women have done very well in this tournament, but it has been 15 years since a woman made the final table," Palansky said. "Will this be the year?"
The top-rated female poker pro in the world, Vanessa Selbst of Brooklyn, New York, could be a player to watch, Palansky said, along with Kristen Bicknell, from Ontario, Canada, and Loni Harwood of Staten Island, New York.

Bicknell already won a gold bracelet this year, topping a field of more than 2,100 players in the tournament's $1,500 no-limit hold'em bounty event.
Negreanu said it will be harder to navigate through a field of 7,000 players than in years past, when the field was several hundred. Just 350 players entered the first year he played, in 1998.
The winner also needs a little luck, he said.
Palansky said players this year will start with a stack of 50,000 chips, compared with 30,000 last year. Players like chips, he said. Chips have no monetary value in the tournament, but a player is eliminated when his or hers are gone.

The pool of winners will be 1,000 — like last year — or 15 percent of the entry field, whichever is greater.
"We paid 1,000 places in the Main Event last year for the first time," he said. "It was so successful, we introduced it to all (69) events this year. This should have a nice halo effect for the Main Event, as more people should have the money to get into the granddaddy of all poker tournaments."

Palansky said officials won't know until the final tables begin play on Monday whether the tournament will be affected by fluctuating values of the Euro and Canadian and Australian dollars following the United Kingdom vote last month to leave the European Union.

He said a large number of Main Event players come from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — third behind the U.S. and Canada.
"We draw a lot of players from the United Kingdom," Palansky said. "We're wondering if the fence-sitters decide not to come."

 

[Greenbacks]

I know we have quite a few poker players in the house....We can use this thread for daily updates throughout the Tournament.

 

[Greenbacks]

We had some Bracelet winners during the week.

UA Finance Prof Wins $1.2 Million in World Series of Poker.

“I really don’t play poker,” Towner said. “I’ve only ever played two events that are worth more than like $100.”

Towner, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Arizona, looked like anything but a novice on Tuesday night as he won the World Series of Poker’s $1,500 buy-in “Monster Stack” No-limit Hold ’em event at the Rio Convention Center.

The 29-year-old Towner defeated Venezuela’s Dorian Rios during heads-up play and collected $1.12 million along with his first — obviously — career bracelet.

“I just tried to play fairly straightforward. I didn’t want to put myself in any marginal spots,” Towner said. “It seemed like people were liable to blast off occasionally and so I figured, you never know, maybe I’ll get hit with the deck of cards and run really, really well, and that’s what happened.”

 

[Greenbacks]

We had some Bracelet winners during the week.

Safiya Umerova Wins 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 Shootout.

For the second time this week, a woman has won an open event at the 2016 World Series of Poker. On Thursday, Kristen Bicknell won the $1,500 no limit hold em bounty even and Friday night, the feat was repeated by Safiya Umerova, a 28-year-old Russian poker pro who now resides in Los Angeles. Umerova took down the $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout event, earning her first bracelet and the $264,046 first-place prize. Umerova is having quite a breakout year on the tournament circuit. In January, she won a prelim and finished runner-up in another at the L.A. Poker Classic. She also finished fifth in an event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in April. In total she now has more than $400,000 in live tournament winnings.

“I think women poker players are underestimated," Umerova said. “It happens to me, all the time when I was at the table. They would underestimate my thinking and my game, overall. I studied the game almost every day. I read a lot of books. I had people help me. I worked very much on my game to get here. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t work hard on my game.”

In order to capture the title, Umerova had to win three consecutive sit-n-gos. A total of 1,050 entrants put up the $1,500 buy-in, creating a prize pool of $1,417,500. The final 120 players all made the money after winning their first table. The final 12 players all won their second tables as well, guaranteeing themselves a spot in Friday’s finale.
Among the notables who made the money were Niall Farrell (2nd), Alexander Lakhov (9th), Vanessa Selbst (10th) and Sam Greenwood (12th).

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Finish	Player	Payout	POY Points
1	Safiya Umerova	$264,046	960
2	Niall Farrell	$163,158	800
3	Michael Mixer	$118,109	640
4	Yuliyan Kolev	$86,513	480
5	Damian Salas	$64,129	400
6	Raymond Ho	$48,115	320
7	Daniel McAulay	$36,543	240
8	Daniel Tang	$28,101	160
9	Alexander Lakhov	$21,881	80

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[Greenbacks]

Jason Mercier Proposes To Girlfriend Natasha Barbour After She Finishes Third In World Series Of Poker Tournament.

