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Federated Sports & Gaming has finally come up with a name for their upcoming professional poker league – the Epic Poker League. To date, 218 of the world’s best live poker players have qualified for league membership and more may be included if they meet all the necessary criteria by August 1, 2011. This league is certainly the first of its kind as it is only through completing established qualifications that a player may be given the privilege to participate. Kicking off its inaugural season with be the USD $1500 Pro-Am on August 5, 2011 where nine seats for the Main Event can be won by non-members, followed by a Charity Tournament and a USD $1,000,000 Guaranteed Main Event to be held at the Palms in Las Vegas. See the official Epic Poker website for more information.

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For the past week the place-to-be for many Philippine poker players was at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu for the much anticipated All In Poker Sports Club Anniversary Series. The tournament featured the implementation of low buy-ins, daily re-entries and accredited Asian Poker Tour (APT) rules and regulations.

Action kicked off with two side events, the Waterfront Heads-Up Challenge and the Monster Radio 3 Man Team, both of which proved successful openers leading up to the PHP 1,000,000 Guaranteed Main Event. The Waterfront Heads-Up Challenge, in fact, had to turn down many eager players as it sold out immediately. The last man standing in the event was Jay-R Mascunana who defeated Jonex Yabez at heads up with trip 6s. Mascunana collected a well deserved PHP 12,460 in winnings.

At the Monster Radio 3 Man Team Tournament, 19 teams entered the arena, but none could take down “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” who captured the win and claimed PHP 28,000 in prize money. The team (below) was comprised of Alquin Macias, Robert Browning, and Joseph Krawczyk. After winning the heads-up match, Macias also took home another PHP 13,800 for the individual first prize.

The hyped Main Event featured a buy-in of PHP 5,500 and a daily re-entry of the same price, which resulted in 199 entries. This included notable players such as 1991 WSOP Main Event Champion Brad Daugherty, APT Philippines 2011 Champion Enrique del Prado Jr. and TPC Champion Mark Pagsuyuin, to name a few.

After several days of play, the final table was established with Damon Shulenberger leading the pack. His lead, however, would not last as he was eliminated in 7^th place. When Galileo Roma was eliminated in 3^rdplace, the heads-up match was set between Richard Tolentino and Sonny Ugalde. In the end, it would be Tolentino seizing the championship with his Pocket Rockets against Ugalde’s Kojack. Tolentino was awarded a first place trophy and a hefty paycheck of PHP 313,600 in winnings.

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Last Friday, Rep. Joe Barton introduced HR 2366, the Online Poker Act of 2011 in the House of Representatives. Barton announced that he is joined by 11 original co-sponsors – 4 Republicans and 7 Democrats. The bill proposes the legalisation and regulation of online poker in the US but implemented only a state to state basis. The bill also addresses concerns over gambling debts, disallowing deposits by credit card, and establishing a 21-and-over age limit. Furthermore, several criteria would have to be met before licenses can be issued. Unlike online gaming worldwide, this bill only supports legalising the game of online poker within the country. Other casino games would not be included.

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Event # 36 USD $2500 No-Limit Hold’em

In a tournament that attracts many players, it is common to be hidden within the pack and yet make your mark by rising victorious in the end. After four days of play, two days of which were final table action, Mikhail Lakhitov did just that. Lakhitov took down a large field of 1,734 players to capture the 36^th WSOP gold bracelet and collect a hefty paycheck worth USD $749,610.

After Day 1 of play, Lakhitov was way behind the chip leaders to even be noticed, but that all changed at the end of Day 2. With 39 players left in the field, Lakhitov was running second in chips, advancing to the next day with many notable players such as David Pham, Nam Le, Eddy Sabat and Tom Marchese to name a few.

As players dropped off, Lakhitov entered the final table as one of the chip leaders. He maintained his stack, seesawing between being first and second in chips for most of the day. As the hours waned away, five players were left to battle it out for a fourth day with Lakhitov running a strong second in chips against chip leader Thomas Middleton.

With a lot of showdowns kicking off the extended day, Lakhitov steered clear and amassed a massive lead when his Pocket Queens eliminated Tom Miller in fourth. At heads-up, Lakhitov faced a severely crippled Hassan Babajane and it took just two levels of action to defeat him and be crowned champion. With this win, Lakhitov has cashed five times this year and has taken over the WSOP Player of the Year lead from Phil Hellmuth.

