THE POKER GOSPEL

Interview with Mike Matusow

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:36:13 +0000

Interview with Mike Matusow
by Steve Marzolf Mike Matusow, a card-carrying member of team Full Tilt, has been around the pro poker circuit long enough to earn his nickname as “The Mouth” a few times over. Most recently, he took third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, pulling in just under $370k…and talking some serious smack in the process. But when we caught up with him, he had an ironic message for players out there: “Calm down.” You almost took it all at Bay 101 – what was that like? I’ve only played three WPTs in two years – one last year and two this year. I went down there and played really hard. I went down there hungry and wanting to win, and I played really well. But I wish I would have caught some cards against the lunatics, the ones who were raising and re-raising every hand. Tell us about that three-bet that took you out. I mean, he was just raising at every button, and I thought I had a pretty good read on him. I’d been re-raising and shoving on him left and right. I shoved on him with 2-9. He didn’t have to call me with K-Q. It was still 25 percent of his stack, even if he’s ahead. Most of the time, I’m going to have a pair or an ace there. I didn’t really mind the call, cause once it got down to three-handed, they were playing really carefully against me. They knew that if they opened too much, I’d just keep shipping on them. So they started folding a little bit and limping, and it looked like there was going to be no way I could get chips – especially as card-dead as I was. So I didn’t mind just shipping on him every time he opened the button. I was looking at his face and how he reacted to his cards. I shipped on him six times before, and he insta-folded all six. So I thought I had a tell on him. Maybe that time I just rushed it. You’ve consistently had good showings at WPT games. Yeah. I don’t play many. I don’t chase the tournament circuit anymore. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a losing proposition. It’s $750,000 a year to play on the tournament circuit, and you’ve gotta finish at least second in one tournament to make any money. You’ve been in the game a long time – what are the biggest changes you’ve seen? I mean, these kids play pretty good, but when it’s a deep-stack tournament, they’ve gotta know when to slow down. We were playing 100 big blinds deep, and they’re going raise, re-raise, re-raise, trying to outplay each other, playing four-handed. I was just hoping to pick up 8-8 or anything, but I didn’t even see a playable hand. I think the best hand I saw was K-10 offsuit. If I’d picked up any hand behind them, I’d have gotten all the chips. It was the greatest spot in the world – I was like in heaven – but then I was looking at 2-7 offsuit for like eight hours. What spurs that aggressive play? They’re all used to playing online where you have to 3-bet and 4-bet all the time to stay alive when the blinds get up there. When you’re playing deep-stacked, you’re supposed to just play solid and pick your spots. But these guys were ridiculous. They were so hyper-aggressive it was a joke. It fit perfect into my style. I had two playable hands in 154 hands, and I finished 3rd. If I’d won the hand I went out on, then I’d have 30 percent of the chips and who knows what happens? Where do you think the game is going long-term? I don’t know – there’s just so many good players. I think if they just want to keep running $100,000 buy-in tournaments, they’ll have everybody broke within a year. I’m not a big fan of those tournaments. Then, I was saying the same thing four years ago about the $10,000 buy-in tournaments. Everybody would have gone broke on those too, if they hadn’t been satelliting so many people in. You’ve been at this a long time – what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned? Everybody glorifies these people who play heads-up and win millions of dollars, but they’re going to lose it, too. Ain’t nobody who’s better than anybody else playing heads-up poker. Poker’s about playing and beating bad players. There’s definitely less bad players now – and there’s a lot of good players. It’s tough to win now; it’s a lot harder to make a living. Lucky for me, I don’t have to depend on it anymore. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to grind and make a living online or even live nowadays. It sure wouldn’t be easy. Have cash games in Vegas gotten tougher, too? The mixed games are still good, but the no-limit games are all dried up, unless you get invited to a house game. Poker has become a showdown contest. That’s all it is. It’s just because everybody tries to outplay each other. When I came up, it wasn’t like that. It was about making correct decisions, playing solid, attacking blinds and weakness…just playing good and solid. Now it’s all about three-betting, four-betting, five…Come on man. Tell me about your nickname – how often do you hit your opponents with the trash talk? Not much anymore. Though I did it down in Bay 101. Because I just got hot and started making hands. When people play bad against me, I talk a lot of shit. I catch some cards, I’ll rub it in their face. At the WPT, I had a hand where the guy raises under the gun, and three people call so I call in the big blind with Qd-4d. Flop comes 2-4-Q. I lead out the pot, and the guy who raised under the gun calls. The two who came in behind fold. The turn card is 7d, and I have queens and fours on the flush draw. I bet $4800, he makes it $11,000 so I move all in. He calls and shows me three sevens. And I said, “You gotta be kidding me.” Then it’s a 3d on the river, and I start screaming: “That’ll teach you to play bad against me, motherfucker. You get what you deserve. You’re an idiot.” Then I start berating him something fierce. I lead out into four people with a Q-4-2 rainbow. What do you think I’m leading out with, complete air? Like two sevens are any good there. What have you been playing lately? I don’t play. I went to Australia and won about a quarter million. Then I went to L.A. and played the cash games there for a couple weeks and won another $250,000 there. Then I went down to Bay 101 and cashed $370k there. So it’s been a good year.

