March 21 2011, Matthew Pitt

After a smaller than expected field of just 180 walked through the doors of the picturesque Alpine Palace Hotel in Saalbach-Hinterglemm Sunday afternoon for Day 1a of the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Snowfest you would be forgiven for expecting another compact field for Day1b. How wrong you would be though, as a field of 302 players exchanged €3,750 for 30,000 tournament chips and the dream of becoming a EPT Champion.

While 302 players bought in, the truth is is that there were only 301 of them present for the first few hours of the day, since Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier missed his flight to Austria and turned up to the tournament six hours late. Amazingly, despite having his stack blinded off during that time, he still managed to sit down with a rather healthy stack of 25,000 chips. He managed to turn that stack into 60,000 at one point, but with his loose-aggressive style he lost them all by the time play came to an end.

There were plenty of Monsieur Grospellier’s PokerStars team-mates in the field today too including the de Meulder twins Mattias and Christophe, Dario Minieri, Sandra Naujoks and Julien Brecard, the latter was celebrating his 32nd birthday but the poker gods failed to bring him any extra luck, and he and all the above mentioned Pros were eliminated by the end of the day. A number of Team PokerStars Pros did make it through to Day 2, including the man who has cashed a record 17 times in EPT events – Luca Pagano. Max Lykov and Liv Boeree also made it though and Boeree will return to nurse a stack of 19,000, though she says she is happy with that total, considering the cards she was dealt throughout the Day 1b proceedings.

Along with the vast team of PokerStars Pros, there was a very talented field packed tightly into the tournament area including the likes of Fabian Quoss, who made the final table of the EPOT London High Roller event, John Eames who finished third at the recent EPT Copenhagen Main Event, and Anton Wigg who won EPT Copenhagen in 2010. As is usually the case when there is a pro heavy field, a so-called “Table of Doom” forms, and Monday was no different as, ironically, Table 13 was the home to a whole host of familiar faces. First EPT San Remo Champion Liv Boeree took her seat and she was sandwiched between Luca Pagano and James Sudworth. At the opposite end of the table sat EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee and a few minutes into play, EPT Tallin Champion Kevin Stani sat down in seat five. As far as tough tables go, this was one of the toughest we’ve ever seen.

Throughout the day, there was not one person who looked as if they were going to become a runaway chip leader, but a couple of hours from the end, Michael Tureniec went on a mini-heater and he went from under-the-radar, to flashing brightly on it, with over 200,000 in chips. A large percentage of his stack was won in a hand with Sandro Ruegg. In the hand, Tureniec called a 12,200 bet on a board reading before seeing Ruegg bet another 16,500 when the peeled off on the river. This last bet sent the reigning EPT Copenhagen Champion deep into the tank for around two-and-a-half minutes and he finally made the call, turning over which was enough to beat the of Ruegg. Tureniec could not keep the momentum going right up to the end of the day, though he did finish with 186,800, a more than respectable total.

The man who everyone will have to catch Tuesday is Vladimir Geshkenbein, who managed to turn his 30,000 starting stack into a colossal 253,700 during the eight levels of play Monday. He burst onto the live poker scene in 2009 when he won the APPT Macau High Roller Event for $266,705 and will be looking to go deep in this event over the next four days.

Play resumes at 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, when the 102 survivors from Day 1a combine with the 166 from Day 1b, all hoping to make it through to Day 3 where they will have a chance of making it into the money or even walking away with the €390,000 first-place prize for winning the PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest.

Be sure to keep it locked to the PokerNews Live Reporting Page for all the action, and as always, follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

March 22 2011, Chad Holloway

One of last year’s biggest television hits was PokerStars’ The Big Game, which took the poker world by storm and saw Bob Ferdinand emerge as the 2010 Big Game Loose Cannon Champion. He managed to win $181,500 and the $50,000 North American Poker Tour Passport. Recently, pros and amateurs gathered in Las Vegas to film season two of The Big Game. Top poker pros Jonathan Duhamel, Jennifer Tilly and Daniel Negreanu confirmed their appearances via Twitter, evidence that PokerStars was putting together an all-star lineup. So, with the few pros who were signing on, we started thinking of some pros who’ve been conspicuously absent from The Big Game.