Event #37 USD $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship

There is something to be admired about players who return to the WSOP year after year and yet go home without the gold. After an 11 year attempt, the wait for Fabrice Soulier has finally ended. He captured the USD $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship to take home his first gold bracelet along with USD $609,130 of winnings.

“I feel very emotional right now,” the champion said in a WSOP press release. “I almost cried when I won. I had to hold back my tears. I feel great. This is the best day of my poker career, by far.”

When the final table began, all eyes were focused on chip leader and young poker phenomenon Tom Dwan. Soulier was running fifth in chips and was quiet for most of the early final table action. After winning a few sizeable pots, he jumped into second with a very small deficit from leader Dwan, but when Dwan was eliminated, Soulier found himself leading the pack with a very decent chip lead. He would however lose that lead against two very tough poker pros: Andrey Zaichenko and Shawn Buchanan.

When Buchanan eliminated Zaichenko in third, Soulier found himself behind in chips 2:1. He battled at every hand to establish an even ground and eventually got paid when he won a massive pot in Omaha-8 to take the lead. With tables reversed, Soulier never gave up his lead. Instead, he further dominated and took the title in an impressive from behind fashion.

Event #38 USD$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

By far, No-Limit Hold’em attracts the highest number of players in the WSOP. With an affordable buy-in of USD $1,500 to Event #38, it was not surprising to see a massive field of 2,192 players participate. Stacked with seasoned pros, online grinders and amateurs all vying for the gold, only one player would rise victorious and be the envy of all. That player was chess master and backgammon pro Arkadiy Tsinis.

Tsinis entered Day 3 in the middle of the road of 23 players. He played it safe for most of the day, but eventually gained some chips by eliminating Jason Tang in 21^st place. Though still far behind the chip leaders, Tsinis found another opening to gain chips and rise above. He denied Jacob Toole (11^th) a seat to the final table and entered the final ten as one of the chip leaders.

In a crucial back and forth battle against Randolph Lanosga, Tsinis avoided elimination when his Ladies got lucky with a set over Lanosga’s Aces. In the next hand, Lanosga rebounded back with another hand of Pocket Rockets and doubled up from Tsinis. Running third in chips, Tsinis went on fire and eliminated two players simultaneously when, once again, his Queens hit a set against Cowboys and Big Slick. Skyrocketing to the top of the count, he maintained his lead until the heads-up match against Michael Blanovsky.

With Tsinis ahead by a 3:2 margin, Blanovsky fought back to bring it to even, however one costly bluff sent his chips toppling back into Tsinis’s towers. With an 8:1 advantage, Tsinis finished off Blanovsky with an unbeatable straight. Tsinis wins his first WSOP bracelet and a handsome sum of USD $540,136.

Event #39 USD $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em / Omaha

Steadily gaining more popularity, Event #39 USD $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em / Omaha drew in 606 players this year with Mitch Schock emerging as the champion. He claimed USD $310,225 in prize money and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

At the start of Day 3, much of the attention was focused on 2005 Main Event Champion Joe Hachem and former event winner Rami Boukai. A few other notables were also present: Scott Clements, David Baker and Carter Gill. With only 22 players left in the field, short stacks were quickly sent packing.

Lingering in the lower half of the chip count, Schock would avoid the bullying by eliminating Wilfried Harig at 16^th and become part of the upper echelon in chips. As poker pros began to fall one by one, Clements at 14^th, Baker at 13^th and Hachem in 12^th as part of a double elimination, the final table was set with Schock once again back in the bottom of the pool.

He immediately doubled up with Aces, then later another huge double up pot against Gill to take the chip lead. Winds seemed to be on his side as he continued to pummel through and eliminate Tyler Patterson in fifth to amass an overwhelming chip lead. But at heads-up against Rodney Brown, his momentum suddenly changed and soon he found himself behind 2:1.

In a grueling three-and-a-half-hour heads-up match, Schock and Brown traded chips several times, both players aggressively grinding for the lead. In the final hand, both players would go all-in in at the flop of .

