September 04 2012, Brett Collson

While one Europe-based poker tour is preparing to get off the ground, another is in full swing this week. We’ll touch on those stories and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Aaron Massey won the WinStar World Casino Revier Poker Series Main Event on Monday. Read about his road to victory in our final table recap.

A massive $250,000 buy-in tournament flew under the radar last week. Rich Ryan discusses that and more in his latest Five Thoughts piece.

How did the first WCOOP events play out on PokerStars? Who took down the biggest score? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.

Did you miss Sunday’s World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.

How has Tristan Wade’s life changed since entering poker? Find out that and more in the latest Seat Open.

New Face of the ISPT

The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) continues to add star power ahead of its inaugural event in London next May. On Tuesday, the tour announced the signing of poker pro Liz Lieu as an ambassador for the Europe-based tour. She joins Michael Mizrachi and Sam Trickett on the ISPT team.

“ISPT is pioneering the world of poker in a bold and creative way. This event will create a lot of positive attention for this game,” said Lieu. “I am very excited by the concept and I’m sure that ISPT will be remembered in poker history. My role will be to act as an ambassador of the tournament and share my opinion on this event. I not only want players to know about the historic nature of the event, I want them to see that it’s going to be a tremendous amount of fun.”

The first ISPT event is scheduled to kick off on May 31, 2013. Organizers are expecting the tournament to begin with 30,000 players in the stands of Wembley Stadium playing an online tournament from their seats. From there, the top 3,000 players will advance to the live tournament, which will be played right on the Wembley Stadium field. The event has a “20,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and will be broadcast on television via six channels.

Read more about the event at ISPT.com.

Trickett’s Title Defense

The 2012 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event began Monday with the first of two starting days at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes. Day 1a had 325 entries into the “8,500 event, and after seven levels 155 had advanced to Day 2.

The chip leader after Day 1a was Marcello Marigliano with 187,300, but several notables finished with healthy stacks. Former WSOP November Niner Antoine Saout was fifth with 150,900, and Michael Mizrachi (144,800), Todd Terry (132,500), Davidi Kitai (129,100), Martin Jacobson (114,700), Joel Nordkvist (111,100), Thomas Wahlroos (103,500) and Vanessa Selbst (102,400) cracked the top 30.

Others still alive include Leo Margets, Justin Bonomo, Jonathan Duhamel, Pius Heinz and Jason Mercier. Here’s a look at the top stacks from Day 1a:

Among the players taking part on Day 1b were Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and defending champion Sam Trickett. Check back for daily updates right here in the Nightly Turbo.

iPoker Splits Player Pool

The iPoker Network’s new tiered platform has been successfully implemented as planned, dividing the player pool of the network’s 40-plus skins.

Among the skins residing on the top tier going forward include William Hill, Poker770, bet365, Titan Poker and Paddy Power Poker. Those sites each met the set of requirements introduced by iPoker owner Playech in June. Skins were required to maintain a base of at least 6,000 active players, as well as 850 new real-money players per month from July 1 through the end of August.

The top tier will offer larger player pools and more games to select from. While multi-table tournaments will be shared across the entire network, many ring game tables and sit-and-gos will be separated. The smaller sites which didn’t qualify for the top tier are expected to draw less recreational players and more sharks looking to maximize volume.

Get more information about the split at TwoPlusTwo.com.

Ivey Leads The Nuts … Again

The latest edition of ESPN’s The Nuts was released late last week. The monthly blog post ranks the best poker players in the world at the moment. The 10-person panel includes Elaine Chaivarlis, PokerNews’ editor in chief; Don Peters, PokerNews‘ tournament reporting manager; and ESPN’s Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee, among others.

Phil Ivey maintained the top spot, receiving all 10 first-place votes from the panel, but his reign is being threatened by two of the hottest players of 2012. Marvin Rettenmaier, winner of back-to-back World Poker Tour titles this year, entered the rankings at No. 4, and Dan Smith made his debut at No. 6. Smith has six wins this year and currently leads the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race.

John Juanda and Sam Trickett also returned to The Nuts rankings. Juanda is fresh off an eighth place finish in the EPT Barcelona Main Event ($93,500) and fifth place result in the Macau High Stakes Challenge ($1,645,753). Trickett also cashed in Macau, and his runner-up finish in the Big One for One Drop won’t soon be forgotten.

Here’s a look at the top 10 for September.

For more analysis on The Nuts rankings, check out ESPN.com.