The Russian online poker community

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:18:23 +0000

The Russian online poker community
1 February 2009 Betfair announced in a Wednesday press release that it has opened its online client to the Russian poker community.On Wednesday Betfair, which boasts of the world’s biggest sports betting exchange, opened it doors to the Russian online poker community. With the emergence of a myriad of Russian pros on tour, the Eurasian nation has become a hotbed for new poker talent.”Up until now, the clients could only view information on the poker client and promotions in English, Spanish, German, and Italian, ” said Bruce Stubbs Head of Betfair Poker. ”However, we are delighted to start offering updated information to our Russian clients.”As of yet Team Betfair doesn’t boast of any Russians, Team PokerStars Pro already had a couple from the Russian Federation in the stable; 2008 Aussie Millions winner Alex Kostritsyn and WSOP bracelet winner and 2007 final tabler Alex Kravchenko.This year, PokerStars added powerhouse Ivan Demidov, who became the first player to make both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Fellow Russian Stanislav Alekhin joined Demidov at the WSOPE final table, finishing as runner-up. The WSOPE was sponsored by Betfair.Full Tilt also has a couple red pros from Russia. Nikolay Evdakov burst onto the scene in 2008, setting a record at the WSOP with 10 cashes for the series. Breaking Humberto Brenes and Phil Hellmuth’s cashing record earned him a deal with Full Tilt.The WSOP women’s champ also plays on Full Tilt. Svetlana Gromenkova moved from Moscow to the U.S in 2002, went pro in 2005 and claimed her first bracelet in 2008, when she captured the Ladies Event title.”The Russian market is a fascinating one and one that continues to produced very talented individuals,” continued Stubbs. ”We saw a very strong showing from this region at this year’s WSOP Europe event which we currently sponsor. We hope that the new Russian client shows our commitment to developing and producing new offerings and hope to announce more in the coming year.”The Betfair announcement comes less than two months after PokerStars announced the formation of the Russian Poker Tour (RPT) The RPT just kicked off their inaugural event in St. Petersburg, a $5,000 that will wrap on Feb 1st. After St. Petersburg, it’s off to the $10K event in Moscow Feb.22-28. OPN Staff All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Game Tweaks For Online Poker.

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:36:09 +0000

Game Tweaks For Online Poker.
You might be to annoyed and too exhausted to read tips for winning poker. For all you know, they may not even be true. But these hints are just some of the tips that you certainly should follow as these are not just any kind of poker tip, but they are hints specifically tailored for online poker. You can go here for online poker reviews, if you are thinking about playing online poker. Be social As you play online poker from cyberspace you can be friendly. You can not do this in live poker as youll have to have your game face on. Since your opposers have no way of examining your face, you will be able to be chummy with them by chatting with them while playing poker. This might appear as though an insignificant act, but it can actually assist you deliver the goods in online poker. Whether or not you lose in a specified game, you acquire a friend. Your new friend may aid you with tips or what not as you play more poker. Poker Players you are nice to often become easier opponents and youll be able to beat them more often. Never mind how come you want to befriend them being kind is always helpful. Use free rolls. In Live poker you wont see many freerolls You can find many poker sites to play freerolls at. There are many great benefits to freerolls The first advantage is you get to practice playing poker for free. The second reason is the many poker players of many abilitys you will meet. Because free roll tournaments are practically free, many players good or bad commonly join free roll tournaments. You are able to measure your level of competence through these. Lastly, free roll tournaments will give you the chance to win a ample amount of money. In live poker you will usually have to risk money to gain money. Freeroll tournaments dont require an up front money investment. It is a win-win situation. Do not bet too much. You must be careful with how much you wager at online poker. Before even thinking about it, arrange some sort of limit for yourself. Before playing online poker, make sure that you know just how much you are willing to wager. Online poker has a lot of advantages for tracking your money. If you lose your money and you have used your predefined bankroll amount, you should stop playing. You are not likely to have success by just buying in for more money Take some time to read some about poker, and learn more about strategy before you play more.