Schock:
Brown:

The turn spiked a and sealed the win for Schock. The at the river was inconsequential. This well deserved victory, along with four other cashes and three final table appearances in this 2011 WSOP series, will definitely put Schock in contention for the Player of the Year Award.

Event #40 USD $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em / Six-Handed

Seven months after placing eighth in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, Matt Jarvis returned to the WSOP and impressed upon his fans and supporters by claiming the 40^th gold bracelet. Distinctly remembered for being one of the November Nine, Jarvis overcame a very tough field stacked with some of the best online players and highly respected poker pros in the world.

Most of the action began in Day 3 with 20 players looking to make it into the final table. Amongst his tough competitors were Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu and the seemingly unbreakable chip leader Justin Filtz.

Starting the Day with a decent chip stack, Jarvis would watch players hit the rail without even taking a slice of their chips. As the field dwindled down to 14, Jarvis was giving the big stacks a bit of a struggle as he began to exert his presence. Without seeing much action, he built his stack to surpass the 1 million mark.

Filtz and Jarvis eventually polished off the short stacks and faced each other in one of the most impressive heads-up matches of this WSOP. Although Jarvis was behind Filtz during the entire tournament, he found momentum and took down two pots to surpass Filtz for the first time. In total, it took three hours for Jarvis to defeat Filtz and collect a hefty paycheck worth USD $808,538.

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Event #31 USD $3000 Pot-Limit Omaha

As many young players flooded the poker arena, few were as successful and as respected as 23-year-old poker pro Sam Stein. Specialising in Omaha, Stein made six live final tables last year and nearly USD $2 million in live earnings within the past two years. There were those who predicted it would only be a matter of time before he would win a championship.

Entering the WSOP’s Event #31 USD $3000 Pot-Limit Omaha, Stein was one of the 685 players grinding it out. Competing alongside many past bracelet winners and world champions, he was quietly huddled within the pack throughout most of the first two days. As major players began to fall, he entered Day 3 with 25 players vying for a spot at the final table.

Day 3 eliminations were swift and rampant with poker pros Tommy Le (20^th), Rami Boukai (17^th), and Andrew Chen (13^th) all falling short of the final table. When poker pro Tex Barch busted in tenth, the final nine was set.

Running fifth in chips and way behind the chip leaders, Stein kept careful control of his chips. As the field whittled down to half, he scooped up a massive pot with his straight against the chip leader Christian Harder. With more chips to gamble, he added a few aggressive moves to his weaponry and soon became the leader of the pack. He continued to dominate by eliminating Warren Fund at third and entered heads-up play with a 4:1 advantage against Day 1 and 2 chip leader Ben Lamb. In just over half an hour, Stein sawed away at Lamb’s stack and trapped him with a straight to capture the gold bracelet and USD $420,802 in winnings.

With this win, Stein is likely to hit the USD $3 million mark by the end of the year.

 

Event #32 USD $1500 No-Limit Hold’em

For the eighth time this year, a poker player who has never cashed in a WSOP tournament has won a gold bracelet – and that player is Kirk Caldwell. Winning his seat in a USD $150 satellite home game, he made his mark at the WSOP by outlasting a field of 2,828 players to claim the 32^nd gold and take home a whopping USD $668,292.

With a small buy-in, it was not surprising to see many types of players in the field. These affordable events are treats to amateur players like Caldwell as they get the chance to play side by side amongst some of the best in the circuit. And with a prize pool of over USD $4 million, surviving to the end would be a big achievement.

As Day 1 commenced, many poker pros were sent to the rail such as Phil Laak, Joe Cada and Allen Cunningham to name a few. In Day 2, more pros would fall such as TJ Coultier, Chino Rheem, and Eddie Blumenthal, leaving 35 players to enter the final day.

Caldwell would enter the final table as one of the chip leaders. Play got very exciting when four players were eliminated within minutes of each other leaving five players in contention. Caldwell was the chip leader but only by a small margin. Feeling comfortable with a short-handed game, Caldwell exerted his preflop aggression, accumulating a sizeable amount of chips with hardly a challenge. Holding a 3:1 chip lead, he faced Ben White for the title. After roughly an hour of heads-up play, Caldwell pushed all in with and White called with but failed to improve, earning Caldwell his first major win.

