April 18 2011, Chad Holloway

While this past Sunday was the first without the major online tournaments in the U.S., this didn’t stop FSN’s coverage of the World Poker Tour’s ninth season. This week, FSN aired Part II of its Foxwoods World Poker Finals broadcast. We’ll be covering the entire final table at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals in this recap – from first elimination to last.

The World Poker Finals drew 242 players and created a prize pool of $2,276,978, with $548,752 reserved for first place. Some of the entrants included Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, Gavin Smith, and Josh Arieh. While many of those players managed to make the money, the final table was dominated by young guns. “This young, aggressive poker bunch should make for great poker action. The cards are about ready to fly, let’s go watch the bluffing begin,” co-host Vince Van Patten said to kick things off.

Here is how the final table looked at the top of the broadcast.

Final Table

Seat 1: Nikolai Yakovenko (637,000)
Seat 2: Jeff Forrest (1,933,000)
Seat 3: Thomas Marchese (2,986,000)
Seat 4: David Inselberg (392,000)
Seat 5: Keven Stammen (269,000)
Seat 6: Mohsin Charania (1,097,000)

First Hand: Action began with the blinds at 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante. In the first hand, Nikolai Yakovenko raised to 58,000 from the cutoff and received call from Jeff Forrest on the button and Thomas Marchese in the small blind. The flop came down and action folded to Forrest, who promptly fired out 84,000. Yakovenko folded his while Forrest made the call.

When the dealer burned and turned the , Marchese bet 234,000, Forrest called, and the hit the river. Both players checked and Marchese showed for a rivered pair of nines with a missed flush draw, which was enough to beat Forrest’s .

Charania Eliminated in 6th Place: Action folded to Keven Stammen and he moved all-in for 355,000 holding . Mohsin Charania, who was also short-stacked, moved all in behind with . The rest of the field folded and the board ran out . Stammen doubled to 800,000 while Charania was left with just 30,000.

All in the next hand with , Charania received calls from the of Forrest and of Marchese. The saw Marchese win the pot and Charania hit the rail in sixth place for $104,741.

Stammen Out in Fifth Place; Yakovenko in Fourth: After Stammen ran into the of David Inselberg and was sent packing in fifth place ($128,650), Yakovenko raised to 100,000 with and received a call from the of Inselberg in the big blind. When the flop fell , Inselberg checked his top two pair, Yakovenko bet 50,000, and Inselberg raised to 150,000. Yakovenko wasted little time in moving all in for 885,000 and discovered the bad news after Inselberg made the call. The turn and river changed nothing and Yakovenko was eliminated in fourth place ($170,773).

Big Slick No Good for Marchese: In back-to-back hands, Marchese peeked down at big slick and proceeded to double Forrest and Inselberg respectively. The doubles shook up the chip standings and left Marchese, who started the final table as chip leader, in second place with 2,390,000. Meanwhile, Inselberg had vaulted to the chip lead with 3,220,000, followed by Forrest on the short stack with 1,705,000.

Big Pot: Forrest raised to 225,000 with only to have Marchese move all-in with . To call would cost Forrest all of his chips, about 1.6 million more, and that is exactly what he did. With 3,630,000 in the pot, the flop fell to solidify Forrest’s lead. The turn left Marchese drawing dead, and the was run out on the river for good measure. Marchese was left with just under 800,000 after the hand.

Marchese Finishes in 3rd Place: In the very next hand, Forrest raised to 275,000, Marchese moved all-in for 770,000, and Forrest made the call.

Marchese:
Forrest:

Historically, Big Slick had been disaster for Marchese and this time would prove no different as the flop came down , pairing Forrest’s six and giving him the lead. The turn and river were no help to Marchese and he was eliminated in third place for $211,759.

Heads-Up: Forrest entered heads-up play with 5,185,000 to Inselberg’s 2,130,000. On the fourth hand between the two, Forrest raised to 200,000 with and Inselberg made the call with . Inselberg then checked the flop, Forrest bet 250,000, Inselberg check-raised to 600,000, and Forrest moved all-in. Inselberg made the call and was looking for a six, seven, or nine to double into the chip lead. If not, Forrest would capture a WPT title in his first-ever attempt.

The turn meant Inselberg was drawing to a seven on the river, but it was not meant to be as the came down. Inselberg finished as runner up ($325,608) while Forrest became the WPT Season 9 Foxwoods World Poker Final Champion and took down the $548,752 first-place prize.