Black Friday Saves One Player’s Money & Relationship

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:55:46 +0000

Black Friday Saves One Players Money & Relationship
published on 04/23/11 at 8:54 am One person who will be saving money after Black Friday, is Steve Street3 Carse. Known to have wasted thousands of dollars on online poker sites, the recent federal take over of Full Tilt Poker will have a positive effect on Mr. Carses financial statements. Angel Valdez, of the Online Poker Team, fires some questions at Oklahomas number one degenerate. How much money have you saved since Online poker got shut down?I transferred my last $80 on FTP to Angel to bet on black at the casino. He informed me that I lost. So, I would have naturally deposited another $50 and in turn, ran that up to around $55, then lost it all. Then I would have reloaded again. I would guess since Friday, I have saved around $450. But, since I dont have online poker anymore, i am extremely bored and have since spent over $1500 on various illegal endeavors. Those intruders in their homes have names? Some call them Kids, and others call them Mom/Dad/HoneyHonestly I am scared to death about what this question means and wonder how much meth the interviewer has inhaled to come up with such a psycho question. I live with my girlfriend Kelly and I have not seen any intruders in my home. When they stepped outside did the sun melt off their skin? Did they get the vampire effect?Again, another scary question that makes about as much sense as a gaggle of coked up geese selling cookies to gimps. Is their ability to make money playing online poker myopia equal to lets say Charlie Sheen thinking hes normal?I dont know what myopia means and Im too fucking lazy to google it. Charlie Sheen has Goddesses, cocaine, no teeth and millions of dollars. I have Kelly, teeth and tens of dollars. You tell me. Why is chicke nmeth so addictive, especially among online poker players?A bit of history, Chicken meth was introduced in Arkansas by Jeremy Allen. Its a combination of meth, chicken shit and feathers. It gives one the ability to 5bet shove 73o into AA and see a 773 flop. Or at least thats what chicken meth benders will trick your mind into seeing. On the evolutionary poker scale, where would you place IBGPN?I would place him at the bottom of the scale. Somewhere between a single celled organism and tadpole. While he can swim with the sharks, hes often overlooked as his bank roll rarely goes above the $1 mark. His most frequent sightings have the word (OBSERVER) after his name. I just had a cup of tea and a grilled cheese sandwich. Comments?You must be gay or British. Related posts: Best Kept Poker Tip: Rakeback Saving You A Lot Of Money Rakeback Saves the Day GI Joe Assaults Online Poker, Refrigerated Beer, Noobs

Strategy with Kristy: Andrew Seidman Discusses His Book, Easy Game

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:36:20 +0000

Strategy with Kristy: Andrew Seidman Discusses His Book, Easy Game
November 03 2011, Kristy Arnett Related Articles Strategy with Kristy: Andrew Robl Discusses Televised Cash Game Hands Strategy with Kristy Podcast Part 2 with Tommy Angelo Strategy with Kristy Podcast Part 1 with Tommy Angelo Share It Tags Poker Strategy, PokerNews Strategy, PokerNews Podcast, Poker Strategy Print Andrew “Balugawhale” Seidman was the premiere guest on the Strategy with Kristy podcast and has come back to discuss topics in his updated, re-released book Easy Game. Here is a snippet from the interview: The first thing that we have to realize at any given time is that our hand is always going to fit in one of these three categories: low value, medium value, or premium value. Premium just means that its good enough to raise for value. We dont need to raise, but its good enough to. So, obviously aces are always good enough to raise for value preflop. A hand like jacks, whether or not its a good hand to reraise for value preflop would depend on a lot of things. Against a really tight player who only opens the nuts preflop, then we probably dont want to reraise jacks, but against a crazy maniac person we do. We can actually see the beginning of how these value categories might change depending on a whole bunch of different circumstances like our stack sizes, our opponents, everything. What we find is that, if were not in premium value, and we cant raise for value, then do we have enough value to play our hand? That would put us in the medium value. So lets say were up against a huge nit, we have jacks, and he opens. We think, OK, were not in premium because I cant raise for value, but do I have value to play my hand? Yes, I can flop a set, so Im in medium value. Now, if we go one step further, we might say, My hand is not quite good enough to be in medium value because I dont think it has enough value to call. Lets say I have a hand like eight-five suited and a regular raises. Its sort of on the borderline between medium value and low value. If we decide its low value then we cant continue by calling because we dont have enough value to capitalize on and we cant raise for value ourselves. So, we have to either fold our hand, or we could bluff with it. We dont lose any value if we have to fold our hand at some point in the hand because we were planning on folding it anyway. Im going to tie this back now to polarized and strong ranges (depolarized ranges). When we want to create a strong range, we dont raise any of our low value hands, we just fold all of them, and the premium range becomes very wide. So now, jacks is clearly premium, king-queen is premium, ace-nine is premium half the time. The medium-strength hand ranges become a little bit more narrow and a little bit weaker because most of the higher end of the medium-value range is now considered premium value because were choosing to adopt a strong range. On the other hand, if we want to create a polarized range, our medium-value range gets very big. Now, our premium range is very small and there are only a few hands were going to raise for value, and we have as many low value hands as we do want to raise. Want more? Listen to the Strategy with Kristy podcast below. Podcast Powered By Podbean Tune in every Thursday for new episodes of Strategy with Kristy and feel free to send in questions, ideas or suggestions for the podcast to kristy@pokernews.com. Also remember, follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Follow Kristy Arnett on Twitter @KristyArnett Comments

