Thu, 08/25/2011 – 06:14 – PokerPages Staff

The World Series of Poker Main Event took center stage for the second week as ESPN continued its coverage of the elite tournament with two new episodes on Tuesday evening.

The action picked up where it had left off on Day 3 with Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu still at the feature table alongside Sami Kelopuro, Max Heinzelmann and six other players hoping to advance to a fourth session at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Negreanu ended Mike Zulker’s run after waking up in the big blind with pocket rockets. Zulker, holding pocket nines, called down a 17,000 pre-flop re-raise, 19,800 turned bet and 36,100 shove from ‘Kid Poker’ before mucking his pair as he headed for the exit door.

Another player who departed was former PokerStars European Poker Tour winner Patrik Antonius. Antonius got the last of his 48,100 chips into the middle with A-9 but the Finn failed to outdraw Christian Kudmore’s pocket sixes.

The second episode featured a classic Phil Hellmuth rant. The ‘Poker Brat’ was dismayed when Chee Kian Chan took down a pot after initially calling down an under the gun raise with A-4os. The 2-A-10-10-6 board locked up a sizable pot for Chan as Hellmuth uttered several expletives and took a brief break from the action.

Amanda Musumeci made one of the most impressive reads featured after picking off a bluff from Kevin Saul. Saul, holding a busted straight draw, had fired bets of 27,800 and 47,700 but Musumeci refused to be forced off her modest pair as she called and snared the 170,800 pot.

Take a look at the PokerPages Tournament Database for all of the results from the 2011 World Series of Poker.

Tue, 08/16/2011 – 09:59 – PokerPages Staff

While the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event appeared to be a success, there remain several critics of the elite format. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has taken to his blog to explain his reasons for skipping the tournament in Las Vegas last week.

“I don’t believe this product will resonate with the public and based on my intimate knowledge of how these types of things work, I don’t think it’s possible to bring in enough revenue to survive,” the Canadian explained in his most recent blog post.

Negreanu, who has won over $14 million in live tournament play during his career, was eligible to take part in the event but opted out of meeting the $20,000 buy in at the Palms Resort and Casino.

The main reason Negreanu alluded to in his blog post is that the EPL is currently spending more money that it is bringing in with $400,000 added to the prize pools in each Main Event and a sizable $1 million in the season ending Championship tournament.

Negreanu believes that this business model is unsustainable and cited the prestigious World Series of Poker brand, as an example of how difficult it is to procure mainstream sponsorships.

“Ty Stewart, a straight shooter/great guy, and the man behind all of the sponsors of the WSOP has been able to bring in over the years, struggles to entice mainstream sponsorship.”

However, Negreanu revealed that he would support a league or series which would be beneficial for players and sustainable in the long run. “If I thought I could help a brand create a new league/series that helps put money in players pockets and will work, I’d absolutely back it.”

For a recap of all the action from this summer’s World Series of Poker pay a visit to the PokerPages Tournament Database.