Event # 34 $1000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship

In his second year at the WSOP and after six in-the-money finishes, Mark Schmid has taken down his first gold bracelet and USD $488,283 in prize money. With a university degree in finance and experience as an online pro and instructor for the poker training website Sharkscopers.com, Schmid was able to put his flair for numbers to use and overcome a massive field of 2144 players.

The 31-year-old had a big chip advantage over his opponents going into the final table with twice the amount of the second highest stack. When down to three-handed he was unlucky not to win a huge pot with against Andrew Rudnik’s . With over half the chips in play at stake, Schmid hit his queen on the flop but it was split after both players made the wheel straight on the river.

The heads up battle lasted 45 minutes with Schmid starting off with a 3:1 chip deficit against Australian Justin Cohen. In a key hand, the title was almost Cohen’s after all the money went in on the turn with his two-pair well in front of Schmid’s one pair. Unfortunately for Cohen, the river gave Schmid the higher two-pair and snatched the bracelet from the Aussie’s grasp.

On the final hand, Schmid limped on the button with , setting the trap and saw a checked flop of . The turn brought some betting action from both players and it was Cohen who pushed on the river . However, Schmid made the call with his flush, which had Cohen’s well beaten and it was all over.

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PKR will soon launch a 2D version called PKR Lite. Though known for its 3D platform, the company says PKR Lite is a similar interface, but there will be some major differences such as the lack of animated avatars and only a top-down perspective available on screen. Both the 2D version and 3D version will download at the same time giving clients the option to use either one. PKR Lite will download faster, making it friendlier to players who use laptops and players who prefer multi-tables. Both versions will use a shared player-base. With this new product, PKR expects an expansion of its clientele base and the possibility of new partnerships in order to become a major contender in the online gaming market.

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Event #25 $1500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo

For the first time since the November Nine, a gruelling heads-up battle led to a hard stop rule, extending tournament play to a fourth day. Then it just took one hour for Chris Viox to defeat WPT commentator and crowd favourite Mike Sexton.

The tournament was certainly one of the most interesting as it attracted some true personalities from the poker scene: players such as Artie Cobb, one of the most highly accomplished Seven-Card Stud players and winner of the same event in 1983, defending champion David Warga who placed ninth, and ESPN’s Norman Chad, who bowed out in 12^th place.

Although a heads-up match between Sexton and Chad would have been one for the books, the crowd was treated to an impressive display of skill by the final two players. Viox and Sexton were evenly matched entering heads up. However, after two commanding wins, Sexton took the early lead and kept the heat on Viox to have him covered 2:1. Subsequent hands reversed the tide, as both players hit a straight, but Viox held a higher straight and he moved up 2:1. Two hands later, Sexton evened it up with another straight, but then the seesaw would end as Viox took a commanding lead while winning six strong hands. As play was halted, Viox had Sexton dominated 3:1.

Upon returning for the extended fourth day, Viox continued to hold on to his lead. Sexton tried to fight back but the lead was just too much to overcome. Viox eliminated the veteran and wins a well deserved WSOP gold bracelet and a purse of USD $200,459.

Event #26 USD $2500 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed

It could have been anyone’s game in the heads-up battle between Oleksii Kovalchuk and Ionel Anton for the title, but Kovalchuk eventually disposed of Anton in a long and challenging match to become only the second Ukranian player in history to win a WSOP bracelet.

After eliminating third place finisher Chris Moorman, Kovalchuk had a commanding 4:1 chip lead to start the heads-up match. Both players were impressive as they played aggressively, fast and loose. In just minutes, Anton won two massive pots and surpassed Kovalchuk. This lead, however, would not last as Kovalchuk’s aggression took back the advantage with a full house. For the rest of the game, Kovalchuk would not relinquish his lead.

In the final hand, he snap-called Anton’s all-in preflop shove with Pocket Sevens. He hit a set on the flop and a full house on the river to eliminate Anton and win a whopping USD$689,739.

Event #27 USD$10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship

The USD$10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship is considered one of the most prestigious and toughest tournaments at the WSOP and the 2010 runner-up Daniel Idema has returned this year to claim what he couldn’t accomplish last year.