Strategy with Kristy: Andrew Robl Discusses Televised Cash Game Hands

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:54:09 +0000

Strategy with Kristy: Andrew Robl Discusses Televised Cash Game Hands
October 27 2011, Kristy Arnett Related Articles Strategy with Kristy Podcast: Olivier Busquet Discusses Tough Spots Strategy with Kristy Podcast Part 2 with Tommy Angelo Strategy with Kristy Podcast Part 1 with Tommy Angelo Related Players Share It Tags Andrew Robl, Cash Poker, High Stakes Poker, Lex Veldhuis, PokerNews Podcast, PokerNews Strategy, Poker Strategy Print Andrew Good2cu Robl is known for both his cash game and tournament skill. He’s played in a number of televised cash games, and the cameras have caught plenty of interesting hands for viewers to discuss. For this edition of Strategy with Kristy, Robl sits down with Kristy Arnett to discuss a few of his most-talked-about televised cash-game hands. To view the hands as they played out on television, check Arnett’s latest blog post. Here is a snippet from the interview, in which Robl discusses a hand from High Stakes Poker [game details and action of the hand are written separately]: Game Lex Veldhuis straddled to $1,600. Phil Ivey raised to $7,000 from the cutoff. Robl had on the button and called. Patrik Antonius looked down at in the small blind and reraised to $30,400. Ivey folded. Robl moved all-in for $113,900 and Antonius called, making the pot $299,600. Why did you decide to flat Iveys raise? I mean, I could have raised. I just didnt want to reraise and have Ivey four-bet. Id be in a tough spot and not really know what to do. Its kind of a hand where I dont really want to get it in if I three-bet, but I dont want to fold either. Its also very deceiving if I flat there. You wouldnt normally put me on this type of hand when I flat. You said that its kind of hard to put you on this type of hand since you flatted on the button so Antonius move kind of looks like a squeeze. Were you thinking that he might do this with a pretty wide range? Yeah, I mean, Antonius is a good enough player that youre never going to really know exactly what he has when he reraises one time. Its not like hes going to have a super-tight range of hands. He and Ivey were super deep. So, hes not going to be reraising strong hands like ace-jack and ace-ten offsuit because it would get him in trouble playing deep with Ivey out of position. I do think he reraises with a lot of hands, though. Once he reraises, theres already like $50,000 in the pot, and I only have another $100,000 left. You continued playing in the game after losing this pot. How do you, personally, recover and continue playing well. I dont know. Ive played a lot of poker. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you win. I definitely wasnt happy, but things like this have happened to me a lot in my poker career. Theres no reason not to play your A-game and give money away after that. Want to know what else Robl told Arnett? You’re going to have to listen to the podcast: Podcast Powered By Podbean Tune in every Thursday for new episodes of Strategy with Kristy and feel free to send in questions, ideas or suggestions for the podcast to kristy@pokernews.com. Also remember to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Follow Kristy Arnett on Twitter @KristyArnett Comments