This week’s $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the World Series of Poker featured Floridian Natasha Barbour going for her first career bracelet. She ended up being eliminated in third for $348,374, but what happened next was almost surely more memorable than the score.

According to the WSOP, Jason Mercier, Barbour’s boyfriend, had decided it was a good time to pop the question. Mercier got on stage, dropped down to one knee, and asked Barbour if she would marry him. Mercier’s run-good this summer didn’t come to an end, as Barbour said ‘yes.’

Prior to the proposal, Mercier’s summer had already consisted of two bracelets and a runner-up finish. He’s also won undisclosed amounts in large bracelets bets.
Oh, and he has cashed an incredible 10 times as well.

With her most recent final table, Barbour passed the $1-million mark in live tournament earnings. She finished 2nd in a bracelet event last year.

 

[Betallsports]

Matt finished 9th the other day and cashed for over $57K

Pot Limit Omaha

$10K Buy in

 

[pocketrockets]

My buddy plays today.

He got 2nd in Event #21 NLHE 6 Max. Over 250k.

 

[Greenbacks]

Matt finished 9th the other day and cashed for over $57K

Pot Limit Omaha

$10K Buy in

9th Place....Matt Sterling...Brownstown,Indiana....$57,160

 

[Betallsports]

9th Place....Matt Sterling...Brownstown,Indiana....$57,160

his RX name is Matt24

hasn't been around here in 2 years ... nice guy though

 

[Greenbacks]

764 Players Turn Out For Day 1A of the 2016 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event

It’s finally here. The tournament every poker player has been waiting for, the $10,000 World Series of Poker no-limit hold’em world championship main event kicked off on Saturday.

It’s the most prestigious event in the game, but it also sports a huge field and what has consistently been the biggest prize pool of the year since the poker boom of the early 2000’s. The field features the best poker players in the world sat side-by-side with fresh-faced enthusiasts playing for the chance to become the next world champion. It has a unique atmosphere of excitement that no other poker tournament can quite match.

Day 1A, the first of three starting days and historically the smallest in terms of turnout, drew 764 entries this year. While that number might seem small, it is actually up from 741 players in 2015. Last year the main event ended up drawing a total field of 6,420 by the end of registration, with day 1C being by far the largest of the starting days.

From the 764 entries that turned out only 567 made it through to day 2. Gary Sewell ended the day as the chip leader with 312,500. Plenty of recognizable names bagged up big stacks including Matthew Ashton (212,600), Dan Shak (208,400), 2016 WSOP bracelet winner Peter Eichhardt (174,300), Adam Friedman (165,100), Michael Gathy (151,000), 2012 WSOP main event 10th-place finisher Gaelle Baumann (126,000) and Shannon Shorr (125,900).

Other familiar faces who made it through the day include Andy Black (103,400), David Sands (83,800), 2015 WSOP main event third-place finisher Neil Blumenfield (81,000), Hoyt Corkins (76,100), Max Altergott (74,100) and two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman (34,800).

Some of those who hit the rail before the day ended included Billy Baxter, Kelly Minkin, Mark Radoja, Calvin Anderson, Greg Mueller, Matt Waxman, and David Paredes.

 

[Greenbacks]

Here is a look at the top 20 chip stacks at the end of day 1A:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Gary Sewell	312,500
2	Alvaro Lopez	306,200
3	Scott Neuman	226,000
4	Sean Case	222,500
5	Matthew Ashton	212,600
6	Alexander Barlow	212,100
7	Joep Raemaekers	211,170
8	Carl Carodenuto	210,800
9	Dan Shak	208,400
10	Derek Chang	205,200
11	Andrew Ostapchenko	181,500
12	Martin Verdegaal	174,400
13	Peter Eichhardt	174,300
14	Richard Carlson	171,300
15	Adam Friedman	165,100
16	Matthew Davidow	162,000
17	Benjamin Meahm	160,800
18	Victor Sbrissa	155,400
19	Giulio Mascolo	152,500
20	Fredrick Goff	151,200

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[Greenbacks]

Two Former NFL Standouts Compete In The 2016 World Series Of Poker Main Event

Earlier this summer, Calais Campbell of the Arizona Cardinals competed in a preliminary event at the 2016 World Series of Poker. Fast forward a month, and two more football players were at the Rio Convention Center competing for a gold bracelet. Antoine Winfield, who played for the Minnesota Vikings until 2012, as well as former New England Patriot Richard Seymor, who also last played four years ago, were among the field of 764 on day 1A of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship. Seymour survived to day 2, while Winfield busted.

