Poker News Latest: Heinz varieties help win $8,715,638

Pius Heinz must be feeling full of beans (ahem) right now, being the new WSOP Main Event winner and a not too shabby $8,715,638 richer.

Back in the summer Heinz, 22, was one of 6865 players who arrived at the Rio in Las Vegas with their eyes on the prize, the field being gradually thinned down over 12 long days. This left the survivors able to take a long break to eventually reconvene as the November Nine final table in the Penn and Teller Theatre. A good number of poker purists are very much opposed to having the final table battle it out months after they earned the right to play for the title, and they have a good point but, the importance of the media being what it is nowadays, this modern scheduling twist seems like an inevitable ‘development’ in the organisers’ efforts to maximise (and prolong) exposure.

Heinz started seventh in chips but emerged in the lead when only three players remained in contention. He won’t have been too concerned at being demoted to second of two against Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic because this meant he was guaranteed a payout of $5,433,086, although the extra $3 million and the coveted bracelet no doubt provided an incentive to remain focused and overturn the chip counts of 117.3 million to 88.6 million.

The crucial hand saw Staszko limp in from the button and Heinz raise to 7.9 million in the big blind. Staszko called and the flop came Tc7cKs, Heinz bet 8.2 million, Staszko raised to 17.5 million and, after a long think, Heinz announced all-in for roughly 70 million. Staszko called with Qc9c and Heinz revealed AhQh…

Despite cries of ‘He’s ahead!’ from his fans Heinz could easily have found himself in the soup given the hat full of enemy outs he needed to avoid, but when the turn brought the 3h and the river an equally irrelevant 6s he shot to a very healthy chip lead of 161.5 million to Staszko’s 44.4 million. Shortly after Staszko shoved with Tc7c but failed to beat AsKc and it was all over.

Until next summer, that is, when thousands more will once again turn up in Vegas, most with the confidence boost provided by the fact that an unknown player is likely to win the biggest prize.

Good luck at the tables!

Angus Dunnington (AngusD at the tables)
32Red Poker Ambassador

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Women in Poker

Women in Poker

Even allowing for the old adage that any publicity is good publicity, women’s poker tends to undeservedly suffer from negative press. Usually this is due to a major sponsorship deal being given to someone who appears to have been selected for their suitability for near-naked photo assignments, thus doing a great disservice to genuinely skilled players and those women who aspire to be respected and rewarded for their poker ability.

Recently in Las Vegas, WSOP Event #53, the $1000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, achieved enhanced newsworthy status for the wrong reasons, as 15 men exploited gender laws that deemed men as well as women could take part in the championship. Commentators have since said that in fact no ‘gentlemen’ took part, and indeed it could be that these players might not find tournaments too friendly in future after what has been almost universally regarded as their attempting to spoil the party for the 1040 women who sat down to play.

Fortunately the intended piracy failed, as Marsha Wolak eventually overcame well-known professional Katrina Jett to take the gold bracelet and first prize of $192,344. And in a bizarre twist, not only did Wolak eliminate the last man standing, Jonathan Epstein, when her pair of tens beat his AdJd (thus earning him $13,701 – and very probably an unenviable poor reputation – for 9th place), but she also managed to bounce back from an unfortunate incident in last year’s event, when she was eliminated by Shaun Deeb dressed in drag…

Apparently this potentially problematic subject of discrimination recently took another turn in Nevada when a law was passed that permits casinos to legally exclude men from women’s poker tournaments. Scheduled to come into effect in January 2012, it will be interesting to see how next year’s women’s championship goes but, regardless of whether this kind of tournament should exist at all, numbers suggest that more women are getting involved in poker.

Meanwhile, online poker provides some intriguing psychological questions regarding women. Anyone who has played live will have noticed how the dynamics of a table full of men change when even one woman sits down, and it is possible to exploit people’s perception of gender when this happens. Not surprisingly, the number of women who play online poker dwarfs those who play ‘live’ for all sorts of reasons (the same reasons many more people prefer online rooms), but the next time you find yourself locking horns with Cindy or Linda, there’s a good chance it’s a man trying to mess with your mojo.