Titan Poker signup bonus

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:54:08 +0000

Titan Poker signup bonus
The signup windfall money Titan offers is not the most plenty ever, but its not half bad all the same: they will give new players a 100% spousehood on their outset deposit up to $500, and imminence to a annual Depositors Freeroll, with $1000 stated cash prizes.A sure sign that Titan sure values duck-loyalty, is the fact that they serve a reload palm oil as well, up to $200. Players who redeposit, will and so gain epilepsia nutans to the upper mentioned $1000 freeroll. First-time players also get the meet to earn $10 wholly free and with no reservation attached. All they have to do is lode at few $50, and on top of the $50 wrinkle(which has to be unlocked of inclination, by way of staking raked gripe) they will have $10 transferred to their facts almost on the run. Sure, its not much in boundary condition of poker filthy lucre, but go to the front, ask issue on the mews to give you $10 for free, see how expedient you get. As far as game-preoption goes, Titan Poker has the true to type stuff: Texas Holdem (NL, PL FL versions), Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi-Lo, and 7-Card Stud. If youre looking for Razz or Pineapple, or some divergent more gay poker inaccordant, this is before long not the room to come to. Despite the fact that theyre not sure a huge poker room yet, Titan Poker does not want to oversight its customers. They have a live chat quality, where customers can talk to a conservation-staff spray. My seasoning as an online poker straight man shows, this is by far the most fitted support-contrivance.

Argentinian Player Wins Facebook Freeroll

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:36:06 +0000

Argentinian Player Wins Facebook Freeroll
Posted by Bradley, October 23, 2011 Going into three-handed play in Titan Pokers $500 Facebook Freeroll on Thursday night, FuriaAzulgrana from Argentina was extremely short-stacked. Romanian 33u33biu and STANUA from the Ukraine, who had just knocked out fellow countryman 105653512, were ready to divide up the top honors. But a few hands later, the Argentinian made his way to the lead. A total of 2,050 players participated in the freeroll event, which was open exclusively to Titan Pokers Facebook fans. The tournament lasted over six hours and FuriaAzulgrana managed to fight off a late surge by 33u33biu. He turned things around when his A 8 found a second eight on the flop and the Romanian wasnt able to hit a diamond flush. On the final hand, the Argentinian repeated this formula, again making a pair of eights to claim the tournament victory. The previous Facebook Freerolls, celebrating Titan Pokers 6 Year Anniversary, attracted 1,895 players on September 6th and 2,004 players on September 21st. The final standings in the Facebook Freeroll tournament: 1) FuriaAzulgrana, Argentina, $150 2) 33u33biu, Romania, $100 3) STANUA, Ukraine, $62.50 4) 105653512, Ukraine, $47.50 5) DTSlayer, Romania, $37.50 6) Roshcshin64, Russia, $30 7) vgo2010, Portugal, $25 dkyd, Romania, $20 9) gubar, Russia, $15 10) poklesz, Hungary,$12.50

KidPoker gossip is stirring up the poker forums

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:54:20 +0000

KidPoker gossip is stirring up the poker forums
Daniel Negreanu Poker Blog, Gossip, Poker, Poker Babes, Poker News, poker blog August 26th, 2011 KidPoker is stirring up the forumsGossip is not new to Daniel Negreanu. Often his in his poker career he has had more than one thread in the poker forums mention him, his game and many personal items as well. At times he responds to the threads, at times he just lets people chatter. At this time, it appears to be a good time for him to just let the other poker players talk. And they are talking about his personal life. Krisztina Polgar Bikini Recently, Daniel Negreanu has begun to date Krisztina Polgar, a poker playing Hungarian Super model. Krisztina and Daniel have a significant age difference between them, but that clearly doesnt hinder their relationship. Shes turned heads at live events and stirred up the forums. This stunning blonde has been seen with Daniel at the World Series of Poker and at other events around Las Vegas. Together the poker playing duo has proven to be able to grab the headlines playing the game or walking through the lobby. People will be and are watching the couple carefully and as often as they can be. kidpoker Play Online Poker Poker Blog Copyright 2008 Just add chips LLCSubscribe to PokerBloggs.com

WCOOP Day 15: Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia Claims $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up Title