The former was listed as a DNR on the official chip counts, but it looks like he ended the day with a decent stack. According to a WSOP live update, Seymour lost a pot to fall to roughly 70,000 near the end of play on Saturday evening.

Winfield recorded a cash in event no. 56 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em). It was a 231st-place finish for $2,391, which was his first major tournament cash ever. Seymour is by far the more experienced poker player, as he has accumulated $62,617 in lifetime tournament earnings and has played the main event before. He hasn’t cashed in it yet.

A couple of summers ago, NBA great Paul Pierce nearly made the money in the main event. He was knocked out with around 800 left, when 695 were set to get paid.

Despite winning a satellite to the main event last month, Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr wasn’t able to play because of his sport commitments.

 

[Greenbacks]

2016 World Series of Poker Main Event Draws 6,737 Entries

Eventual Winner To Earn Championship Bracelet and $8,000,000

Registration has officially closed in the 2016 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em world championship main event, which means that the numbers for the world’s greatest poker tournament are finally in.

A total of 6,737 players came out this year to chase their dream of becoming the next World Champion, up 317 players compared with 2015. That is the largest turnout of the past five years and as a result this year’s prize pool swelled to $63,327,800. The eventual winner of this event will walk away with the title, the championship bracelet and $8,000,000. The top 1,011 finishers (15 percent of the field) will cash in the main event this year, with a min-cash being worth $15,000.

Day 1C was by far the largest of the tournament’s three starting days, setting a single-day record with 4,240 entries, the most of any single starting day in WSOP history.
To give the event’s final numbers some context, here is a look at the numbers for the main event over the past ten years:

Year	No. of Entries	Champion	First-Place Prize
2007	6,358	Jerry Yang	$8,250,000
2008	6,844	Peter Eastgate	$9,152,416
2009	6,494	Joe Cada	$8,547,042
2010	7,319	Jonathan Duhamel	$8,944,310
2011	6,865	Pius Heinz	$8,715,638
2012	6,598	Greg Merson	$8,531,853
2013	6,352	Ryan Riess	$8,361,570
2014	6,683	Martin Jacobson	$10,000,000
2015	6,420	Joseph McKeehen	$7,680,021
2016	6,737	TBD	$8,000,000

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From the massive turnout for day 1C only 3,252 made it through to day 2C. The chip leader at the end of the day was Timothy Sheehan with 394,100 . His nearest competitors were Adam Krach with 293,800 and Sergi Reixach with 265,400.

Plenty of recognizable names bagged up sizable stacked including 2010 WSOP main event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong (196,000), Dan Heimiller (184,100), Danny Steinberg (181,500), Sam Chartier (173,100), Matt Berkey (167,200), 2014 Aussie Millions champ Ami Barer (163,300) and recent WSOP $111,111 high roller for One Drop third-place finisher Koray Aldemir (160,900).

Former champions of this event who are still in with a chance at their second world championship include 2009 winner Joe Cada (111,500), 2015 winner Joe McKeehen (110,100), 2013 winner Ryan Reiss (82,700), 2014 champ Martin Jacobson (71,000), 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker (61,700), 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen (60,400), 1988 champ and all-time bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth (45,200), 2012 winner Greg Merson (24,300) and 2005 champ Joe Hachem (24,900).

Notables who failed to survive the day include two-time 2016 bracelet winner Jason Mercier, 2010 runner-up in this event John Racener, Phil Laak, Chance Kornuth, Samantha Abernathy, 2012 third-place finisher Jacob Balsiger, Layne Flack and 2011 third-place finisher Ben Lamb.

Here is a look at the top ten chip counts heading into day 2C:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Timothy Sheehan	394,100
2	Adam Krach	293,800
3	Sergi Reixach	265,400
4	Benjamin Vinson	256,700
5	Francois Safieddine	224,300
6	Danny Boyaci	217,500
7	Brendon Rubie	211,200
8	Bowdy Tolhopf	208,800
9	Doug Kim	208,200
10	Dejan Pustoslemsek	207,000

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[Greenbacks]

Valentin Vornicu Leads 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event After Day 2AB.

The 1,847 players who survived days 1A and and 1B of the 2016 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event returned today for day 2AB. By the end of play only 760 remained with a shot at becoming the next world champion.