Good luck at the tables!

Angus Dunnington (AngusD)
32Red Poker Ambassador

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Has Black Friday affected WSOP numbers?

Has Black Friday affected WSOP numbers?

Meanwhile, with the ghost of Black Friday still haunting US-facing online poker rooms as well as the countless US players who continue to have problems with their accounts with the affected operators, the poker world is even more interested than usual in the numbers at this year’s WSOP. Perhaps surprisingly – or not, depending on who you ask – attendance records in 2011 are still being broken, with tournament, side events and cash game numbers showing healthy increases compared with last year.

For example, on Friday, June 18, an impressive 5,946 players showed up for that day’s scheduled tournaments – a record for a single day in live poker history. Moreover, Event 18, the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, had the largest ever entry (3157) for such a single day start event, as did Event 20 for a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em (3,175 entries), the two combining to generate the largest consecutive-days starting field sizes in poker history at 6332 entries.

And if you think poker is exclusively for the baseball cap and shades wearing younger generation, then consider Event 30, the Seniors tournament, which attracted a record 3752 entries…

Good luck at the tables!

Angus Dunnington
32Red Poker Ambassador

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Phil Hellmuth: Poker Bridesmaid

Phil Hellmuth: Poker Bridesmaid

After narrowly failing to win his first non-hold’em WSOP bracelet (to add to his collection of eleven) in Event 16 last week, Phil Hellmuth soon found himself at yet another (18th!) non-hold’em WSOP final table in Event 33, the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship.

Day 3 in fact began with the surviving 18 of the original 168 players being whittled down to the final table (and fighting for only 16 prizes). In Event 16 the Poker Brat started the heads-up phase with a 3:1 chip lead over John Juanda but lost to a worthy winner. His second bite of the WSOP cherry found him facing Eric Rodawig of Arlington, Virginia, but this time he was playing the shorter stack heads-up by roughly the same ratio, Rodawig having 3,700,000 to Hellmuth’s 1,300,000.

Despite suffering a considerable setback as the endgame began, Hellmuth nonetheless put up a good fight until the final hand that left him with only three outs to a gutshot straight on the final card, none of which materialised, thus denying the often controversial showman his twelfth WSOP bracelet and earning Rodawig his first, as well as $442,183 for his troubles.

Good luck at the tables,

Angus Dunnington
32Red Poker Ambassador

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The Poker Brat’s non-hold’em quest continues; Anyone for tennis wagers?

The Poker Brat’s non-hold’em quest continues

Love him or loathe him, Phil Hellmuth remains one of the poker world’s most famous personalities and, credit where credit’s due, is a top class player. With his 11 WSOP bracelets all being in hold’em tournaments, this year’s Event 16, the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball, was Hellmuth’s 17th non-hold’em WSOP final table, and his third in this particular format. Was he finally going to end the ‘drought’ as he entered the heads-up phase of proceedings against the mighty John Juanda? With a 3:1 chip it certainly looked very promising indeed…

Alas, it was not to be. Instead Juanda managed to claw back the lead in what was said to be a one-sided affair, thus denying the Poker Brat the elusive bracelet. Attention switched to Juanda picking up his fifth WSOP gold bracelet, on his 27th WSOP final table, and registering his 56th WSOP cash! Enviable statistics.

For Hellmuth to reach the final table 17 times and still fail to win a non-hold’em bracelet is akin to a tennis legend’s feeling of frustration that his career is incomplete until he wins a particular major, such as the great Ivan Lendl, who’s tally of 8 majors included all but Wimbledon, despite reaching the final twice.
 
 
Anyone for tennis wagers?

Speaking of tennis, both Patrik Antonius and Brandon Adams might still be waiting for their first WSOP bracelet but, in the meantime, have been busy for months preparing for their high stakes tennis match. Originally agreed during a Poker After Dark episode, the two poker bigshots had other big shots on their minds as they finally met in Las Vegas during this year’s WSOP.