Given that the show is sponsored by PokerStars, it is no surprise that no Full Tilt Poker pros have played in the game. Obviously, that is a major disappointment to poker fans because it means they miss watching the action generated by players like Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Michael Mizrachi, and Phil Ivey. With this said, we at PokerNews thought it might be fun to take a look at some other players we’d like to see on The Big Game.

Faraz Jaka

With more than $3 million in career winnings and a Season VIII World Poker Tour Player of the Year award to boot, Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka is known as an action player with an ultra-aggressive style. Not only that, he is a talkative character of the game. That tends to translate into pure entertainment, which is exactly what a player needs to provide on a poker TV program.

Jaka has two big WPT finals tables under his belt, the first being a second-place finish in the 2009 WPT Bellagio Cup V for $774,780 and the other a third-place finish in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic later that same year for $571,374. Jaka, who obviously has TV experience, is one of those players who will thrive in front of the cameras. He’s not afraid to drive the action and give the audience what they want, which makes him a perfect candidate for The Big Game.

Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin

While Jaka is loud, entertaining, and full of gamble, his opposite may very well be Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, a player who’s action and solid play do all his talking. 2009′s CardPlayer Player of the Year, Baldwin made a huge splash in the poker world after winning his first bracelet at the 2009 World Series of Poker in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for $521,991 and then following that up with a runner-up finish in the WPT $25,000 Championship for $1,034,715.

Baldwin is a down-to-earth guy that viewers would surely relate to. He may not be known as a cash-game player, but his poker fundamentals are solid enough so that he’d more than likely adapt to The Big Game format. In the meantime, Baldwin will be making his Poker After Dark debut later this season in a match that includes Doyle Brunson, Andrew Lichtenberger, Annette Obrestad, Melanie Weisner, and Tom Dwan.

David “Devilfish” Ulliott

One of the original “Bad Boys of Poker” who was among the first poker TV stars, David “Devilfish” Ulliott is one of the best known characters of the game. Granted, he has faded from the spotlight in recent years, but that’s even more of a reason to bring him back. Whether they love him or hate him, the Devilfish has always had the ability to inspire a strong reaction from fans. Not only that, Ulliott is admittedly a cash-game player, which would make him the perfect fit for The Big Game format.

Given his popularity, especially in his native England, it is surprising that he hasn’t had appearances on poker shows like Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker, or the NBC National Heads-Up Championship. One theory is that Ulliott hasn’t been invited to such shows because of his actions at the Full Tilt Poker invitational event at the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions. For those who don’t recall, Ulliott stood up and flashed a “www.devilfishpoker.com” sign, which was against Fox Sports Net’s strict policy against advertising “.com” websites, a stunt that was amplified given that the show was being broadcast live! As a result, Ulliott was banned from future FSN productions, which could be a determining factor in his eligibility for The Big Game because it is broadcast on Fox. Perhaps it is time to forgive and forget.

Daniel “jungleman12” Cates

Few people had a better 2010 than Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, who earned $4.9 million playing online, more than any other player. Unknown at the start of the year, Cates’ identity was revealed in July 2010 and his rise to fame and popularity has continued to grow ever since. He is more than proficient in both no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha and will never back down from a juicy, big-time cash game, especially now that he is 21 years old.

Cates may be well-known among the online poker community, but he has the potential to impress a whole new demographic in the general TV audience. Granted, he has a lot to learn about live events, but it is only a matter of time before he becomes one of the game’s newest and most visible TV stars, and what better place to make a first impression than on The Big Game?

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom

The man known as “Isildur1” was not a Team PokerStars Pro during season one of The Big Game, but now that he is, it’ll only be a matter of time before Viktor Blom is invited to play in the biggest TV events. In fact, the only thing holding him back at the moment is time, or lack thereof, given that he is not yet 21, which prohibits him from playing events in Las Vegas, including The Big Game.

While that is a significant roadblock, PokerStars could certainly host a special filming of The Big Game in Europe, where Blom would be allowed to play. Doing so would also open the door for other online superstars between the ages of 18 and 20, and it also helps The Big Game reach an extensive European audience. One thing is for sure, Blom’s online cash-game exploits are legendary, and the poker world is anxious to see him put his skills to work in live cash games, preferably ones that will be on TV.

Obviously this is a topic subject to debate. Let us know who you’d like to see in PokerStars The Big Game by using the comments section below. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.