Eight-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner Valentin Vornicu bagged up the largest chip stack at the conclusion of play with 838,600. Vornicu came into the day with 100,800 and quickly rose up the ranks, heading into dinner break as one of the largest stacks. He closed out the night strong as well and now sits over 250,000 chips ahead of his nearest competitor from this flight in Jaime Shaevel with 586,000.

2014 Card Player Poker Tour Foxwoods main event champion Ronnie Pease ended the night with 518,100. The Glastonbury, CT native was also among the early chip leaders in the 2014 main event.

2012 WSOP main event tenth-place finisher Gaelle Baumann has put herself in a great position for another deep run, bagging up 504,600 for the ninth largest stack so far going into day 3. Baumann runner-runnered a flush on a 9

3

2

6

8

board against Alan Schein. Baumann made huge bet of 55,000 on the river and Schein called with pocket queens only to be shown the A

9

for a pair of nines on the flop that turned into the nut flush by the river.

Other notables in the top 50 include Maria Ho (435,000), Marc-Andre Ladouceur (410,500), Kenny Hallaert (410,100), Alexander Kostritsyn (388,900), Owen Crowe (385,000) and 2016 WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event champion Dietrich Fast (359,500).

Big names that survived the day include Antonio Esfandiari (327,400), Jon Turner (318,500), Antoine Saout (291,100), Melanie Weisner (280,000), Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (278,200), 2015 Card Player Player of the year winner Anthony Zinno (209,300), two-time bracelet winner and Barry Shulman (182,100), 2004 champion Greg Raymer (179,800), Matt Glantz (169,000), and 2016 double bracelet winner Benny Glaser (167,800).

Of course not everyone could make it to day 3. Players that were eliminated today include Mike Matusow, Max Pescatori, 2009 WSOP main event fifth-place finisher Jeff Shulman, Jonathan Little, 2015 third-place finisher in this event Neil Blumenfield, John Monnetter, Faraz Jaka, Phil Galfond and Mike Watson.

Those who made it through today will combine with those who survive Wednesday’s Day 2C, which will restart on July 14 at 11:00 AM.

Here is a look at the top ten stacks at the end of play:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Valentin Vornicu	838,600
2	Jamie Shaevel	586,600
3	Alvaro Lopez	573,200
4	Ramin Hajiyev	558,400
5	Chad Power	546,800
6	Petr Bartagov	546,000
7	Ronnie Pease	518,100
8	Jonas Lauck	510,000
9	Gaelle Baumann	504,600
10	Eric Afriat	501,000

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[Greenbacks]

Gambler Runs Up $10K Into One Drop Buy-In Playing Blackjack, Finishes Fifth For $1.1 Million

Texan Brian Green Was Without Sleep For Five Days Before Playing High Roller

Businessman and poker player Brian Green says he relied on a huge blackjack session to fund his entry into the $111,111 One Drop High Roller at the 2016 World Series of Poker. He ended up finishing fifth in one of the year’s toughest events for more than $1.1 million.

Green told Card Player that he borrowed $10,000 from another poker player and then played a 10-hour session of blackjack at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. “I ran the money up to $113,000, and my mom was worried about me carrying around that much cash, so I deposited it and then sent a wire [to the Rio],” he said.
According to Green, the last blackjack session that resulted in a buy-in for One Drop was just one of many over the course of five days without sleep. Green said that he “was up without ever being horizontal for five days” because he was “beating the sh-t out of blackjack and couldn’t stop.”

He eventually decided to switch to a different card game. Despite approaching a week without sleep, he late registered for One Drop at around 10 p.m. on the first day of play. Green said that he did get some sleep after surviving to day two.
The 183-player field drew some of the game’s best players, with German poker pro Fedor Holz sitting with all the chips at the end for a $4.9 million payday.
Green said the “whole idea” of that final blackjack session was to try to run it up to a buy-in for the One Drop event. Green said he had made up his mind to play no matter what. “I was lucky,” he admitted. The Texan has been a “big money gambler” since he was “old enough to gamble.”