After a change of both venue and surface – the match was at first going to be played in May in Monte Carlo, on clay, and was switched to Vegas on a hard court – and adjustments to the odds to factor in these changes, the match was played with Antonius (once a budding professional) laying $295,000 to Adams’ $30,000, meaning a win for Adams would see him walk away with around $100,000 more than this year’s quarter-finalists at Wimbledon!

Just before the match, held at the Las Vegas International Tennis Centre, Adams seemed confident: “My strategy is to counterpunch. I have a pretty good game. I can attack, but today I’m just gonna lay low and try not to miss…” Hmmm. Antonius won 6-0, 6-1 to stroll away with Adams’ $30,000.

Good luck at the tables,

Angus Dunnington
32Red Poker Ambassador

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POKER QUIZ

Congratulations to steviec7 for winning our previous Poker Quiz (click here for details).

Welcome to 32Red’s regularly updated Poker Quiz section where we ask you all sorts of poker questions and all you have to do is answer them correctly to enter our draw for free cash prizes & tournament tickets!

Are you ready?

 

What are 32Red’s morning Freerolls called?

A: Breakfast Freerolls
B: Early Bird Freerolls
C: Morning Freerolls

Click here for a clue!

Post your answers below and if we pick your name out of the hat and you’ve posted the correct answer, you’ll receive a FREE €32 CHIP to play at 32Red Poker!

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POKER QUIZ

Congratulations to Shy__Ted for winning our previous Poker Quiz (click here for details).

Welcome to 32Red’s regularly updated Poker Quiz section where we ask you all sorts of poker questions and all you have to do is answer them correctly to enter our draw for free cash prizes & tournament tickets!

Are you ready?

 

32Red Poker are offering TWO PACKAGES to this year’s WSOP, what are they called?

A: Triple Chance Saloon & Wild West
B: Prancer & Dancer
C: King & Queen

Click here for a clue!

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Post your answers below and if we pick your name out of the hat and you’ve posted the correct answer, you’ll receive a FREE WSOP Qualifying Ticket (worth €9 + €1) to play at 32Red Poker!

September’s $500 Forumfest Final – Results

32Red Poker wishes to thank all the online poker forums that participated in September’s $500 Forumfest.  A total of 9 forums took part and despite the rivalry, we’re happy to report that there were no casualties!

September saw 9 participating forums, whereas October has seen a record 13 participating forums.  There are plenty of ideas being flung back and forth on how we may continue to improve our Forumfest games, so please post your feedback below – we welcome all comments!  Let’s take a look at September’s Forumfest results:

September’s $500 Forumfest – Results

Razz Event, Day 1

Play in the WSOP for FREE!

One of our regular players – warbirds – has already secured a €6,000 Package to fabulous Las Vegas for this year’s 56th Event in the World Series of Poker.  We are hoping to send many more 32Red Poker players to the WSOP to help warbirds fly the 32Red flag and win some huge cash prizes, so here is what we have in store for you:

32Red Poker is running an exclusive Freeroll and giving away 32 FREE Qualifying Tickets to this year’s WSOP Event 56 with a total value of €400!

Here are the prizes:

• 1st and 2nd place: €100 + €9 WSOP56 Ticket
• 3rd to 12th place: €15 + €1 WSOP56 Ticket
• 13th to 32nd place: €1 + €0.10 WSOP56 Ticket

Take your FREE shot at qualifying to this year’s World Series of Poker this coming Saturday 8th May at 17:30 (UK time) with 32Red Poker.  All you will need in order to join our exclusive Freeroll is 32 Redbacks (worth $0.32 Cents!), it’s that simple!  Many of you may already have 32 Redbacks in your 32Red Poker accounts so registration will only take a few seconds.  If this isn’t the case, don’t panic, as Redbacks are very easily collected at 32Red’s cash-game and tournament tables – click here to find out how, and let me take this opportunity to wish you all the best of luck!

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