The Online Railbird Report Antonius: Dwan, Hansen in Heavy Action

On Thursday evening, Gus Hansen strolled into the Brasilia Room at the Rio Convention Center, making his first appearance at this year’s WSOP, a full two weeks since the first cry of “Shuffle up and deal!” Hansen loitered around, chatting with fellow high-stakes players such as David Benyamine, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro and Phil Ivey, who were playing the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw event. Well over an hour into play, he finally decided to buy in. Hansen and Ivey busted on Day 2 and Benyamine made the final table, but Dwan and Kelopuro were some of the tournament’s first casualties, sending them back to the online poker tables after only a few hours at the Rio.


Prioritizing the lucrative cash-game action, both live and online, has been an emerging theme among the high-stakes players in town for the WSOP. Hansen has only played the one event, Dwan and Kelopuro have played two apiece, and Patrik Antonius has yet to take a seat in a single WSOP tournament this year. With the high-stakes regulars largely forgoing the tournament action at the Rio, the online cash games have been positively swinging, with Dwan logging another profitable week at the virtual tables to shrink his year-to-date losses to $338,000 from the more than $4 million he was down only a few weeks ago.

The Online Railbird Report Antonius: Dwan, Hansen in Heavy Action

On Thursday evening, Gus Hansen strolled into the Brasilia Room at the Rio Convention Center, making his first appearance at this year’s WSOP, a full two weeks since the first cry of “Shuffle up and deal!” Hansen loitered around, chatting with fellow high-stakes players such as David Benyamine, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro and Phil Ivey, who were playing the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw event. Well over an hour into play, he finally decided to buy in. Hansen and Ivey busted on Day 2 and Benyamine made the final table, but Dwan and Kelopuro were some of the tournament’s first casualties, sending them back to the online poker tables after only a few hours at the Rio.

Prioritizing the lucrative cash-game action, both live and online, has been an emerging theme among the high-stakes players in town for the WSOP. Hansen has only played the one event, Dwan and Kelopuro have played two apiece, and Patrik Antonius has yet to take a seat in a single WSOP tournament this year. With the high-stakes regulars largely forgoing the tournament action at the Rio, the online cash games have been positively swinging, with Dwan logging another profitable week at the virtual tables to shrink his year-to-date losses to $338,000 from the more than $4 million he was down only a few weeks ago.

Jeff Carris wins $1,500 shootout

The shootout events at the World Series of online Poker continue to grow in popularity, primarily due to the fact online poker players engage in single-table tournaments all the time. To win Event 22, the $1,500 no-limit hold 'em shootout, which attracted a young field of 999 players, a player would need to win three single-table tournaments to claim the title. Jeff Carris, a 23-year-old professional online poker Bet player from Wadsworth, Ohio, outplayed his opponents and won his first WSOP bracelet and $313,673.

Carris had support behind him with his parents flying in and a large crowd of fans helping the "Wildcat" to victory. He moved to Las Vegas only two years ago and has played professionally since. Carris has one other WSOP cash for $4,559 for finishing in 138th place in a $1,500 no-limit hold 'em event in 2008.

The final table of this event consisted of no former WSOP bracelet holders and it was the ninth time that this has occurred during the 2009 WSOP. Making the money, but not the final table, was Tony Cousineau, who holds the record for most WSOP cashes (38) without a title.

WSOP Event #23: Allemann buries Fossilman

Greg Raymer's day is over. Playing in day two of the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball, he was never able to get his challenge moving, despite ducking and diving in pots.

In the end, the final damage was done by Team PokerStars Germany Pro Anton Allemann, who found 8-6-5-4-3, good enough to eliminate the Fossilman.

It's slow going, with 27 players still left, and the money not kicking in until 14th place. But Allemann is now nicely placed - up to 117,000 with the average on 106,000.

For those of you unfamiliar with Allemann, here's a clip of him playing against fellow Team PokerStars Germany Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg on his way to an eighth-place finish at EPT Baden two years ago...

2009 WSOP: Serock, Parker Lead #19 NLHE 6-Handed

135 players returned to the felt for Day 2 of Event #19, Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at the World Series of online Poker, just 27 spots shy of the money bubble.

Brett Switzer came into the day as the chip leader on a stack of 183,000. As with most Day 2's at this year’s WSOP, the plan was to play down to a final table and as with other events, that goal was not quite reached. By the time action was halted, just 11 players remained for the not-quite-final table, with Joe Serock and Brock “t soprano” Parker way out in front as the only players to crack the million-chip mark. Serock tops the leaderboard with 1,754,000, while Parker – who just recently picked up a gold bracelet in Event #14 – is close behind with 1,603,000.

Lemke dedicates $5k WSOP win to Shronk

Lemke was overwhelmed following his hard-won victory.
"It's a sick thing to happen," Lemke revealed.

He had to conquer a final table replete with marquee names, one of whom was online sensation Isaac "WestmenloAA" Baron.

Baron looked ready to dominate the final table in the early stages, eliminating danger-man David pham and Christian Iacobellis in the same hand to set himself up with a big stack.

He couldn't maintain this momentum however, crashing out in 7th place to Lemke when his top pair was outkicked and he was unable to slip the noose.

Danny Illingworth succumbed shortly after this, and he was joined at the rail by Lika Gerasimova, the girlfriend of 2008 WSOP main Event runner-up ,Ivan Demidov.

Gerasimova's reputation as a top-flight online poker player is growing all the time, and it won't have been hurt by her 5th-place finish here.

Four-handed, it was Quoss who appeared to be the man to beat. The German built a huge stack, which he used effectively as a weapon to subdue the other players.

For more details check out poker betting.

Poker event, Vince Carter deal synagogue helping hand

A betting cage inside the Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room, and this man of God was there to oversee of all things -- a poker tournament with more than 276 players.

But it gets stranger because members of his congregation at B'nai Torah were the organizers.

Kane chuckles at the oxymoron of a synagogue organizing what some could call a secular activity, but describes it as "a congregation betting on poker in stressful financial times."

He said the temple participates in a number of charitable events, including sending gift boxes to troops overseas. However, as the country sinks into a recession and more people find it harder to give, "we couldn't keep going to the same sources," he said.

So the group brainstormed different events that would attract a larger audience beyond the congregation. In May, they sponsored a Platters concert, and Sunday it was the Inaugural Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Poker Tournament, which was co-sponsored by The Venetian Las Vegas resort hotel and casino.

NBA superstar and hometown hero Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets participated as a celebrity player. He said he often plays at the kennel club and that when B'nai Torah asked him whether he would be a part of the tournament.

But that wasn't the only treat players received Sunday, as the prize purse totaled about $35,000. The first-place prize, worth about $8,500, included a $5,000 seat at The Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza III Main Event on July 13. Second- through fifth-place prizes were valued at about $5,500 and included entry into The Venetian online Poker Room's Deep Stack Extravaganza III $2,100 event June 26. There were also $5,000 in door prizes.