“I play about whatever there is,” said Green, whose love for gambling led to a friendship years ago with legendary Las Vegas Gambler Archie Karas. Karas, as many within the poker community know, is famous for turning $50 into $40 million in the 1990s before eventually losing it all. During his run, he played for high stakes against some of the best poker players in the world and was winning against them for a time.
Unlike a lot of players in One Drop, Green didn’t sell any action. He used the entire blackjack score for the buy-in and didn’t hedge his bet.
“I’m not really a [poker] pro, I’m in the used car business,” he said. “I come out for any World Poker Tour event that I think is going to have $1 million for first.” High roller events where there’s big money on the line are “more suited for my game,” Green added. “One Drop was the first tournament in 17 years that I had butterflies before I came in.”
The Texas all-time tournament money list is something that Green was eyeing when he made the One Drop final table. A win would have put him in the top three, neck-and-neck with Doyle Brunson. “To be able to show my kids that I am third all-time in Texas would have been nice,” he said. “I wanted the recognition, the recognition from your peers that you aren’t a chump.”
Green is still reliving a big hand he played early on at the final table that, if it had gone a different way, could have positioned him for a better finish.
“The biggest part of the whole damn tournament was the fours hand,” Green said. “I knew he had A-K, and if I make that call I got 30 million with 90 million in play. That was my biggest mistake. I was so sure he had A-K, but I just couldn’t do pull the trigger. I even counted down my chips to see that I would have seven million left if I made the call and I was wrong. I was pretty sure what he had based on how the hand was played. It was two million preflop and 1.3 million as a continuation bet. It seemed like A-K to me. The turn was the Q

and he just ships it. I have been kicking myself in the ass all day for that. I thought about the call for six and a half minutes. The only reason I folded was because I asked him the stupid question ‘Will you show if I fold’ and he said ‘yes’ and I just mucked it. He showed A-K high. I’ve been beating myself up about it.”
“I’ll get over it, I just have to win something bigger now,” he said.

Thanks to the One Drop score, Green now has three WSOP final tables to his name. His other two came in 2001 and 2002, respectively. He has 22 lifetime cashes at the WSOP. His profitable summer at the 2016 WSOP has brought his career tournament earnings to $2.3 million.

 

[Greenbacks]

Phil Ivey Enters First And Only World Series Of Poker Event In 2016

10-Time Bracelet Winner Registers For Day 1C Of Main Event

Phil Ivey is back, but his super late arrival means it’s for just one poker tournament.
On Monday at the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas, the poker legend returned to the World Series of Poker, an annual tournament festival that has given the 39-year-old an incredible 10 gold bracelets. However, Ivey has drastically scaled back his play at the WSOP over the past two years. This year, the main event was his first and only tournament. He hasn’t cashed at the WSOP since the 2014 main event.

Ivey was among a field of thousands of players on Monday’s day 1C. The announcement on the prize pool was expected to come late on Monday.
Ivey has cashed for nearly $1.9 million lifetime in the main event. That comes from five cashes between 2002 and 2014. He made the final table in 2009. He nearly made the final table in 2003, but a bad beat at the hands of Chris Moneymaker probably changed the course of poker history.

Ivey is still waiting for a ruling on his appeal to a court decision in the United Kingdom. Ivey was accused of cheating at a form of baccarat, and Crockfords Casino kept his money. A judge ruled in 2014 that Ivey’s winnings were invalid because the edge-sorting technique gave him an advantage over the casino. Ivey admitted to edge-sorting but has maintained that it isn’t cheating.

The New Jersey native is also embroiled in a legal battle with Atlantic City’s Borgata casino over edge-sorting. In that case, the casino paid Ivey out, but it later claimed he cheated.
Though he is still regarded as a dominant player, Ivey has fallen behind in the online high stakes game, according to recent bracelet winner Jens Kyllönen. Ivey dropped roughly $3.7 million online in 2015, and he hasn’t played this year.

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

A look at chip counts during Level 7 on Day 2C of the Main Event.

 

[bounceback]

Gambler Runs Up $10K Into One Drop Buy-In Playing Blackjack, Finishes Fifth For $1.1 Million

Texan Brian Green Was Without Sleep For Five Days Before Playing High Roller

Businessman and poker player Brian Green says he relied on a huge blackjack session to fund his entry into the $111,111 One Drop High Roller at the 2016 World Series of Poker. He ended up finishing fifth in one of the year’s toughest events for more than $1.1 million.

Green told Card Player that he borrowed $10,000 from another poker player and then played a 10-hour session of blackjack at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. “I ran the money up to $113,000, and my mom was worried about me carrying around that much cash, so I deposited it and then sent a wire [to the Rio],” he said.
According to Green, the last blackjack session that resulted in a buy-in for One Drop was just one of many over the course of five days without sleep. Green said that he “was up without ever being horizontal for five days” because he was “beating the sh-t out of blackjack and couldn’t stop.”

:monsters-

 

[Greenbacks]

Dinner break on Day 3 of the Main Event. Play resumes at 7:18pm. 1,393 players remain.