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:54:08 +0000

WCOOP Day 15: Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia Claims $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up Title
September 19 2011, Brett Collson, Mickey Doft Related Articles The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan Karamalikis and Dani Stern Among Sunday’s Winners WCOOP Day 14: Steve “gboro780″ Gross Wins His First WCOOP Bracelet WCOOP Day 13: Dan “djk123″ Kelly Captures His Third WCOOP Bracelet Related Players Share It Tags PokerStars, WCOOP, Tournament Results, Online tournament results, Online Poker, Daniel Negreanu Print Day 15 of the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker brought one of the most anticipated events of the entire series. The $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up event crowned a champion late Sunday evening as heads-up specialist Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia bested a field of 32 elite players to win his first WCOOP bracelet and a prize of $119,000. The other winner on Sunday was Sweden’s “bajskorven87,” who collected more than $95,000 by winning the $500 Heads-Up event. PokerStars WCOOP 38 – $500 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Two-Day ($350K Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $500+$30 765 $382,500 Day 2 of the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up event began with 32 of the original 765 players competing for a first-place prize of $95,625. Among the notables still in contention were Grayson “gray31″ Ramage, Andras “probirs” Nemeth, Torsten jetkiss Brinkmann, Nick “caecilius” Petrangelo, and Team PokerStars pro Chad “ChadBrownPRO” Brown. Brown was looking to improve on an eighth-place result in Event #33, but his run ended on the very first hand of Day 2. With the blinds at 25/50, Brown opened with a min-raise and Russia’s “06E3b9HAaa” three-bet to 300. Brown put in a fourth bet to 1,300, and “06E3b9HAaa” moved all-in for the starting stack of 7,500. Brown called with , which was in a race against , but the board brought no help to the PokerStars pro and he exited with $3,060. Three of the aforementioned notables advance to the Elite 8, but none found any success from that point on. Grayson Ramage was the first to bow out when his pocket eights were run down by the pocket threes of Sweden’s “bajskorven87.” Nick Petrangelo had a chance to take a commanding lead in his match against Russia’s “yakimaki,” but his top pair, top kicker finished second-best when “yakimaki” made a flush after all the chips went in on the flop. In the last quarterfinal match to end, Torsten Brinkmann lost to fellow German “0PIGGYBANK” when he moved his short stack in preflop with and couldn’t improve against . That set up the semifinal round with all four players guaranteed at least $26,775. Final Four “bajskorven87″ defeats ” mtvdeuem” Sweden’s “bajskorven87″ broke out to an early lead and was able to put the Slovenian away after 77 hands. On the final hand of the match, “mtvdeuem” raised to 150 (blinds 30/60) and then called a three-bet from “bajskorven87.” The flop brought and “bajskorven87″ fired a bet of 525, which was called quickly by “mtvdeuem.” The hit the turn and “mtvdeuem” called a bet again, this time for 1,125. On the river, the Swede moved all-in and “mtvdeuem” called with for top pair, but he was out-kicked by “bajskorven87’s” . “0PIGGYBANK” defeats “yakimaki” A lengthy heads-up match ended after more than 250 hands with Germany’s “0PIGGYBANK” advancing to the championship round. The German leaned on his counterpart toward the end of the match and finished him off on a flop of . “Yakimaki” got his remaining chips in with , but he was out-kicked by the of “0PIGGYBANK,” who secured the win when the board filled out with the and . Championship “bajskorven87″ defeats “0PIGGYBANK” The final match of the tournament had a casual feel as the two players engaged in friendly conversation while playing for $95,625 and the WCOOP bracelet. That changed, however, when “bajskorven87″ won a massive pot to take a commanding lead. With the blinds at 50/100, the two players saw a coordinated flop of . “Bajskorven87″ check-called a bet of 200 and then checked again on the turn. “0PIGGYBANK” bet 400, and “bajskorven87″ check-raised to 1,125. His opponent called and the fell on the river, putting four to a straight on the board. “bajskorven87″ bet 2,150 and got a call from “0PIGGYBANK,” who mucked when his opponent revealed for a full house. “Bajskorven87″ increased his lead even further over the next level and then finally ended the tournament on the 120th hand of the match. “0PIGGYBANK” called a preflop raise and then checked on the flop. The action moved quickly from there: “bajskorven87″ bet 240, “0PIGGYBANK” raised to 480, “bajskorven87″ three-bet to 1,000, and “0PIGGYBANK” moved all-in for 3,020. “Bajskorven87″ called with for the ace-high flush draw and two over cards, and “0PIGGYBANK” showed for a straight-flush draw. “Bajskorven87″ was a 2-1 