Thu, 02/24/2011 – 03:21 – PokerPages Staff

#5 – Peter Traply
This 23-year-old from Budapest became the first Hungarian ever to win a coveted WSOP gold bracelet on June 21st 2009 at the WSOP Shootout No-Limit Hold’em event.  His bravura performance put an extra $348,755 into his bank account and his total winnings currently stand at $776,414.

#4 – Valdemar Kwaysser
Another resident of Budapest, Valdemar Kwaysser showed the world his mastery of the game in 2010, when he, too, won a gold bracelet at the WSOP Pot Limit Hold’em Championship.  The victory brought the biggest of his 14 cashes to date, with a prize of $617,214.  His winnings now total $1,345,089.
 
#3 – Richard Toth
He began his working life with a degree in political science and a job in an IT company, but it wasn’t long before Richard Toth, who lives in Miskolc, discovered he was a wasting his poker talents.  He’s now proud of his status as a Team PokerStars Sponsored Pro and he’s won a total of $1,133,278; we’ll see a lot more of him in 2011.

#2 – Andras Koroknai
The guy from Drebecen, Hungary, seemed to come out of nowhere to take down the first prize at the World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic in February 2010.  His win instantly made him a millionaire, and although his subsequent performances haven’t been as spectacular, he’s got real potential.  His total winnings now stand at $1,827,411.

#1 – Denes Kalo
Top of the Hungarian poker talent poll, however, has to be this former Head of Trading at a Budapest brokerage firm.  Denes discovered his formidable poker mettle at the 2006 Austrian Classics, but had his most stunning win came in 2008, when he finished second at the EPT Grand Final PokerStars EPT.  This made him $1,545,221 at a stroke, and his total winnings now exceed $2 million.

Wed, 02/23/2011 – 02:42 – PokerPages Staff

The second week of the Poker After Dark $150,000 Cash Game concluded on Friday on NBC.

Poker pros Olivier Busquet, Phil Laak, Greg Mueller, David Peat, Eli Elezra and Howard Lederer sat down at the felt in Las Vegas

Laak and Elezra were involved in the first notable pot of the second session.

Elezra made it $7,400 to go with pocket queens and Laak came along for the ride with pocket nines.

A 9-10-5 flop prompted Elezra to fire an $11,000 bullet with his over pair. Laak immediately made it $50,000 before leaving the table as Elezra pondered his next move.

The Israeli went into the tank before deciding to muck his hand. He admitted that he thought Laak was bluffing though it proved to be a superb lay down from the 49 year-old.

Busquet, Elezra, Peat and Laak then generated significant heat pre flop with pocket pairs.

Laak opened for $1,200 only for Peat and Elezra to make it $4,800 to go. Busquet sensed an opportunity to squeeze and re-raised to $12,000.

Elezra (J-J) moved all of his chips into the middle and Busquet tanked before folding his hand, revealing pocket tens.

Peat, who had been central to the action during the first session, then got involved after calling down Busquet’s $2,000 pre flop raise with 10h-5h.

Busquet had his opponent dominated with pocket queens but a 4h-9c-9h flop gave Peat a flush draw.

Busquet bet $8,000 and Peat completed. Busquet then checked the Js turn and Peat checked behind. That play proved to be a mistake as Peat caught the 2h on the river.

Busquet lead out for $25,000 and Peat called him down to snare the $76,500 pot.

Lederer (A-K) finally got involved in the action late on when he met Busquet’s $93,600 all-in pre flop bet.

Busquet flipped over A-A and the board ran dry as the New York native took down the $191,600 pot.