"It's a tremendous honour … I felt very fortunate to get there last year and this year, as well. I would say it is a surreal experience. It really hasn't all sunk in yet" said Idema.

He is certainly one of the best Limit Hold’em players around. With some big name poker pros in the field, competition was definitely tough. A formidable final table line-up included Barry Greenstein, Nick Schulman, Richard Brodie and online sensation Justin “Boosted J” Smith.

After Matthew Gallin eliminated Greenstein at third, heads-up play seemed like a repeat of last year’s event when Idema also held a sizeable chip lead against his opponent. The results, however, would show it to be much different. Idema entered heads-up play with 3.6 million to Gallin’s 900,000 and it took him just five hands to claim the championship, a prize of USD$378,642 and the dream of a WSOP gold bracelet.

 

Event #28 USD $1500 No-Limit Hold’em

New York native, Andy Frankenberger, has overcome a massive field of 2,500 players to capture the 28^th WSOP gold bracelet and USD$599,153 in winnings. Though a newbie to the poker scene, he won two major tournaments last year which earned him the honour of being the 2010 World Poker Tour Player of the Year.

Because of the low buy-in, the field was jam-packed with amateurs and professionals alike. Day 1 saw many casualties, such as Freddy Deeb, Liv Boeree and Phil Laak, to name a few. Day 2 was no different as Vanessa Selbst, Michael Katz, Matt Affleck and Sumanth Reddy also bowed out leaving 28 players to advance to Day 3.

Eliminations there proved just as fast and brutal and in just a short amount of time the final nine was set with Frankenberger second in chips. After eliminating 7^th place finisher Thao Nguyen and poker professional Owen Crowe at 4^th, his would then hold up against Rob Shortway’s , moving him into the chip leader seat.

Eventually, Shortway was eliminated and a heads-up battle was set between Frankenberger and Joshua Evans. Frankenberger would start off with a severe chip disadvantage but after one double up he was able to small ball his way onwards and then win a massive pot with his versus Evans' . He continued to extend his lead and soon seized the title with a two-pair big blind special.

Event #29 USD $2500 10-Game Mix /Six-Handed

With a growing interest for mixed games, this year’s WSOP debuted a new gold bracelet event, the Six-Handed 10-Game Mix, and the first ever winner is 24-year-old poker enthusiast Chris Lee. Though not a mixed game specialist, Lee took on the challenge and emerged victorious for a USD $254,955 payout.

"This is my first cash and I'm actually not a mixed game player at all. I usually play just No-limit Hold'em and Pot-limit Omaha. So a lot of these games are new to me, so I didn't go in with high expectations, but I ran really good all four days and I learned that in limit tournaments you have to get really lucky because the blinds get really big... I played really good and I'm really, really excited. It feels like I have a big monkey off my back."

Lee entered the tournament not having cashed in previous WSOPs nor in his 10 attempts at the current series. During the final table, Lee had to compete against the likes of poker pros Brian Haveson, John D’Agostino and Shaun Deeb. Not ever having played Badugi, Lee surrendered his blinds to any raise. This, however, became beneficial at heads-up play. Lee bluffed a big pot in Badugi against Haveson and eventually plundered him of all his chips.

Event #30 USD $1000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship

According to the WSOP, last Friday was “the busiest day in live poker history”. Day 1 of Event #30 attracted a staggering 3,752 seniors to be coined the largest single-day entry in WSOP history. While shattering last year’s numbers, the player to emerge victorious was James Hess, a 50-year old talent manager who has been participating at the WSOP for the past seven years.

Navigating his way into the final table was surely no easy task for anyone – given the large field – but, once there, Hess used a combination of pressure poker and modern strategy to exert table dominance. He became the chip leader when he eliminated fifth place finisher Gregory Alston and never relinquished his control. He continued with his aggressive three-bet plays to steal as many chips as he could and eventually crushed fourth place finisher Joseph Bolnick and third place finisher Craig Koch to enter heads-up against Richard Harwood.

In less than five minutes, Hess dispatched of Harwood and became the youngest ever seniors champion. He collects the biggest payout this event has seen, USD $557,435, the 30^th WSOP gold bracelet and the “Golden Eagle” trophy which passes from champion to champion each year.