favorite with ace-high and that was all he needed as the turn and river secured the title and $95,625 for the Swede. “0PIGGYBANK” collected $49,725 for his runner-up finish. Place Player Prize 1 bajskorven87 $95,625 2 “0PIGGYBANK” $49,725 3 yakimaki $26,775 4 mtvdeuem $26,775 5 Torsten jektiss Brinkmann $12,240 6 Nick “caecilius” Petrangelo $12,240 7 Grayson “gray31″ Ramage $12,240 8 06E3b9HAaa $12,240 Notable Finishes: Andras “probirs” Nemeth (10th – $4,590), Elio “smokrokflock” Fox (15th – $4,590) PokerStars WCOOP 40 – $200 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1M Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $200+$15 8,332 $1,666,400 Only 57 of the 8,332 entrants advanced to Day 2 of the $200 No-Limit Hold’em event on Sunday, but a handful of well-known pros returned on Monday to play for a top prize of $250,000. Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen and Sandra Naujoks were both in great shape entering the day; Naujoks was among the leaders in the final levels of Day 1 and was 13th in chips heading into Day 2. Other notables in contention were Ryan “Daut44″ Daut, Artem “FaNjkEEE” Kobylynskyi, and Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, who already won a WCOOP event this year. Here’s a look at the 10 top stacks when play resumed at 1000 EST (1500 BST) on Monday: Place Player Chips 1 moreno007 3,986,982 2 pinduca iret 3,304,783 3 Artem “FaNjkEEE” Kobylynskyi 3,210,705 4 Igor Priva 2,980,859 5 luigy666 2,919,204 6 jambeyang 2,886,391 7 z81ima 2,732,251 8 AverageGreg 2,499,856 9 ggman2 2,380,020 10 bendeauville 2,337,848 PokerStars WCOOP 41 – $10,000 No-Limit Holdem High Roller Heads-Up ($150K Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $10,000+$300 32 $320,000 Always a given to attract big names, the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem High Roller Heads-Up drew a field of 32 players. Last year’s version boasted a $25,000 buy-in and was won by “RaiseOnce,”; however, he was not in the field to defend his title, meaning a new champion would emerge. Among those that participated but exited quickly were 2009 champion Jonathan Iftarii Jaffe, Dan “djk123″ Kelly, Jonathan Duhamel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Ben “Ben86″ Tollerene, Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan, and Brian “$tinger 88″ Hastings. Four players made the money, and left among the final eight players were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu and John Duthie. *(players begin each match with 10,000) Elite Eight Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif defeats John Duthie Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif jumped to a huge lead and took it down at the 25/50 level. Ben Cherif opened to 125 and John Duthie called to see the flop come down . Duthie check-raised Ben Cherif’s bet of 175 to 350, but saw Ben Cherif re-pop it to 935. Duthie called and immediately shoved for 2,124 when the hit the turn. Ben Cherif called and tabled , leading Duthie’s . The river brought the , locking up a final four spot for Ben Cherif. “akut” defeats “Fishenzon” Also advancing in the 25/50 level of the match was “akut.” On the button, “Fishenzon” min-raised to 100 and “akut” called to see a flop fall. A check-raise was on “akut’s” mind, making it 500 after “Fishenzon” bet 150. However, “Fishenzon” came back over the top to 1,500. “Akut” then moved all-in, getting “Fishenzon” to call all-in for another 3,200 with . It was bad news for “Fishenzon” as “akut” tabled an unbeatable to advance to the money. Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu defeats “26071985″ Negreanu took it down at the 30/60 level. With about a 2:1 chip lead, he opened to 180. “26071985″ called and a flop hit the board. It was checked to Negreanu and he made a continuation bet of 300, but was raised to 876 by “26071985.” A call from Negreanu landed the on the turn. “26071985″ checked again, prompting Negreanu to fire 1,660 at the pot. “26071985″ then moved all-in for 5,582 and Negreanu called immediately with . He had “26071985’s” drawing thin and held through the river to guarantee himself a seat in the final four. Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats Maxim Lykov Trailing for much of the match, Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia went on a heater to take the lead and win the match in four hands. At 40/80, Mandavia min-raised to 160, only to see Maxim Lykov pop it to 320. A call from Mandavia delivered a flop of to the board. Lykov’s bet of 450 was called by Mandavia, landing the on the turn. A check from Lykov resulted in Mandavia betting 600. Lykov called and checked when the hit the river. Mandavia bet enough to cover Lykov’s stack. The Russian Pro called all-in and tabled for two pair, but was beat the entire way as Mandavia revealed for Broadway to round out the final four. Final Four Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu At 30/60, Negreanu opened to 150. Mandavia made it 420 to play, Negreanu called, and a flop appeared. Keeping