“It definitely doesn’t even feel real yet. I don’t know when it will finally hit me, you know, that I’m a WPT champion, but it’s completely, it’s a dream come true,” Forrest said after his big win.

If you love poker, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for up-to-the-minute poker news.

April 14 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

We’re generally all for people keeping their identities hidden, if that’s what they want to do, but even Darth Vadar showed us his face eventually. Kagome Kagome has come from behind the computer screen to give us a face to (and explain) the screen names he has. Also, Washington, D.C. is planning poker “hot spots.” Find out more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Ever sit down at the poker table and think, “How much should I buy in for?” Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Steve Zolotow is going to answer that question in our latest strategy piece, Buy-In Tips with Steve Zolotow.

The PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour kicked off its latest stop in Lima, Peru, Thursday, and our very own Lynn Gilmartin is south of the equator covering the event. If you didn’t get a chance to go, check out the latest Around the World with Lynn, for a look at what you’re missing.

Erik Seidel had the opportunity to notch another win in his already stellar 2011 on Wednesday night. Did he do it, or did someone else take the top prize at the World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open?

Dwyte Pilgrim made his name on the World Series of Poker Circuit. Is Kyle Cartwright’s recent success a changing of the guard? Check out Kyle Cartwright: Poster Boy for the WSOP-Circuit to find out.

What’s in a Name

You’ve read all about Kagome Kagome (or before the screen name change, IHateJuice) in the Online Railbird Report, but you probably didn’t know who the online high-stakes poker player was. Well, now it’s time to put a face to the name(s).

In a video interview on PokerStatic, Hasu (as he wanted to be called, so as not to reveal his real name), discussed the controversy surrounding his first screen name, IHateJuice, being asked by Full Tilt Poker to change it, and coming up with his other screen name and the story behind it.

Poker Hot Spots

Last week, the time frame for Congress to raise objections to legislation regarding online poker in Washington, D.C., expired, leading D.C. officials to start planning their online poker push.

According to The Washington Post, District officials are planning to set up online poker “hot spots” in hotels, bars, and other venues. The “hot spots” would be set up throughout the city by September 1, and by the end of the year, it might even be possible for residents of the District to be able to play poker online in their homes.

“We are trying to do as much innovative stuff as possible to increase revenue,” Michael Brown, the D.C. Council Member who proposed the plan said. “We have competition around the region on gaming, so we had to do something. Also, the online, offshore poker companies are already here.”

If you’d like to find out more, you can head on over to WashingtonPost.com.

Loveman Talks Online Poker

CEO of Caesars Entertainment, Gary Loveman, appeared on CNBC Wednesday to discuss the recent online gambling legislation that could regulate Internet poker in Nevada.

“We don’t think it provides any sort of risk of cannibalization at all. It’s a completely different business,” he said. “We own the World Series of Poker, which is the dominate poker franchise and playing poker at home online is a completely different experience then coming to one of ours full service resort facilities.”

He said that the company wants online poker to be legalized, but more so on the federal level than the state level.

“If Internet poker were to be made available to Americans that would be I think a very appealing event for our company,” Loveman said.

If you want to check out his appearance, you can at CNBC.com.

Get Your Read On

We know you’re all gearing up for the 2011 World Series of Poker (we have been for quite some time now), and it will be here before you know it. If you’re one of those players who likes to thumb through magazines while you wait for a seat in a cash game (because we all know how juicy those are during the summer at the Rio), or when that donkey is taking forever to fold his hand to an all-in, you’ll be happy to know that Poker Pro Magazine will be available at the WSOP for the entire six-week run.

“We have always spent more money on product than promotion,” VP of Marketing Will Jordan said. “But this year, we’re going all out to show off the new Poker Pro. Poker Pro has more pages than any other poker publication, and every poker player can benefit from the information we publish. We expect Poker Pro readers to win big this year.”

Poker Pro editor-in-chief John Wenzel said, “We plan to make Poker Pro available free of charge to every player at the World Series. These are the best players in the world and this is a chance to show them what we’ve got.”

Check out the press release on BusinessWire.com for more.

Hola Peru!

The PokerStars.net Latin America Poker Tour Lima kicked off Thursday in Lima, Peru, and we’re proud to introduce new PokerNews hostess Nicki Pickering to the team. Want to know what you’re missing in Peru? Check out the video below for Nicki’s tour.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, and while you’re at it, like us on Facebook.

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