Goodbye, Oklahoma

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team recently made its first trip to WinStar World Casino for the River Poker Series Main Event. Sarah Grant took a look back at the highlights from the five-day event.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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August 30 2012, Rich Ryan

On Wednesday, after four days of battle at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California, the final six players returned for Day 5 of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker. Josh Hale held a commanding chip lead with over 7.3 million chips. His closest competitor, Greg Mueller, began the day with almost 3.5 million chips.

WPT Legends of Poker Final Table

According to the World Poker Tour Live Updates team, on the 20th hand of the final table, the action folded to Max Steinberg, who called out of the small blind. Jeff Madsen, commanding the shortest stack at the table, moved all in from the big blind. Steinberg called with , dominating Madsen’s . Then the flop, turn and river came , eliminating Madsen in sixth place with $75,400.

On Hand #56, the third hand of Level 30 (50,000/100,000/10,000), Mueller moved all in from under the gun for around 2 million. Action folded to Steinberg in the small blind and he tanked before reshoving all in. Raouf Malek surrendered his big blind and the hands were opened to a classic race situation with Mueller’s slightly ahead of Steinberg’s , and the flop kept Mueller in the lead. The turned, however, giving Steinberg a better pair and the completed the board. Mueller was eliminated in fifth place, taking home $97,100.

Four hands later, Malek doubled through Ali Eslami, leaving Eslami with just 120,000 chips (less than two big blinds). The action started when Hale raised to 210,000 from under the gun. Eslami called on the button, and Malek moved all in for 2.4 million from the big blind. Hale folded, and Eslami tank-called. Eslami’s was dominated by Malek’s , and the board ran out .

Miraculously, in the next six hands, Eslami doubled, tripled, then doubled again, rocketing his stack up to over 1.5 million chips. On the seventh hand after being crippled, Eslami effectively three-bet jammed (he left one chip behind as a card protector) over a raise from Malek and a call from Hale. Malek tank-folded, Hale quickly called, and Eslami’s were way ahead of Hale’s . The board came , and suddenly Eslami was back up to 3.4 million chips (34 big blinds).

Hale, who had been dominating, dropped to 6.5 million chips, and on the 74th hand lost another sizable pot to Eslami. For the first time at the final table, Hale was not the chip leader.

Hale’s stack continued to drop, and he was even all-in and at risk on Hand #87 against Malek. Hale’s out-raced Malek’s as the board came , giving Hale the chip lead once again. Malek was now up against the ropes, but then he tripled up through Hale and Eslami two hands later when both players held kings! Malek’s was of course trailing, but he spiked an ace on the turn to stay alive.

Finally, nearly 40 hands after Mueller was eliminated in fifth place, Eslami bowed out in fourth. Hale limped the button with the blinds at 60,000/120,000/20,000, and Eslami moved all in from the small blind. Steinberg asked for a count, then reshoved from the big blind. Hale folded. It was another race with Eslami holding and Steinberg . There was a king on the flop, giving Steinberg a commanding lead, and the turn and river came , , respectively. Eslami was eliminated but earned $133,700 for his efforts.

Malek, Hale, and Steinberg battled back and forth three handed, but Steinberg maintained the chip lead throughout. On Hand #119, Malek opened to 300,000 on the button, and Steinberg defended his big blind. The flop was , Steinberg checked, and Malek continued for 325,000. Steinberg called. The turn was the , and both players checked. The completed the board, and Steinberg led out for 900,000. Malek raised to 3 million, and Steinberg moved all in. Malek called with for a king-high straight, but Steinberg turned over for Broadway, eliminating Malek in third place ($192,400).

Heads Up Chip Counts

On the 13th hand of heads-up play, after chipping up a bit, Hale received a monster double-up. The blinds were 100,000/200,000/25,000 when Steinberg raised to 500,000 on the button. Hale called, and the flop came . Hale checked, Steinberg fired 550,000, and Hale moved all in for just under 5 million. Steinberg called with for tens and sixes, and Hale showed for a naked flush draw. The turn was red, but the was no help to Hale. The spiked on the river however, and Hale took down the pot with a flush, taking a near two-to-one chip lead.

Hale never looked back, and on Hand #145, it was all over. Hale raised to 550,000 with the blinds at 125,000/250,000/25,000. Steinberg quickly moved all in for 3.25 million, and Hale snapped it off. Hale tabled , and Steinberg showed . The board ran out , and Hale was the champion of the 2012 WPT Legends of Poker.

WPT Legends of Poker Final Table Payouts

Along with a half million dollars, Hale has earned a seat in the 2013 WPT World Championship. This concludes PokerNews’ recap coverage from the WPT Legends of Poker. We’ll see you next time at the Aviation Club in Paris, France.

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Photo and data courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.

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