up the heat, Mandavia bet 480. Negreanu called and when the hit the turn, Mandavia bet 1,680. Again Negreanu called, but was faced with a huge decision when Mandavia shoved the river. Negreanu tanked for a little while and ultimately called all-in for 5,589 with . He was dead on the turn as Mandavia tabled for a straight to advance to the championship match. “akut” defeats Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif In a match that lasted more than two hours, “akut” outlasted Ben Cherif. On the final hand with blinds at 50/100, Ben Cherif min-raised to 200 and “akut” shoved with the dominating stack. Ben Cherif called all-in for 1,795 with , racing with the of “akut.” The flop offered little help to Ben Cherif, but the turn did give him a flush draw. The river sealed the deal for “akut,” however, setting the stage for the championship match. Championship Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats “akut” A deal was worked out between “akut” and Mandavia, guaranteeing each $105,000 and leaving $14,000 to be played for. About an hour into the match, Mandavia found a huge double-up to grab the chip lead. With the blinds and antes at 30/60, Mandavia min-raised to 120 on the button, “Akut” popped it to 408, Mandavia called, and the flop came down . A bet of 595 came from “akut,” but Mandavia raised to 1,375. After a few moments, “akut” called to see the turn. A check from “akut” resulted in a bet of 2,780 from Mandavia, but “akut” decided to shove with the bigger stack. Mandavia called all-in with for two pair with a flush draw and needed to dodge a club as “akut” tabled . The river improved Mandavia to a flush and give him a 3:1 chip lead. Twenty-one hands later, Mandavia closed it out. After “akut” min-raised to 120 on the button, Mandavia shoved with the bigger stack. With 1,640 total, “akut” called all-in with and had Mandavia’s dominated. However, the board ran out to clinch the victory for Mandavia. For his effort, he earned $119,000 and the WCOOP bracelet. Place Player Prize *1 Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia $119,000 *2 akut $104,000 3 Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif $48,000 4 Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu $48,000 *denotes heads-up deal PokerStars WCOOP 42 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1.5M Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $1,000+$50 2,207 $2,207,000 After 22 levels of play on Day 1, Event #42, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day, is left with just 111 players from the starting field of 2,207. Leading the way with 1,370,184 is “po77a.” Currently in second place is Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell, the victor in our hand of the day. The blinds and antes were at the 600/1,200/150 level. Under the gun, “rockstar2″ opened to 2,699 and was called by Mitchell on the button. Mick “BIGMICKG” Graydon called from the big blind, too, leading to a flop. Graydon checked it to “rockstar2″ who bet 3,999. Only Mitchell called to see the turn card where “rockstar2″ bet 10,800. Again Mitchell called, landing the river card. A bet of 13,200 came from “rockstar2,” but Mitchell popped it enough to cover his opponent. Instantly, “rockstar2″ called all-in for for 34,770 total with for aces full. Mitchell, though, held for quads. Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 2: Place Player Chips 1 po77a 1,370,184 2 Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell 933,090 3 royace1 831,675 4 Matthias “mattidm” De Meulder 698,497 5 Dishboy_SWE 659,677 6 Mximo46 647,500 7 99Jam.Mr 594,430 8 pvas2 593,865 9 Anh Van “Vandiesel” Nguyen 572,866 10 Mick “BIGMICKG” Graydon 564,452 Also still alive in the tournament are Brian “$tinger 88″ Hastings, Ryan “Daut44″ Daut, Tom “hitthehole” Middleton, Adam “squee451″ Sherman, Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde, Jared “jvengrin” Vengrin, Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong, Dave “SexSeen” Sands, Andre “aakkari” Akkari, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. We will be providing in-depth daily recaps of all WCOOP final tables, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to stay up to date on all of the exciting action as it occurs. For news, updates, and more, follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter @mrdoft Recent Articles Off the Felt with Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan Karamalikis and Dani Stern Among Sunday’s Winners 2011 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Day 1a: Korotki Leads; Selbst, Failla Thrive Sin City Series: The Emergency Arts PartyPoker Weekly: Watch WPT Malta & Become a WPT Champion Most Popular This Week Backer, Beware! Did Nick Rainey Steal Thousands? The Nightly Turbo: Latest Full Tilt Poker Statement, AGCC Hearing Update, and More Packing Up to Play Poker: London, England Michael DiVita & Epic Poker’s Stephen Martin Speak Out The Nightly Turbo: South Point to Offer Online Poker, Team PokerStars Online, and More Comments